EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT

THOUGHTS
By
Sreerupa Rath

DIFFERENT SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS

CLASSICAL APPROACH

NEO- CLASSICAL THEORIES

BEHAVIORAL APPROACH
QUANTITATIVE APPROACH
MODERN THEORY

CLASSICAL APPROACH
Classical management thought is divided
into three separate school of thoughts
Scientific Management
Administrative Theory
Bureaucratic Management

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
One best way to do each job
Earliest advocates of scientific

management
Frederick W.Taylor
Frank Gilbreth
Lillian Gilbreth
Henry Gantt

Frederick Winslow Taylor

Father of scientific management

STEPS IN SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT:

Replaced old rule of thumb methods to
eliminate soldiering
Selecting,training,teaching and developing
workers
Supervise employees to make sure they
follow the prescribed methods for
performing their jobs
Continue to plan the work but use workers
to actually get the work done

Major managerial practices that emerged

from Taylors approach
Piece-rate incentive system
Time and motion study

FRANK and LILLIAN GILBRETH

Frank Gilbreth is considered as the father of

motion study
Lillian Gilbreth was associated with the

research pertaining to motion study

Motion study involves finding out the best

sequence and minimum number of motions

needed to complete a task

HENRY LAURENCE GANTT

Was a close associate of Taylor
Developed the Gantt chart

LIMITATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT
It revolves round problems at the

operational level
The proponents were of the opinion that

people were motivated primarily by the

desire for material gain
Scientific management theorists ignored

the human desire for job satisfaction

ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY
Focused on principles that could be used by

managers to coordinate the internal

activities of organizations
Most prominent administrative theorist was

Henri Fayol

HENRI FAYOL
Prominent European management theorist
Wrote General and Industrial Management
Business operations of an organization could be

divided into six activities

Technical
Commercial
Financial
Security
Accounting
Managerial

FOURTEEN PRINCIPLES OF
MANAGEMENT
Division of work
Authority and Responsibility
Discipline
Unity of Command
Unity of Direction
Subordination of the individual interest to the general

interest
Remuneration
Centralization
Scalar Chain
Order
Equity

Stability of tenure of personnel

Initiative
Espirit de corps

BUREAUCRATIC
MANAGEMENT
Max Weber Father of Bureaucratic Management

theory
Theory of bureaucracy is based on a rational set of
guidelines for structuring organizations
Major characteristics of Webers ideal bureaucracy
Work specialization and division of labour
Abstract rules and regulations
Impersonality of managers
Hierarchy of organization structure
Selection of employees was made on the
basis of technical expertise

LIMITATIONS OF BUREAUCRATIC MANAGEMENT

AND ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY
Classical

theorists
ignored
important
aspects of organizational behaviour.They
stressed productivity above other aspects
of management

Webers concept of bureaucracy destroys

individual creativity and the flexibility to

respond to complex changes in the global
environment

NEO- CLASSICAL
THEORIES

BEHAVIORAL APPROACH
It emphasized on the human element
Behavioral thinkers

Mary Parker Follet

Elton Mayo
Abraham Maslow
Douglas McGregor
Chris Argyris

MARY PARKER FOLLET: Focusing on

Group Influences
Importance of human element in organizations
Employees were influenced by the group in

which they worked

Organizations function on the principle of

power with rather than power over

Advocated the concept of integration

ABRAHAM MASLOW:FOCUSING ON
HUMAN NEEDS
His theory rested on three asumptions
1. All of us have needs which are never completely fulfilled
2. Through our actions we try to fulfill our unsatisfied

needs
3. Human needs occur in the following hierarchical manner
Physiological needs
Safety or security needs
Social needs
Esteem or status needs
Self-actualization or self-fulfillment needs

LIMITATIONS TO MASLOWS THEORY

Human needs do not always emerge in a

hierarchical manner
Does not explain how a person prioritizes

the needs at a particular level of hierarchy.

DOUGLAS McGregor: CHALLENGING

TRADITIONAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT EMPLOYEES
Developed two assumptions about human

behavior
Theory X and Theory Y
THEORY X
Most people dislike work and they avoid it
when they can
Most people must be coerced and
threatened with punishment before they
work
Most people prefer to be directed. They
avoid responsibility and have little ambition

THEORY Y
Work is a natural activity like play or rest
People are capable of self direction and self

control if they are committed to objectives

People become committed to organizational
objectives if they are rewarded in doing so
Under proper conditions people learn to accept
responsibility and also try to seek responsibility
Most people are capable of being innovative in
solving organizational problem

CHRIS ARGYRIS:MATCHING HUMAN

AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Major contributions of this behavioral
scientist are the maturity-immaturity
theory, the integration of individual and
organizational goals, Model I and Model II
organization analysis
Model I
Employees are manipulative
Not willing to take risk
Model II
Employees are open to learning and less
manipulative
Willing to take risk

ELTON MAYO:FOCUSING ON HUMAN

RELATIONS
Father of Human Relations Approach
Led the team which conducted a study at

Western Electrics Hawthorne Plant

To examine the impact of illumination levels on
worker productivity
The experiments were conducted in four phase:
Illumination experiments
Relay assembly test room experiments
Interview phase
Bank wiring observation room
experiments

ILLUMINATION EXPERIMENTS
Took place between 1924 and 1927
Two group of workers (experimental or test

group) and the control group

Experiment involved manipulating the
illumination
Relay Assembly Test Room Experiments
Took place between 1927 and 1933
It included the introduction of a series of
HR policy measures for the test group to
study their impact on overall productivity

INTERVIEW PHASE
21000 people were interviewed between

1928-1930
To determine employee attitude towards
the company and their jobs.

Bank Wiring Observation Room

Experiments
Conducted during 1931- 1932
It was undertaken by researchers to test

some of the ideas they had gathered during

the interviews

Criticism of Hawthorne studies

The procedures, findings and conclusions

reached were questionable

Researchers considered themselves as
social engineers
The relationship made between the
satisfaction or happiness of workers and
their productivity was too simplistic

Limitations of Human Relations Approach

The human relations theorists are of the

opinion that by removing fear, people

would perform effectively
It does not provide enough focus on theory
It does not understand the economic
implications of organizational problems.
Human relations theory also tends to be
very vague