Take-aways for September 4, 2021

By: Abdulpatta, Fatima N.

EdAd 205 Student
I. Introduction

There is an incredible amount of effort, strategies, theories, and principles that can be

applied in order to achieve efficiency in an organization. Dating back to earlier years,

many academics, sociologists and theorists have put their understanding into books,

articles and papers in order to impart whatever knowledge they have to further give an

impact or provide sources of information that could serve as basis or guide on how

administrators and executives can better manage their respective institutions. In order

to have a full grasp of the theories and principles in administration and planning, we

have to start at the bottom-end of the ladder of learning. Under the Classical Theories,

what are the highlights of the five organizational principles/theories discussed namely:

Weber’s Theory of Bureaucracy, Taylor’s Scientific Management, Fayol’s Administrative

Theory, Gulick and Urwick’s Papers of Administration and Barnard’s The Functions of

the Executive?

II. Discussion

Classical Theories are theories that revolve around traditional or old-fashioned

rationalities. Its notable feature is that it stresses on how the system works and portrays

lesser attention to the human beings or employees working in it. It depicts the

organization as self-regulating machines, hence, the human beings just form into

another component working in that device.

At the end of the 19th Century, Max Weber, a German sociologist discussed that

bureaucracy is the best way to let the employees carry out tasks in a systematic and
efficient manner. Its hierarchical system of management allows everyone to be treated

equally and accordingly, lessens the issue of favouritism and clearly describes the

division of work throughout the organization. Moreover, the process of selection and

promotion can only be applied when certifications pertaining to their qualifications are

present and available. In Weber’s Bureaucracy theory, it is believed that decision-

making is highly based upon the organization’s policy; which means that all

undertakings in the bureaucracy are considered official, that the executives have the

right and authority to make enforce rules and regulations in accordance to his position,

and that orders can easily be valued on the basis of recognized procedures.

In 1911, Frederick W. Taylor was able to conceptualize a Scientific Management

Theory, which was later referred to as Taylorism. Here he argued that the errors made

in any procedure can be provided with a scientific solution by improving how the

authorities conceptualize and manage the different systems within the organization. The

goal of this scientific management theory is to increase productivity by utilizing scientific

methods by taking the most effective and efficient procedures in terms of production

and applying them in the system. These include the utilization of the scientific method or

exact and proven calculations to figure out the best way to execute a task rather than

just depending on the rule of thumb or practice or experience, delegating tasks based

on aptitude or specializations, monitoring their workers’ progress as well as

performance, and to properly apply the division of work among managers and their

employees.

In 1916, Henri Fayol wrote a book called “Administration Industrielle et Generale” or

Industrial and General Administration, grounding it on his experiences as a manager,

where he shared his 5 Primary Functions of Management (Planning, Organizing,

Commanding, Coordinating and Controlling) and 14 Principles of Management (Division

of Work, Authority, Discipline, Unity of Command, Unity of Direction, Collective Interest

over Individual Interest, Remuneration, Centralization, Scalar Chain, Order, Equity,

Stability of Tenure of Personnel, Initiative, and Esprit de Corps), which helped to form

what we now know today as Administrative Theory. The said theory is characterized by

the informal organizations that is consist of people who constantly interact with each

other, impart individual familiarities, and the same group of workers who can affect how

the organization runs. Henri Fayol’s principles emphasized on the importance of

teamwork to help achieve a common organizational goal, and just as important is the

effect of encouraging employees through stimulating ingenuity, gaining respect by

influence and character, and making sure that the workforce will have the necessary

provisions such as training to make them productive at work.

Gulick and Urwick were so enthralled with the ideas of Frederick Taylor and Henri

Fayol’s 14 Principles of Management that they wrote a book called Papers on the

Science of Administration in 1937. In this book, they have conceptualized the acronym

POSDCORB which laid all the necessary tasks that are to be followed and applied by

the managers or executives. POSDCORB, which stands for Planning, Organizing,

Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, and Budgeting, is vital in stressing the

Theory of Span of Control that delimits the number of employees that one manager can

oversee, and the Unity of Command that describes the importance of having the

workforce submit to only one Chief Executive.

In contrast to this is Chester Barnard’s Functions of the Executive which was published

in 1938. In his book, Barnard transitioned from the latter’s prescriptive methods in the

organizational system, towards taking into consideration how behaviourism impacts the

efficiency of the organization. He portrayed organizations as complex social institutions,

taking its existence by having people come together to achieve a common goal that

cannot be attained individually. Basically, what Barnard tries to imply is that people

become willing to build or join groups to accomplish a task that they cannot do alone. In

this sense, he viewed organizations as not self-sufficient and just like living organisms, it

needs external factors like resources from the environment, even other organizations to

accomplish its goals, develop and thrive. Some of his theories are Acceptance Theory

of Authority; where employees only accept orders they can classify as valid or legitimate

according to two factors: Authority of Position and Authority of Leadership, and the Zone

of Indifference that highlighted a range of tasks that employees willingly do without

hesitation, reservations or judgment and that orders that fall outside the zone of

indifference will require certain inducements through incentive and persuasive methods.

III. Conclusion

The abovementioned organizational theories that fall under the category of classical

theories all stressed the importance of the Division of Work since all institutions, no

matter the size, needs to create departments of particular specializations in order to

accomplish tasks effectively and efficiently, limiting wastage of time,effort and

resources. Everyone can have a taste of every piece of cake on the table. One can also

use a combination of flavours based on his preference since there are a lot of factors

that may influence an organization’s consideration and application of a certain theory.

Depending on its nature, size, purpose, and the like, organizations may go from one

theory to another in order to cope and provide the necessities for the existence of the

organization and to adapt to the ever changing trend each phase holds.