MANAGEMENT THOUGHT

AND EMERGING TRENDS

Endalkachew Wakuma (MA)

 UNIT ONE
EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT

What Is Theory?
Management Theory's Role and
Importance
Historical perspectives
Theories in Management

2
 Introduction
 Current management theory and practice did not
just eventuate. It evolved over many years.
 The evolution of the discipline of management has
helped to develop a body of knowledge about the
practice of management.
 The schools of management thought are theoretical
frameworks for the study of management.
 Each of the schools of management thought are
based on somewhat different assumptions about
human beings and the organizations for which they
work.
3
 What Is Theory?
 In essence, a theory is a principle or set of principles that
explains or accounts for the relationship between two or more
observable facts or events.
 As managers, we will have at our disposal many ways of
looking at organizations and at the activities, performance, and
satisfaction of employees.
 Each of these ways may be more useful in dealing with some
problems than with others.
 For example, a management theory that emphasizes the
importance of a good work environment may be more useful in
dealing with a high employee turnover rate than with
production delays.
 What Is Theory?...

 Because, there is no single, universally accepted

management theory, we must be familiar with each
of the major theories that currently coexist.
 The theories and principles of management makes it
easier for us to understand underlying processes
and, on the basis, decide what we must do to
function most effectively as managers.
 Without theories all we have are intuition, hunches,
and hope- all of which are of limited use in today’s
increasingly complex organizations.
 Management Theory's Role and Importance
 Management theory is important because it is the study of
how to make all the people in your organization more
productive.
 The key to business management is to maximize productivity.
However, while management theory does aim towards getting
a group of entities to achieve a certain goal, it does not
necessarily achieve in making people more productive
towards this cause.
 Times are shifting rapidly and the loss of key gurus, like Peter
Drucker, in recent times, bears certain implications. The key
contribution in having management theory lies in what has
been achieved by the differing schools of thought within our
history. This may serve as a guide, but one must also bear in
mind that management is not just a science, but also an art.
 Role and Importance…

A. Been used as a basis to build organizations and

guide them towards their goals
B. To provide a sense of heritage and can help
managers avoid mistakes of the past
C. To be able to predict the future
D. To avoid using intuition and guesswork in running
present day organizations
 Historical perspectives
 The history of management extends to several
thousands of years in the past. However it is only since
the late 19th c, that management is considered as a
formal discipline.
 In other words, the practice of management is as old
as human race, but its theories and conceptual
frameworks are of recent origin.
 Historically, there were many evidences indicating the
existence of management in early human carriers.
 Next slides provide some of the evidences:
 Historical perspectives…
The exodus of Israelites (biblical evidence)
 We find evidences of managerial thinking in the bible at about
1300BC. in this book, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses,
lectured Moses the following basic concepts:
 Delegation of authority through assignment of jobs. For this
Jethro ordered Moses to appoint rulers of 1000, 100, 50, & 10.
 Management by exception principle. Jethro told Moses that
rulers should attend all routine and recurring matters and only
unusual and highly important problems can be referred to him.
 Span of management based on ordinances & laws was exercised
 Moses also did magnificent jobs in personnel selection, training,
and organizing .he was a leader whose ability in government,
law making, and human relations made him worthy during the
Hebrews and greatly influenced early civilization.
 Historical perspectives…
 The Jethro Principle: The 3 Things You Can Do to Become a
Better Leader in Your Ministry or Business
1. Jethro advised Moses to teach others
 Moses was the only one who knew the laws that the children of
Israel were to live by. So, in the rest of Exodus, he documents
these laws & shares them with the people.
2. Jethro advised Moses to appoint others as officials
 Jethro instructed Moses to select capable men from all the
people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate
dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials & have them
serve as judges. In other words, Moses learnt to delegate.
3. Jethro advised Moses to take on only most difficult cases
 The only things that should be escalated to Moses would be the
disputes that the officials could not solve.
 Historical perspectives…
The ancient Egypt
 A structure:
 Built great pyramids, with a technology comparable with modern standards,
from 500-525BC.
 This indicates a mute testimony of the managerial and organizational abilities.
 Egyptians understood the importance of planning, controlling, division of
labor, and the use of staff advise as a valuable means for constructing
magnificent structures.
 They also appreciated values of spelling out job description and assignment
of authority and responsibility.
 A government:
 The study of Egyptian government in the old and middle kingdom and in the
new empire illustrates how they applied the principle of control.
 They exercised a highly decentralized government from 2160- 1788 BC and a
highly centralized government from 1530-1050BC.
 Historical perspectives…
Babylonians (2000-1700BC)
 The most significant contributions of the Babylonians was king
Hammurabi's code, which contained 282 laws, to keep peace
along the valley of Tigris and Euphrates. These laws cover
personal property, family, real state, and trade.
 Some of the laws applicable to business and guide managerial
decisions are the following:
 Development of control mechanism
 Introduced the concept of responsibility: “the mason who
builds a house which falls dawn and kills the inmate shall
be put death.”
 Set minimum wage rate: “a man hiring a field labourer
shall pay him 8 guns of grain per year.”
 Historical perspectives…

