MODULE I CONCEPT CHECK ACTIVITY

1. What contributions did ancient

civilizations make to management thought?
SUMERIANS- Through writing they
conceptualized the use of coins for they to be
flourished in the merchant culture better than
before.
BABYLONIANS- Written laws and commands
serve as the context that leads to disciplined
management which also later come up to the
idea of giving incentives as a motivation to
work harder.
EGYPTIANS- Through observation, they come
up that segregation labors through
coordination and specialization will help to
emphasized detailed projects and with the
addition of span of control they manage the
workers very well to give more look to the
details.
DYNASTIES IN CHINA- To focus in different
aspects of society, they contemplated and
organized the idea of bureaucracy. Through
this you can only focus on what aspects will
be given to you, like bureau of defense,
treasury and etc. To give more emphasis, the
idea of meritocracy was being developed to
promote certain officials to work diligently
and productively.
 GREEKS- As Plato recognized the human
diversity, the Greeks organized to divide
labor in different specializations. Through
noticing the development of managerial skills,
Socrates tells that information sharing and
analysis with coordination will surely help in
working efficiently.
ROMANS- Slavery is one of the most inhumane
acts of managing a worker but due to economic
changes, Roman workers starting to have
freedom. Also, the Romans influence the
standardization in managerial aspects, through
this it can build a lot of detailed
information through a corporation that the
Romans also developed.

2. How did the Industrial Revolution change

business and the economy?

 The establishment of the marketplace

enhanced the organizing and exchanging of
goods.
 The idea of specialization and coordination
within corporation by Adam Smith developed
the segregation of labor and specialized
workers within the management and the
workers.
 The invention of steam engine lowered
production and transportation costs.
 The idea of modern corporation by having
factory setting coordinated and specialized
by management is better than the family
 setting production prior to factory
production.
 The revolution in transportation by
creating canals and railroads enhance the
transferring and production of products and
services.
 Through enhance the way of communicating by
having telegraph system it is more
efficient to communicate intercompany or
intracompany.
 The developed credit system and improved
transportation broadens the possibility of
production and market options.
 By standardizing equipment, industrial
revolution leads corporation become
gigantic by increasing productivity and
capability.

3. Describe scientific management. How was

scientific management different from the
management techniques that came before
it?

Scientific management is the approach of

developing managerial skills by using the
logical reasoning of science by enhancing
work, working capabilities, managerial skills,
and command responsibility between the
workforce and management. The difference
between prior management techniques and
scientific management approach is that the
 former focuses only on how they be productive
by recognizing workers as a tool for creating
products, that there is no cooperation and
coordination between the workforce and
management while the latter explains that
there is more context outside the box, that if
you treat the workforce within the principles
of science there will be better changes and
create more opportunities like improvement in
relations and development in work-lifestyle
environment.

4. Which management scholar do you find the

most influential and important, and how
would you incorporate their approach into
your managerial approach?

Chester Bernard’s function of the executive

and zone of indifference will be the best to
hone my managerial skills. By gaining
resources from members to hiring and retaining
talented employees with best authority and
communications from the management by giving
monetary incentives and nonmonetary incentives
like recognition is my ideal approach to
everyone. Also, the idea of zone of
indifference where you must comply first and
it’s a must to understand the order even it is
indifferent is one way of learning and
experiencing different things. This idea also
persuades that everything must be consistent
with organizational goals and must not violate
 individual’s personal beliefs. I will
incorporate this managerial approach to mine
by creating an environment that even though I
have the authority, I’ll not put barriers
between me and my subordinates and I’ll
express my sincere and honest feelings towards
them and motivate in everything they do.

5. Based on the reading, defend or attack

this statement that would be stated by a
direct report:
Management is unethical because it is
about manipulating workers.

I’ll rephrase this statement by saying,

“Management us ethical because it is about
helping and guiding workers.”
The state given above is too pessimistic,
in a workforce where management is a pessimist
there will be no great things that will come
out of their work. We must be optimistic and
think that communication between the
management and the workforce is all about
guiding and helping them to their jobs, as a
manager it is a must that they will make their
subordinated feel that the management is one
of them. And I’ll leave a saying that says, “A
optimistic manager may create a happy worker,
but a pessimist manager will never create a
happy worker”.