As James H. Boren once said, “When in charge, ponder; when in trouble, delegate; when in doubt, mumble.” Boren makes this statement because the managers of companies and organizations at all levels are vital for the success of that entity. In this paper, Boren’s statement will be taken to the next level. When evaluating the evolution of manager’s actions while in charge, we can conclude that managers are necessary for success in government performance.
Even though the goal of managers is to maximize the benefits out of their sector, the ways to achieve that level of achievement depend on which managerial efficiency theory they follow. Marc Holzer concluded that within the Classical Management Movement, “Frederick Taylor’s monograph revolutionized the idea of optimizing productivity.” He did this through four principles, which were to improve standard work procedures, maximize the capability of workers, initiate specialized training, and to make sure there was an equal division of labor. As one can clearly determine, Taylor was focused on the idea that management needs to focus on getting the most out of their employees as possible.
Max Weber, even though several of his components mirrored Taylor’s principles, focused specifically on bureaucracy. According the Weber himself, “bureaucratic models possess hierarchical components” and that the success of bureaucracy is “contingent upon technical expertise and appropriate training.” Many other scholars who focused on improving the effectiveness of management (Lyndall Urwick, and Henri Fayol’s 14 Principles of Management) created their own theories, but all of them revolved around Taylor’s original principles that made workers capabilities the priority. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth m...
... middle of paper ...
...l potential out of their employees and also creates the best possible work environment.
While the life of a manager might seem easy, the reality behind a manager who is successful in performance and efficiency shows that many people would think twice upon that idea. Throughout the decades, the role of a manager has changed drastically. With the Classical and Neo-Classical Movements, the specific requirements of a manager have been debated and explored to see which the best for an organization is. Managers need to keep the organization efficient and productive through delegation and specialized training while also making sure their employees’ human needs have been solved. With all of the aforementioned reasons and evidence being accounted for, it is clear that manager’s decisions have to be both helpful for the company and also cannot dehumanize their employees.
Max Weber, German sociologist, social theorist, and economist, explicated the theory of bureaucracy in which he details the monocratic bureaucracy “as an ideal form that maximized rationality” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 48). He provided his most complete exposition of theory in his 1922 tome Economy and Society (Casey, 2004). This classic form of bureaucracy is characterized by the following (a) well-defined official functions; (b) specialization of function; (c) clearly defined hierarchy of offices; (d) rules governing performance, which require training to administer; (e) impersonal treatment of clients, in that all are treated equally; (f) merit as the basis of promotion or appointment; (g) compensation based on rank; (h) separation of personal and company assets and interests; (i) discipline and control of daily work; (j) files and record keeping for decisions, acts, and rules (Bolman & Deal, 2008; O’Connor, 2011). There are numerous shorthand versions of Weber’s theory including Harmon and Mayer (1986) in Organization Theory for Public Administration and Heady (2001) in Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective (O’Connor, 2011).
Wren. (2005). The History of Management Thought (5th ed.). Danvers, MA: Wiley & Sons. (Original work published 1976)
Managers nowadays do not actually do what a manager really should do back in the eighties. Changes that occurred in the new economy, the increasing use of technology in business, and the effects of globalisation towards business world have led management into a whole new dimension. New managers are expected to be able to manage on an international scale, act strategically, utilize technology, establish values, and of course, act responsibly as well. (Crainer, 1998) Henry Mintzberg once asked, "What do managers do?" After conducting his research based on a study of five CEOs, he concluded that managerial work involves interpersonal role, decisional role and informational role. And the fact is that, managers get things done through other people. Therefore, managers are required to possess certain skills and competencies which allow them to play these roles effectively and efficiently throughout the four functions of management. (Mintzberg, 1998)
Weber believed that bureaucracy created stable, and predictable actions and outcomes because it allowed organizations to work in a rational manner, like a machine, and helped account for the fact that humans had only limited intelligence. Though Weber discussed the perfect model of an organization, bureaucracy allows for even imperfect organizations to function in a more reliable and predictable way because it’s structure controls how individuals behave.
The manager in question is known for getting things done, which is desirable in a leader; however, the author has wi...
