Lecture 2, Unit 2, Week 2
Evolution of Management Thinking –
Part 1
By:
Dr. Obi Berko
School of Management, University of
Ghana
Lecture Outline
1)
2)
3)
4)
Recap of the last lecture
Management thinking
Classical management
Behavioral approach
Racal from Previous Lecture
The commercial application and/or the usage
of the term management started from the
industrial revolution in the 16 & 17
Activity 1
What led to the introduction of management
at the industrial revolution?
Implication of the Challenges from the
Factory System
led to the need for:
1)
2)
3)
4)
role specification,
careful selection,
labour control and
Improved welfare of the employees
Addressing the Factory Challenges
1) The call for factory consultants, industry
experts and researchers to make
recommendations and/or suggestions with
regard to best practices to merchants
2) Hence the evaluation of management
thinking
What is a Management Thinking?
The “management thinking” implies
management:
1) Perspective
2) philosophy,
3) theory,
4) school of thought,
5) Assumption
6) Hypothesis
7) Postulation
8) Conjecture
The Meaning of a theory, philosophy,
perspective, etc
• A thinking and/or theory is: a plan or scheme
existing in the mind only, but based on
principles verifiable by experiment or
observation
• Management theory, perspective therefore is
the set of propositions (body of knowledge)
stemming from a definable field of study
which can be termed a science
Function of Theory
1) Makes prescription for practice – Just
like the relationship between a doctor
and a patient;
2)So whereas management theories act
as prescriptions what managers
actually do are termed as description
Function of a theory Cont.’
3) theory claims to offer a best way of
managing the behaviour of
organizations in an efficient and
effective manner
Evolution of Management Thinking
Classical Approaches
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Systematic management (1890 – 1900)
Scientific management
(1900)
Bureaucracy
(1905)
Administrative management (1910 – 1920)
Human relations (1920)
Quantitative management (1930 - 1940)
Organizational behaviour (1940)
Contemporary Approaches
8) Systems theory
(1945)
9) Contingency theory
(1950 – 1960)
10) Current and future revolutionary (1965)
The Classical Perspective
The classical perspective places an emphasis
on managing organizations and work
patterns more efficiently. It comprises three
distinct approaches:
1) Scientific management,
2) Bureaucratic management, and
3) Administrative management.
1) Scientific Management
Scientific management asserts that the scientific
assessment of work practices and methods can
increase the efficiency of the workforce.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1915), often
known as the father of scientific management,
had observed a phenomenon he called
soldiering.
The four principles of scientific management
1) Scientifically study each part of a task and
developed the best method (including tools) for
performing the task.
2) Carefully select workers and train them to
perform the task by using a scientificallydeveloped method. So scientific selection and
training
Four Principles Cont.’
4) Divide the work and responsibility so that
management is responsible for planning work
methods using scientific principles and workers
are responsible for executing the work
accordingly.
Activity 2
Could there by any criticisms against the
scientific management philosophy if yes what are
they?
2) Bureaucratic Management
Bureaucratic management is the branch of the
classical perspective that emphasis the need for
organizations to behave in a strict and wellordered manner. Max Weber (1864 – 1920) is
credited with developing the concept of
bureaucracy in which an organization has clearlydefined roles and responsibilities, specialized
tasks and functions, and promotion is based on
seniority and achievement. Fundamental to the
concept of bureaucratic management is the
notion of job for life.
Weber’s Ideal-type Bureaucracy
characteristics:
• Specialization hierarchy
Each area has a clearly-defined set of competencies,
these are underpinned by a rigid series of super and
subordinate relationships and found on the
supervision of the lower ranks by the higher ones.
• Impersonality
Everyone is subject to a formal equity. Policies,
procedures, rules and regulations are meted out
uniformly and applied uniformly, regardless of
individual considerations.
Rules
The organization establishes general rules
which are to a greater or lesser degree stable
and
to
greater
or
lesser
degree
comprehensive. Rules dictate those behaviors
required from those within the organization.
Appointed officials
Selection and promotion are based on
technical qualifications and on performance.
Specialization of labour
Jobs and tasks are broken down into welldefined routines such that employees become
extremely competent in their particular task.
3) Administrative Management
Administrative management is by Henri Fayol (1841
– 1925), a French industrialist. These are based
on 14 principles:
Activity 3
What are the possible limitations of the
Bureaucratic management philosophy?
Administrative Management
Henry Fayol 1841-1925
Efficient firm is based on 14 management
principles
1) Division of work – efficiencies can be
achieved by the specialization of work
practices from both technical and managerial
perspectives, however, there are limits to the
amount of work that can be divided up.
