Chapter one: theory and practice of management. Modern governmental management

UNIT I Theory of Management

Part 1

Text a evolution of management theories and practices

Knowledge about management today can itself be considered to be the result of a long and confining innovative process.

The actual practice of management can be traced back to early-recorded history. In fact, ancient history contains a number of monumental examples of management in practice. For instance the Sumerians ran ancient Mesopotamia with the help of temple corporations, communities in which priests and scribes kept tract of legal and economic transactions through an elaborate system of records written on day tablets. Hammurabi developed a sophisticated legal system, the Code of 282 Laws, to help him rule Babylonia. The Romans controlled their extensive empire through a carefully devised system. These achievements represent early examples of innovative practices in management.

Although examples of management practice go back several thousand years, the development of management as a field of knowledge is much more recent. Much of the impetus for developing management theories and principles grew out of the industrial revolution.

The challenge posed by the factories brought forth a number of individuals who began to think in terms of innovative ways to run factories more effectively. This group known as the pre-classical contributors to management (Robert Owen, Charles Babbage, and Henry P. Towne) focused largely on particular techniques that might be applied to solve specific problems. They were followed by individuals who began to develop broader principles and theories that make up major viewpoints, or schools, of management: classical, behavioural, quantitative and contemporary.

Classical viewpoint

The classical viewpoint is a perspective on management that emphasizes finding ways to manage work and organizations more efficiently. It’s made up of three different approaches: scientific management, administrative management and bureaucratic management. This viewpoint is labelled “classical” because it encompasses early works and related contributions that have formed the main roots of the field of management.

Scientific management is an approach within classical management theory that emphasizes the scientific study of work methods in order to improve worker efficiency. Major representatives of the scientific management approach include Frederick W. Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and Henry Gantt.

Frederick Taylor is known as “a father of scientific management”. His meteoric rise at Midvale Steel gave him an opportunity to tackle a serious problem of soldering by workers. Soldering is deliberately working at less than full capacity. He analyzed the reasons and distinguished the factors. These factors led Taylor to conclude that managers, not workers, were responsible for soldiering because it was up to management to design jobs and wage systems that would encourage productivity.

Taylor believed that managers could resolve the soldiering problem by developing a science of management based on the four principles:

1. Scientifically study each part of a task and develop the best method for performing the task.

2. Carefully select workers and train them to perform the task by using the scientifically developed method.

3. Cooperate fully with workers to ensure that they use the proper method.

4. Divide work and responsibility so that management is responsible for planning work methods using scientific principles and workers are responsible for executing the work accordingly.

Taylor pioneered a method now known as the time-and-motion study.

Critics argue that Taylor failed to acknowledge some previous work by others on the famous issue of shovelling and that data related to his pig-iron handling study were reported inconsistently and may even have been fabricated to some extent. On the other hand, supporters state that the issues raised by critics either are misguided or involve minor issues. Despite the controversy, there is little doubt that the innovative ideas that Taylor popularized remain in use today.

Other major advocates of scientific management were the husband and wife team of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. Their studies were aimed at eliminating unnecessary motions and expanded their interests to exploring ways of reducing task fatigue. Lillian helped define scientific management by arguing that scientific studies of management must focus on both analysis and synthesis. With analysis, a task is broken down into its essential parts, or elements.With synthesis, the task is reconstituted to include only those elements necessary for efficient work. She also had a particular interest in the human implications of scientific management, arguing that the purpose of scientific management is to help people reach their maximum potential by developing their skills and abilities.

One of Taylor’s closest associates was Henry Gantt. Gantt made several contributions of his own. The most well known is the Gantt Chart, a graphic aid to planning, scheduling, and control that is still in use today.

Later in his life Gantt devoted more attention to the social responsibilities of business and management.

Another branch of the classical viewpoint is bureaucratic management, an approach that emphasizes the need for organizations to operate in a rational manner rather than relying on the arbitrary whims of owners and managers. The bureaucratic management is based mainly on the work of prominent German sociologist Max Weber. Among his most important contributions to the discipline of management are his ideas on the need for organizations to operate on a more rational basis. Weber believed that large organizations would operate on a more rational systematic basis if tasks were specialized and uniformly applied to let people know what was expected, reporting relationships were established through a well-defined hierarchy, career advancement was based on merit, and authority was based on the official position one holds rather than on personal status.

Another branch within the classical viewpoint was also developing. The administrative management approach focuses on principles that can be used by managers to coordinate the internal activities of organizations. Major contributors include Henri Fayol and Chester Barnard.

Fayol was convinced that it should be possible to develop theories about management that could then be taught to individuals with administrative responsibilities. His efforts toward developing such theories were published in General and Industrial Management. Of particular importance is his delineation of the major functions that are included within the category of “managerial activities”: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.

Fayol also outlined a number of principles that are generally in widespread use today. These principles are:

• Division of work

• Authority

• Discipline

• Unity of command

• Unity of direction

• Subordination of individual interest to general interest

• Remuneration

• Centralization

• Scalar (hierarchical) chain

• Order

• Equity

• Stability of personnel tenure

• Initiative

• Esprit de Corps

Another major contributor to administrative management was Chester Barnard. One of Barnard’s best-known contributions is his acceptance theory of authority. The acceptance theory of authority argues that authority does not depend as much on “persons of authority” who give orders as on the willingness of those who receive the orders to comply.

The classical theorists generally viewed individuals as mechanisms of production. As a result their efforts were largely geared to finding ways for organizations to use these productive mechanisms more efficiently.