Management fad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A management fad is a derisive term use to characterize a change in philosophy or operations that sweeps through businesses and institutions, and then disappears when enthusiasm for it wanes. According to critics, a management fad is often launched by business academics or management consultants, and adopted by managers who think they can alter and improve human behavior, or who embrace the fad because they see it as validating their roles as leaders and innovators, or who promote the fad as a means to career advancement.
The appraisal that a management theory or practice is a "management fad" is subjective. There is no consensus on the distinction between a management fad, and a valid management practice. Some management theorists have criticized the "fad motif," warning that new management ideas should be critically analyzed rather than debunked.
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The following management practices and theories have been classified by some as management fads: management by objectives, the Deming System, total quality management, the customer service revolution, reengineering, and knowledge management. Critics charge that although changes in the usual way of doing business may persist as the result of one of these, the central characteristics of a management fad are formal introduction of the change by management via memorandums, workshops, and the formation of committees, the enthusiastic or cynical adoption of the changes by staff, and the gradual disappearance of the change as both management and staff lose interest, with a return to business as usual. Though a new approach such as the Deming System may be valid and useful, if the name under which that method was introduced vanishes from organizational communication and from business and management magazines and journals, then it may be assumed to have been a management fad.
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[edit] References
- Crainer, Stuart, and Des Dearlove, “Whatever Happened to Yesterday's Bright Ideas?,” Across the Board, Vol. 43, No. 3, May/June 2006, pp. 34-40.
- Malone, Michael S., “A Way Too Short History of Fads,” Forbes, Vol. 159, No. 7, April 7, 1997 (ASAP supplement).
- Paul, Annie Murphy, “I Feel Your Pain,” Forbes, Vol. 174, No. 13, Dec. 27, 2004.
- Strang, David; Macy, Michael W.,"In Search of Excellence: Fads, Success Stories, and Adaptive Emulation." American Journal of Sociology, Jul2001, Vol. 107 Issue 1
- Wilson, T.D. (2002) "The nonsense of 'knowledge management'" Information Research, 8(1), paper no. 144. [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html]
- D Collins. "The branding of management knowledge: rethinking management ‘fads’," Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2003, Vol. 16 Issue 2, p186, 19p.
- D. Collins. "The fad motif in management scholarship," Employee Relations, Feb. 2001.