2) Authority – there is a need for a system in
which a person or people can direct the work
of others and retain responsibility. These
people gain authority based on qualifications
and experience and use these power bases to
give the orders that create obedience.
3) Discipline – if an organization is to be
efficient it must be tightly controlled.
Discipline is vital, albeit the manifestation of
discipline is dependent on the organization's
leaders.
4) Unity in command – clear lines of
responsibility requires that a person of lower
rank should only receive orders from one
person of senior rank.
5) Unity in direction – organizational success
depends on being able to align all activities.
There should be one leader and one plan
which all should follow.
6) Centralization – the degree to which an
organization is centralized or decentralized will
depend on the functions of that organization,
but the structure should be devised to allow
people to contribute to the best of their
abilities.
7) Scalar chain – a linear hierarchy of authority
should define the communication path through
the organization. It should extend from the top
of the organization to the bottom. Horizontal
communication is permissible as long as
managers are kept informed.
8) Subordination of individual interest to general
interest – the goals of organization are
paramount and should not be influenced by the
goals of one person or group.
9) Remuneration – pay should be fair to both
the staff and the employers.
10) Order – this denotes good management
practice, everything has its place and everything
in its place. It also relates to the environment
being conclusive to the activities taking place
there.
11) Equity – all staff should be treated with a high
and equitable level of kindness and patience.
12) Stability of personal tenure – task
specialization takes an investment in training from
the organization. High staff turnover therefore has
larger resource implications. Turnover should
therefore be kept at a minimum.
13) Initiative – subordinate initiative should be
encouraged and developed as far as is practicable.
14) Esprit de corps – harmony, strength and a
cohesive
corporate
culture
will
foster
organizational success.
Activity 4
Considering each of the administrative
principles of organisation, what challenges to
these principles can you indentify in modern
methods of working?
• Classical writers thought of organisations in
terms of purpose & formal structure
• Assumes all organizations require the same
rational management process.
• Emphasis was placed on the planning of
work, technical requirements of the
organisation, principles of management,
• A clear understanding of the purpose of the
organisation was essential to understand
how the organisation works and how its
working methods can be improved
• Concerned with improving organisation
structure as a means of increasing efficiency
– span of control, division of work, etc.
Criticisms of the classical approach
• Insufficient account taken of personality factors
• Creates organisational structures where people
can exercise only limited control over their work
environment
• Out-of-date approach
Activity 5
Try to provide a definition of ‘organisation’
and then describe what an organisation ‘looks
like’. To what extent have your ideas been
informed by principles of bureaucracy
and classical management?
Activity 6
In the light of customer service characteristics of
most Banks today (SC, Ecobank, etc.) example
the use of teller machines and the delivery
mechanisms of most fast food joints in the in
Osu, Spinters Road and in western countries
(e.g.McDonalds) can you say or agree with the
assertion that
a) Scientific management has come to stay with
society?
b ) Where and how have you experienced it?
Opposing Perspectives
Though the approach sought to address the
excesses of an arbitrary pattern of management
it nonetheless incorporated an extremely
negative view of human nature that was common
at the time, one of the main elements being the
idea of workers as simply parts in the much
greater machine. So other opposing perspectives
emerged.
1) Human relations approach
• Is based on the consideration of the social factors at
work and the behaviour of employees within an
organisation
• Particular importance is paid to the informal
organisation and the satisfaction of individuals’ needs
through groups at work
• Hawthorne experiments acted as a turning point in the
development of the Human Relations movement
The Hawthorn experiments
Possibly the most well-known events of the
behaviourist period was that of the Hawthorn
experiments. Headed by Elton mayo (1880 –
1974), a group of researchers from the Harvard
University undertook a series of experiments at
the western electricity company.
The hawthorn experiments involved dividing
employees into two groups, a test group and a
control group.
Purpose
1) To establish one’ best level of lighting to be
used in the factory.
2) Two groups had been established, as control
group and an experimental group.
The latter was subject to changes in lighting
intensity whilst the control group continued to
work in conditions that remained constant. It
was expected that as the lighting conditions of
the experiment group altered, so too would their
levels of productivity
Results
1) Engineers saw productions continue to rise,
only falling when the lighting was made so bad
as to make work impossible.
2) Even more confusing, the output in the
control group also increased despite no changes
taking place in the levels of lighting.
Results Cont.’
3) As a result of this a research group from
Harvard was brought in to the factory to look
into these strange result.
4) Over the next few years a series of
experiments was conducted in which workers
were subjected to changes in working hours, pay
levels and rest periods.
