The Hospitality & Tourism Management Department of City Unity College.
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FP - MA
Course: Reading Skills
Assignment: Book review of «Management Gurus»
Student’s name: Balyberdina Daria
Lecturer’s name: Ms. Lambrini Philippatos
Date of submission: 1 th February 2012
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Table of contents:
Introduction . ……………………………………………………………………3
Definisions………………………………………………………………………..4
Frederick Taylor ……………………………………………………….................4
Family Background…………………………………………………………..4
Educational Background…………………………………………………….4
3.3.Accomplishment/business ideas……………………………………………....4
Alfred P.Sloan ……………………………………………………………………5
4.1. Accomplishment/business ideas……………………………………………...5
Peter Drucker……………………………………………………………………....7
5.1.Family Background…………………………………………………………....7
5.2. Educational Background ……………………………………………………..7
5.3. Accomplishment/business ideas………………………………………………7
Tom Peters…………………………………………………………………………8
6.1.Educational Background……………………………………………………….8
6.2. Accomplishment/business ideas……………………………………………….8
Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Charles Handy ……………………………………….9
Accomplishment/business ideas……………………………………………….9
Conclusion……………..…………………………………………………………...10
References…………………………………………………………………………..11
Introduction.
This book describes the six people who have reached dizzying heights in the business world: Frederick Taylor, who turned the business into a science; Alfred Sloan - the person who made the "General Motors" one of the most influential and large companies in the history of business; Peter Drucker - business researcher, founder of management ideas production, based on the objectives (Management By Objectives - MBO); Tom Peters - as it was called in the book: "Pop Star" consulting; Rozabet Moss Kanter - one of the few women to listen to a the most influential business bosses and which formed the principle of success in the modern world: the power of giant, and the ability to quickly maneuver innovation and small enterprises; Charles Handy - reminds us that the world is changing with great speed and to be prepared for it, we must change with it and be impossible and expect the unexpected.
This book shows the ups and downs of people who made the world of business and not in spite of that, did not retreat from the goal. For example Alfred P. Sloan took over three years, "General Motors' most powerful U.S. company, ahead of Ford. By the way, at a time when the company went to the bottom of the Ford, it helped her stay Sloan. For him, it was important to have a good competitor. Now about all those people in more detail.
Definitions.
I’m think that ‘guru’ is a person, whose thoughts are very wise and he has a lot of ideas. Definition is based on the importance of knowledge that the guru us a kind of sacred path channel and self realization.
Frederick Taylor.
3.1. Family Background.
Frederick Taylor was from a very wealthy family. All the holidays he spent in Europe, studying languages such as French and German. Any child could envy his bohemian life in a secular society.
3.2. Educational Background.
More in adulthood Frederick Taylor reads lots of books and very good to learn that yields results and Frederick Taylor goes to Harvard. After beginning his training begins vision problems, but despite this he finishes university. He did not want the rich and influential parents helped him to succeed and would only make himself.
Taylor led an active life, every Sunday, he played tennis with his friend, Clarence Clark, and in 1881 they win a national tennis tournament.
3.3. Accomplishments/ Business Ideas.
Frederick Taylor has always dreamed of working with his hands and not having finished his studies he went to work in a factory for the production of metal work on the machine. His new colleagues were surprised by the appearance of their factory, a young man of high society, as Frederick Taylor did not drink alcohol or smoke and do not fit into the general mass of workers from poorer areas. But workers are friendly took him to his team.
One day, when Taylor finished his boss told him that the factory had no future. In the age of 22, Taylor finds a new job at the Pittsburgh factory - the Midvale Street Works. After a while his boss William Sellars makes the job all the staff to see his plan for the production of new machines and voice their opinions. Frederick Taylor takes it home and discovers the plan in terms of a number of bugs, but William Sellars does not approve of his works and burns in the fireplace, but takes note intelligent and mentally alert employee. A few months later William Sellars invites Taylor to become a manager of a small group of workers. Frederick Taylor is happy beginning of his career and his method applies to employees of a factory run faster. But workers are not happy with the new methods and between workers and Taylor feud arises. After some time, Taylor improves eyesight and he continued his studies, but not at Harvard, and to learn from the engineer at Stevens Institute of Tehnology. Taylor ends the institution despite the fact that it is very hard to learn, as he went after a hard day.
