Management thoughts: The Pre-modern Era

Dr D K Tripathi
(E-Mail: dhirenvnsyahoo.com)
Ancient massive construction
projects
Egyptian pyramids
Great Wall oI China
Adam Smith`s Contribution To
The Field OI Management
Wrote the Wealth of Nations (1776)
Advocated the economic advantages that
organizations and society would reap Irom the
division oI labor:
Increased productivity by increasing each worker`s
skills.
Time saved that is commonly lost in changing tasks.
The creation oI labor-saving inventions and
machinery.
The Industrial Revolution`s
InIluence On Management
Practices
Industrial revolution
Machine power began to substitute Ior human power
Lead to mass production oI economical goods
Improved and less costly transportation systems
became available
Created larger markets Ior goods.
Larger organizations developed to serve larger markets
Created the need Ior Iormalized management practices.
Classical Contributions
Classical approach
The term used to describe the hypotheses oI
the scientiIic management theorists and the
general administrative theorists.
ScientiIic management theorists
Fredrick W. Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and
Henry Gantt
General administrative theorists
Henri Fayol and Max Weber
ScientiIic Management
Frederick W. Taylor
The Principles oI ScientiIic Management (1911)
Advocated the use oI the scientiIic method to deIine the 'one
best way Ior a job to be done
Believed that increased eIIiciency could be achieved by
selecting the right people Ior the job and training them
to do it precisely in the one best way.
To motivate workers, he Iavored incentive wage plans.
Separated managerial work Irom operative work.
Taylor`s Four Principles of Management
1. Develop a science Ior each element oI an individual`s
work, which replaces the old rule-oI-thumb method.
2. ScientiIically select and then train, teach, and develop the
worker. (Previously, workers chose their own work and
trained themselves as best they could.)
3. Heartily cooperate with the workers so as to ensure that
all work is done in accordance with the principles oI the
science that has been developed.
4. Divide work and responsibility almost equally between
management and workers. Management takes over all
work Ior which it is better Iitted than the workers.
(Previously, almost all the work and the greater part oI the
responsibility were thrown upon the workers.)
ScientiIic Management
Contributors
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
Time and motion studies
Henry Gantt
Incentive compensation systems
Gantt chart Ior scheduling work operations
General Administrative Theory
General administrative theorists
Writers who developed general theories oI what managers
do and what constitutes good management practice
Henri Fayol (France)
ourteen Principles of Management: Fundamental or universal
principles oI management practice
Max Weber (Germany)
Bureaucracy: Ideal type oI organization characterized by division
oI labor, a clearly deIined hierarchy, detailed rules and
regulations, and impersonal relationships
Fayol`s Fourteen Principles of
Management
Division of work
Authority
Discipline
Unity of command
Unity of direction
Subordination of the
individual
Remuneration
Centralization
Scalar chain
Order
Equity
Stability of tenure of
personnel
Initiative
Esprit de corps
eber`s Ideal Bureaucracy
Division oI Labor
Authority Hierarchy
Formal Selection
Formal Rules and Regulations
Impersonality
Career Orientation
Human Resources Approach
Mary Parker Follett
Recognized that organizations could be viewed Irom
the perspective oI individual and group behavior.
Believed that individual potential could only be
released by group association.
Chester Barnard
Saw organizations as social systems that require human
interaction and cooperation.
Expressed his views on the 'acceptance oI authority in
his book %he unctions of the Executive (1938).
Hawthorne Studies
A series oI studies done during the 1920s
and 1930s that provided new insights into
group norms and behaviors
Hawthorne eIIect
Social norms or standards oI the group are the key
determinants oI individual work behavior.
Changed the prevalent view oI the time that
people were no diIIerent than machines.
Social Events That Shaped
Management Approaches
Classical approach
The desire Ior increased eIIiciency oI labor intensive
operations
Human resources approach
The backlash to the overly mechanistic view oI
employees held by the classicists.
The Great Depression.
The quantitative approaches
World War II
What is the Process Approach?
Management theory jungle (Harold Koontz)
The diversity oI approaches to the study oI
managementIunctions, quantitative emphasis, human
relations approacheseach oIIer something to
management theory, but many are only managerial
tools.
Process approach
Planning, leading, and controlling activities are circular
and continuous Iunctions oI management.
The Systems Approach
DeIines a system as a set oI interrelated and
interdependent parts arranged in a manner
that produces a uniIied whole
Closed system : a system that is not inIluenced
by and does not interact with its environment
Open system: a system that dynamically
interacts with its environment
Stakeholders: any group that is aIIected by
organizational decisions and policies
The
Organizatio
n and Its
Environmen
t
The Contingency Approach
The situational approach to management that
replaces more simplistic systems and integrates
much oI management theory
Four popular contingency variables
Organization size (coordination)
Routineness oI task technology (task complexity
dictates structure)
Environmental uncertainty (change management)
Individual diIIerences (managerial styles , motivational
techniques, and job design)