Holism and Reductionism in Management

Good manager have to balance in managing paradoxes in management world: holism versus reductionism

Role of reductionism on Managers functions

In every organization managers have to perform certain functions. The main functions are planning, organizing, control, co-ordination and motivations. However, the way they do this task differ from one manager to the next in an organization. Every manager has a world view what is an organization and how it works. That is, they have a philosophy about organization and management..

Reductionism is a philosophy, which studies parts of a whole and they produce theories and concepts related to that part to explain and predict in all situations and if parts works then the whole will also work optimally. They produce universal theories in management in a given area of management.

In a managerial context, if the manager uses Scientific Management Theories, for example in motivational theories that people are motivated primarily by money alone in most situations, and assumes that if applied to motivation to all employees the whole organization employees can be motivated effectively, then he is using reductionist philosophy to make decisions how to motivate employees in all contexts and situations. He uses this theory as a law in physical sciences. In effect, reductionism reduces the world in to abstract theories and tries to explain and predict based these theories and avoids complexity. and context. Another, reductionist philosophy is the concept of division of labor and hierarchical organization structure to ensure efficient allocation of resources and productivity. If a manager uses to allocate tasks to employees based on this theory in all organizational context he uses reductionist philosophy as matter of the whole management and assumes it works for the whole organization if it is applied to all parts of the organization because if applied to parts it will produce the same results as an organization as a whole.

In reductionism, as discussed above it over simplifies management or how an organization works. In a sociological and political point of view an organization is a complex system which interacts within and outside the organization and evolve and change in mostly in an unpredictable manner. As well, as assumed in reductionism all organizational phenomenon cannot be measured in monetary terms alone.

If a manger is overly reliance on reductionist philosophy he has the potential to make in appropriate decisions in the context of an organization as whole because he do not consider interactions relationships and there fore may increase conflict and political activity or it may not motivate all employees to work to the goals of an organization as a whole.