Management Thoughts And Theories
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MANAGEMENT THOUGHTS AND THEORIES
The industrial revolution, which began in Europe in mid-1700s, was the starting point for the development of management concepts and theories.
PRECLASSICAL CONTRIBUTORS TO MANAGENENT THOUGHT
Name
Period
Contribution
Robert Owen
1771- 1858
Proposed legislative reforms to improve working conditions of labor
Charles Babbage
1792-1871
Advocated the concept of Ðdivision of labor; devised a profit-sharing plan which led to the modern-day Scanlon Plan
Andrew Ure
1778-1857
Advocated the study of management
Charles Dupin
1784-1873
Henry R. Towne
1844-1924
Emphasized the need to consider management as a separate field of study and the importance of business skills for running a business.
ROBERT OWEN: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PIONEER
He was a successful British entrepreneur in the early 19th century. He was the one of the earliest management thinkers to realize the significance of human resources. He believed that workers performance was influenced by the environment in which they worked. He proposed the legislative reform that would limit the number of working hours and restrict the use of child labor.
He recommended the use of a Ðsilent monitor to openly rate employees work on a daily basis. Blocks of wood were painted in 4 different colors, with each color signifying a certain level of accomplishment.
Owen wanted other manufacturers to share his concern for improving workers working and living conditions. He argued that a managers best investment was in his workers. Though Owens ideas were not accepted by his contemporaries, they laid the groundwork for the human relations movement. Owen is also considered a forerunner of the behavioral school because of his concern for human welfare.
Charles Babbage: Inventor and Management Scientist
British professor of Mathematics, Charles Babbage (1792-1871) is widely known as the “father of modern computing.” He was a pioneer not only in the field of computing but also in the field of management. Babbage was an advocate of the concept of division of labor. He was impressed by the idea of work specialization, or the degree to which work is divided into various tasks. He believed that each factory operation should be thoroughly understood so that the necessary skill involved in each operation could be isolated. Each worker could then be trained in one specific skill and made responsible only for that part of the operation
Babbage believed that the interests of employees and management were closely linked. He therefore devised a profit-sharing plan under which bonuses were given for useful suggestions contributed by employees and wages were based on the profits generated by the factory. His employee incentive techniques are used even today. The modern-day Scanlon Plan, under which workers offer suggestions to improve productivity and then share the resulting profits, is based on Babbages ideas.
Andrew Ure and Charles Dupin: Management Education Pioneers
Andrew Ure (1778-1857) and Charles Dupin (1784-1873) were the early proponents of the study of management. Ure was a British academician and Dupin, a French engineer. Ure, who taught at Glasgow University, published The Philosophy of Manufacturing, in which he explained the various principles and concepts of manufacturing. In 1819, Dupin was appointed as a management professor in Paris, which marked the beginning of an illustrious career. His writings, well-known throughout France, may have influenced Henri Fayols contributions to the theory of management.
Henry Robinson Towne (1844-1924)
Henry R. Towne, President of the Yale and Towne manufacturing company and a mechanical engineer, realized that good business skills were essential for running a business. He emphasized the need to consider management as a separate field of systematic study on the same level as engineering. In a paper, “The Engineer as an Economist,” presented in 1886, Towne suggested that management be studied as a science and that principles be developed that could be used across various management situations. Frederick W. Taylor, who attended the presentation, was influenced by Townes ideas. Subsequently, Taylor developed the principles of scientific management.
Major Classification of Management Approaches
Major Contributors
Classical approach
Scientific management
Frederick W. Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and Henry Gantt
Bureaucratic management
Max Weber
Administrative management
Henri Fayol
Behavioral approach
Group influences
Mary Parker Follet
Hawthorne studies
Elton Mayo
Maslows needs theory
Abraham Maslow
Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor
Model I versus Model II values
Chris Argyris
Quantitative approach
Management science
Operations management
Management information system
Modern approaches
The Systems Theory
Contingency Theory
Emerging approaches: Theory Z and Quality management
William Ouchi
A Brief Overview of Classical Theories
Approach
Rationale
Focus
Contributors
Scientific management
One best way to do each job
Job level
Frederick W.Taylor
Administrative theories
One best way to put an organization together
Organizational level
Henry Fayol
Bureaucratic organization
Rational and impersonal organizational arrangements
Organizational level
Max Weber
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor took up Henry Townes challenge to develop principles of scientific management. Taylor, considered “father