Management fad

Management fad is a term used to characterize a change in philosophy or operations implemented by a business or institution.

The term is subjective and tends to be used in a pejorative sense, as it implies that such a change is being implemented (often by management on its employees, with little or no input from them) solely because it is (at the time) "popular" within managerial circles, and not necessarily due to any real need for organizational change. The term further implies that once the underlying philosophy is no longer "popular", it will be replaced by the newest "popular" idea, in the same manner and for the same reason as the previous idea.

Several authors have argued that new management ideas should be subject to greater critical analysis, and for the need for greater conceptual awareness of new ideas by managers.[1] Authors Leonard J. Ponzi and Michael Koenig believe that a key determinant of whether any management idea is a "management fad" is the number and timing of published articles on the idea. In their research,[2] Ponzi and Koenig argue that once an idea has been discussed for around 3–5 years, if after this time the number of articles on the idea in a given year decreases significantly (similar to the right-hand side of a bell curve), then the idea is most likely a "management fad".

Common characteristics

Management fads are often characterized by the following:

Examples

The following management theories and practices appeared on a list of management fashions and fads compiled by Adrian Furnham,[3] who arranged them in rough chronological order by their date of appearance, 1950s to 1990s:

Other theories and practices which observers have tagged as fads include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Christensen, Clayton M. and Michael E. Raynor, "Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 81, No. 9, Sept. 2003, pp. 66-74.
  2. ↑ Ponzi, Leonard J. and Michael Koenig, "Knowledge Management: Another Management Fad?," Information Research, Vol. 8, No. 1, Oct. 2002, paper no. 145.
  3. ↑ Furnham, Adrian, Management and Myths: Challenging Business Fads, Fallacies and Fashions, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, U.K., 2004, p. 17.
  4. ↑ The 8 Stupidest Management Fads of All Time, CBS Money
  5. ↑ Wilson, T.D., "The Nonsense of 'Knowledge Management'," Information Research, Vol. 8, No. 1, Oct. 2002, paper no. 144.
  6. ↑ Agile software development#Criticism
  7. ↑ "Enterprise Architecture Frameworks: The Fad of the Century", Svyatoslav Kotusev, British Computer Society (BCS), July 2016
  8. ↑ Furnham, Adrian (2012). "Early adopters". The Engaging Manager: The Joy of Management and Being Managed. Springer. p. 70. ISBN 9781137273864. Retrieved 2016-09-17. The catchphrases alone are enough to bring flooding into the memory some of the numerous time-and-money-wasting initiatives that went nowhere. Remember 'empowerment,' now replaced by 'engagement'? Remember 'thriving on chaos' and 'upside-down organizations'? [...] The change-ophile, wannabe consultant or desperate manager often embrace every new fad around.

For a critique of the practice of branding new management ideas as fads, see

For a listicle see:

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