On
Evolution of Management thought
Submitted To:
Dr. Abu Hossain Siddique
Professor
Department of International Business,
University of Dhaka
Submitted By:
Aklas Khan Chowdhury
ID: 801413020
Subject: Principles of Management (EIB-506) (Section: B)
12th Batch, EMBA
Department of International Business,
University of Dhaka
Date of submission: April 07, 2014
Introduction:
Despites the inexactness and relative crudity of management theory and science,
the development of thought on management dates back to the days when people
first attempted to accomplish goals by working together in groups. Although
modern operational management theory dates primarily from the twentieth
century there was serious thinking and theorizing about managing many years
before.
We can see that the many different contributions of writers and practitioners
have resulted in different contributions of writers and practitioners have resulted
in different approaches to management, and these make up a man management
theory jungle. We will first focus on the emergence of management thought,
who have made significant contribution in the evaluation of management
thought, major contribution are noted.
Definition of Management:
Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in
which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected
aims (Koontz and Weihrich 1990, p. 4). In its expanded form, this basic
definition means several things. First, as managers, people carry out the
managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.
Second, management applies to any kind of organization. Third, management
applies to managers at all organizational levels. Fourth, the aim of all managers
is the same to create surplus. Finally, managing is concerned with productivity
this implies effectiveness and efficiency. Thus, management refers to the
development of bureaucracy that derives its importance from the need for
strategic planning, co-ordination, directing and controlling of large and complex
decision-making process. Essentially, therefore, management entails the
acquisition of managerial competence, and effectiveness in the following key
areas: problem solving, administration, human resource management, and
organizational leadership. First and foremost, management is about solving
problems that keep emerging all the time in the course of an organization
struggling to achieve its goals and objectives. Problem solving should be
accompanied by problem identification, analysis and the implementation of
and a fair day pay. Moreover he believe that both managers and workers were
concerned too much with how they should divided the surplus that arose from
productivity the split in thinking between pay and profits-and not enough with
increasing the surplus so that both owners and lobourers could get more
compensation. In brief Taylor saw productivity as the answer to both higher
wages and higher profits. He believed that the application of scientific methods,
instead of custom and rule of thumb, could yield productivity without the
expenditure of more human energy or effort
Taylors Principal:
Taylors famous work entitled Principals of Scientific Management was
published in 1911. But one of the best expositions of this philosophy o f
management is found in his testimony before a committee of the House of
Representatives; he was forced to defend his ideas before group of congressmen,
most of whom were hostile because the believed, along with labor leaders, that
Taylors Ideas would lead overworking and displacing workers. We can outline
his principle of Scientific Management below, which is known as Taylors
Principal.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Lillian Gilbreths interest in the human aspects of work and her husbands
interest in efficiency- the search for the best way of doing a given task led
to a rare combination of talents. It is not surprising that Frank Gilbreth long
emphasized that in applying scientific management principles; we must
look at worker first and understand their personalities and needs.
disciplined both rate busters and chiselers in order to create a pace of work that
the workers (not the managers) thought was fair. Thus, a work groups influence
over output can be as great as the supervisors influence. Since the work group
can influence the behavior of its members, some management theorists argue
that supervisors should be trained to behave in ways that gain the goodwill and
cooperation of workers so that supervisors, not workers, control the level of
work-group performance. One of the main implications of the Hawthorne
studies was that the behavior of managers and workers in the work setting is as
important in explaining the level of performance as the technical aspects of the
task. Managers must understand the workings of the informal organization, the
system of behavioral rules and norms that emerge in a group, when they try to
manage or change behavior in organizations. Many studies have found that, as
time passes, groups often develop elaborate procedures and norms that bond
members together, allowing unified action either to cooperate with management
in order to raise performance or to restrict output and thwart the attainment of
organizational goals. The Hawthorne studies demonstrated the importance of
understanding how the feelings, thoughts, and behavior of work-group members
and managers affect performance. It was becoming increasingly clear to
researchers that understanding behavior in organizations is a complex process
that is critical to increasing performance. Indeed, the increasing interest in the
area of management known as organizational behavior, the study of the factors
that have an impact on how individuals and groups respond to and act in
organizations, dates from these early studies.
Managers who accept the assumptions of Theory X design and shape the work
setting to maximize their control over workers behaviors and minimize
workers control over the pace of work. These managers believe that workers
must be made to do what is necessary for the success of the organization, and
they focus on developing rules, SOPs, and a well-defined system of rewards and
punishments to control behaviour. They see little point in giving workers
autonomy to solve their own problems because they think that the workforce
neither expects nor desires cooperation. Theory X managers see their role as to
closely monitor workers to ensure that they contribute to the production process
and do not threaten product quality. Henry Ford, who closely supervised and
managed his workforce, fits McGregors description of a manager who holds
Theory X assumptions.
THEORY Y In contrast, Theory Y assumes that workers are not inherently lazy,
do not naturally dislike work, and, if given the opportunity, will do what is good
for the organization. According to Theory Y, the characteristics of the work
setting determine whether workers consider work to be a source of satisfaction
or punishment; and managers do not need to control workers behavior closely
in order to make them perform at a high level, because workers will exercise
self-control when they are committed to organizational goals. The implication of
Theory Y, according to McGregor, is that the limits of collaboration in the
organizational setting are not limits of human nature but of managements
ingenuity in discovering how to realize the potential represented by its human
resources. It is the managers task to create a work setting that encourages
commitment to organizational goals and provides opportunities for workers to
be imaginative and to exercise initiative and self-direction. When managers
design the organizational setting to reflect the assumptions about attitudes and
behaviour suggested by Theory Y, the characteristics of the organization are
quite different from those of an organizational setting based on Theory X.
Managers who believe that workers are motivated to help the organization reach
its goals can decentralize authority and give more control over the job to
workers, both as individuals and in groups. In this setting, individuals and
groups are still accountable for their activities, but the managers role is not to
control employees but to provide support and advice, to make sure employees
have the resources they need to perform their jobs, and to evaluate them on their
ability to help the organization meet its goals. Henri Fayols approach to
administration more closely reflects the assumptions of Theory Y, rather than
Theory X.
Organizational Environment
Theory
An important milestone in the history of management thought occurred when
researchers went beyond the study of how managers can influence behavior
within organizations to consider how managers control the organizations
relationship with its external environment, or organizational environmentthe
set of forces and conditions that operate beyond an organizations boundaries but
affect a managers ability to acquire and utilize resources. Resources in the
organizational environment include the raw materials and skilled people that an
organization requires to produce goods and services, as well as the support of
groups including customers who buy these goods and services and provide the
organization with financial resources. One way of determining the relative
success of an organization is to consider how effective its managers are at
obtaining scarce and valuable resources. The importance of studying the
environment became clear after the development of open-systems theory and
contingency theory during the 1960s.
Contingency Theory
Another milestone in management theory was the development of contingency
theory in the 1960s by Tom Burns and G.M. Stalker in the United Kingdom and
Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch in the United States. The crucial message of
contingency theory is that there is no one best way to organize: The
organizational structures and the control systems that managers choose depend
onare contingent oncharacteristics of the external environment in which the
organization operates. According to contingency theory, the characteristics of the
environment affect an organizations ability to obtain resources. To maximize