Paradigms of management

From historical perspective (in chronological order):

- Technological (classical) paradigm
- Social (interpersonal) paradigm
- Cultural (normative) paradigm
*today we still have all these paradigms in organizations

Technological paradigm
- Metaphor of machine (mechanism) – they treat organizations as mechanisms –
people living in organizations are not living beings, they are parts of a mechanism
- Technical skills / knowledge valued – what is important are your skills in relation
with the requirements of the job – not interpersonal skills – it’s based on
knowledge – only a small part of human being is important
- Construction – they put a lot of emphasis on research, on formal aspects of
organizations, on the selection of good candidates for different position, building
structures and checking how those organizational structures work
- Selection
- Structures
- Organizing / Planning / Coordination
- “Hard” managerial competencies – they dominated, the emphasis was put on the
amount of knowledge
- Psychology of work / Psychometric psychology – tests measuring simple
psychophysical competences – it does not measure your personality

Social paradigm
- Rejection of machine metaphor – organizations are build out of human beings and
they have emotions and interpersonal skills – it is necessary to look from a broader
perspective
- Social human dimension of management
- Interpersonal skills valued – communication skills, skills to understand and to
control different dynamics and interpersonal aspects in the organizations
- Communication, EQ, Group dynamics
- “Soft” managerial skills important
- Social psychology, organizational psychology – started to develop at the time (‘50s
– ‘60s – the golden era of social psychology)

Cultural paradigm
- Metaphor of culture
- Normative system
- Socio-moral climate / Ethos
- Organizational culture
 - System of meanings / values / attitudes
- Cultural psychology / cognitive psychology

What is organizational culture?

-problems with precise definition of culture
1 500 understandings found
Similar problem with definition of organizational culture

OC – words - Organizational culture / ethos / climate / atmosphere / socio-moral atmosphere

/ normative system

Homework 1
- Try to write a definition of organizational culture (what it is your opinion)
- Do not use definitions from any sources
- Put your definitions on A4 format paper using big capital letters

Questions for EXAM

- Describe technological ideology of management. (cateva propozitii)
- Describe social ideology of management.