REFLECTION ON MANAGEMENT

Reflection on Management

Reflection on Management

Introduction

The origins of reflective practice are to be found in the writing of the philosopher and educator John Dewey (Mintzberg, 2003). Dewey's description of the process of reflecting on experience echoes contemporary theory and practice in emphasizing that thinking involves the sense of a problem, the observation of conditions, the elaboration of a possible conclusion, and testing this conclusion through active experimentation. David Kolb's development of these ideas together with those of Piaget and Lewin has been seminal in the experience-based approaches to learning adopted in management development practice. Kolb writes of learning as a process in which ideas are not fixed and immutable but formed and reformed through experience.

My Reflection on Management

Good and effective management is vital to the dynamics of a forward moving society. This is true in all organisations, including business and government. Society could function with ineffective managers and management to some extent but not to its optimum. 'Good' management can map out a path to success whereas poor management may lead to failure and possible collapse. By considering the roles of a successful manager we can learn that they are carried out continually in society and it is in fact managers that implement them. French managerial scholar Henri Fayol identified the roles of a successful manager. The “process approach” identifies these. It states that managers perform four main roles, those of planning, organising, leading and controlling (Robbins, 2003). Every management decision is a result of the application of one or more of these roles. Without a manager to plan, organise, lead and control an organisation, what would be the effect on society? Considering a manager's fulfillment of these basic four roles and the impact these have on society will provide us with an understanding that, as Henry Mintzberg stated, “No job is more vital to society than that of the manager.” (Mintzberg, 2003).

Breaking down the roles that a manager carries out and considering examples of what was seen at Northwood's mall will show that these roles are vital to society and we need managers to make things happen.

Planning

We learnt in the class that planning is a crucial management function, which charts an organisation's direction. It involves "defining organisational objectives and then articulating strategies, tactics and objectives that are necessary to achieve these objectives." (Robbins, 2003). A manager does this by setting goals and deciding how to achieve them. The ...