CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT THEORY

SUMMARY
Classical management theory is based on economic needs.
Industrial changes were taking place and there was a big
change in the way people worked. People were moving from
farms to factories, from small shops to large companies. For
example in 1873, Eli Whitney invented the cotton engine that
separated seed from cotton much more quickly than could be
done by hand. Power, machinery and transportation sparked
the industrial revolution. There were some serious issues like

 Large groups working together

 People working alongside machinery
 Increasing pace of industry
 Companies were looking for ore answers

So to answer these questions there were three people who

came up-

 MAX WEBER
 FREDERICK TAYLOR
 HENRI FAYOL

These three persons are the founding fathers of the classical

management theory.

1. Max Weber is mostly known for his bureaucracy.

According to him organization should look like the
government and the legal system, not traditional family
based leadership. One’s authority should be tied to their
official position, clear rules should governperformance,
 standardized guidelines should determine hiring and
firing. These which will not lead to favoritism or what he
called particularism
2. Frederic Taylor believed science to be used in work.
Scientific management works as serious productive
problem. He said let’s see how much time every single
little task should take and how many motions it should
take to come up with one right way to do. He broke each
point into small steps and the results were pretty
impressive. He gave an example- when he went to
bricklaying organization they were bending to pick them
and it was inefficient. So he raised bricks on a shelf and
made other changes to reduce time and motion and he
sped it about 300% and so his work was pretty dramatic.
3. Henri Fayol looked things through managerial sides. He
put a theory of management forward and called it
administrative science or classical management. He
believed that managers need to be trained in a much
more systematic approach. He saw a lack of management
theories in his days.

“It is a case of setting it going, starting general discussion”

He then wrote a book which got popular in the late 1940’s

where he talked about the management activities. He said
planning is important as course to look ahead, organization to
arrange people, directing to give command, coordinating to
harmonize and controlling to ensure everything goes right.

All the 14 principles can be seen in order to perform the

functions. -ANUSHKA SRIVASTAVA BBA C

REGISTRATION NUMBER-20111505