Management is an important organ of the modern society. The decisions of management in government, business and other organizations constitute a powerful social force which is vital to the effective functioning of the contemporary society. Management is that organ of the society which is given the responsibility of making the productive use of resources for the betterment of the society. The term ‘management’ is also used to represent an organized body of knowledge which enables the ambitious executives to acquire and master the skills needed to discharge their responsibilities effectively. This body of knowledge should not be taken as static. It should be studied in the light of socio-economic, political, educational and other changes. These changes make it appropriate (even mandatory) to re-examine the role of modem managers. Modern managers have the responsibility to devise the management practices to meet the new challenges and make use of the opportunities for growth of the organization.
Change is an important feature of modern organizations. Significant changes take place every day in social, technological, political and other aspects of modern world. However, the recent spate of changes in the economies of the world caused, by creation of World Trade Organization (WTO), economic liberalization and trend towards globalization of economies have brought many opportunities and threats for the modern organizations. No manager can afford to ignore such changes; rather he has to make use of them to his advantage. In other words, he has no option, but to accept the challenges. To be successful, the manager must try to forecast the changes because of the following reasons:
(i) The changes in business environment will have a considerable impact on the theory and practice of management. Experience that once provided a sense of security to preceding generations of managers may be of little comfort to future managers. New problems