"With reference to appropriate literature and cases, critically evaluate the influence of classical and human relations approaches in management today." 12 (original) (raw)
Biz-Management, 2020
The Cambridge dictionary has defined Management theories as a set of ideas and methods designed to help managers do their job well. (Cambridge) The history of management theories goes all the way back to the industrial revolution in the late 1800's. During this time Factories began to grow and recruit thousands of people. Because of this growth factories began to have problems managing the big work force to realise maximum productivity. People then began to conduct studies in the factories to find ways on how they maximise on productivity. Through their findings, they proposed ideas and principles which if adopted and applied would lead to maximum productivity. These principles are what we now call theories of management. Although there are many theories that have developed throughout the years, this essay will look at only two theories namely the classical and human relations theories of management. The essay will look at the principles underlying the Classical and Human Relation Theories and how these principles continue to influence management of business organisations today. Classical theories of Management can be said to be the origin of all management theories. It comprises of the scientific Theory by Fredrick Taylor, the Bureaucratic theory by Max weber and the administrative theory by Henri Fayol. During the late industrial revolution in the 1800 a lot of people were moving from small farms and shops to work in large factories. As these factories began to grow, look for ways to manage the growth in order to maximise productivity. The Classical theories of management focus on productivity. Fredrick Taylor decided to conduct a study on the way workers performed tasks in the factories. He applied scientific methods of time and motion study and came up with principles that were called scientific theories of management. Taylor believed that if one would study the time that a task takes to complete and the movements that are performed in order to complete that task, managers would come up with the one best way of performing a particular task thereby ensuring maximum efficiency and productivity. He broke down the big task of producing one item into smaller tasks. In conducting the time and motion studies, Taylor discovered a few problems in the way people worked, that if improved on would make workers more productive and efficient in performing their work. First he noted that each one of the workers was left to perform the work whichever way they found fit. Two people would do one task differently, one doing it faster and efficiently than the other. Taylor then proposed that there should be one best and most effective way of performing particular tasks. Secondly, Taylor observed that any one of the workers could be assigned to do any kind of task regardless of their Skills. He proposed that "rather than simply assigning workers to perform just any job, managers should match workers to their jobs based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency". (Mind tools). Workers should be
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.
A review of principles of management's history and contemporary perspective in brief
DMC Journal
Management is a crucial phenomenon in the modern business age. Management is an important instrument for the managers. Though, managers used to apply emerging theories and principles to be wonderful success beyond the enhancing organization’s productivity and gaining more profit. Since ancient period, accompanying with human civilization. Million scholars are thinking, studying and experimenting for effective principles of management till now and still they have been continuing it. Furthermore, this study reviews that the history of management, evolution of management thought, trends of scholars contributions in different time period from the antiquity. In the 18th century, during the industrial revolution has been changed tremendously in management perspectives. Management scholars, experts have had developed some classical theory, human relation theory, Human behavior science theory, management science theory, system theory, and contingency theory. Scientists, mathematicians, econ...
An Overview of Classical Management Theories: A Review Article
Undoubtedly, management is an important issue in any organization where predetermined objective cannot be accomplished without proper management. Management is the art of undertaking different tasks with the help of other people. There is a jungle of management theories divided into classical, behavioral and situational theories. The most famous three classical management theories (scientific, administrative and bureaucratic) are discussed in this article. The science of management theory (in addition to other factors) is a basic requirement for managers of any organization, so that they can deal with different challenges in order to present the science, positive and negative aspects of management theories for managers and management scientists. Common features of classical management theory are chain of commands, authoritarian management style and behavior prediction. Although these theories are obsolete, different forms of these theories are implemented in most parts of the world.
