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Comparing classical and current management theories
Evolution of management from history
Is scientific management theory useful today
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Recommended: Comparing classical and current management theories
After the end of the Industrial Revolution, large corporations were beginning to grow in size and power in order to satisfy what seemed the endless demands for new goods and services. As corporations and labor forces grew, there was a need to develop a more systematic study of organization and management, known as management theory, the significant being Frederick Taylor's Principles of Scientific Management which involved the development of training workers through special incentives and compensation (Boone p.33). In general, early management scientists tended to believe that there was a single way to organize companies and manage employees. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were initial attempts for launching a systematic and scientific study of management; by the 1950's, there were multiple books and articles focused on organization and management theory. Since then, a number of new paradigms, or models, concerning employee motivation and employee-employer relationships have aroused influencing the basic principles of modern management theory.
Literature Review: Herzberg and Drucker
Frederick Herzberg, a pioneer on management theory, is best known for his motivation-hygiene theory and work in job enrichment. In his article, One More Time: How do you Motivate Employees, Herzberg explores the past theories of motivation and development of the motivation-hygiene theory. The motivation-hygiene theory suggests "the factors involved in producing job satisfaction (and motivation) are separate and distinct from the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction" (Boone p.174). In others words, job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are not the opposite of one another but rather two separate attitudes. Herzberg cla...
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...principles of management. The set of assumptions that have laid the foundations for the practice of management such as being internally focused, having given technologies and markets, are no longer close to our present reality. With the arrival of the Information Revolution, the Herzberg's and Taylor's theories about management have become somewhat obsolete obstacles to the efficient practice of management. There is no longer a single, dominant way to efficiently run a company or a single plan that can increase productivity. As technology improves, there will be different problems a firm will be challenged with and teamwork among employees and employers will become more necessary. Thus, it is not surprising that there is a new generation of management theorists emerging that are reevaluating and reformulating the old assumptions and paradigms of management theory.
Taylorism is a system that was designed in the late 19th century, not only to maximise managerial control, but to also expand the levels of efficiency throughout workplaces. With this being said, productivity levels increased and fair wage distribution was the main result. However, with other, more recent theories and systems, such as Maslow and Herzburg’s theories, these helped to focus on the satisfaction and motivation of the workers rather than the concern of managerial control and empowerment. Fredrick W. Taylor ended up developing 4 main principles to help increase the work efficiency and productivity in workplaces; these will be discussed later on. Other theories relating to this include, Fayol, Follett, Management Science Theory as well as Organisational-Environmental Theory. All theories listed have an influence on the way businesses work effectively and put their skills to action. This essay will highlight how Taylorism was designed to maximise managerial control and increase productivity, furthermore, showing how more recent theories were developed to focus on empowering employees and to extend the use of organisational resources.
Miles, R. (1975) Theories of Management: Implications for Organisational Behaviour and Development. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Compare and contrast the management theories of Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, Elton Mayo, and Douglas McGregor. In what sense(s) are these theories similar and/or compatible? In what sense(s) are these theories dissimilar and/or incompatible? How would a contingency theorist reconcile the points of dissimilarity and/or incompatibility between these approaches? The twentieth century has brought in a number of management theories which have helped shape our view of management in the present business environment.
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:
As with any theory, the motivator-hygiene theory has its share of criticisms. Among them is the lack of consideration for individual differences. Herzberg’s theory only takes into account internal organizational factors and does not consider personal attitudes and beliefs of one’s work. Moreover, the two-factor theory assumes that high job satisfaction equates to performance at work. This, however, does not hold true in many situations.(insert example) A highly satisfied, content, and happy worker is not necessarily the hardest worker in an organization.
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.
Of the numerous speculations of work motivation, Herzberg's (1998) motivator hygiene theory has been a standout amongst the most persuasive in late decades. Essentially, the hypothesis isolates propelling variables into two classifications: Motivator factors, which have a remark with the work itself, and Hygiene factors, which have a remark with the encompassing
There are three well-established theories of classical management: Taylor?s Theory of Scientific Management, Fayol?s Administrative Theory, Weber?s Theory of Bureaucracy. Although these schools, or theories, developed historical sequence, later ideas have not replaced earlier ones. Instead, each new school has tended to complement or coexist with previous ones.
...adership Practices in Relation to Productivity and Morale." In D. Cartwright and A. Zander, Group Dynamics: Research and Theory, 2nd ed. (Elmsford, NY: Row, Paterson, 1960)
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.
Motivation is an important function in organizations to motivate their employees for their ability to perform well, improving their skills, increasing productivity, job satisfaction and employee extension. Employees also are not a machines that we could just program their task in their brain and they will do it automatically, they require motivation to actually do their job properly. And so, after discussing the process models of the Maslow’s “Hierarchy of needs”, Douglas McGregor theory X and Y, and also the Herzberg’s “two factor motivation hygiene theory.” understanding the ways of motivating people, the human nature, and the substance of nature. I believe that the true motivation can only come from within and also managers can actually motivate all of their employees.
Management plays a significant role in how business operates. The diversity of approaches to the theoretical and practical background of management has come up with several versions of what is meant by such key words as management and organization. The academia views expressed in relation to management theories take a different role than that prescribed to managers. There has not been any concrete definition of management even though the classic definition of Henri fayol still remains in contention to be the preferred choice after eighty years. In the context of what is required I would like to elaborate on the following journals.
Our first pioneer was Henry Fayol. Fayol was one of the pioneers who were accountable for constructing the modern management theory. Before Fayol created his principle his company who was currently was facing difficulty and with the experiences he had and the principles he created he was able to turn the mining company around. “Henri Fayol 's "14 Principles of Management" have been a significant influence on modern management theory. His practical lists of principles helped early 20th century managers learn how to organize and interact with their employees in a productive way” (Henry Fayol Principles of
The evolution of management though the decades can be divided into two major sections. One of the sections is the classical approach. Under the classical approach efficiency and productivity became a critical concern of the managers at the turn of the 20th century. One of the approaches from the classical time period were systematic management which placed more emphasis on internal operations because managers were concerned with meeting the growth in demand brought on by the Industrial revolution. As a result managers became more concerned with physical things than towards the people therefore systematic management failed to lead to production efficiency. This became apparent to an engineer named Frederick Taylor who was the father of Scientific Management. Scientific Management was identified by four principles for which management should develop the best way to do a job, determine the optimum work pace, train people to do the job properly, and reward successful performance by using an incentive pay system. Scientifi...
The management and organizational approaches that are used by various firms play a critical role in their performance. The adopted management approach is important due to the fact that it determines the efficiency with which activities are performed. The organizational structure of the firm on the other hand determines the delegation and application of authority. The organizational structure is developed by the management. The structure facilitates effective interaction among employees and helps in directing resources towards achieving the goals of the organization. The behavior of employees is also influenced by the management and organizational approach (Mullins 3). Thus a firm will only be successful if it adopts the best management and organizational approach. This paper will focus on analyzing two management approaches namely, scientific and bureaucratic theories of management.