The Future Of Manangement

The Future of Management Much of leadership in education today is focused no longer upon directive-style, or top-down management because of the results of research which shows that anxiety impairs learning, and that emotional attachment to work improves learning as well as performance and staff-retention.

These findings have transferred well into all arenas of management, and have boosted a trend toward decentralized leadership. Although much of management still implements the ideas developed through Total Quality Management (Henricks, 1997) the role of the leader is evolving into a role of a facilitator.

Rapidly changing advances in technology have moved us into the Information Age. Information technology, as well as the use and impact of electronic information issues are now key considerations in management, assisting with statistics for TQM, while creating a new need for privacy, security, and ethics.

In addition to research, changes in the economy and culture have also driven required changes in management.

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Family styles and needs have changed drastically over the past fifty years, creating a need for more flexible work hours for some parents. Technology has shrunk the world into a global economy, requiring that we become increasingly diverse, offering us more flexibility, and also requiring increased adaptability and responsiveness. The ever-increasing number of competitors in many businesses, has created a much greater need for higher quality output at lower costs, driving "re-engineering" management processes (Henrichs, 1997) that some interpret as the downsizing trend.

Moreover, the role of management has lost the respect it held a decade or more ago. Leaders are turning to more employee-involved management trends such as "empowerment" and "team" leadership.

These changes, and more, will continue to require change in all areas of management. The focus of the remainder of this paper is on how these management trends will impact the four areas...