Today’s companies are rewiring their organisations for creativity and innovation. Businesses must develop improved production technologies, create new products and services desired in the marketplace, implement new administrative systems and upgrade employees’ skills. Organisations that change successfully are both admired and profitable. Some observers of business trends suggest that the knowledge economy of the late 1900s and early 2000s is being transformed into the creativity economy.
Organisations faced and are still facing an almost continual need for change. For example, the global financial crisis (2008–10) was not anticipated, the Covid pandemic (2020-2022) was not planned for or anticipated, yet it forced major and difficult changes on most organisations. These outside forces compel managers to look for greater efficiencies in operations and make other changes, but they do not always know how to make these changes successful. Organisations must embrace many types of change.
Assessment Task instructions:
You have been hired as a new manager for a large supermarket. The CEO has requested you to prepare a report that examines the management functions of the organisation to be better prepared for any future threats and opportunities. The CEO tells you “that the field of management today is undergoing a revolution that asks managers to do more with less, to engage with employees, to see change rather than count on stability and to inspire vision and cultural values that allow people to create a collaborative and productive workplace” and further states that “Innovation is central to the solution of some of the problems facing managers”
Your report should provide:
Describe the four management functions and the type of management activities associated with each function.
Identify and explain two perspectives of management (classical, human relations etc) and describe the contemporary management trends and explain why management trends changed over time?
As a manager, what do you think are your responsibilities in the contemporary environment, that is characterised by uncertainty, ambiguity and changes/threats from the environment? Describe the skills and qualities that are important to managers under those conditions?
What are the particular challenges and opportunities faced by managers in this industry (large supermarket chains) and explain strategies that you would use to help organisations to adapt to an uncertain and turbulent environment?
Do you agree with the CEO’s statement above? why or why not?
Structure of the report: Word count 2500 words
Cover sheet
Executive Summary
Table of contents
Answer all the questions above (introduction-main body-conclusion) using headings and subheadings.
Diagrams
In-text referencing
Reference list- at least 6 academic references (preferably recent publications) using APA7 referencing style.
Appendices if required.