Schools of management (example)

Let's take IIUm as an example. You are the new rector and you are not happy with the overall performance of the university. How would the different schools of management apply to the management of this university?

1. If you believe in the administrative school, you will re-arrange some of the policies and procedures to make the administration stronger.

2. If you believe in the scientific management school, you will do a study of how long it takes to do certain jobs. You will then find ways to shorten the time to do these jobs.

3. If you believe in the bureaucratic school, you will re-arrange the structure of the university so that the chain of command is clear.

4. If you believe in the behavioural school, you will find ways to motivate your staff because you assume that if people are more motivated, they will produce more

5. If you believe in the systems school, you will look at the university overall. You might realise that the university is very dependent on the support from the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) so your energy will be focused on improving the relationship with MOHE.

6. If you believe in the process school, you will look at how different parts of the university work together. For example, for centralised examinations, you might find that the cooperation between different parts of the university is lacking and that effects the students' performance during the examination.

7. If you believe in the learning organisation school, you will ask the senior professors to share their knowledge of management wiht younger lecturers (for example, by doing joint teaching) so that the younger lecturers becoem more experienced more quickly.

In other words, your perception of management will determine how you look at management problems. A good manager will be able to look at a problem from different perspectives in order to identify the best solution.