Simeon Mpamugoh
“The expectation of tomorrow management is very high because we are in technology, information and knowledge age. Tomorrow’s managers are going to be less patient.”
That was the view of the chairman, Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, Professor Muritala Olakitan Awodun at the fourth in the series of Corporate Members’ Forum of the Nigeria Institute of Management (Chartered). The event took place at Dr Chris Abebe Auditorium, Management House, Idowu-Tailor Street Victoria Island, Lagos.
Awodun, who was guest speaker at the event, noted that today’s managers would expect things to happen at the snap of the finger.
“You have to pay for values. If I don’t see any value in anything, I don’t want to pay for it,” he stated.
The don, who spoke on the theme; ‘Management yesterday, today and tomorrow: An experiential perspective,’ emphasied that expectations of people from government was going to increase and become intense such that tomorrow’s leaders would really have to work really hard if they must keep their positions.
He said. “In life, there is always something new to discover, and our concern is how to manage every moment in the course of management of self, team or network, as well as organization in the society, what we refer to in our daily activity as managing.”
He defined managing as the practice of the science of management. He identified three basic questions in managing: who, what and why?
Said he: “Who manages? Man manages. What is managed? Resources are managed, the core of which is human.”
Noting that management yesterday was about ancient administration that could be related to the pre-industrial revolution through the stories of primitive-age of subsistence agriculture/hunter-gatherer, Awodun, an associate professor of International Business and Entrepreneurship, Kwara State University, and professor of Business Administration, Crown Hill University, Ilorin, Kwara State, said that it was about the early days of modern civilisation, prior to the 20th century, which saw the introduction of division of labour and the arrival of industrial revolution.
He identified some classical, scientific, bureaucratic and administrative approaches of management practices in the earlier days of industrial revolution, listing quantitative, systems, contingency, quality, strategic, and Innovative approaches as that of late 20th and 21st centuries.
He observed that the future of management, particularly from its dynamic nature that had been seen so far, could only be premised on circumstances and situations within human nature, the organisation, and the environment.
According to the scholar, “this is because the three played significant roles in the evolution of what we call management today.
“As the nature of man changes, and as the principal player in management, the concept is expected to change also. In the same vain, as the nature of organisations change, the concept will equally respond. Ultimately, as the nature of the environment changes, the concept will not remain stagnant but will also change.
“The practice of management, which we call managing, like every other practice, is an art based on science. It is about knowing how to do things based on the realities of situations, and evolves as circumstances and situations dictate.
“We cannot practise management tomorrow if we don’t understand management today. This is because management tomorrow is already here today. Our ability to excel in management tomorrow is based on our knowledge of management yesterday and practice of management today.
“Management from the perspective of my personal experience, therefore, is about man’s existence on earth from birth to death or beginning to the end. It involves capturing moments or activities of man, and leaves out nothing. It also includes everything about man and his
existence on mother earth. We all engage in the art of managing using the science of management,” Awodun summed up.
In an address titled “Keeping Abreast of the Best International Management Practice,” the president of the institute, Professor Olukunle Iyanda, stated that the forum was a value-added service to corporate members of the institute. He said it provided an avenue for the institute to directly interact with its corporate members and explore opportunities for collaboration and cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
He added that the forum was in pursuit of his team’s decision to involve corporate members more in the activities of the institute, lamenting; “we realised that corporate members, who were pivotal to the institute’s development at its inception, were no longer as visible as they used to be in the affairs of the institute.”
One of the participants at the forum, Mr. Ademola Williams (MNIM), observed that there had been improvements from the management of yesterday.
He said. “You cannot compare the current management with the one of yesterday in terms of technology and new ideas that are coming. I see the future of management better than the current because researchers are working on how management and managers can improve.
“The expectations are high, and this is why the workshop witnessed high turnout because members know it is something that allows a retrospect and prospect of management.”