Results:
Researchers involved in the experiment
concluded that it was not the changes in working
conditions that affect output, but the fact that
the workers involved in the studies had been
chosen for special attention. The effect of this
was to increase their morale and to motivate
them to work and perform better. It was the fact
that they were being studied that improved the
levels of output.
Result Cont.’
The informal groups played important role
Consequently the research began to focus on the
role and behaviours of informal groups in work,
those established by workers themselves, and
attitudes of such groups.
The first concerned the importance of informal
groups within organisational structures. The
studies demonstrated the need to see work as a
co-operative activity rather than an individual
one and the importance of the informal work
group in performance levels.
Results
The second proposition was that people have a
strong need for recognition, security and
belonging. The Hawthorne studies demonstrated
that far from being purely economic, human
beings’ work performance could be by their
needs for security and recognition, and that
informal groups could provide the sense for
belonging they sought.
Human relations approach – the criticisms
• Weak methodology of Hawthorne experiments,
including failure to take sufficient account of
environmental factors
• Adoption of a management approach, a ‘unitary frame
of reference’ and over simplification of theories
• Insufficiently scientific and takes too narrow a view,
ignoring the role of the organisation within society
The Behaviour Approach
Focus:
It extended the social man to the self
actualized man
Perspectives
1) Abraham Maslow
2) Douglas Mcgregor
1) Abraham Maslow’s Process Theory
The best-known theory on motivation was
developed by Abraham Maslow. According to
Maslow, within every human being, a hierarchy
of five needs exist. The first three are deficiency
needs because they must be satisfied if the
individual is to be healthy and secure. The last
two are growth needs because they are related
to the development and achievement of one’s
potential. As each of these needs becomes
substantially satisfied, the next higher need
becomes dominant.
The Contents of Maslow’s Hierarchy
1.Physiological--food, drink, shelter, sexual
satisfaction, and other bodily requirements;
2. Safety--security and protection from physical and
emotional harm;
3.Social--affection, belongingness, acceptance, and
friendship;
4.Esteem--internal factors such as self-respect,
autonomy, achievement, and external factors such
as status, recognition, and attention;
5.Self-actualization--growth, achieving one’s
potential, and self-fulfillment; the drive to become
what one is capable of becoming.
Demerits
1) The hierarchy ignores the concept of
deferred gratification (by which people are
prepared to ignore current suffering for the
promise of future benefits) and altruistic
behavior (by which people sacrifice their own
needs for others);
2) People do not move needs in step-wise
manner.
Activity 7
Decide which of the Maslow’s categories the
following fit into:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Receiving praise from your manager
A family party
An artist forgetting to eat
A pay increase
Joining a local drama group
Being a warded a medal
Buying a house
2) Douglas McGregor (1906 – 1964)
Theory X versus Theory Y concept.
Assumptions for theory X managers.
•Management is responsible for organizing the
element of productive enterprise- money,
materials, equipment, and people - in the
interest of economic ends.
•With respect to people, this is a process of
directing their efforts, motivating them,
controlling their actions, modifying their
behavior to fit the needs of the organization.
Theory x Cont.’
•Without
this
active
intervention
by
management, people would be passive – even
resistant – to organizational needs. They must
therefore be persuaded, rewarded, punish,
controlled – their activities must be directed. This
is management’s task – in managing
subordinates, managers or workers.
Theory X Cont.’
Behind this conventional theory there are several
additional beliefs – less explicit, but widespread:
•The average man is by nature indolent – he
works as little as possible.
•He lacks ambition, dislikes responsibility,
prefers to be led,
•He is inherently self-centred, indifferent to
organizational needs,
•He is eligible, not very bright, the ready dupe of
the charlatan and the demagogue.
Theory y
Theory Y managers hold to a set of
assumptions founding the belief
that it is possible to achieve both
organizational and individual goals:
Theory Y: Cont
•Management is responsible for organizing the
elements of productive enterprise – money,
materials, equipment, people – in the interest of
economic ends,
•People are not by nature passive or resistant to
organizational needs. They have become so as a
result of experience in organizations,
Theory Y: Cont.’
•The motivation, the potential for development,
the capacity for assuming responsibility, the
readiness
to
direct
behaviour
toward
organizational goals are all present in people.
Management does not make it possible for
people to recognize and develop these human
characteristics for themselves,
Theory Y: Cont.’
•The essential task of management is to arrange
organizational conditions and methods of
operation so that people can achieve their own
goals best by directing their own efforts towards
organizational objectives.
The ‘Theory Y’ manager encourages
creativity and innovation and allows people
greater responsibility in determining their
own working practices.
Activity 8
Having the opportunity to choose between
theories X and Y, what is your position and
why?
Lecture Ends Cheers to all!!!