Theories of Management

Every individual in the workforce, may in fact manage or be managed by different schools of thought of management theory in their lifetime. There are certainly different views on how to manage people of different backgrounds, and different views of how people should be managed day to day. With these different thoughts and ideas comes the theory how to implement these ideas into everyday work environment, therefore it is important that individuals in the workforce be knowledgeable of these different schools of thought.

In the auto parts retailer world, there are different companies but mainly this market is would be considered an ligopoly being that the market is controlled by a few companies. There are few management theories that are used in the company, a big one that is seen is the administrative management theory. This can be seen by the company in corporate offices would send out monthly reports of the company’s successes by video media and the CEO would be the one telling the news, this gives the feeling of Esprit de Corps. Another theory in practice in the company, would be a that of systems theory.

Systems approach to management views the organization as a unified, purposeful system composed of interrelated parts. Hence managers have to deal with the organization as a whole rather than dealing separately with various segments of an organization”(Rao, 2010). This can be seen the dynamic world of automotive manufactures and parts, every year there is updates or recalls on vehicles and those recalls require new parts. With these new parts requires aftermarket companies to produce these parts for the general public. Then every few years, a new model is introduced that may use entirely new parts that must be produced and sold to the public.

With the automotive parts retailer, the stores need to be stocked with these arts at prices that customers are willing to buy them at the time when they need them. Also with this environment, the staff needs to be knowledgeable on the changing automotive part industry and with that a system is created that can transfer knowledge, and communicate with separate parts quickly and efficiently. Both of these theories are put into practice in different degree in all aspects of the company, and all employees of the company can benefit and hinder from both.

Administrative theory is used but not to the fullest of the theory. “An employee should receive orders only from one boss to avoid conflicting nstructions”( Carpenter, Bauer & Erdogan, 2009). The employees in this company may actually receive orders from two or three people depending on the situation of the environment. A cashier in the store may receive passed down orders from the general manager, but then may be given a new order from a parts pro that is dealing with the customer flow and not with the administrative duties of the store as is the general manager.

Now administrative theory is put into use with the some of the other aspects of the theory, employees know the chain of command and where they stand in it. There is the division of work in practice, with certain employees that show a skill in creative thinking, are assigned to duties that consist of placing signs in the best area to make the most impact for the customer. While others may have a high skill in computing, which these employees would be assigned duties involved with email responding or flyer making.

Managers are trained to be able to see the skill level in employees and make the best choice as to where they can benefit the is fair finical pay for the work done, but also in the benefits of working for the company. Such as holiday pay, vacation time and medical benefits even for part time employees. These remuneration packages help satisfy existing employees and attract new employees to the company’s organization. With the aspect of centralization there were some decisions made on store level that are decentralized and some that were centralized depending on the effect that the decision could have on the whole group.

When these centralized decisions were made, a group meeting was scheduled and the team members would break into smaller groups with group leaders assigned by the manager to discuss the right path for the store to take as a hole team. System theory is used in the store level and the corporate level of the company. This is seen because regional managers could not have accomplish company tasks without the help of the districts managers helping the general managers in the store accomplish tasks.

Each manager in the company is not an isolated manager dealing with their team, but yet there are part of a management team trying to accomplish great goals that can only be accomplished with the full involvement of the management team. “Open System it is a system that interacts with its environment”(Rao, 2010). The company interacted with the customer relation environment, by having fundraisers by local charities. Also, by changing inventory in the stores as the demand for different products changed or were replaced by newer editions of products such as better brake pads, or improved parts such as stronger starters.

Systems approach helps the dynamic and interrelated nature of organizations to plan for actions and anticipate consequences and mutual effects”(Rao, 2010). The approach allows for big companies such as automotive retail companies to be able to communicate quickly each subgroup inside the company ithout going through a lot of channels. Yet, managers from one store with problems have the ability to call other managers for advice about anything and yet the other managers are not the boss, but can still deliver advice without having to go through the hierarchy of the company.

Administrative and systems theory are different and similar with how they are used to manage and how they are implemented into the same work environment. With automotive retailer, the customers are the primary source of revenue for the company, so without a high volume of customers there would not be a large company. The company must have managers that are able to adapt and train effectively while still being able to be a leader and inspire the employees to be a better salesperson for the customers.

Administrative theory tends to make managers a little to robotic in their dealings with employees, meaning that the theory is concerned with formal groups but not with informal groups. Informal groups can be helpful and hindering for a company, but a manger in Just administrative theory would have no informal groups. This type of management can cause morale to drop, and therefore less productive in sales. Informal groups are used in systems groups to allow for communications to happen all across the company not Just in the employee’s own group(s).

This keeps morale up and allows other employees to see how other facets of the company are doing and can interact with them. Another department, or district fails it will not cause the entire company to fail. Where in administrative management style if a district fails it could carry some debilitating impact for the company on the whole. After reading the information, and as a former manager at an automotive retailer, I relied on systems theory management and would still use that theory if I was still employed there. I chose this theory because of the cross communication and the adaptive ability of the theory.

Automotive market is always changing from a gas sipping cars, to electric vehicles but all cars need parts. Everyone has to buy parts whether it is a new car, or a old one that is not even sold anymore. Systems theory being that it is an open system allows for managers to interact with corporate managers and store personnel about changes in tasks or goals quickly and then receive feedback from these managers Just as quickly. Training is done by all team members for new products and selling techniques that will improve sales.

Also the ability of fast feedback in a system theory management environment is very useful for dynamic work place and market. As a manager I can watch team member interact with customers and then give feedback for corrections or applauded them for great techniques that were implemented. Feedback is an important part of training and for establishing leadership skills. Without systems theory in practice here, the informal groups that do happen in the work place would be broken up and morale ould become stagnant and leave employees not satisfied in the work place.

The employees need other social outlets other than customer interaction which can be unpleasant at times. Informal groups with management supervision is necessary and encouraged. As a manager, I could receive feedback about training from employee, then give the feedback to my manager, which can help produce better training for the future. As an overall result the customer gets the best parts, for a price they are willing to pay but have an experience that allows for repeat business, ecause of manager being able to implement great customer service techniques through the use of systems theory.