Management History Module

Learning Outcomes:

• Describe some early management examples
• Explain the various theories in the classical approach
• Discuss the development and uses of the behavioral approach
• Describe the quantitative approach
• Explain the various theories in the contemporary approach

Historical Background of Management

• Ancient Management
• Egypt (pyramids) and China (great wall)
• Venetians (City of Venice, floating warship assembly lines)
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nation 1776 
• Industrial Revolution
• Substituted machine power for human labor
• Created large organizations (factories) in need of management

Major Approaches to Management

Classical Approach

1. Scientific Management

• Frederick W. Taylor

• Known as the 'father' of scientific management

• The theory of scientific management
• Using scientific methods to define the 'one best way' for a job to be done:
• efficiency of workers
• standardize method of job
• providing incentives

   2. General Administrative Theory 

• Henri Fayol
• Believed that the practice of management was distinct from other organizational situations.
• Developed principles of management that applied to all organizational situations.
• Fayol's 14 Principles of Management

• Max Weber
• Developed a theory of authority based on an ideal type of organization (bureaucracy)
• Emphasized rationality, predictability, impersonality, technical competence, and authoritarianism 

Quantitative Approach

• Quantitative Approach
• Also called operations research or management science
• Evolve from mathematical and statistical methods developed to solve WWII military logistics and quality control problems 
• Focuses on improving managerial decision making by applying:
• Statistics, optimization models, information models, and computer simulations. 

Organizational Behavior 

• Organizational Behavior (OB)
• The study of the actions of people at work; people are the most important asset of an organization.
• Early OB Advocates
•  Robert Owen
• Hugo Munsterberg
• Mary Parker Follett
• Chester Barnard

The Hawthorne Studies

• A series of productivity experiments conducted Western Electric form 1924 to 1932
• Experimental findings
•  Productivity unexpectedly increased under imposed adverse working conditions.
• The effect of incentive plans was less than expected.
• Research Conclusion
• Social norms, group standards and attitudes more strongly influence output and work behavior more than do monetary incentives.

The Systems Approach

• System - a set of interrelated and interdependent parts arranged in a manner that produces a unified whole.
• Closed systems - are not influenced by and do not interact with their environment (all system input and output is internal)
• Open systems - dynamically interact to their environments by taking in inputs and transforming them into outputs that are distributed into their environments. 

The Contingency Approach

•  Sometimes called the situational approach 
• There is no one universally applicable set of management principles (rules) by which to manage organization.

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