Mgt 521 Viewpoints Paper

Viewpoints Paper

Just about everyone has worked with a good manager, played with a good coach or had a taken classes with a good professor.  Did those managers, coaches and professors just have that ability to effectively lead?  The answer is no.  They got there by trial and error.  They got there by learning from others.  They got there by observing what is going on around them and making the best decision based on what they know.  Finally also by knowing a bit about management, possibly from taking classes.

Management is defined as the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively ("Definition of Management”. boundless Business, 21 July 2015", 2015).  The process of effective management comes from knowing the viewpoints of others and their perspectives.

Management perspectives fall into two categories:  Historical and Contemporary (See Figure) (Williams, 2012).

• Historical time frame is 1911 through the 1950s that included three viewpoints; classical, behavioral and quantitative.

• Contemporary time frame is from the 1960s to present that include the viewpoints of system, contingency and quality-management.
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One of the contemporary perspectives that I am most familiar with is the Quality-Management Viewpoint.  Quality management has three approaches;

• Quality Control – a strategy to reduce errors by managing each step in the manufacturing production.  
• Quality Assurance – performance of the workers and emphasizing the importance to work to “zero defects”.  This approach is less successful often because the workers have no control of the design and work process.
• Total Quality Management – a total approach that is dedicated to always improving the process.

My experience dates back to the 1990’s when in the US Air Force Total Quality Management (TQM) became the major focus for the direction that the AF wanted its managers to practice.  TQM has eight key elements (Padhi, 2000-2016):