The empirical school of management bases its methods on a close study of past
managerial experiences and management cases. As such, it is also known as case approach or
management experience approach.
According to this approach, management is considered a study of manager in practice.
The intention of studying experience is to draw generalizations and to develop means to
teaching experiences to other practitioners and students. Attempts are made to duplicate
successful experiences while avoiding unsuccessful ones.
This approach offers the most conventional way of acquiring skills in management,
that is, learning through the experience of others. This approach also helps in classroom,
situations for developing diagnostic and analytical skills in management students. Following
limitations of this approach are quite obvious.
This empirical approach, basing its generalizations on cases and past experiences has
not contributed anything fundamental to the development of management as discipline
because of obvious contradictions in various management experiences.
Contributors
Earnest Dale, Mooney & Reiley, urwick.
Uses
Learning through experience of others
Limitations
SYSTEMS APPROACH
This approach is of comparatively recent origin, starting late 1950, it ha assumed
considerable importance in analyzing the phenomena of management. It is an integrating
approach which considers management in its totality based on empirical data. The basic idea
of systems approach is that any object must rely on a method of analysis involving
simultaneous variations of mutually dependent variables. The implication of systems
approach is given below.
System approach of management provides an integrated approach of managing.
This considers management in its totality.
System approach of management provides an integrated approach of managing.
This considers management in its totality.
System approach possesses the conceptual level of managerial analysis much
higher than any other approach. It provides a framework through which organization
environment interaction can be analyzed and facilitates decision-making, since the system
within which managers make decisions can be provided as a more explicit framework
decision-making is easier to handle.
It is often suggested that system approach is too abstract to be of much use to
practicing managers. It merely indicates that various parts of the organization are interrelated.
System approach of management lacks universality and its precepts cannot be
applied to all organizations.
OPERATIONAL APPROACH
This approach attempts to draw together the pertinent knowledge of management by
relating it to the functions of managers, commonly known as management process. As such
this approach is also known as management process approach. This approach views the
management as a social process comprising a series of actions leading to the accomplishment
of certain objectives. The significance of operations approach is given below.
Contributors
Fayol, Lyndall Urwick ,Harold Koontz, Newman, Mc Farland, Taylor.
Uses
Flexible & practical but not universal.