Development of Management Thoughts

S. S. Khanka, M. Com., Ph. D.

Professor (HR) & Programme Coordinator
Master of Business Administration
Delhi Technological University
(Formerly Delhi College of Engineering)
Delhi 110 095
E-mail: sskhanka2@gmail.com
sskhanka05@rediffmail.com

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 Structure

o Introduction
o Evolution of Management Thoughts
(i) Early Management Thoughts
(ii) Modern Management Thoughts
o Concluding Remarks

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 Lessons of Life...
BABY giraffes never go to school. But they learn a very important lesson
rather early in life. A lesson that all of us would do well to remember. The
birth of a baby giraffe is quite an earth-shaking event. The baby falls from
its mother’s womb, some eight feet above the ground. It shrivels up and
lies still, too weak to move. The mother giraffe lovingly lowers her neck to
smooch the baby giraffe. And then something incredible happens. She lifts
her long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and
tumbling down on the ground. As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks
the baby again and again Until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired,
pushes its limbs and for the first time learns to stand on its feet. Happy to
see the baby standing on its own feet, the mother giraffe comes over and
gives it yet another kick. The baby giraffe falls one more time, but now
quickly recovers and stands up. Mama Giraffe is delighted. She knows that
her baby has learnt an important lesson:
Never mind how hard you fall, always remember to pick yourself up
and get back on your feet.

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If you study the lives of successful people though, you will see a recurring
pattern. Were they always successful in all they did? No.......Did success come
to them quick and easy? No, You will find that the common streak running
through their lives is their ability to stand up every time they fall. The ability
of the baby giraffe!

The road to success is never an easy one. There are several obstacles, and
you are bound to fall sooner or later. You will hit a road block, you will
taste failure. But success lies in being able to get up every time you fall.
That is a critical life skill. And it is the habit of all successful people.

Why does the mother giraffe do this? She knows that lions and leopards love
giraffe meat. So unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with
the pack – it will have no chance of survival. Most of us though are not quite
as lucky as baby giraffes. No one teaches us to stand up every time we fall.
When we fail, when we are down, we just give up.
No one kicks us out of our comfort zone to remind us that to survive and
succeed, we need to learn to get back on our feet.
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If you study the lives of successful people though, you will
see a recurring pattern. Were they always successful in all
they did? No.......Did success come to them quick and
easy? No, You will find that the common streak running
through their lives is their ability to stand up every time
they fall. The ability of the baby giraffe!

The road to success is never an easy one. There are

several obstacles, and you are bound to fall sooner or
later. You will hit a road block, you will taste failure.
But success lies in being able to get up every time you
fall.
That is a critical life skill. And it is the habit of all
successful people.
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 Introduction

o Management an old concept but new term.

o Change in nature and content of management has

been sine quo non with changing business
environment.

o Management an evolutionary concept

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 Evolution of Management Thoughts

(Early thinking in Management started early in 19th century)

Robert Own Charles Babbage Henry Metcalf Henry Robinson

(Owned and managed (Management Professor in (A Manager of army (Chief Executive of a
textile mills in Scotland) Cambridge University) arsenal) company)

Emphasis on importance Having observed working of o He advocated for o His contribution to

of human factor in factories in U.K and France, the science for management lay in
management. he observed: management and / defining the role of a
o Opposed long 13 o Employees- managers or administration manager as a
hours of work totally based on principles
evolved by combination of the
o Opposed children ignorant of basic tools of roles of an
scientific methods. recording
work below age 10 observations and administrator, an
years o Guided purely by traditions, engineer, and a
experiences
o Criticized absence of estimates, and imaginations statistician.
o He advocated for
housing facilities o Decisions never taken based the maintenance of o He motivated
Advocated for Reforms: on factual analysis work records in engineers to study
o Reduced working hours He advocated for the Time Cards and management.
o Providing housing application of scientific Material cards.
facility principles to work processes
o Improved working for increasing productivity
and reducing expenses.
conditions
o Supply of goods at
cheaper rates to workers
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through company stores
 F. W. Taylor’s Scientific Management

o His major contribution to scientific management

thought include:-
a. Time and motion study.
b. Differential Payment.
c. Drastic reorganization of supervision.
d. Scientific recruitment and training.
e. Initiate friendly corporation between management and
workers.

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 Henri Fayol’s Administrative Management.
o Fayol propounded 14 principles of management to develop his administrative management
thought.
1. Division of work
2. Authority and responsibility.
3. Discipline
4. Unity of command
5. Unity of direction
6. Subordination of individual interest to general interest.
7. Remuneration
8. Centralization
9. Scalar Chain
10. Order
11. Equity
12. Stability of Tenure of personal
13. Initiative
14. Esprit De Corps

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 Human Relations Movement
Elton Mayo made experiments at Hawthorne plant in Western Electric Company
during 1927-1932.
o His four experiments known as Hawthorne Experiments were:-
1. Illumination experiment:
• That productivity is positively correlated with illumination was tested. Experiments
were done on a group of workers. Their productivity was measured at various levels
of illumination. But results were erratic.
• Researched improved the method. Two groups of workers were put in different
buildings. One group called ‘controlled group’ was kept to work under constant level
of illumination. Other group called ‘test group’ was kept to work under changing
levels of illumination. There was marginal variation in the post-test productivity of
the two groups.
2. Relay assembly test room:
• The object of the study was broadened. It included now along with illumination,
physical conditions like the length of the working day, rest pauses, their frequency
and duration. A group of six women workers who were friendly were told about the
experiment and were asked to work in a very informal environment. The supervisor-
researcher was observing the performance from other room.
• Various variations were made to know the best combination that gives the maximum
performance. Surprisingly enough, the researchers found that the production of the
group had not correlation with workers performance.
• Researcher attributed this phenomenon to feeling of importance among girls as a
result of their participation in the experiment and the attention they got, informality in
the smaller groups, tension-free interpersonal relationships, and high group cohesion.
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 Cont.
3. Interviewing programme:
• Second phase acquired knowledge of informal processes made researcher to design the third-phase
experiment to know the basic factors responsible for human behaviour at work.
• 20,000 workers were firstly interviewed in a guarded manner about the type of supervision and working
conditions, living conditions and so on. Then they were asked to reply in an open-ended and non-
directive manner about the topics they like the most. This brought to the knowledge that the workers’
social relations inside the organization had an unmistakable influence on their attitudes and behaviour.

4. Bank wiring test room:

• This experiment was done on 14 men making terminal banks of telephone wiring assemblies to
determine the effect of informal group norms and formal economic incentives on productivity.
• What was found that the group evolved its own production norms less than what was determined by the
management.
• Workers would perform that much and no more, thereby defeating the incentive scheme. This saved
weak workers from reprimands or thrown out of the job during those days of the ‘Great Depression’.
• Workers producing more than the group norm were isolated and termed ‘rate busters.’ Too slow workers
were called ‘chisellers.’ Those complaining to supervisors about their co-workers were called
‘squealers.’
• The four experiments finally concluded with the finding that when people work
together to accomplish group goals, “People should understand people.”

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 Modern Management Thoughts
o Behavioural Approach
Behavioural approach to management developed as a corollary to
‘Human Relations Approach.’
Includes findings of intensive research carried out by behavioural
scientists belonging to anthropology, sociology, social psychology
as well as management.
Concerned with social and psychological aspects of human
behaviour at work in organizations.
Observations and Inferences:
Individual behaviour affects and is affected by group behaviour.
Informal leadership, rather than formal authority of leaders /
supervisors, more important in influencing employee performance.
By nature, employee / people like and enjoy work and are
motivated by self-development and self-control. 12
 Decision Theory

• Process by which a choice or decision is made from

various alternative courses of action to achieve goals.
• Decision making involves:
(i) Establishing Objectives or Goals, (ii) Defining the
problem, (iii) Developing Alternative solutions, (iv)
Evaluating them by SWOT Analysis, (v) Selecting the
Most Suitable, and (vi0 Implementations and Monitoring
• Decision Theory of Management essentially consists of
human problem-solving on the basis of analysis and
reasoning followed by appropriate decisions.
• Decision Theory admits that it is not always possible for
managers to make a perfect decision. The reason being
non-availability of required information and data to make
decision.
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 Systems Approach

o System can be defined as a set of interdependent parts forming a

whole organized unit or entity.
o These parts known as ‘ sub-systems’, interact with each other and
are subject to change.
o These are interrelated as well as interdependent.
o Any organization consists of three broad sub-systems:
(i) Technical sub-system: Represents the formal relationships
among the members of an organization.
(ii) Social sub-system: Provides social satisfaction to members
through informal group relations.
(iii) Power sub-system: Reflects the exercise of power or influence
by individuals and groups.
o The interaction between sub-system as a whole leads to achieve
a common goal.
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 Contingency Approach
• Based on ‘No Best Way to Manage.’

• ‘The Best Way’ changes with changes in situations and circumstances.

• A particular decision may yield fruitful results or be successful in one
situation but may drastically fail in other situation.
• Managers need to analyze different situations and take the best decision
or use the best approach best suitable in a particular situation.
• To increase productivity, the scientific approach will recommend for
work simplification and additional incentives, behavioural approach will
recommend democratic participation and job enrichment, or example.
• Work simplification would be ideal where there is limited resources,
unskilled labour, limited training opportunities.
• Job enrichment would be ideal where there are abundant skilled labour
force.
• In conclusion, managerial decision or action depends upon
circumstances within a given situation.
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 Cont.

Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads.

The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes
the team’s mission.” - General Colin Powell

-This is summed up beautifully by the classic black humour

in the gag about operation theaters:

“The operation was successful but the patient died.

Why was the operation successful? Because it met the
defined criteria. Why did the patient die? Because the
defined criteria were wrong for that particular
operation (patient).” - Colin Powell
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 Concluding Remarks

• There are evidences all over the world about the

practice of management since the dawn of civilization.
• Management is an evolutionary subject and thought.

• Development of management thought is contextual.

• That is why different thoughts or approaches of

management emerged from time to time.

• This is because management is not a hard truth

applicable universally everywhere all the times.
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 For You Only

Cultivate your sense of humour; laughter is the

shortest distance between two people.

THANK YOU

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