Management Innovation

Author: Yang Jialu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: This book studies management from the perspective of organizational behavior, starting from the individual level within the organization, introducing the overall development trends of modern management, organizational change, and pathways to innovative organizational behavior. Since the 1980s and 1990s, profound changes have occurred in the internal and external environments of enterprise organizations, leading to many unprecedented situations and problems. As a result, new theories and methods have emerged in the field of management. To comprehensively reflect the new trends in enterprise management development, Shanghai Television University began offering the "Modern Management Trends" course for management students in 2000, introducing and describing the latest research findings and development trends in management from a developmental perspective. Management Innovation was revised based on the original trial. I haven’t seen their original trial, but from this revised edition, I believe that whether it is to offer such a completely new course or systematically compile such a textbook, it holds great theoretical significance and practical value. Management Innovation studies management from the perspective of organizational behavior. The design of its research framework basically follows Barnard’s organizational analysis approach: starting from the individual level within the organization, considering the influence of system elements on organizational behavior, and ultimately forming management performance. This textbook has the following characteristics:
1. It comprehensively summarizes the overall development trends of modern management. The specific concepts and content covered in the textbook were introduced successively since the 1990s and have been separately discussed in other textbooks and academic papers. However, presenting them comprehensively in a single textbook clearly greatly facilitates readers who wish to systematically understand the latest management dynamics.
2. The focus of the research is on how management innovation can drive changes in organizational behavior. This characteristic can be seen in the content structure of the textbook. Chapter introduces the overall development trends of modern management to readers: humanization, flexibility, and virtualization. The reasons behind these three major changes appear to be the influence of informatization and globalization, but on a deeper level, they reflect humanity’s redefinition of its own value, emphasizing the importance of people. The development trends of management, through the pathways of organizational change and innovative organizational behavior in Chapters 2 and 3, lead to shifts in organizational behavior (Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7), which in turn drive a series of significant changes in management.
3. It reflects the transformation in corporate management. Enterprises have shifted from task-oriented organizations to learning organizations, from pursuing product economy to creating competitive advantages, and from establishing clear, rigid organizational boundaries to boundaryless management or boundary management. All these transformations place greater emphasis on the ecological nature and systemic value of the organization.
4. It genuinely reflects the historical evolution of management. Since the early 20th century, systematic management research has undergone a process of over 90 years. Although each era has produced some new management theories and methods, they have all developed inheritantly from the research and exploration of the previous period. The modern management trends introduced in Management Innovation are also built on the foundation of 90 years of management practice. It can be certain that new management theories and methods will continue to emerge. This is also what I hope for the two authors: to take this as a starting point, continuously broaden their knowledge through extensive reading and diligent research, and only in this way can they always stay at the forefront of management research.
In conclusion, I believe that Management Innovation is not only an excellent teaching textbook but also a valuable reference for managers in all industries. If readers are inspired by this book and gain insights or breakthroughs in either management research or practice, that would be truly gratifying. At the same time, I consider this to be a course with both challenge and considerable difficulty. How to design new teaching methods and innovate during the teaching process itself embodies the spirit of innovation that the era of change advocates.