Value of Philosophy in Management

Value of Philosophy in Management

Philosophy represents the fundamental nature of reality, knowledge, and existence more so when regarded as an academic discipline. In management, philosophy plays a vital role since it guides leaders and control on the best approaches and measures that should be enacted to ensure companies progress as required. Managers consider philosophical values as attitudes and theories governing behavior. In management, different people have different philosophical values that are aimed at ensuring success. The contemporary executive is responsible for the dynamic leadership of the company being led. Such is a reality regardless of the size of the company, whether the executive leads a department or an entire organization. Managers are faced with situations that require them to make tough decisions. In such cases, leaders have to employ values of philosophy to ensure the choices made are informed and align with the organizational culture. It should be noted that lack of management values makes one less of a leader and is hence doomed to fail (Hallam & Contreras, 2016, p. 2157). Therefore, this essay discusses the value and role of philosophy for making sense of managerial practices in the routine functioning of companies. Further, the article considers how the module influences personal development. In so doing, some of the concepts to be included are docility, social construction, modernism, and social construction, among others.

Value of Philosophy in Management

Managers have to understand how to run and control their companies both from the inside and outside. Since different companies have different organizational cultures, managers have to align their philosophical values to ensure goals and objectives are met within the stipulated time. It should be noted that costs are making the right choices at the right time and leading with the required care (Yan & Hafsi, 2015, p. 250). This is to ensure that human resources comprehend what is expected of them and are hence given a chance to prove themselves with the ultimate goal being the achievement of the organization. One example of the contemporary organizational practice is decision making. In decision making, managers are required to understand what the impact of such a choice would be to an organization as a whole both in the long term and short term. It is fundamental to note that managers are chosen majorly based on experience and understanding of the company’s goals and objectives (Halliday, 2018, p. 128). Executives are faced with the issue of exercising leadership in an environment where political, social, and economic circumstances are alternating rapidly.

Such people face new management issues for which there are a few precedents. When broad variations are happening, a manager’s thinking must be based increasingly on values that do not alter. The manager’s decisions and choices on the operations of planning, controlling, and organizing the activities of companies should rest on precise, timeless realities. Such are the truths regarding principle economic objectives, correct business policies, together with fundamental measures to the solution of business issues (Holtbrügge & Garg, 2016, p. 80). In this case, it should be noted that the truths and realities being referred to in this case are the philosophical values that managers and leaders harbor. Such facts represent the foundation pillars of any dynamic management philosophy.

Impression Management

Leaders in companies apply several philosophical values in managing the routine operations of their companies. For instance, impression management is a widely used approach regularly. In this case, managers operate by acting as role models to employees. For example, when making decisions, managers use their understanding of the topic by including all people in the process. It should be noted that this process creates an impression on the workers that they are valued and will hence offer their best in routine operations. In this case, the values of reality and understanding are used in which employees are motivated to provide their version of events and how they desire companies should be run on specific fronts (Jabri, 2015, p. 197). Managers then compile all the ideas to come up with a convenient solution favoring all parties in the company. It should be noted that impression management is very fundamental in the maintenance and development of social relationships as far as leadership is concerned. Impression management is one value of philosophy that leaders use to ensure their followers are on the right track when conducting their routine operations.

With impression and management approaches in place, followers consider their managers and leaders as role models. It is, therefore, essential for leaders and managers to be on the right side in handling their work because role models are supposed to show examples to be emulated (Joullié, 2016, p. 170). In the philosophy of management, impression management represents both a conscious and subconscious approach whereby people endeavor to influence the perceptions of colleagues by illustrating themselves in ways of creating good impressions. Impression management represents one of the values leaders in companies harbor.

These are all things relating to the organization’s self-promotion to possible employees, starting from how assignment postings appear and read to how effectively managers respond to candidates’ applications. Sometimes, in companies, managers and leaders should hide some of the character traits they think are not in line with the company’s mission and vision. For instance, managers are required to wear masks and hide personal issues troubling them. This includes matters to do with their own life and other things that do not add value to the routine development of the company. Impression management requires that managers, leaders, and all staff in companies put objectives of the entity first and their issues second (Konstantinou & Müller, 2016, p. 167). This means that upon arrival at the place of work, the company should be a priority and not the personal self. Impression management includes permitted language in the form of verbal and body, dressing code, alongside the character traits as specified by the entity.

Social Constructions

Social construction represents the approach in which leaders and managers treat and handle their employees. It should be noted that social development is one value of philosophy that managers in all constructs should adopt. When managers socialize with their employees in one way or another, there is a sense of motivation to work harder and take responsibility for routine actions in the company setting. Social construction, therefore, represents one of the critical values of philosophy. It should be noted that leaders and managers incorporate this value on the routine running and management of companies and has over the years, proved to be effective. In the philosophy of control, the amount of social construct is used alongside communication (Liburd & Becken, 2017, p. 1720). This is considering that communication is critical in the management and control of organizational resources, including the staff, among other things. One example of social construction managers in companies use is the concept of self-identity.

It should be noted that self-identity is very fundamental for managers and executives in companies when making critical and contemporary decisions. With self-identity in place, managers understand how the decisions made will impact the running of the organization and hence, will be in a position to change things for the better when issues go as unplanned (Vitolla, Rubino, & Garzoni, 2017, p. 100). In the end, self-identity can also be passed down the organizational hierarchy to employees who will also be tasked with the duty of producing quality services and goods in attaining corporate aims and objectives. In social construction, managers and leaders are required to showcase social ethics ad traits that are acceptable in society. For instance, the critical ways in which managers and leaders should portray in front of company workers and the community at large (Ma & Tsui, 2015, p. 20). In this case, the social constructs can both be within the company or outside working hours. As role models, such people are looked upon a time, and again a slip in the way they conduct themselves might turn out to be a costly mistake

The Enlightenment Project

In the philosophy of management, there is also the concept of the enlightenment project that includes modernization alongside the division of labor. In dividing roles, decision making is critical for managers since it helps understand the right people to be assigned specific jobs and tasks. For instance, managers should be aware of the person or group that will undertake particular tasks and deliver the required results within the specified time (Vanharanta & Markopoulos, 2019, p. 180). This is a fundamental value considering that sometimes, there is no room for wastage; hence, projects and tasks have to be carried out using able hands. On the other hand, in the philosophy of management, another critical value is modernization in which companies’ transition from pre-modern ways of handling activities to modern and more sophisticated ones. This includes the specialization of jobs and assembly lines (Meyers et al., 2019, p. 20). Managers make this decision based on the aim of improving organizational productivity alongside developing expertise both in the short term future of the company. There are specific aims of enlightenment as far as routine operations of companies are concerned.

For starters, it is meant to recognize the best way of designing and executing entities in current conditions. It should be noted that enlightenment allows the detachment of organizational problems from precise contexts whereby they had been recognized, and changed into generalizable regulations which typified connections with companies (Van Der Linden & Freeman, 2017, p. 370). In the philosophy of management, managers apply this value in handling problems their respective entities face, and this could be from those suffering human resources to those concerning production, among numerous other things. Principally, managers and leaders of organizations can utilize technical skills and knowledge in resolving organizational problems, which represents a principal value in the philosophy of management. After recognizing the problem, the most appropriate treatment is known and applied (Mullins & Schoar, 2016, p. 40). In the philosophy of management, it is the role of managers to make all complex decisions if companies are to attain their goals and objectives. The value of scientific thinking is based on the capacity to disintegrate complicated problems and issues into smaller discrete tasks.

The smaller tasks are then completed chronologically within the required time frame. The philosophy of management requires that leaders and managers be in a position to determine the functions that should be completed first. After discerning this, employees are provided the chance to evaluate how such tasks should be completed. Nonetheless, managers chip in for some help when employees do not understand or have no clue of how the job should be completed. Once technical knowledge and understanding have secured its objectivity and aim, it is probable for managers and employees to learn gains and, applications and pitfalls of it minus the need to question its cultural disciplines. Technical and enlightened managers are fundamental to the company and society at large (Musaraj, 2019, p 40). Principally, their skills and expertise permit them to handle incredibly hard tasks, including constructing on an oil rig, production flying objects, and sometimes designing a rail network. It should be noted that such people handle such complicated tasks with precision and end up producing desirable results (Urbancova & Vnouckova, 2015, p. 45). This explains why such managers are highly sought after as they create value for the organization.