ABC Research House
"Abstract: Henry Fayol and Frederick Winslow Taylor made outstanding contribution to development of management thought. Fayol wrote as a practical man of business reflecting on his long managerial career and setting drown the principles he had observed. He clearly specified the functions of management by a systematic analysis of management process. This isolation and analysis of management as a separate discipline was his original contribution to the body of management theory. He was father of management principles many of which have stood the test of time. Frederick W. Taylor was a pioneer who propounded principles of Scientific Management. Taylor worked in different capacities in steel industry saw the urgent necessity for elimination of wastages rampant in industrial organization. He observed that the only way to attract wastages and achieve efficiency to apply method of science to the field of management. They both applied scientific methods to the problems of management. Their work was essentially complementary; different in their approach was merely reflection of their different careers. If we call Taylor the “Father of Scientific Management”, it would be fair to describe Fayol as the “Father of Management”. Introduction: Fayol’s pride of place in management due to his principles of how to manage, as to his famous definition of management. Fayol’s theoretical analysis of management withstood almost a half-century of critical discussion. There have been few writers since who have not been influenced by it; and his five elements have provided a system of concepts by which managers may clarify their thinking about what is they have to do. Fayol’s valuable concepts in management can be incorporated usefully in present-day analysis of management science. His emphases on unity of direction and command, non-financial incentives, decentralization, coordination have greater relevance even today. Frederick Winslow Taylor contributed a number of principles and features of management thought that adhered to his new concept of approaching management thought scientifically. Scientific Management tries to increase productivity by increasing efficiency and wages of the workers. It finds out the best method for performing each job. It selects employees by using Scientific Selection Procedures. It provides Scientific Training and Development to the employees. It believes in having a close co-operation between management and employees (Gaurav Akrani, 2011). It uses Division of Labor. It tries to produce maximum output by fixing Performance Standards for each job and by having a Differential Piece-Rate System for payment of wages. Scientific management is concerned with knowing exactly what you want men to do and then see in that they do it in the best and cheapest way (Taylor, 1911) Works Henry Fayol and Frederick Winslow Taylor are essentially complementary; they made outstanding contribution to development of management thought. They believed that proper management resource is the key reason for organizational success. Both use scientific approach to management. There major difference was in their orientation. Fayol emphasized the management of entire organization while Taylor focused on the management of operational work. Henry Fayol: The earliest manager to systematically examine his own personal experience and try to draw from it a theory of management was Henri Fayol. A qualified mining engineer, he was made manager of a coal- mine at the early age of 25. At 31 he became general manager of a group of mines, and at 47 managing director of whole combine, a post which he held for thirty years. Throughout his career he showed all the sings of a successful manager. This become most obvious, when he took over the top job of the combine, which was almost bankrupt. By the time he retired the business was more than twice its original size and one of the successful and steel combines in Europe. In 1916 he published the book “Administration Industrielle et Ge’ne’rale” which deplorably was not available in English transaction until 1929. It is better known, at any rate in the United Kingdom, as General and Industrial Management, in the translation by Constance Storrs, published by Pitman in 1949. Fayol’s major contribution was to identify management as a separate set of skills, or functions, performed by supervisors in organizations. He clearly delineated the difference between technical and managerial skills and noted that supervisor must be proficient in both to be successful. Fayol in his preface in his book say’s management plays very important part in government; of all undertakings, large or small, industrial, commercial, political, religious or other. Fayol wrote as a practical man of business reflecting on his long managerial career and setting drown the principles he had observed. He was not attempted to develop a logical theory or a self-contained philosophy of management. His observations, however, fit amazingly well into the currently developing mold of management theory. Frederick Winslow Taylor: Taylor was an engineer by training. He joined the Midvale Steel Works as a laborer and rose rapidly to be foreman and rose to the position of chief engineer after earning a degree in engineering through evening study. He was afterwards employed at the Bethlehem Steel Works, than become a consultant and devoted his life to the propagation of his ideas. Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915) was a pioneer who propounded principles of “Scientific Management (1911)” come to be recognized as the father of scientific management. Scientific management also called Taylorism (Aitken, Hugh G.J., 1985). Taylor is renowned for his research and work into management thought and scientific management. His suggested principles and features have helped model the scientific approach to management. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity (Wikipedia, 2013). He was primarily concerned with efficiency of workers and optimum utilization of machines and other resources in order to bring up a sound enterprise consistent with the interest of entrepreneurs, the laborers and the customer at large. Taylor worked in different capacities in steel industry saw the urgent necessity for elimination of wastage rampant in industrial organization. The only way to attract wastage and achieve efficiency to apply method of science to the field of management. The first published his views on management in a paper entitled “A price rate system”, 1895. The views were expanded into a book “Shop Management”, 1903 and further developed in “Principles of Scientific Management”, 1911. Taylor was the founder of the movement known as “Scientific Management”. The principal object of management, he states “should be to secure the maximum prosperity of each employer coupled with the maximum prosperity of each employee”. For the employer, “maximum prosperity” means not just large profits in the short run but the development of all aspects of the enterprise to a state of permanent prosperity. For the employee, “maximum prosperity” means not just immediate higher wages, but his development, so that he may perform efficiently in the high grades of work for which his natural abilities fit him. Change in the mental attitude of employers and an employee toward each other in respect of work was the root of Scientific Management. His ideas speared in the United States, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan, and inspired others to study and developed the methods of scientific management.