Management fad is a term used to characterize a change in philosophy or operations implemented by a business or institution.
The term is subjective and tends to be used in a pejorative sense, as it implies that such a change is being implemented (often by management on its employees, with little or no input from them) solely because it is (at the time) "popular" within managerial circles, and not necessarily due to any real need for organizational change.
Alternatively, the pejorative use of the term expresses a cynical belief that the organization desires change that would be resisted by the rank and file if presented directly, so it is dressed up in a dramatic change of management style, to remain in place only as long as it serves the underlying agenda.
Judy Wajcman sees the human relations movement of the 1930s as a precursor of the later fashion of "transformational management".
[4] The following management theories and practices appeared on a 2004 list of management fashions and fads compiled by Adrian Furnham,[5] who arranged them in rough chronological order by their date of appearance, 1950s to 1990s: Other theories and practices which observers have tagged as fads include: For a critique of the practice of branding new management ideas as fads, see For a listicle see: