Principles of Management

This chapter aims to familiarize the reader with the concepts of leadership, management, and administration. We cannot fully plan for or project what the future will be or what it will bring. The concept of cultural lag is derived from these notions. The chapter places modern management ideas in their historical context and reviews in general terms the variety of management concepts and philosophy. It explains the different historical theories of management, namely, behavioral theory, quantitative theory, and integrated theory, before moving on to new concepts such as Lean Six Sigma. It is noted that management by objectives was one of the most widespread approaches to dealing with individual employees. The chapter explains the process of decision making and how a decision‐making style is a reflection of one's leadership style. Decisions can be studied and classified from a number of perspectives. Good decision making relies on knowledge of both the importance and components of the process. It requires an awareness of personal skills to determine the best way to reach the highest‐quality decision with the greatest acceptance in the amount of time available. Finally, the chapter considers the issue of management ethics and its positive impact on the workplace. A strong ethical framework must be one of the guiding tenets for the modern organization.