Analysis of the Effects of Modernism and Post-modernism on Management Practice Essay Example for Free

Analysis of the Effects of Modernism and Post-modernism on Management Practice Essay The concepts â€Å"modem† and â€Å"post-modern† have become common currency in intellectual debates regarding organizational theory. Within such debates, the postmodern is perceived as an epoch, a perspective, or an entirely new paradigm of thought (Callas 1999, p. 649). Such a conception of the aforementioned term stems from its rootedness in the conception of the modern. Chia (1995) notes that what distinguishes the postmodern from the modem is â€Å"a style of thinking which eschews the uncritical use of common organizational terms such as ‘organizations’, ‘individuals’, ‘environment’, ‘structure’, and ’culture’, etc† (p. 79). These terms refer to the existence of social entities and attributes within a modernist conception of organizational cultures. The rationale behind this lies in the ontological conception of being which privileges thinking in terms of discrete phenomenal states, static attributes and sequential events. As opposed to such an ontological conception of reality, the postmodern stands as the champion of weak forms of ontology that â€Å"emphasize a transient, ephemeral and emergent reality† (Chia 1995, p. 579). If such is the case, it thereby follows that a postmodernist perspective of reality adheres to thought styles wherein reality is deemed to be continuously in flux and transformation and hence unrepresentable thereby impossible to situate within a static conception of reality. Within the sphere of organizational management, an adoption of a post-modernist perspective of reality thereby leads to a rethinking of the modern conceptions of organizations since adherence to postmodernist perspectives lead to the de-emphasis on organizations, organizational forms and organizational attributes. Such a conception of reality, however tends to emphasize the importance of local forms of organizational methods, which collectively define a social reality. In a sense, the shift from a modern to a postmodern conception of organizations thereby leads to the re-definition of existing ontological conceptions of reality that determine the various forms of intellectual priorities as well as theoretical stipulations in the study and conception of organizations. In lieu of this, this paper’s will provide a contextualization of the implications of such perspectives within organizational structures. The analysis of such will be determined through the analysis of the effects of such perspectives in relation to management practices. An example of the application of the postmodernist perspectives within the field of organizational theory is evident in the Foucauldian analysis of human resource systems. Edward Baratt (2003) notes that a Foucauldian conception of organizational structures has enabled the formation of â€Å"a conceptual architecture and a method for exploring and problematizing Human Resource Management† (p. 084). Baratt notes, a Foucauldian conception of organizations has enabled the formation of conditions wherein all members of an organization may engage in â€Å"the practice of critical truth telling† (p. 1085). The importance of such may be fully understood if one considers its effects in relation to the two dominant paradigms that dictate Human Resource Management discourse: managerialist and critical evaluative positions. Jacques (1999) notes, â€Å"Managerialist and critical evaluative positions in binary opposition to each other constitute the main sites from which we can speak academically about HRM† (p. 200). The distinction between the two positions are evident if one considers that in one line of argument has been an emphasis on the production of an enterprising subject dependent on practices designed to engage an employee’s psyche. The possibility of such lies in the formation of managerial practices that opt for the continuous subjectification of the subject [in this sense the employee]. Within such managerial practices, the subject is placed within various forms of practices of subjectification that leads to the development of different form of competencies that further lead to the continuous embeddedness of the subject within the organization. The difficulty within such a managerial method lies in its creation of a fabricated subject. The pragmatic aspect involved within such a method, however, may be traced to its ability to create productive subjects [productive employees]. As opposed to such a totalizing form of managerial methodologies, alternative arguments [of the postmodernist kind] emphasize the possibility of enabling the co-existence and interrelationships between human resource technologies of the self and other disciplinary practices specifically those situated within the grounds of technological and accounting controls (Baratt 2003, p. 1084). A popular theme of such methodologies gives emphasis on the intensification and sophistication of surveillance and control method [through technological and accounting measures]. Within these method, management methods are thereby perceived as enabling the formation that determine the relationships within the workplace by taking control of indeterminate relationships [amongst the members of the workplace] through the imposition of increase surveillance methods that â€Å"impose order on the inherently undecidables† conditions of the workplace. Such a methodology thereby adheres to a postmodernist conception of human relations and social reality as it opts to clarify the indeterminate variables within organizations through the use of effective instruments for the formation and accumulation of knowledge-methods of observation, techniques of registration, procedures for investigation and research, apparatuses of control (Foucault 1980, p. 102). Within such a scheme, the function of management systems [and hence of managers] lies in ensuring the maintenance of â€Å"the precarious local orchestration of material, technical and social relationships which give rise to relatively stabilized configurations† (Chia 1995, p. 601). The heads of the management of organizations, in this sense, are thereby tasked with ensuring the implementation as well as the continuous development of more efficient production practices within the surveillance scheme of management systems. Analytic evaluation schemes used in forming job evaluations will thereby be created so as to ensure the ordering of a population. Managerial positions, in this sense, may be seen as the roles that enable the implementation of the surveillance scheme that enables the continuous effectiveness of a human resource management system. In summary, the effects of the tenets of both modernism and postmodernism are evident within the workplace [or within organizational theories of management and hence management itself] as they influence the historical means of constructing the relations within the workplace. The modernist conception, which perceives reality as bound by static relations, failed to account for the indeterminate variables resulting from the complexity of power relations within the workplace. Such a complexity, however, was accounted for by a postmodernist perspective of organizations due to its recognition of the fluidity of social relations as a result of their embeddedness within the discourse of power and knowledge that define the conditions within any sphere [in this context the public sphere]. Within the field of Human Resource Management, the construction of knowledge operates through rules of classification, ordering, and distribution evident in the definitions of activities and the formation of rules of procedure, which determines a particular institution’s management discourse. The importance of postmodernist perspectives lies in its promise of the possibility of autonomy within such a predefined and hence rigid sphere. The possibility, in this sense, may be attained through enabling the co-existence and interrelationships between human resource technologies of the self and other disciplinary methods. In line with the postmodernist [specifically Foucauldian discourse], the postmodernist has thereby enabled the development of Human Resource Systems and hence Management systems that enable the formation of an understanding regarding the means in which various individuals may be formulated so as to create a system which allows the creation of objectivity amidst the grounds of subjective wills.

