PHS 4201 2018 1

THEORIES OF MANAGEMENT

05/01/2023
 Practical reasons for studying theories of
management
2

 Understanding of the present

 Guide to action
 Source of new ideas
 Clues to the meaning of your manager’s decisions
 Clues to meaning of outside events
After studying theory, managers may learn the
value of practising evidence based management,
bringing rationality to the decision making process

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

3

1) Classical Perspective
 Scientific management
 Bureaucratic organization
 Administrative principles

2) Humanistic perspective/ Behavioral theories

 Human Relations Movement
 Human Resources Perspective
 Behavioral Sciences
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
4

3) Management Science Perspective

4) Recent Historical Trends/ Modern Theories

 Systems Theory
 Contingency View
 Total Quality Management

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Classical Perspective
5

It emerged during the 19th & early 20th centuries

It emphasized a rational, scientific approach to the
study of management and sought to make
organizations efficient machines.

This perspective contains 3 subfields, each with

slightly different emphasis namely scientific
management, bureaucratic organizations and
administrative principles.
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
 Scientific management
6

 Organizations’ somewhat limited success in

achieving improvements in labor productivity
led a young engineer to suggest that the
problem lay more in poor mgt practices than in
labor.
 Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)
insisted that mgt itself would have to change
and, further, that the manner of change could
be determined only by scientific study.
 Hence the label scientific management
emerged
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
 Scientific management cont…
7

Taylor suggested that decisions based on the rule of the

thumb and tradition be replaced with precise procedures
developed after careful study of individual situations.
He illustrated this approach by the unloading of iron
and reloading finished steel for Bethlehem steel plant in
1898.
He calculated correct mov’ts, tools & sequencing. He
also worked out an incentive system that paid each man
for meeting a new standard

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Scientific management cont…..
8

Henry Gantt (1861-1919), an associate of Taylor,

developed a Gantt chart- a bar graph that measures
planned and completed work along each step of
production by time elapsed.
The Gantt chart was used for scheduling multiple
overlapping activities over a time period.
He focused on motivational schemes, emphasizing
the greater effectiveness of rewards for good work
rather than penalties for poor work.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Scientific management cont…..
9

Gantt developed a pay incentive system with a

guaranteed minimum wage & bonus systems for
people on fixed wages.
Also, Gantt focused on the importance of qualities of
leadership & management skills in building effective
industrial organizations

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Scientific management cont…..
10

Frank B. Gilbreth (1868-1924) pioneered time and

motion study and arrived at many of his mgt
techniques independently of Taylor. He stressed
efficiency & was known for his quest for the one best
way to do work.
Lillian M. Gilbreth (1878-1972) was more interested in
the human aspect of work.
She pioneered in the field of industrial psychology and
made contributions to human resource management.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Characteristics of scientific mgt
11

General approach
 Developed standard mtd for performing each job

 Selected workers with appropriate abilities for each

job
 Trained workers in standard mtds

 Supported workers by planning their work &

eliminating interruptions
 Provided wage incentives to workers for increased

output
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
 Characteristics of scientific mgt cont…..
12

Contributions
 Demonstrated the importance of compensation for

performance
 Initiated the careful study of tasks & jobs

 Demonstrated the importance of personal selection

& training

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Characteristics of scientific mgt cont…..
13

Criticisms
 Didn’t appreciate the social context of work &

higher needs of workers

 Didn’t acknowledge variance among individuals

 Tended to regard workers as uninformed & ignored

their ideas & suggestions

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Bureaucratic organizations
14

Max Weber (1864-1920), a German

theorist, introduced most of the concepts
of bureaucratic organizations.
During the late 1800s, many European
organizations were managed on a
personal, family like basis. Employees in
effect owned the organization & used
resources for their own gain rather than
serve customers.
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
 Bureaucratic organizations cont…..
15

Weber envisioned organizations that would be

managed on an impersonal, rational basis.
Weber believed that an organization based on rational
authority would be more efficient & adaptable to
change b’se continuity is related to formal structure &
positions rather than to a particular person, who may
leave or die.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Bureaucratic organizations cont…..
16

To Weber, rationality in organizations meant

employee selection and advancement based not on
whom you know, but rather on competence &
technical qualifications, which are assessed by
examination or according to training or experience.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Xtics of Weberian Bureaucracy
17

