EMERGING ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT

Abstract:
Contemporary management refers that which management tools are practiced by todays
managers and business organizations. This is a top most aspect of management as well as
business organizations. Contemporary management practice starts from the ancient civilization.
Then it invents various aspects like administrative management, scientific management, modern
management and now every where practice contemporary management. There are some basic
issues of contemporary management like total quality management, e-commerce, human
resources management, project management and globalization. Besides those issues in recent
some more issues are upcoming in contemporary management. Management in the changing
society has become important to all because of its universal application, and therefore,
contemporary issues on management provide basics on the effectiveness of work-life of
individuals and groups who work at different situations in competitive world environment.

EMERGING ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Contemporary Management Issues examines the way of thinking that is needed to address issues
as they emerge. Contemporary issues have arisen as a result of past, and current, thinking and
practices. Similarly, future issues will emerge as a result of current thinking and practices

1.2 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES

This issues includes;
1.2.1 QUALITY MANAGEMENT
One of the prime issues of today contemporary management is the quality management. Quality
management provides the principles and the methodological frame for operations, and
coordinates activities to manage and control an organization with regard to quality. Quality
assurance and quality controls are the parts of any successful quality management system.
Quality assurance focuses on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled and
includes all the planned and systematic activities implemented in a quality system so that quality
requirements for a product or service will be fulfilled. Quality control is associated with those
components used to ensure that the quality requirements are fulfilled and includes all the
operational techniques and activities used to fulfill quality requirements. Total Quality can be
managed through ensuring

Meeting customers requirements,

Commitment by senior management and all employees,

Continuous improvement,

Planning quality into products and processes,

Teams,

Employee involvement and empowerment,

Recognition,

Benchmarking,

Certification (ISO),

Six sigma.

EMERGING ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT

1.2.2 CUSTOMER STRATEGY

Customer focus is the commitment to putting customers first and ability to deliver a consistently
high quality service. Most companies have a product strategy and a marketing strategy.
Customer-centric organizations also have a customer strategy. Put simply, a customer strategy is
a proactive plan for how we want to acquire, retain, and grow our customers. Too many
organizations leave it to chance when it comes to retention and growth of customers, focusing
most of their resources on customer acquisition.
In order to align our customer experience with our customer strategy, we need to consider how
we have created that strategy. A strong customer strategy is built around the interactions we
have with our customers, and we are able to maximize the value of every customer touch. In
other words, we make each impression with the customer count. Customer service and support
may have several opportunities to make customer impressions, and it is often where the rubber
meets the road. How do we handle our customers when there is a problem or a question? The
goal of all these interactions is to increase customer retention and loyalty, which ultimately leads
to repeat business and referrals. Done right, a customer strategy will also build customer trust,
strengthen the relationship, and add value to both the customer and the company.
Customer-focused strategy is a planned approach to how we handle our customers at every touch
point. It is more than just giving great customer service. It is more than marketing with certain
customer buzzwords. It is more than a great customer experience. It requires a strategic plan to
be put in place to address all of those areas, plus the metrics to ensure the success of the strategy.

1.2.3 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Technology plays a key role in today's business environment. Many companies greatly rely on
computers and software to provide accurate information to effectively manage their business. It
is becoming increasingly necessary for all businesses to incorporate information technology
solutions to operate successfully. One way that many corporations have adopted information

EMERGING ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT

technology on a large scale is by installing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to

accomplish their business transaction and data processing needs.
1.2.3.1. ERP systems:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are software packages that use relational database
technology to integrate various units of an organization's information system. ERP systems
provide several separate, but integrated modules, which can be installed as a package for any
organization (Scapens and Jazayeri 1998). Many large corporations use several different and
separate information systems, often because they have merged with and/or acquired other
companies with varied systems. An ERP system integrates these separate information systems
and results in improved data reliability and processing efficiency. ERP systems quickly became
popular with large corporations that needed a seamless integration of their business, but are now
frequently used by small to mid-sized companies. The excellent ability of ERP systems to
simplify business transaction processing, eliminate work that adds little or no value, and
simultaneously improve customer service are the main reasons for the outstanding success and
popularity of these systems.
1.2.4. E-Business:
In todays business climate, e-Business can have an impact on every facet of the organization,
including processes, applications, staffing, infrastructure, relationships, sales, and sales channels.
Not only is e- Business transforming companies and industries, its doing so at an accelerating
rate. Business cycles that use to be measured in years are now measured in days.
Competition in the future, even today in certain industries, will not be company against company
but supply chain against supply chain. Companies will be only as strong as the weakest link in
their supply chain. The winners will be companies that can build up, or tear down, electronic
B2B relationships rapidly and seamlessly. As part of this transformation, enterprise borders are
starting to disappear. E-Business is all about providing open access to infrastructure services,
data, and applications. Partners, suppliers, customers and, in some cases, even your competition
(or co-operation) will be able to peer 3into your corporate nervous system.

EMERGING ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT

Hopefully, all of this will be for the better. But, if not handled correctly, sometimes it may be for
the worse. Customer expectations are rising mercilessly in terms of the speed and reliability they
expect from your e-Business applications. Studies show that Web customers will wait only eight
seconds for a page view, even if they are on a slow connection that you have no control over.

1.2.5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

Project management involves coordinating various aspects of a project in order to bring forth a
positive result. This coordination can include elements such as personnel, materials, procedures
and facilities. Over the past five to ten years, there have been increasing challenges faced by
Project Managers.
The first aspect of project management that can be problematic is the area of quality. From the
point of view of the owners of a project, quality can be a challenge. The owner representatives
(sometimes also referred to as the client, if construction is being managed by a third party) tend
to spend the bulk of their time on stewarding to the managers. This means that the
representatives may not be focusing on quality nearly as much as they should be..
This standard should be communicated throughout the bidding process and in the Contract
Terms. Sometimes during the latter stages of project engineering, the contractor can be eager to
start construction. It has been recommended that contractors be reigned in until engineering is
truly complete prior to starting construction, in order to minimize re-work and other such issues.
Also, once construction has started, contractors need to be reminded that any field engineers that
they use must liaise with the project engineers prior to any engineering changes being made. This
creates consistency between what was planned and what actually takes place in the field.
1.2.6.. GLOBALIZATION:

EMERGING ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT

Globalization is much more than an economic phenomenon. The technological and political
changes that drive the process of economic globalization have massive noneconomic
consequences.
The noneconomic aspects are at least as important in shaping the international debate as are the
economic aspects.
1.2.7 FUNCTIONAL ISSUES:
Functional issues refer to the pressing problems of the four fundamental management
functions:

Identification of goals, choice of strategy, forecasting, elaboration of plans

and budgets and decision making;

Design and selection of organizational structure, design of internal relations

system, as well as design of management system;

Organizational behaviour, motivation, leadership, communication, groups

and relations within the groups, interpersonal relations and conflicts;

Control methods, control areas, information systems in controlling.

1.3. CONCLUSION
The issues are due to changes in economic, social and political environment.