Administrative Theory

Every entrepreneur and executive faces administrative problems on a daily basis, but some problems are of a more profound nature and require close analysis, the development of alternatives, and a decision as to what to change and how to effect that change. One source of problems is a changed business environment, and since the business environment is always in a state of evolving change, it is important for administrators to monitor such changes and to be prepared to cope with them as they occur. Much of administration theory is dedicated to analyzing the process of change and to showing how to respond to change within the organization. Theorists today see change as accelerating in society, and they offer particular prescriptions for how such change will affect the business environment and how administrators might cope with the developing situation. An analysis of certain theories will lead to an analysis of how change has been handled at one particular company.

ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY - ASSESSING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Drucker (1977) describes the role of managers in business and states:

Managers should spend more time and thought on the future of their business. They should also spend more time and thought on a good many other things, their social and community responsibilities for instance. Both they and their business pay a stiff penalty for these neglects. The neglect of the future is only a symptom; executives slight tomorrow because they c

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st part all they have done to date is to adapt the computer to the sorts of number crunching they have always done by hand: "But as soon as a company takes the first tentative steps from data to information, its decision processes, management structure, and even the way its work gets done begin to be transformed" (p. 46). Senge (1991) is another who sees the organization of the future as information-based, and he finds that systems thinking can provide the means to integrate the learning disciplines and to change the way organizations think about their world. Senge calls in particular for a shift to thinking in terms of wholes rather than parts: "We are literally killing ourselves because of our inability to understand wholes" (p. 42). The world is not composed of elements that are completely separate but is rather composed of interrelationships. The organization is like a biological whole and must learn to make its separate parts work together more closely and productively. MRS. FIELDS COOKIES - ONE COMPANY'S RESPONSE Mrs. Fields Cookies is a successful company that managed to overcome some major problems in the last few years to achieve a point of stability. The company had seemed to be highly successful once befor

Category: Business - A