In 1883 he was appointed Midvales Chief Engineering Officer. Taylor to become known outside the factory person. In 1890 he was invited to become General Manager of the industrial investment company, a business that owned a lot of paper mills. He was very pleased, but industrial investment company really was not ready for the ideas of Taylor, and soon had problems with his superiors as well as with the workers. Company owners were concerned about the large sums of money, which he began to spend on new machines and new equipment. But Taylor explained by the fact that it is better to buy cars than is spent on each employee of the factory. In 1893, the U.S. economy has undergone some serious problems. Suddenly, no one has money. People stopped buying things. Taylor was forced to resign and find a future somewhere else.
In 1898, when he was offered a job manager in Bethlehem Steel Works. When he started work, he began experimenting to improve the quality and quantity of work performed. He met with one of the officers, high and strong guy named Schmidt, who gladly performs more work plan for the big money, other employees hate new methods of Taylor, but try to work harder and better. Those who can not cope with a lot of work, Taylor dismissed.
But despite all their efforts in May 1901 he was dismissed. While Taylor was only forty-five, it was the last manager's job in his life. After that, Taylor returned to his home, where he wrote books and newspaper articles about their methods and in 1910, Taylor suddenly became famous in the business world.
In fact, the time was just right for Taylor's ideas. In the early 1900s in Detroit, another engineer, called Henry Ford, had started a new business that made cars. At that time, cars were very expensive and were only owned by the richest people in the world. He simply needed to reduce the cost of making them. To do this, he decided to make just one kind of car in just one color - the famous black Model T Ford. But Ford wasn't worried about that; for him workers were just another part of the machine.
He once said, 'When I want a pair of hands, why do I get a human being as well?' When they heard about Frederick Taylor, many believed that he could give them the answers they wanted. The ideas of Ford and Taylor were very similar. Both Ford and Taylor believed that workers didn't want or need to have responsibility. Without their managers, workers were nothing. It was the manager's job to find the best workers and to teach them to work in the best possible way.
In 1917, Taylor has died from the disease. Even after his death, his ideas live on today. His books have been translated into many languages. But even now his ideas raise numerous questions ……
Alfred P.Sloan
Accomplishments/ Business Ideas.
The firm was founded by General Motors - Billy Durant, he bought up smaller companies and adding them to GM. Then Duran leaving his post at the head of the corporation and for many years to become Alfred Stone. Disorganized collection of disparate units it manages to convert the entire organism, a subordinate unified industrial and financial system. Moreover, the necessary autonomy still preserved. In the newly created system, all fell into place: the profit from the issue of pre-existing popular models overlapped losses from the development and establishment of new cars. Once things have recovered, the tendency of the absorption of smaller companies.
By the end of 1920, the Corporation the number of sales ahead of the empire of Henry Ford. 'General Motors' under Sloan has evolved from a disparate group of businesses in the company, consisting of five well-organized units. Sloan is credited with changing the style of the annual policy of machines, from which originated the concept of planned obsolescence. He also developed a pricing structure, from lowest to highest price, according to which the cars of 'Chevrolet' (Chevrolet), 'Pontiac' (Pontiac), 'Oldsmobile' (Oldsmobile), 'Buick' (Buick) and the 'Cadillac' (Cadillac) not compete with each other and their customers still remained in the family 'GM', while their purchasing power and preferences change with age.
These principles, along with the resistance of 'Ford' changes in the 1920s of the last century, have made 'GM' leader of the American automobile industry in the early 1930s, and the company maintained this position for 70 years. Under the Sloan 'General Motors' has become the largest industrial enterprise, which ever saw the world.
The reorganization plan A. Sloan covers all types of GM. In particular, he has devoted considerable attention to meetings with dealers, which allowed to improve the mechanisms for regulating the relationship and providing them with financial support. A. Sloan was able to establish an effective and cohesive team of senior executives GM. William Knudsen was responsible for the interaction with the Chevrolet and the division was able to make it the main competitor to Ford. GM also introduced the annual model change in output - a method developed to deal with the decrepit "Model T" and to stimulate growth in sales of used cars. William Knudsen became "productive genius» GM. A. Sloane developed a wide range of models sold at reasonable prices. In 1927, the issue of "Model T" was discontinued, and the industry leader in sales was the division of Chevrolet, retains its position for many years (only in 1928, the first year of sales of the new "Model A" of Ford, it was briefly ceded first place its competitor).