psychology Essay -- essays research papers

Chapter 2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This article is from the April 2003 issue of Psychology Today. In chapter 2, behavior is the main topic. Behavior is a bit unexplainable , but it can be put into form of patterns or predictions. Also, behavior is uncontrolled, but can be changed to a small degree with the use of medicine or a good diet. This article â€Å"Fighting Crime One Bite At A Time† tells how a good diet can maybe decrease the number of rule breaking by prisoners in jail. This article relates how changing ones nutrition can change their behavior. This article showed an experiment where 231 inmates were either given vitamin supplements and the others to fake pills to see which group would break the rules more. The vitamin group broke the rules 25% less than the others did. This is pretty interesting how giving criminals the right nutrition requirements may change their behavior. Chapter 3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chapter 3 is talks about sensation and perception with our eyes. Our eyes effect how we think and perceive things. Our eye turns a wavelength into light in which the path of the light goes through the pupil then iris then to the retina, which contains cones and rods. This article from Lets Live named â€Å"Obesity Increases Cataract Risk† relates how being obese may effect the development of cataracts in your eyes. A cataract is a cloudiness or opacity in the normally transparent crystalline lens of the eye. This cloudiness can cause a decrease in vision an...

Fast Food versus Homemade Food Essay

On the other hand, home-made food has less attraction than fast food. A reason for this is that home-made food needs lots of time until it gets ready. For instance, people should wait for several hours in order to have a ready home-made meal. Another reason is that home-made food is less convenient than fast food. For example, you may not find all the ingredients you need in one grocery, yet you have to look in several groceries until you find all the ingredients. Home-made food is much healthier than fast food, and therefore, people will enjoy eating their meals without thinking of health problems. In conclusion, both fast food and home-made food have significant divergence in preparation time, convenience and quality. Fast food might be better in saving time and being more convenient, while home-made food might be better in quality. I do believe that home-made food is much better than fast food, because people’s health is†¦ The questions by Dixit saab: 1. Chule Ki Roti is better or bread. 2. Fast Food is better or customs(regular ) food. , are most relevant in todays’s context. I prefer regular food but not fast food. Nutritious, hygenenic food is most important. Even in fast food if it is hygenic, nutritious it can be taken. Many a time we are forced to take fast food which is not so hygenic or nutritious ,because of the urgrncy , in place of the meals we take. The regular intake of fast foods in place of regular food is not suggestable which may kill apetite and person become weak. Inthe present day stressful jobs the person is consuming his physical, mental talents tocope with work schedules. Since body is also a machine we should give necessary inputs through food and required rest so that body functions smoothly. Occasional fast food is unaviodable. But one should take care of health by taking healthy food. Health is Wealth.

Oryx And Crake And The Carhulke As A Dystopian Society

Both Oryx and Crake and The Carhullan Army exhibit components of the establishment of a utopia, within a dystopia. A dystopia is defined as â€Å"an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one† (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017). Contrastingly, a utopia is defined as â€Å"an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect† (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017). The extent to which a utopia is established in a dystopian society is evident in a multitude of elements, such as, the founding and running of a smaller, more ideal society. However, despite efforts that contribute towards the formation of a utopian society, dystopic features are inevitable and thus, limit the†¦show more content†¦The Carhullan Army additionally conforms to this prerequisite of a prior dystopian society. In the novel, a dystopian society is similarly evident in the main protagonist’s perspective of the surrounding world. She describes the town to have its â€Å"streets†¦deserted and everything†¦quiet† (page 10), with a â€Å"familiar smell of flooded homes† (page 12) and the consequence of a â€Å"fuel crisis† (page 22). This illustration of the town paints a reflection of an unpleasant surrounding caused by destruction and thus, a dystopia. Additionally, it’s her perspective that â€Å"everything has fallen too far. The people were oppressed†¦ the government had long time failed them, and would go on to failing them. It was a place of desperation and despotism†¦ nothing worse could have befallen it than its current state† (page 176). In this description of the town, it reflects the brutality enforced upon the population, with the government subjecting them to widespread suffering and oppression. In fact, the situation is so severe the situation is described to be so bad that it cannot worsen, which is the defining factor in making it a dystopia. In Oryx and Crake, a utopia is evident within this dystopian world, through the preservation of the human race through the genetically modified, Crakers. The Crakers were designed to be the most ideal version of homo sapiens, both physically and socially and consequently, would form a utopia through an ideal