Self-management
Encyclopedia
Self-management means different things in different fields:
Self-management may also refer to:
Self-managed Companies
Some business leaders have begun to structure their companies as either partially or fully self-managed. A fully self-managed company is one that imposes no formal hierarchical structure upon employees (in some cases, having no hierarchy whatsoever). Some companies (e.g. Google, famous for their 20 Percent Time), allow their employees to have free rein for a portion of their time, pursuing projects that they find interesting or promising without requiring consent or authorization from management.
In 2009, authors Isaac Getz of ESCP Europe Business School, and Brian Carney, of The Wall Street Journal, published the book Freedom, Inc., which made the case for businesses based upon the principles of freedom. They advocate removing bureaucratic rules and regulations and allowing employees to do what they do well without traditional "managerial" intervention. Some of the more notable companies detailed in their book:
The Morning Star Company
, a privately held food processing and agribusiness company, is a fully self-managed company, having no formal hierarchy, and allowing colleagues within the company to commit to their own activities, organize their own work, and coordinate their own working relationships with other colleagues. Morning Star was the initial sponsor of the Morning Star Self-Management Institute, a research and training organization aimed at furthering the principles of Self-Management in organizations.
- In businessBusinessA business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, educationEducationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, and psychologyPsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, self-management refers to methods, skills, and strategies by which individuals can effectively direct their own activities toward the achievement of objectives, and includes goal settingGoal settingGoal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted goals. Work on the theory of goal-setting suggests that it's an effective tool for making progress by ensuring that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly aware of what is expected from...
, decision makingDecision makingDecision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
, focusingFocusingIn psychotherapy-related disciples, the term focusing is used to refer to the simple matter of holding a kind of open, non-judging attention to something which is directly experienced but is not yet in words. Focusing can be used to become clear on what one feels or wants...
, planningPlanningPlanning in organizations and public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; and the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale. As such, it is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior...
, schedulingSchedule (workplace)A schedule, often called a rota, is a list of employees who are working on any given day, week, or month in a workplace. A schedule is necessary for the day-to-day operation of any retail store or manufacturing facility. The process of creating a schedule is called scheduling...
, task tracking, self-evaluationEvaluationEvaluation is systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone using criteria against a set of standards.Evaluation often is used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice,...
, self-intervention, self-developmentPersonal developmentPersonal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations...
, etc. Also known as executive processes (in the context of the processes of execution). - In the field of computer science, self-managementSelf-management (computer science)Self-Management is the process by which computer systems shall manage their own operation without human intervention. Self-Management technologies are expected to pervade the next generation of network management systems....
refers to the process by which computerComputerA computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
systems will (one day) manage their own operation without human intervention. Self-Management technologies are expected to pervade the next generation of network managementNetwork managementNetwork management refers to the activities, methods, procedures, and tools that pertain to the operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of networked systems....
systems. - In the field of medicineMedicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and health careHealth careHealth care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, self-management means the interventions, training, and skills by which patients with a chronic condition, disability, or disease can effectively take care of themselves and learn how to do so. Personal care applied to outpatients. See also self care. - In condominiums and housing co-operatives, it refers to apartment buildings or housing complexes that are run directly by the owners themselves, either through a committee structure, or through a Board of Directors that has management as well as executive functions.
- In political economyPolitical economyPolitical economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
, economicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and sociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, self-management may refer to a Self-managed economy, a type of socialist economic system that is based on various forms of collaborative, decentralized, inclusive decision-making and relative workplace autonomy in economic enterprises and the government.
Self-management may also refer to:
- Workers' self-managementWorkers' self-managementWorker self-management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it...
- a form of workplace decision-making in which the employees themselves agree on choices (for issues like customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labor etc.) instead of the traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it. This was the official development strategy of Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Workers self-management was promoted on all levels in society.
Self-managed Companies
Some business leaders have begun to structure their companies as either partially or fully self-managed. A fully self-managed company is one that imposes no formal hierarchical structure upon employees (in some cases, having no hierarchy whatsoever). Some companies (e.g. Google, famous for their 20 Percent Time), allow their employees to have free rein for a portion of their time, pursuing projects that they find interesting or promising without requiring consent or authorization from management.
In 2009, authors Isaac Getz of ESCP Europe Business School, and Brian Carney, of The Wall Street Journal, published the book Freedom, Inc., which made the case for businesses based upon the principles of freedom. They advocate removing bureaucratic rules and regulations and allowing employees to do what they do well without traditional "managerial" intervention. Some of the more notable companies detailed in their book:
- IDEOIDEOIDEO is an international design and innovation consultancy founded in Palo Alto, California, United States with other locations in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Boston, London, Munich, Shanghai, and Singapore, as well as Mumbai, Seoul, and Tokyo. The company helps design products, services,...
- W. L. Gore & Associates
- Semco, made famous by their president, Ricardo SemlerRicardo SemlerRicardo Semler is the CEO and majority owner of Semco SA, a Brazilian company best known for its radical form of industrial democracy and corporate re-engineering. Under his ownership, revenue has grown from US$4 million in 1982 to US$212 million in 2003 and his innovative business management...
, in his book MaverickMaverick (book)Maverick : The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace by Ricardo Semler Maverick is essentially the autobiography of a business as well as a businessman, Ricardo Semler, Chairman of Semco, one of Brazil’s largest conglomerates...
The Morning Star Company
The Morning Star Company
The Morning Star Company is a California based agribusiness and food processing company. Morning Star processes 25% of the California processing tomato production, and supplies approximately 40% of the U.S. industrial tomato paste and diced tomato markets....
, a privately held food processing and agribusiness company, is a fully self-managed company, having no formal hierarchy, and allowing colleagues within the company to commit to their own activities, organize their own work, and coordinate their own working relationships with other colleagues. Morning Star was the initial sponsor of the Morning Star Self-Management Institute, a research and training organization aimed at furthering the principles of Self-Management in organizations.
See also
- AdhocracyAdhocracyAdhocracy is a type of organization that operates in opposite fashion to a bureaucracy. The term was first popularized in 1970 by Alvin Toffler, and has since become often used in the theory of management of organizations , further developed by academics such as Henry Mintzberg.- Etymology :The...
- Autogestion
- Task managementTask managementTask management is the process of managing a task through its life cycle, including planning, testing, tracking and reporting. Task management can help either individuals achieve goals, or groups of individuals collaborate and share knowledge for the accomplishment of collective goals...
- Time managementTime managementTime management is the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific...