Changing Paradigms in Management

Abstract

October 31, 1571 individualism was born. Martin Luther nailed his Ninety Five theses to the door of the Wittenberg Palace All Saint's Church. The event marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation which became the base of capitalism. Now the Church was not the interpreter of the Bible, Luther gave this right to single human beings. He initiated the process of reinventing Christianity. We look at this as a paradigm shift. Management thought is in a state of flux and we are experiencing paradigm shift in management too. Today organizations have reinvented themselves by being learning organizations. Wealth of an organization/economy/nation is the knowledge base that they possess. We experience transition from an era of competitive advantage gained through information to the one gained from knowledge creation. Investment in Information technology may yield information but the interpretation of the information and a value addition done to it by the human mind is knowledge. Knowledge is the prerogative of the human mind and not the machines. We discuss how Knowledge Management initiatives at India's most revered company, Tata Steel, British Petroleum. The other area of paradigm shift in management has been Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Corporate interacts in various ways with society thus it makes them indebted to society and environment. Corporate are expected to expand their area of attention beyond stakeholders, customers, employees to include community and environment. We also look at the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives taken up by Tata Steel and Ballarpur Industries.