 Division of labor, with clear definitions of authority

and responsibility
 Personnel selected & promoted on the based on
technical qualifications
 Administrative acts & decisions recorded in writing
 Management separate from ownership of the
organization

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Xtics of Weberian Bureaucracy cont..
18

 Managers subjected to rules & procedures that will

ensure reliable, predictable behavior
 Positions organized in a hierarchy of authority

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Bureaucratic organizations cont…..
19

Adam Smith, a famous Scottish economist has

written about the distribution of labor at the pin
factory in Glasgow, where a job of each worker is
broken down into several operations.
He talked a lot about repetition of the tasks &
specialization as a cause of the increased output.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Bureaucratic organizations cont…..
20

Charles Babbage, who supported the work of Adam

Smith in the 1800s produced a number of reflective
papers suggesting the best principles of
manufacturing industry are based on division of
labour & specialization too, due to increased skill of
the worker at a particular task & reduction of training
costs for the factory.
Workers are also able to suggest the improvements to
their operations.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Bureaucratic organizations cont…..
21

The term bureaucracy has taken on a negative

meaning in today’s organizations and is associated
with endless rules & red tape.
However, rules & other bureaucratic procedures
provide a standard way of dealing with employees.
Everyone gets equal treatment, and everyone knows
what the rules are.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Administrative principles
22

Whereas scientific management focused on the

productivity of the individual worker, the
administrative principles approach focused on the
total organization.
The contributors to this approach included Henri
Fayol, Mary Parker Follet & Chester I. Barnard

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Administrative principles cont….
23

Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was French mining

engineer who worked his way up to become head of a
major mining group known as Comambault.
He constructed a classic definition of the mgt
process. The mgt process comprises of planning &
forecasting, organizing, commanding, co-ordinating,
controlling.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Administrative principles cont…..
24

Fayol discussed the 14 general principles of mgt,

several of which are part of mgt philosophy today.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Fayol’s 14 principles of management
25

 Division of work
 Authority
 Discipline
 Unity of command
 Unity of direction
 Subordination of individual interest
 Renumeration

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Fayol’s 14 principles of mangement cont….
26

 Centralization
 The scalar chain
 Order
 Equity
 Stability of tenure
 Initiative
 Esprit de corps

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Administrative principles cont…..
27

Mary Parker Follet (1868-1933) was trained in philosophy &

political science.
She wrote of the common superordinate goals for reducing
conflict in organizations.
Her approach to leadership stressed the importance of people
rather than engineering techniques.
Follet addressed issues that are timely today, such as ethics,
power & how to lead in a way that encourages employees to
give their best.
Her concepts included the universal goal, the universal
principle & the law of situation.
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
 Administrative principles cont…..
28

Chester I. Barnard (1886-1961) studied economics at

Harvard.
One of Barnard’s significant contributions was the
concept of the informal organization.
He argued that organizations are not machines &
informal r/ships are powerful forces that can help the
organization if properly managed

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Administrative principles cont…..
29

Another significant theory contribution was the

acceptance theory of authority, which states that
people have free will & can choose to whether to
follow mgt orders.
People typically have to follow orders b’se they
perceive positive benefit to themselves, but they do
have a choice.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Humanistic Perspective
30

This perspective emphasized the importance of

understanding human behaviours, needs, and
attitudes in the work place as well as social
interactions & group processes.
This perspective has three subfields namely; the
human relations mov’t, the human resources
perspective and the behavioural science approach

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Human Relations Mov’t
31

This school of thought considers that truly effective

control comes from within the individual worker
rather than from strict, authoritarian control.
It has also been referred to as the neoclassical school
b’se it was initially a reaction to the short comings of
the classical approaches of mgt

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Human Relations Mov’t cont…
32

It began with the Hawthorne studies which were

conducted from 1924 to 1933 at the Hawthorne plant
of the Western Electric Company in Illinois.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 The Hawthorne studies
33

Elton Mayo, known as the father of Hawthorne studies,

identified the Hawthorne Effect or the bias that occurs
when people are being studied. The Hawthorne studies
are significant b’se they demonstrated the important
influence of human factors on worker productivity.
There were 4 major phases to the Hawthorne studies
namely the illumination expts, the relay assembly gp
expts, the interviewing programme and the bank wiring
gp studies.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 The Hawthorne studies cont….
34

