Four theoretical contributions which are central to the understanding of organizations

Ezdehar Okasheh

University of The People

Marketing

Dr.
 Four theoretical contributions which are central to the understanding of organizations

The four theoretical contributions which are central to the understanding of organizations are:

Scientific Management, Bureaucratic and Organizational Structure Administrative Theory, and

Administrative Behavior. These contributions also called Theoretical Schools (Leagaard, 2014).

This paper will discuss briefly the four schools, then explain, in my point of view, the most

influential from both historical and managerial perspectives. Finally, mention how these

concepts impacted the development of the current organizational theories.

1) Scientific Management by Taylor

Taylor's approach was to increase organizational productivity by increasing the efficiency of the

production process by focusing on empirical research. This means raising the efficiency of

workers. The scientific management states that the line of work should be designed so that every

worker has a well-controlled and well-defined task and strictly defined methods, and procedures

are followed for each job. Taylor’s ideas based on determining the best way to perform the work

by studying movement and time and eliminating unnecessary movements, good selection of

workers and good training, executing the work according to the system specified by the

administration, and the division of labor with the administration taking over the planning

function, uniquely, and the workers implementing it.

While the principles of scientific management improved productivity and had a major impact on

the industry, they also increased the monotony of work. The basic core of work has become lost,

such as the diversity of skills of the workers. The workers feel that there is no meaning or
 importance in the tasks they perform, and the workers have suffered from a lack of

independence, and the reactions of "feedback" were not present in the scientific management.

2) Bureaucratic and Organizational Structure by Weber

Bureaucracy means the administrative system that governs any large institution. It” must consist

of neutral professional public employees so that the organizational hierarchy can function as

smoothly and effectively as possible” (Legend ,2014,p:16) .

Weber described several exemplary idealistic forms of public administration, government, and

business. The most important studies contributed by Weber in relation to organizational and

administrative studies, is his theory of power structures, and he divided it into three types:

Charismatic authority, which can be exercised according to personal characteristics, traditional

authority, which can be exercised according to positions in the organization, and according to

inherited customs and traditions , legal authority, which can be practiced through the

bureaucratic organization form.

The criticisms of this theory are the focus was on the administrative level and the focus was

neglected on the technical or production level , the human aspect was neglected in dealing with

the employee or worker The decision-making authority was concentrated in the hands of a small

group of leaders and heads in higher management ,the bureaucratic model does not recognize the

impact of society, it considers organization as a closed system that does not affect or affect the

environment, and literal use of laws and rigid adherence to regulations.

3) Administrative theory by Fayol

Fayol defined five management functions: planning, organization, commanding, guidance, and

oversight.

Fayol also contributed to classic management thinking with a set of Principles of Management to

guide the manager's thinking, which is listed as follows:

1- division of labor: it is the division of a job so that it has a number of different tasks that make

up the job as a whole. This means that for every single job, there can be any number of processes

that must occur for the job to be complete, when the individual performs the same task

repeatedly. And repeatedly gain speed and accuracy in performance.

2- Authority and Responsibility: Authority is the right to give orders and obtain obedience, and

responsibility is a natural result of authority and responsibility must be proportional to the

authority delegated to any manager.

3- Discipline: The employees must adhere to and respect the rules that govern the organization.

Good discipline is the result of effective leadership.

4- The principle of unity of command: it means that every employee has one boss from whom he

receives orders and directives and submits reports to him.

Reward or fair wage: All workers should be paid a fair wage for their services.

7- Centralization: Centralization refers to the degree of participation of subordinates in decision-

making.

8- Scalar chain of authority: The progression of authority from the top management to the middle

management to the lower management, and communications in organizations should follow this
chain.

9- System: This principle relates to the need for a systematic arrangement of men, machines,

materials, etc., so that there must be a specific place for each employee in the organization.

10- Justice and Equality: Managers must be distinguished in their dealings with the employees

with fairness, integrity and equality.

High employee turnover is ineffective. That is, leaving the employees of the company indicates

ineffectiveness. Organizations that have job stability are successful organizations, but the

management should provide an organized planning for employees and ensure the provision of

alternatives to fill vacancies.

12- Subordination: that is, subjecting the personal interest to the interest of the organization,

meaning that the interests of any employee or group of employees should not take precedence

over the interests of the organization as a whole.

13- Initiative: Employees should be allowed to create and implement plans and innovation

should be encouraged because this will help workers to make high levels of effort to develop the

facility

Even though, this theory is efficient and is used even today to manage organizations. But there

are some criticisms. The theory of management principles does not pay much attention to

workers' problems.

The theory of administrative principles does not give any importance to the informal

organizations or groups. It only gives importance to the formal organizational structure. Some

concepts of administrative management theory borrowed from military science. They tried to

apply these concepts to social and commercial organizations. For example, Henri Fayol attached
 importance to "commanding" rather than to "directing" workers. Management theory has a

mechanical approach. It does not deal with some important aspects of management such as

motivation, communication, and leadership

Administrative thinking is based on the belief that employees have economic and material needs

only, and that social needs and the need for job satisfaction are either non-existent or

unimportant, and therefore this school calls for the highest levels of specialization and division

of labor, central decision-making, and maximizing profits

4) Administrative Behavior by Simon

Simon was interested in the decision-making process and saw that it is the core of administrative

work, so he studied the organization in terms of achieving its goals and analyzing its parts by

linking the organizational processes represented in authority And the supervisory process in the

decision-making process.

This theory starts from a basic principle, which is the choice between alternatives to solve

problems facing the achievement of the goals of the organization, and the basis of these problems

is the human resource that drives decision-making, as the latter is related to the nature of the

strategies.
The most influential from both historical and managerial perspectives:

I think the most influential from both historical and managerial perspectives, is the bureaucratic

concepts, because “Weber has a broader approach to organizations than Tylor and Fayol as he

included the social and historical perspectives. He believed the understanding of organizations

and their structures can be found in the historical contest” (Leagaard, 2014, p: 16)

How these concepts impacted the development of the current organizational theories?

These concepts have been implemented in many recent organizations, and productivity has often

increased by three or more times. Such as, Henry Ford applied Taylor's principles to auto

factories which lead to raise productivity.

Reference:

Leagaard, J. (2014). Organizational Theory, 1st edition, Mille Bindslev & Bookbon.com