Weber’s uses his theory of Bureaucracy to point out that it is what society is becoming and how it creates social older in society. This theory is
The founding father of scientific management theory is Fredrick Winslow Taylor. He was an American mechanical engineer and an inventor. Modern management theorist Edward Deming credited Taylor for his contributions while Joseph Juran criticized his work for extracting more work from workers. However a careful reading of Taylor’s work will disclose that he placed workers interest as high as the employer’s in his studies. Before the principles of management are discussed it is very important to understand the causes which led Taylor to derive the four principles of management. The three causes are as follows:
in the similar manner, Hill, & McShane, (2008), argued that managers remain the most important asset of the business that drives the business towards path of development and growth. Additionally, the importance of managers, their roles and functions cannot be neglected. As the business environment has become highly competitive with market segments highly fragmented forcing business entities to adopt and integrate effective business practices that can ensure that the business is heading towards the path of competitive advantage. In this regard, it is realized that the role and function of manager has become highly indispensable. The early theory of management, as per stated by Need, (2006), argues that the core functions of manager are to Plan, Organize, Staffing, Leading, and Controlling. Augier, & Teece, (2009), within this regard stated that effective and efficient managers do not just go and perform haphazardly, in fact, good and effective managers discover their strengths, ensure they are making the most out of the existing resources and mastering the above mentioned five basic functions. The overall role of manager is highly significant, mainly because of the fact that manager while performing these five functions guide the entire business and
Management “is the art of getting things done through the efforts of other people” (p.8). We all know that the management is not how it was when it was first started back in the early 1990s. Managers have a big responsibility of making sure there managing their areas of responsibly and team very well. Principle of Management is a way of making sure you are managing your work by involving others to make sure it gets done. According to our text Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan (2009) ,”the principles of management are the activities that “plan, organize, and control the operations of the basic elements of [people], materials, machines, methods, money and markets, providing direction and coordination, and giving leadership to
“Management is a process of planning, organisation, command, coordination, and control” (Morgan 2006, p.18). Rational organisation design is a bureaucratic method of management which emphasizes efficiency to achieve the end goal and the management of multiple companies have taken upon this system. Figures such as Frederick Taylor and Henry Ford have both shown and laid a path way for Rational Organisation which has become known as Taylorism and Fordism. The design has received criticism and both Taylor and Ford have been portrayed as villains with Taylor being called “enemy of the working man” (Morgan 2006, p.23) as the system dehumanised workers by taking all of the thought and skill from them and giving it to the managers this is because the tasks given were simple and repetitive. As staff needed little training they became an easily replaceable asset and thus more machine than human.
This essay will discuss the relevance of Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management to organisations today. Taylor’s theory of Scientific Management is based around how efficiently a member of staff works in order to improve their productivity, the theory was introduced in 1911 and has four principles which were tested to determine optimal work methods, and are still seen in organisations today such as fast-food restaurants. Taylor believed that workers left to their own devices would restrict their output and not progress with the task, this was called ‘soldiering’ and it was described in two forms; natural
There are several theories that examine an organization and it’s approach to managing work in an effort to develop efficiency and increase production. Two classical approaches to management are Taylor’s scientific management theory and Weber's bureaucratic management theory. Both men are considered pioneers of in the study of management.
Traditional public administration is traced back to the works of scholars like Max Weber, Woodrow Wilson and Fredrick Taylor. This form of administration was mostly influenced by Max Weber with his bureaucratic model and theory. Max Weber was a well-known sociologist born in Germany in the year 1864. He came up with his bureaucratic model as a way to try to improve management in organizations. ‘Weber emphasized on top-down control in the form of monocratic hierarchy that is a system of control in which policy is set at the top and carried out through a series of offices, whereby every manager and employee are to report to one person in top management and held accountable by that manager’ (Pfiffner, 2004, p. 1).
Public administration disciples have sought to find the best way to rid organizations of inefficiency and waste. This led to changes to the very foundations of management and motivation theories. To increase efficiency, Max Weber and Frederick Taylor made changes to the process and the rules; while Henri Fayol fixated on the human element. While Weber, Taylor, and Fayol all sought to enhance workplace operations, they differ in their assessments of what and/or who could be the catalyst for this change.
This paper describes on one of the famous management theorist Frederick Winslow Taylor, who introduced to society about the scientific management theories. This method was established a hundred years ago in 1911 early stage by Taylor in his work place. This article critically discusses about Taylor’s early stage, background, education, and his contribution to management theory, practice and society.