Management Theory and Environmental Forces in the Fast Food Industry

Management Theory and Environmental Forces in the Fast Food Industry

Introduction

The development of management since the revolution in industries in the United States has resulted in the evolution of several theories of management employed today in our corporate setups. The way these theories are applied in the industry of fast food restaurants has formed the arrangement of these organizations into inexpensive and fast organizations which, on an international level, bring value to the consumers.

Evolution of Management Thought

Pursuing the revolution in the industry in the 19th century, the researchers and scientists had been looking for several systems and scientific approaches for coping with the new trends of living; they have been quitting from a principally agrarian economy, on the basis of agriculture, to a new industrial type of economy. The objectives of shifting from an agrarian economy had been improving the quality of life leading to the enhancement of the international economy. As a disciplinary science, management that entails the study of controlling, leading, organizing, and planning the human and other resources for achieving the organizational objectives effectively and efficiently (Jones & George, 2009); plays a key role to the success of such endeavor. Led by this international revolution, management has passed across a spectacular evolutionary procedure which is divided by Daniel Wren into three principle areas, in his book, “The evolution of management thought”. These three areas include; the scientific era which commenced in the middle of the nineteenth century and lasted till the early years of the 20th century; the social person management era, which commenced nearly in the 2nd or 3rd decade of the 20th century and lasted till the latter years of the century; and finally the modern management era, which commenced in the years in the latter half of the 20th century (Wren,1994).

Scientific Management Era

This is the era which pursues the revolution in the US industries; it is named as such because it goes ahead of a mere historical managerial historical time span for reaching a managerial pedagogic development. Therefore, it is in the course of this era that the American colleges had started to incorporate a field of management in their curriculum. Wharton School of Finance and Economy was the initial school for integrating the study of management in their courses, in the year 1881 (Wren, 1994). Scientific management turned into a discipline of study that led to the commencement of the development of contemporary management. The father of scientific management, Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915), is at the core of several scientific developments. Taylor loomed management as a methodical study of associations amongst individuals and jobs with the intent of revamping the work procedure for increasing efficacy and maximizing the output (Jones & George, 2009).

The Social Person Management Era

The social person management era is mostly subjugated by the experiments in management. It was a hypothetical time span in the procedure of evolution of the management science. As a continuance of the former era, this very era ...