History of management thought (Connect, Perform)
Management of organizations has a long history. Consider why the study of this history is important as you answer the question below.
Medifast, a company that makes weight-loss products, recently transitioned from owning weight-loss centers to operating them as franchises, a new business model for the firm. What benefit could CEO Michael C. MacDonald gain from an awareness of the history of management?
1. By studying patterns that recur in different eras, he can see what management tools will work best in his company's environment.
2. He can document other companies' successes, especially as they have recovered from adversity, and show his managers there is no excuse for failure.
3. Through understanding how organizations have worked in the past, he can ensure that Medifast does not repeat past practices, instead adopting an entirely innovative approach.
Millennials (workers who were born from roughly 1982 to 2002) have different values than members of previous generations. They are especially motivated by managers who are friendly and give them lots of feedback. They also want opportunities to learn new skills and be entrepreneurial. This is an example of ______ change that impacts how managers can best achieve organizational objectives.

1. It is often said that without knowing where we've been, we cannot know where we are going. This is why History in a general sense is important, it enables us know how things were done in the past so that we may know how to do things now. Specifically to Management, when the CEO studies the history of Management, he can see where Management has been, he can see what strategies have worked and which happens and in what conditions those strategies worked. After studying these patterns and strategies, he can then figure out how best to manage his current Environment based on those.

2. Social change refers to how the Environment of a Variable has changed in terms of what is expected of the people in it. What new norms or Cultural practices are now held in high regard as opposed to previous times.

Millennials have different values from those of the previous generations which means that there has been a Social Change that managers have to adapt to in order to be able to best achieve Organizational goals.