Chinese
 The Chinese also made contributions to management thought.
 One of the most famous is found in the ancient records of Mencius
and Chow written around 1100-500BC.
 It indicates that the Chinese were aware of certain principles bearing
on planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
 The constitution of Chow was a directory of all civil servants to the
emperor through a hierarchical relationship that extends from the
prime minster dawn to the household servants with their specific
jobs and responsibilities.
 The Chinese had also recognized the need for methodological
selection, staffing, and specialization of employees that was carried
out through their civil service system.
 Historical perspectives…
Greeks
 Greeks exhibited a real management skill and capacity in the
operation of trading companies. They introduced the science and
an art of management. They recognized the means to maximize
output through the use of uniform methods and motion study.
They introduced standard motions, rhythm system of work and
work tempos in harmony with music.
 Individuals such as Xenophon recognized management as a
separate art in 400BC.
 Socrates showed the universality of management, the
importance of employee selection, specialization of labour, and
delegation of authority in 400BC.
 Pluto also described specialization further in 350BC.
 Historical perspectives…
Romans
 Empire structure:
 Able to manage very large territory and people by building giant government and
military structure during their time that were so successful and operated for so many
years.
 They gained control over 50 million people extending from great Britain to Syria
including Europe and Africa.
 They reinforced decentralized government by centralized army as the most effective
way to organize and control the world’s first truly far-flung empire.
 The most effective management was put forth by Diocletian's reorganization of the
empire by abandoning the old organization.
 First, he divides the empire into 100 provinces.
 Then, each of these was grouped into one of the 13 dioceses.
 In turn, the dioceses were grouped in to four major geographical divisions, which are
accountable to the emperor.
 Under this organization it was extremely difficult for any one to defy imperial
authority. To further enhance his power, the emperor delegate only civil
governmental authority to the governors and military forces were stationed under his
control.
 Historical perspectives…
The Roman Catholic Church:
 The most effective formal organization in the western civilization and it
has survived the test of the time.
 The church has significant contributions to management theories in the
following areas:
 Hierarchy of authority. an organizational structure had been designed and
scalar chain of command established from the pope through the bishops to the
priests and the laity.
 Specialization of activities along the functional lines and the development of
the idea of job descriptions. In the 2nd c. two management historians have
noted, “the bishop was the pastor, the presbyters constituted his council, and
the deacons supervise the poor and the sick.”
 The staff concept was developed from the advisory services performed by
various individuals and committees. The concept of staff independence was
also employed because many subordinates feel that bosses do not listen them.
 Theories in management

 Management theories in early period were not really

theories, but some discrete practices and experiences. For
that matter management theories in the present centuries are
not totally free from certain problems.
 To become a theory, an experience or a practice needs to
undergo several modifications, synthesis and tests. For this
purpose, a sound theoretical and conceptual framework is
essential for the theory to take the shape.
 The chaos caused by proliferation of management theories is
aptly called ‘the management theory jungle’ & a strong need
for a unified and integrated theory of management was felt
 Theories…

 A number of theoretical approaches with varying hypothesis,

assumptions, propositions have emerged. However, lack of adequate
concept formation is considered a serious drawback in the development
of a unified and integrated management theory.
 Part of the difficulty in the development of management concepts
comes from the fact that management is an applied science; it lacks a
coherent theoretical concepts of its own.
 Management scholars have borrowed and applied concepts from other
disciplines. Thus, management theories has evolved in a symbiotic
relationship to its related and supporting disciplines like mathematics,
statistics, behavioral science, depriving the motivation to devise its own
conceptual framework independent of related disciplines.
 Moreover, management research has been kept psychologically and
philosophically closer to the practice than the theory
 Self - Check Review Questions

Discuss the following questions briefly

1. What does theory contribute to the practice of
management?
2. Name and discuss the historical evidences that indicate
the existence of management in early human carriers?
3. What does the management theory jungle refers to?
4. What are the major road blocks in the development of
unified and integrated management theory?
 Possible Answers
The Importance of Management Theories
 Help organizations to focus, communicate, and evolve.
 Allows leadership to focus on their main goals. When theory is
implemented, it automatically streamlines the top priorities for the
organization.
 Allows us to better communicate with people we work with which in
turn allows us to work more efficiently. By understanding
management theory, basic assumptions about management styles and
goals can be assumed and can save time during daily interactions and
meetings within an organization.
 There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all management theory. What
may work for one organization may not be relevant for another.
Therefore, it is important to explore the option of developing a new
theory that would lead in a new, more applicable direction. While
some theories can stand the test of time, other theories may grow to
be irrelevant and new theories will develop in their place.
 Possible Answers…
Management Theory Jungle
 Harold Koontz introduced the concept of Management Theory Jungle.
 'Management Theory Jungle' was made in an environment where the
development of management theory had escalated over a period of two
decades. This has resulted to confusion and conflict which many theories have
entangled in it. As such, it is seen as a jungle.
 Koontz defined the management theory jungle by identifying and classifying Six
major schools of thoughts. They included the management process, empirical,
human behavior, social system, decision theory and the mathematical school.
 He said that each school had something to offer to management theory but
suggested one should not confuse content with tools.
 For example, the field of human behavior should not be judged the equivalent
of the field of management, nor should a focus on decision making or
mathematics be considered as encompassing the entire area of analysis.
 Therefore, each of these school would provide insight and methods to aid
manager in performing task, hence were tools not school.
 UNIT TWO

MANAGEMENT
THINKERS