The changing perspectives of Management.

The concept of managing  events and consequences   in society since medieval ages to modern has changed drastically. Whether it is environmental or health concern, people in medieval ages much believed that those were the punishment of the god. For example “Black Plague” was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, took away lives of many people. Similar, is the case of yellow fever outbreak in USA and malaria in different parts of the globe.  People in general then  believe that it was due to the divine intervention of god that made such things possible. They blamed the heavens for such consequences occurring in the society. How to manage and deal with such societal problems in such era was a big pragmatic question.  We can predict that only way to manage such problems during hard times was praying to god. The formula would be to make god happy, the sooner the god listened you, the sooner it would make human beings free from such distressful moments. This was a story from medieval ages that dealt with the concept of management process to deal with most of happenings.

Human civilization from historic times to the age of science and technology has brought huge changes in human beliefs and values along its various evolutionary stages. In the same way, we have developed different approaches to manage different disasters and hazards occurring across the globe. Today, much of scientific methods and techniques have made this possible without much depending on god.  What made the management process entirely different than that of mediaeval era? This is probably because we now know the causes such of such phenomena. We know the cause and effects relationship of these phenomena. We have tools and techniques to deal these issues.  In the medieval times, people simply did not know the exact reasons behind those incidents. Though entirely different, I respect both the ideas. This is because these were the ideas that came out of people’s mind as per society’s will and consensus. It was only way to deal those issues. The democratic society always respects consensus built upon majorities.  

The ideas never die. The concept of praying to god at the time of hardships still exists today. Despite the dominance of science, we have stories of spirit, witchcraft that deal with the issues of treatment and cure. Mostly in the developing countries where the presence of science is very weak, where the ignorance prevails, these are the still the common practices. People first visit to a priest who is believed to be sole agent of god, then to a village witch doctor. The final choice is the medical doctor if all others efforts go in vain.
The concept of managing things around much affected our values instilled in us. There are multiples ways to interpret the same phenomena on the basis of nature. They are much affected by public and private virtues. Public virtues are directed towards common good. And private virtues reflect individual efforts to manage self-issues. At this point, we do need to critically think of “tragedy of commons” dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen. Sometimes we need to sacrifice our principles to deal what it make sense to manage things for the common good. 
 Human intervention for shake of managing environment was based on various discourses based on domains of capitalism and environmentalism. These discourses which were one thought mutually exclusive and competing in late 60s are now perceived as compatible forces. The wave of ideas developed by free market based environmentalist in mid 70s brought up a new window to manage and deal with environmental issues. The idea of incentives and mutual benefits has laid to the ideas such as carbon trading among the nations, a way to lower greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, government regulations and market based incentives such as tax breaks have been adopted by federal agencies and state agencies  to recognize the best available technology that tackle environmental issues around us. Despite these efforts, I  am bit worried about the nature and basic priorities of developed nations like the United States who has  profoundly contribute to  environmental pollution such as emission of  greenhouse  gas yet  never thinks of endorsing “Kyoto Protocol” which aims to fight against global climate change. This is where the “tragedy of commons” brings the dilemma. Are we here to destroy the environment or save the mother earth, it’s up to us. As we are all known that these practices will not help any nations in particular and global society at large, nor the environment will sustain long, are we doing something to minimize? We all believe action speak louder than words. Let’s hope it’s not the issue of environmental politics, if it is, let’s overcome it.