Importance of Historical Perspectives Essay

The set up use of sweat or instruction as we now scream it, is as old as cartridge holder. However it was only in the nineteenth century that oversight and the idea of guidance mind emerged as an principal(prenominal) element of political, economic and social development. I believe that historical perspectives suck up been critic bothy important to the development of focal point imagination through the centuries.Management ideas get hold of been developed out of social and cultural mountain, over time the social and cultural circumstances shake off radically changed and developed but the principle of management and management thought has been slow in charge up with these developments. From my reading, I would argue that there have been three of import phases that have unsoundedly shaped management thought since antediluvian patriarch times. These phases are the early oppressive management approach, the change in management thought following the reformation and t hirdly, the newborn work practices required to support the industrial revolution.From my research, it is evident that major historical events have also had an important government agency to play in the development of assorted management styles and structures. In ancient times, management of people was purely autocratic. Many of the work force in these times were slaves. This early practise of management seen in ancient Egypt, proceed through to feudal times. It was very effective in supporting some(a) of the great construction projects which ancient Egypt is famous for, such as the grammatical construction of the pyramids, the irrigation of the Nile and the edifice of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.Similarly in ancient China, the building of the Great Wall of China. These great works provide us with consequence of a very organised and autocratic approach to the use of labour and also project management skills . This early autocratic period of management was heavily domi nated by cultural values such as fear of punishment, fear of god, where people had no sense of individual effect and they could only look forward to a better feeling aft(prenominal) death.This form of management continued through the middle ages and in these non-industrialised circumstances there was no no need to develop a chunk body of management thought(Wren & Bedeian, 2011 37) As long as ingredienty was dominated by fear and oppression this form of management was sustained. As long as Christianity and the divine right of kings maintained their hold on gild, management thought could not evolve and develop. However, these feudal times where godliness was invincible and demanded total subservience ere feeler to an end. The crusades were a major throttle valve for change in these times and by weakening the strength of the Catholic church they were the beginning of a cultural rebirth which led to the Protestant reformation. With the reformation came the protestant work ethi c which I would argue has transcended the accounting of management and has fundamentally changed work practises opening the door to completely different and new management styles and structures.Prior to this commerce was viewed as an evil that alter peoples minds and the idea of trade could undermine the obedience demanded by the Catholic church. gook Weber in the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism urges strongly that the spirit of capitalism grew out of Protestantism and the protestant work ethic. (Wren & Bedeian, 2011 26) It is clear that the variation in attitudes in society due to the reformation brought with it the need for new management structures which would support creativity and competitiveness.These changes did not happen quickly, but they were diametrical in the fundamental shift to the organisation of labour being managed by many an(prenominal) people and many different types of people rather than the autocratic few. These new managers began to think about personal gain and had to consider the better(p) ways to achieve these gains. The shift to personal gain was accompanied by the strengthening of national economies in Europe and further afield as new countries and colonies were being discover and established.The scene was being set for the industrial revolution. Historical perspectives were changing and along with them, new principles in management thought were emerging. Adam Smith was one of the evangelists of management thought during the early stages of the industrial revolution. One of Smiths new thoughts on management was that the marketplace economy would be se self regulating, that is to say that the market would be ruled by the invisible hand(Wren & Bedeian, 2011 34).His other contribution were his thoughts on the division of labour culminating in the substantial productivity that the use of engineering science brought to replace human man power. Smiths principles are fundamental to modern management thought. The industri al revolution brought with it the move from agrarian life to urban living. Production became large scale and the increasing number of factories coming into production demanded more managers who would have to be capable of successfully organising and managing all aspects of these new work places. There is no doubt that historical perspectives have been mportant in bringing about great changes for the better in management thought as evidenced by the evolution of the three phased covered herein. However I would conclude, that despite the advantages of having historical perspectives, society and the management of society does not really learn from these perspectives. I think this is well summarised in Will Durants quote in the story of civilization part 1 where he states that a nation is born stoic and dies gastronome(Durant, 1935 259). There is no clearer example of this than in Ireland today.We have spent centuries try against the autocratic management of Irish society both by the c atholic church and by British rule. The adversity of these times was eventually replaced by the development of new management structures bringing with them creativity and competiveness. However, as with many developing societies and civilisations, with this development came affluence and opportunism which in turn undermined the justice of these management structures. Like the Epicureans, poor thought was given to how this would impact tomorrow.So as in Greece and Rome, the lack of long term prudent management and the lack of learning from the historical perspectives on management thought have meant that we have not escaped the Epicurean death blow that has been rendered to Ireland.