In 1930, GM has serious problems (although it did not feel a direct threat to its existence). GM maintained through effective management and successful financial planning, and development issue of aircraft and diesel engines. A. Sloan resigned as president of GM in 1937, but remained chairman of the board of directors of the corporation. In the year of his resignation, GM produced a third of all cars produced in the world, and a significant number of aircraft engines, diesel engines and refrigerators. Since 1925 she has been the world's largest producer of motor vehicles. In addition to top-selling model in the U.S. «Chevrolet» it produced in the U.S. passenger cars under such brands as «Cadillac», «Oldsmobile», «Pontiac» and «Buick», buses and trucks. GM became the largest industrial concern in the world.
Peter Drucker.
5.1. Family Background.
Peter Drucker was born in 1909 in Austria, in a beautiful place called Vienna. His family was typical. He was a very intelligent man, very well in school, but he does not want to continue to live in Austria and moved to Germany in search of "new life".
5.2. Educational Background.
When he was 20 years of his article was first printed in magazines. He writes about the global economy. Later, in 1930 he moved to Frankfurt, where the journalist is arranged in a newspaper. In 1933 he moved to London and began working at the bank, but at night continues to write, but his works are getting worse and worse. In 1939 he published his book «The end of economic man», shortly before the Second World War. Winston Churchill was reading this book was ecstatic.
5.3. Accomplishments/ Business Ideas.
In 1930, Peter and Doris Drucker moved to America where he finds work in a teacher college. But his success was waiting, as in 1943 he was called top managers of the company GM - Donaldson Brown, who explained that they have read his book and were very interested with his ideas. A little later, Drucker began working at GM. It was Drucker back in 1940 with the idea of decentralization, which has become a fundamental principle of almost all large organizations around the world. In 1950 he first came to the conclusion that the workers and employees should be considered an asset of the company and not a burden, who must quickly get rid of. Again in 1950 he first presented himself as a corporation, a community of people that are built on trust and respect for employees, and not as a machine for the extraction of profit. For that won the Japanese worship.
Again in 1950 he was the first to show that "without the customer has no business" - a simple conclusion, which gave impetus to the birth of a new thinking in marketing. In 1960, much earlier than everyone else, he asserted the priority of essence to the outside, a systematic approach to the role of charismatic cult leaders. Later it was Drucker wrote about the role of the so-called «knowledge workers» - long before it became clear that the key to the "new economy" - is knowledge. But the main development Drucker were three elements that form the basis for his theory of the business.
The first element - the representation of the organization of the social environment, society and its structure, market, consumer and technology. The second - a representation of a particular (singular) the organization's mission. The third element - of the key features of the company or a tap expertise (core competencies) - set of features that determine the competitive advantages necessary to perform its mission. These three points are deceptively simple. Usually on the development of a clear, full and effective theory of the business takes years of hard work, reflection and experimentation. To succeed, the organization must work to develop and wear in their own way. Representations of the environment, the organization's mission and core competencies must be true. That is necessary to take into account changes in society, its structure, and accordingly to the needs and opportunities of consumers, and already, on this basis, in some way to develop and modify their business.
The concepts of these three elements must match. Perhaps it was the strongest feature of "General Motors", which determines the dominant position of the company for decades. The company was a wonderful mix of ideas about the market and to optimize the production process. In the mid-1920s the company decided that she also needed a completely new, hitherto unknown key features: financial control of the production process and the theory of capital allocation. The result is a modern cost accounting and the first rational process of allocating capital.
All employees of the organization must know and understand her theory business. It's easy to do at the initial stage of operation. However, with the gradual formation and its rise to success, more and more a tendency to assume a theory of business something taken for granted. Then in the organization appears some negligence, she begins to "cut corners". The company begins to do what seems appropriate, and not what is right. It ceases to think, ask questions. She remembers the answers, but forgets to ask questions. The theory of business is culture. However, culture is no substitute for discipline, and the theory of business - it is, above all, discipline.
The theory of business must be constantly monitored. It is not engraved in stone. It consists of assumptions about things that are in constant dynamics, movement - a society, markets, consumers, and technology. Thus, the theory itself should include the possibility of the business of change