Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - English The Machiavellian Approach to Management The Machiavellian Approach to Management The Machiavellian Approach to Management Whether you love him/her or hate him/her everybody has one…a boss. Most people have their own opinions as to what kind of boss it is that they would like to work for. Most would probably agree that the worst kind of boss is a new boss. This is more than likely due to people’s extraordinary fear of change and the unknown. Whatever the reason, the employee always has the option to leave their position and seek work elsewhere. The same can not be said for subjects of states, who by no action of their own, were to be ruled by a new prince. Just as varied as the ways in which one “inherits” a new boss, likewise new principalities have an abundance of ways of being acquired. Niccolo Machiavelli, in his work The Prince, describes several of these options. And interestingly enough, the views Machiavelli expresses, can be integrated into today’s business community particularly to issues pertaining to how management obtains and keeps their positions. Machiavelli cites several ways that one can obtain a principality, which bear striking similarities to how one can come into a position of management. The first path to a principality is that of a hereditary nature. Machiavelli claims that this is the easiest of states to maintain, as long as “such a prince is of ordinary ability” and he does not “break [the] ancient customs” of those he governs (Machiavelli 7). So to, in a management position where the offspring of a boss takes over, he/she should not run into many difficulties in maintaining the company. Yet, the new boss must be competent to handle all responsibilities assumed in his/her position or the company will surely suffer. Furthermore, he/she must be careful not change how things have been done since mom or dad first began the business. The very nature of any change in management, especially a new boss, can cause fear amongst the employees. Adding fuel to an already explosive situation, by making changes to company policy should be avoided at all costs. However, as Machiavelli suggests that a boss “by birth [has] less need to harm his[/her]” employees, thus putting some of the fears towards the new boss to rest (8). When a principality is acquired through an acquisition of a non-hostile nature, it is the prince who may have fears. The prince of a “mixed principality” faces more difficulties than those of a hereditary principality. Machiavelli suggests that these “difficulties derive from one natural problem inherent in all new principalities: men gladly change their masters, thinking to better themselves” (8). Additionally, the new prince is, out of necessity, going to offend his new subjects by bringing in “his soldiers and [causing] other countless injuries that are involved in his new conquest” (8). These same problems will face the management of a newly acquired business. Those employees that are retained will automatically look to better their current position by less than honest means. Those “left over” from the old regime may be inclined to steal from the company out of fear that they may soon be replaced. Thus, endangering the already financially unstable situation that an acquisition puts a company in. Therefore, measures must be taken to ensure that the state/company not be lost due to an uprising by the subjects/employees. In order to maintain the principality obtained by an acquisition, Machiavelli proposes several measures the new prince must take. First of all, the prince must eliminate the family line of the old prince (9). Next he must go and live in the new kingdom to become more accessible to his new subjects and to squash the first signs of rebellion (10). Most importantly, the new prince should not change any laws or amounts taxed on his subjects (9-10). Comparatively, the management involved in an acquisition should immediately fire and replace most of if not all of the “old” management. Additionally, the new management should make their offices at the address of the newly acquired business and not try and run things from their home office. In doing so, management can better handle any problems that may arise At the same time convey to their employees a commitment to the company. Furthermore, it would be important that the new management not change any salaries or rates of pays of any employees it retains. Finally, they should keep intact all rules and regulations of a non-business nature (dress codes, flexible hours, etc) to keep morale at an even keel. Initiating these measures should help keep problems under control and quell any fears of further lay-offs. Yet, as Machiavelli suggests the new prince/management should not go so far as to increase the strength of those less powerful within the state/company (11-12). Machiavelli does not leave out the possibility that those of less power can some day rule if certain steps are taken towards this goal, however; the individual must have certain skills and not just fortune on his side (20). In trying to obtain such a principality, one must first of all follow in the footsteps of great men before him (20). Additionally, the individual must set their goals higher than they actually hope to obtain (21). Doing so ensures that they will not fall short of their actual goal. Perhaps most importantly, Machiavelli emphasizes that one must be able to recognize an opportunity and use his skill to act upon it when it presents itself (21). These factors are all in important for any individual who aspires to grasp the top rung in the corporate ladder. Luck alone will get you only so far. In order to make it to the top, one must use all the skills in their arsenal to not only recognize when an opportunity is at hand but to then act upon it. Even with skill and fortune on ones side there is still problems that princes/mangers will face when a principality/management position is seized upon. “Those who become princes through their skill acquire the principality with difficulty, but they hold on to it easily” (21). Machiavelli suggests that the difficulties arise, in part, “out of the new institutions and methods they are obliged to introduce in order to found their state and their security” (21). Again, Machiavelli stresses that any time there is a change in the natural order of things people have a tendency to want to fight or resist that change. This is true to some extent in the business world as well. When the situation arises that a new boss or manager has been promoted, there is always a fear that changes he/she will make will in some way affect job descriptions or responsibilities of each individual employee. Usually this change is looked upon in a negative connotation and automatically resisted. However, the new boss has no options but to implement changes. They have obviously been placed in this position because the prior boss was not utilizing his/her skills to enhance the betterment of the company. That is, that his/her ways of doing things were not working; therefore, changes in policy would be deemed necessary. Change is not always to be feared. Yet, people today as well as those of yesterday will always accept it hesitantly. This is perhaps most true when it involves a change in those who govern or employ us. Machiavelli details not only how principalities can be obtained but also how they can be maintained in The Prince. From the views he expresses, one can compare in today’s society how positions in management can be made available and how difficulties avoided. Bibliography: Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. Trans. Peter Bondanella. New York: Oxford, 1984. Word Count: 1264
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