Reflection of the Impact of the Module

All business leaders understand how to make sure that the entity’s vision and mission are adequately defined. It is the company philosophy that identifies and evaluates why managers and business leaders undertake specific tasks. It should be noted that the philosophy of business might be an undocumented attitude and sometimes drafted on how people interact and act with one another in the general public. This module is fundamental as it provides critical values and concepts of philosophy that managers’ leaders and employees of companies adhere to in routine operations. Principally, a comprehensive evaluation of this module provides information on how companies are run and how people behave (Noe et al., 2017, p. 66). This module teaches on several theories connected with values of philosophy in management.

It informs that philosophy matters profoundly in organizations and therefore projecting the need for managers and leaders to adhere to organizational aims and directives. The module tells that it is time companies shifted from pre-modern to modern ways of doing things since this will ensure aims attainment of goals and objectives as stipulated in the initial startup plan. By understanding the concepts and values of philosophy in management, I get to know what is required in the routine conduct of business (Painter-Morland, 2015, p. 70). For instance, the concept of social construct informs my understanding of how to assume some things while at the place of work and concentrate on those appropriate and effective in routine conducting of duties.

With such information, I was able to understand approaches that can be put in place to ensure success. Additionally, the social impression, as indicated, is also another concept and value as far as philosophy in management is concerned. In this module, I have learned new ideas, including impression management and the enlightenment project that are fundamental in control (Stecuła, Tutak & Brodny, 2017, p. 100). The new ideas, in this case, reveal hidden elements of organizational practice. Such approaches have provided an understanding of new perspectives of management that I believe might be essential in my future career as a manager and corporate enthusiast. Additionally, the module is useful as they allow me to understand and appreciate the work and routine activities of managers both within departments and companies as a whole.

Further, the module provides awareness of concealed elements that allow people to act and operate with such in mind. Uncovering the hidden details provides room for addressing them. Further, the issue of multiple audiences, as indicated within this module, presents problems on how to act and operate with conflicting social classes (Pantouvakis & Karakasnaki, 2019, p. 280). Further, conflicting replies on how one should work also presents itself upon completion of the module. When I stop and think about it, I find it how vital and essential a well-defined business philosophy appears to be. This module provides the importance of philosophy in conducting the routine operations of companies.

After this module, I believe that being honest and standing behind a product as a positive member of the company all represent essential and positive philosophies a business can adopt. It is fundamental to note that with this information, I am now able to determine and evaluate the positive values that should be included in the management of companies. Compared to past modules, this module provided useful and detailed information regarding values embedded within the philosophy of governance. Additionally, comprehensive examples were posited in this module. Primarily, I noted that this is a recap of the past modules and provided information straight and clear to the point (Rendtorff, 2017, p. 100). Mostly, information regarding the most appropriate concepts and values of the philosophy of management was channeled.

Such included but not limited to the enlightenment project, modernism, postmodernism, storytelling, multiplicity, impression management, panopticon, social construction, and humility. Principally, the module elevated my comprehensive understanding of how managers and leaders in organizations discern and make decisions in routine operations of their companies. With such information, it will be easier to analyze and evaluate how managers and leaders behave as far as running activities is concerned (Rendtorff, 2017, p. 68). This module ended with a recap on past information and hence, can, in the future, be used as a case study for other considerable researchers. By providing information about the various concepts and values of the philosophy of management, I will apply the same in my future career as a corporate enthusiast.

Conclusion

The paper evaluated and informed on the value of philosophy for making sense of managerial practices. The three concepts and values of philosophy handled in this case are impression management, the enlightenment project, and social construction. It is worth noting that these values of philosophy in managerial practices are founded on the strengths, abilities, knowledge, and skills that managers should reveal in conducting routine operations of the entity. Principally, managers and leaders are required to act, operate, and conduct themselves in some specified way since employees look upon them. The philosophy of management does not only start with the values presented by companies but commences with the ideas of life and attitudes of managers and leaders. For instance, impression management provides that managers should wear masks and show their better sides when running organizational activities. For example, such people should not allow their problems to cloud the routine decisions they make. This is because, in the case such happens, inadequate and irrelevant choices might be made, and this will operate against the company. According to the values and concepts posited by the philosophy of management, the company, and its benefits should be the priority, and personal issues should be second and less of concern, at least while managing employees in the organizational settings.