Importance of Historical Perspectives Essay Example for Free

Importance of historical Perspectives EssayThe organised use of labour or Management as we now call it, is as old as time. in time it was only in the 19th century that anxiety and the idea of prudence fancy emerged as an important element of political, economic and social development. I believe that historical perspectives put one over been critically important to the development of management feeling through the centuries.Management ideas lose been demonstrable push through of social and heathenish circumstances, over time the social and cultural circumstances have radically changed and developed but the principle of management and management thought has been slow in keeping up with these developments. From my reading, I would argue that there have been three main phases that have fundamentally shaped management thought since ancient times. These phases are the early commanding management approach, the change in management thought succeeding(a) the reformation and thirdly, the naked live practices required to support the industrial revolution.From my research, it is evident that major historical events have to a fault had an important role to play in the development of different management styles and structures. In ancient times, management of people was purely autocratic. Many of the stimulate force in these times were slaves. This early exercise of management seen in ancient Egypt, act through to feudal times. It was very effective in musical accompaniment some of the great construction projects which ancient Egypt is famous for, such as the building of the pyramids, the irrigation of the Nile and the building of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.Similarly in ancient China, the building of the Great Wall of China. These great make believes allow for us with evidence of a very organised and autocratic approach to the use of labour and also project management skills . This early autocratic period of management was heavily dominated by cultural values such as fear of punishment, fear of god, where people had no sense of individual motion and they could only look forward to a divulge life after death.This form of management continued through the middle ages and in these non-industrialised circumstances there was no no need to develop a formal body of management thought(Wren Bedeian, 2011 37) As long as society was dominated by fear and oppression this form of management was sustained. As long as Christianity and the divine right of kings hold their hold on society, management thought could not evolve and develop. However, these feudal times where religion was unvanquishable and demanded total subservience ere coming to an end. The crusades were a major catalyst for change in these times and by weakening the strength of the catholic church they were the beginning of a cultural rebirth which led to the Protestant reformation. With the reformation came the protestant work ethic which I would argue has transce nded the history of management and has fundamentally changed work practises opening the door to completely different and new management styles and structures.Prior to this commerce was viewed as an plague that corrupted peoples minds and the idea of trade could undermine the obedience demanded by the catholic church. Max Weber in the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism urges strongly that the spirit of capitalism grew out of Protestantism and the protestant work ethic. (Wren Bedeian, 2011 26) It is clear that the transformation in attitudes in society due to the reformation brought with it the need for new management structures which would support creativity and competitiveness.These changes did not happen quickly, but they were pivotal in the fundamental change to the administration of labour being managed by many people and many different types of people rather than the autocratic few. These new managers began to think about personal gain and had to consider the best way s to achieve these gains. The shift to personal gain was accompanied by the strengthening of national economies in Europe and further afield as new countries and colonies were being discovered and established.The scene was being set for the industrial revolution. Historical perspectives were changing and along with them, new principles in management thought were emerging. Adam Smith was one of the evangelists of management thought during the early stages of the industrial revolution. One of Smiths new thoughts on management was that the market prudence would be se self regulating, that is to say that the market would be ruled by the invisible authorize(Wren Bedeian, 2011 34).His other contribution were his thoughts on the division of labour culminating in the substantial productivity that the use of engineering brought to replace human man power. Smiths principles are fundamental to modern management thought. The industrial revolution brought with it the move from agrarian life to urban living. Production became large scale and the increasing add together of factories coming into production demanded more managers who would have to be capable of successfully organising and managing all aspects of these new work places. There is no doubt that historical perspectives have been mportant in bringing about great changes for the better in management thought as evidenced by the evolution of the three phased covered herein. However I would conclude, that despite the advantages of having historical perspectives, society and the management of society does not really learn from these perspectives. I think this is well summarised in Will Durants quote in the story of civilization office staff 1 where he states that a nation is born stoic and dies epicurean(Durant, 1935 259). There is no clearer standard of this than in Ireland today.We have spent centuries struggling against the autocratic management of Irish society both by the catholic church and by British rule. The adversity of these times was eventually replaced by the development of new management structures bringing with them creativity and competiveness. However, as with many developing societies and civilisations, with this development came affluence and opportunism which in turn undermined the integrity of these management structures. Like the Epicureans, poor thought was given to how this would impact tomorrow.So as in Greece and Rome, the lack of long term prudent management and the lack of learning from the historical perspectives on management thought have meant that we have not escaped the Epicurean death blow that has been rendered to Ireland.