Management FadsEmergence, Evolution, and Implications for Managers

Outline• Review management fads dating back to the

1950s• How the fads develop and their life cycles

• Evaluate the management implications• In class simulation• Class questions/comments

About the Authors• Both are professors in Florida• They do research in management styles

Dr. Jane W. Gibson Dr. Dana V. Tesone

Ettorre’s Typical Management Fad Life Cycle• Discovery• Early Literature

• Wild Acceptance• Many firms adopt the fad

• Digestion• Critics suggest fad is not perfect

• Disillusionment• Widespread recognition of problems within the fad

• Hard Core• Staunch supporters remain loyal

History of Management Fads

Management by Objectives• Process of Goal Setting

and Self-Control• Wildly Popular in the

early ‘90s• 1992—80% of Fortune 500 businesses used MBO

• By 1996, no longer considered a fad• Problems with MBO• Managers often focused on

financial goals

Sensitivity Training• Sessions of interpersonal and emotional training• Place strangers in a group of people in a room (T-groups)• Undirected discussion aimed at improving awareness of

emotions• Idea: Business focuses on facts, but ignores emotions

in decisions

• Problems with Sensitivity Training• Poorly trained facilitators• Groups with people who know each other• Little proof that T-groups worked to improve business

functions

Quality Circles• Structure: Employees volunteer into groups to

consider ways to improve quality of product or service • Meet on company time

• Initial success yielded improved employee attitudes and participation

• Failure in some businesses the result of unclear objectives and top-level management

Total Quality Management• Total Quality Management (TQM) is a

management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction.

• In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services and the culture in which they work.

Cost of Quality

Phil Crosby—Quality is Free

TQM Drawbacks• Initial introduction costs• Training workers and disrupting current production while

being implemented

• Benefits may not be seen for several years • Workers may be resistant to change • May feel less secure in jobs

Self-Managed Teams (SMT)• "a group of employees who have day-to-day

responsibility for managing themselves and the work they do. Members of self-directed teams typically handle job assignments, plan and schedule work, make production-related decisions, and take action on problems. Members of self-directed teams work with a minimum of direct supervision. As such, the teams are not quality circles or cross-functional task groups. ... [T]hese teams are characterized by:

Face-to-face interaction in natural work groups;Responsibility for producing a definable product;Responsibility for a set of interdependent tasks; andControl over managing and executing tasks.“

SMT Drawbacks • Self-managing teams are difficult to implement,

and they risk failure when used in inappropriate situations or without sufficient leadership and support

Can we keep it? Should it be adopted?

Is the fad adoptable?

Group simulation