The conclusion was that there was no cause and

effect r/ship btn working conditions & productivity.
Worker attitude was found to be more important.
The other important discovery was that workers had a
strong need to cooperate & communicate with fellow
workers. The best vehicle to achieving this was
informal gps, as they provided their members with
the basic needs for communication & cooperation.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Human resources perspective
35

This perspective maintained an interest in worker

participation & considerate leadership but shifted the
emphasis to daily tasks that people perform.
It combines the prescriptions for design of job tasks
with theories of motivation.
Jobs shd be designed so that tasks are not perceived
as dehumanizing or demeaning but instead allow
workers to use their full potential.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Human resources perspective cont..
36

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), a practising

psychologist, observed that his patients’ problems
usually stemmed from an inability to satisfy their
needs. Thus, he generalized his needs & suggested a
hierarchy of needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy started with physiological needs
and progressed to safety, belongingness, self esteem
and finally self- actualization needs.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
37

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Human resources perspective cont..
38

Douglas Mcgregor (1906-1964) based on his

experiences as a manager & consultant, his training
as a psychologist, and the work of Maslow to
formulate Theory X & Theory Y.
He believed that the classical perspective was based
on Theory X assumption about workers.
He proposed Theory Y as a more realistic view of
workers for guiding mgt thinking.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Human resources perspective cont..
39

Theory X represents a pessimistic, negative view of

workers.
Theory Y represents an optimistic, positive view of
workers.
The point of Theory Y is that organizations can take
advantage of the imagination & intellect of all their
employees.
Employees will exercise self control and will contribute
to organizational goals when given the opportunity.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Behavioural science approach
40

This approach develops theories about human behaviour

based on scientific mtds and study.
Behavioural science draws from sociology, psychology,
anthropology, economics and other disciplines to
understand employee behaviour & interaction in an
organizational setting.
Concepts that grew out of this approach include
Organization dev’t, matrix organizations, self-managed
teams, ideas about corporate culture and mgt by
wandering around.
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
 Management Science Perspective
41

This view is distinguished for its application of

mathematics, statistics and other quantitative techniques
to mgt decision making and problem solving.
During World War II, groups of mathematicians,
physicists and other scientists were formed to solve
military problems .
B’se those problems frequently involved moving
massive amounts of materials and large numbers of
people quickly and efficiently, the techniques had
obvious applications to large-scale business firms
PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023
 Recent Historical Trends
42

Management is, by nature, complex and dynamic.

Elements of each of the perspectives are still in use
today.
The most prevalent is the humanistic perspective.
Three recent trends that grew out of the humanistic
perspective are systems theory, the contingency view
and total quality mgt.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Systems theory
43

This is an extension of the humanistic perspective

that describes organizations as open systems
characterized entropy, synergy and subsystem
interdependence.
This viewpoint uses systems concepts and
quantitative approaches from mathematics, statistics,
engineering, and other related fields to solve
problems

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Systems theory cont….
44

A system is an interrelated and interdependent set of

elements functioning as a whole.
It is an open system when interacts with its
environment. It is composed of inputs from the
environment , transformation processes of inputs to
finished goods , outputs of those finished goods into
the environment, and feedback (reactions from the
environment).

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Systems theory cont….
45

Subsystems are systems within a broader system.

Interdependent subsystems (such as production,
finance, and human resources) work toward synergy
in an attempt to accomplish an organizational goal
that could not otherwise be accomplished by a single
subsystem.
Systems develop synergy.
Entropy is the process that leads to decline.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Contingency view
46

This view emphasizes the fit between organization

processes and the characteristics of the situation.
It calls for fitting the structure of the organization to
various possible or chance events.
It questions the use of universal management
practices and advocates using traditional, behavioral,
and systems viewpoints independently or in
combination to deal with various circumstances.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Contingency view cont….
47

The contingency approach assumes that managerial

behavior is dependent on a wide variety of elements.
Thus, it provides a framework for integrating the
knowledge of management thought.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023

 Total Quality Management
48

It focuses on managing the total organization to

deliver quality to the customers.
The approach infuses quality values throughout every
activity within the company, with frontline workers
intimately involved in the processes.
Four significant elements of quality mgt are employee
involvement, focus on the customer, benchmarking
and continuous improvement.

PHS 4201 2018 05/01/2023