“What are the contentious issues in the discipline of Management?”
In the ever changing world today, a manager would be facing many challenges like technological advancements, government policies, globalization and diversities. Managers are therefore required to think professionally on their feet and not to be swayed by gut feelings. One of the many contentious issues in management is the willingness of organizations to invest in their employees. Fayol (1916) in the The Principles of Scientific Management summarizes that Management is done by careful forecasting and planning , organizing, commanding , coordinating and controlling. While similarly, Mintzberg (1973) also concurred that managers mainly also plan, organises, coordinates and controls, while also added 3 classification, interpersonal, informational and decisional. As the authority of modern psychology, Lewin (1946) said "Nothing is as practical as a good theory". Certainly, a sound knowledge of management theories can certainly help managers make more calculated decisions, but growing and developing the human capital may be time consuming. However without the necessary education and training, the company would be misguided and and the fate, chaotic. Therefore many companies now invest in human capital with sound education like having an MBA under their belt. As continuous change occur within and externally to an organization, it therefore cannot afford to adopt a trial and error pathway which will prove to be more costly.
In the 22 October 2003 edition of Times Higher Education, it supports that organization which invest heavily in research and development (R&D) do better on the stock market, the latest UK R&D scoreboard has found. While in the case of Apple in year 2001, Appl ...