1.The Industrial Revolution began in the eighteenth century and transformed the job of manager from owner-manager to professional, salaried manager. Prior to industrialization, the United States was predominantly an agricultural society. The production of manufactured goods was still in the handicraft stage and consisted of household manufacturing, small shops, and local mills. The inventions, machines, and processes of the Industrial Revolution transformed business and management. With the industrial innovations in factory-produced goods, transportation, and distribution, big business came into being. New ideas and techniques were required for managing these large-scale corporate enterprises.
2. Today, business and management continue to be transformed by high technology. In order to keep pace with the increased aped and complexity of business, new means of calculating, sorting and processing information were invented. And interesting description of the modern era is the Information Age that describes the general use of technology to transmit information. Managers realized that they could profit from immediate knowledge of relevant information.
3. Organizations are two or more people working together in a structured, formal environment to achieve common goals. Managers provide guidance, implementation, and coordination so those organizational goals can be reached. The modern manager coaches employees of the organization to develop teamwork, which effectively fulfills their need and achieves organizational objectives. The traditional autocratic organization with its hierarchical system of management and an overbearing “boss” that forces performance out of people is no longer needed. The modern manager provides an atmosphere of empowerment by letting workers make decisions and inspiring people to boost productivity.
4. In order to perform the functions of management and to assume multiple roles, managers be skilled. Robert Katz identified three managerial skills that are essential to successful management: technical, human, and conceptual. Technical skill involves process or technique knowledge and proficiency. Managers use the processes, techniques and tools of a specific area. Human skill involves the ability to interact effectively with people. Managers interact and cooperate with employees. Conceptual skill involves the formulation of ideas. Managers understand abstract relationships, develop ideas, and solve problems creatively. Thus, technical skill deals with things, human skill concerns people, and conceptual skill has to do with ideas.