Reference no: EM13271144

Review of Drucker's The Coming of the New Organization

Professor Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005) was a leading academic researcher, author, and expert who had a prominent and significant influence on the evolution and development of contemporary management theory throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Drucker was the author of numerous seminal works on managing and management including the article you are going to study and review for this assignment - a popular and often-cited article which was first published in 1988 entitled The Coming of the New Organization.

When it was originally published this now classic work by Drucker was rapidly accepted and adopted by academics, company executives, and management consultants into mainstream management theory and practice. This article was published over twenty six years ago, about five years before the World Wide Web and the Internet became significantly disruptive technologies. So how relevant and valid is this article today? Especially the predictions Drucker made in 1988 about the future of work and of organisations. How accurate were Drucker's predictions about work, organisations, and managing people as they are observable today in the early twenty first century? Did he correctly identify the significant trends and factors that have influenced and shaped how we work, how organisations should be structured, how we should manage organisations, and how we should manage the people within them?

What You Need to Do:

Starting with what we have studied this trimester, especially in the second and third learning modules (Management Fundamentals, Managing People) we want you to independently research, design, and develop a concise and original report that covers (but is not limited to) the following issues and topics:

o How significant have advances in information and communication technologies since the late 1980's been on how we do business? And how have the major types of businesses that exist changed over this time?

o Has the nature of work changed since the 1980's? Do we now perform different tasks in the workplace? Do we perform the same tasks but differently (e.g., by using new technologies)? Do we do both?

o Do most people now have greater control and self-management (autonomy) over what and how they perform their work in the organisation? Is there less reliance on "command and control" methods of managing people today?

o Has there been a change in how we manage people (our human resources) since the 1980's? If so, what influenced this change in management theory and practice? What are the major changes?

o Have organisations significantly changed in structure since the late 1980's? Are there trends in organisational structure observable by comparing specific organisations' structures as they were in the 1980's to how they are today?

o Do your own career experiences add insight to how organisational structures, how we work, and how we manage or are managed? (Don't forget any casual or part-time work experience, e.g., if you were a sales assistant at the local store of a national retailer then reflect on how that organisation was structured, the nature of your work for your job, and how you were managed.)

o Take a holistic perspective and consider the following question: how accurate was Peter Drucker with his predictions?

Attachment:- ENG.pdf