The four Theories of management

Pre-Classical Management Theories

• Pre-classical theories of management are theories developed prior to the emergence of the scientific
management era in the late 19th century. Key pre-classical contributors include Robert Owen, Adam
Smith, Hennery Poor, and Charles Babbage.
Robert Owen
• British industrialist and owner-manager of cotton mills in Scotland
• Emphasized the importance of human resources in organizations
• Considered the "father of modern personnel management"
• Advocated for improved working and living conditions for employees
Charles Babbage
• Widely recognized as "the father of modern computing"
• Made significant contributions to management thinking
• Championed the implementation of scientific principles in work processes
• Proposed inventive reward systems like profit sharing and incentives
• Pioneered ideas that influenced the development of Scientific Management
Adam Smith and Division of Labor
• Renowned for his contributions to management thought
• In 'The Wealth of Nations,' he emphasized the impact of division of labor on manufacturing
• Specialization leads to increased efficiency and time saved from transitioning between task
• Managers focused on mechanical aspects: division of labor, coordination, and control
 2.1. Classical Management Theory
2.1.1 Scientific Management Theory

• Frederick W. Taylor is known to be a “father of scientific management” for proposing 'one best
way to do things' or scientific management/Taylorism (Ghuman and Aswathapa, 2010). Time and
motion were a scientific analysis of task for examining the physical movements and
requirements for the completion of task.
• The major notion of the motivation for employees under scientific management were seen as
money.
• During the same era, Frank and Lillian presented “applied motion study” focusing on reduction in
the number of motions in a task in order to increase efficiency to have profit and satisfaction of a
worker (Caramerla, 2018). Meanwhile, Henry L. Gantt developed a Gantt Chart to measure the
productivity and working efficiency along with the task and bonus system of wages.
• The major drawback of this school of thought is that it treats and views worker from only the lens of
economics whereas workers’ behaviours are not always directed by financial needs as there are
other needs such as social, security and esteem needs.
 2.1.2. Administrative Management
• Henri Fayol is considered as the father of modern management for
his contribution in the administrative management field primarily focusing
on the operational approach through 14 principles of management.
“Fayol introduced unified concept by focusing on managerial levels
and the organisation as a whole besides the 14 key primciples”.
• This school of thought also has limitations as many of the principles have
dilemmas and are contradictory. For instance, limited span of control
and division of labour contradicts number of organisational levels being
smaller or principle of specialization is contradicted by unity of
command. In addition to that, when seeking specialization, it is not
possible to follow simultaneously all modes. There is lack of empirical
testing of these principles at organisational setting. Moreover, all
principles being valid under all situations is not practically applicable.
 2.1.3. Bureaucratic Organisation
• Max Webber proposed a theory of bureaucracy for organisational
efficiency based of organisational systems functioning on set of rules,
policies and hierarchy of authority (Ibid). Biggest fain of this approach is
that it excludes the conflict or overlapping duties, which offers clear
direction so that organisational operations gain efficiency in productivity.
• The major focus of this theory remains on positions rather than
individuals. Organisations would even continue its functionality even if
workers quit, which is visible in modern day to some extent that
organisation stays while employees come and go. Excessive red tapism
and paperwork often creates unpleasant experience as well as delay
smooth operations. Higher emphasis of policies and procedures develop
the cautious approach and as a result employee avoid risk and show less
creativity,
 2.2. Neo-Classical Theory
2.2.1. Behavioural Schools
• Elton Mayo is the main champion along with the Frank Roethlisberger and
William Dickson of human relations movement that later transformed into
organisational behaviour. They argued that inter-relationships within the group
members are vital aspect at the organisational settings. Their study known as
“Hawthorne experiment” proved as paradigm shifter in the management studies.
• The two important conclusions drawn from this experiment were
(a) existence of strong informal groups and (
b) behaviour of employees at work is significantly affected by non economic factors.
2.2.3. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
• The pyramid of needs had the most basic needs at the bottom and term them as
“physiological needs” such as, sleep, eat, water, sex, breathing and other physical
needs (McLeod, 2018; Robbins and Coulter, 2012). With the attainment of these
needs, second need arise and the chain of need continue with this way.”The
esteem needs are often the key motivator for employees working in the organisations. ”
 2.2.4. Theory X and Theory Y
• Douglas McGregor in his book, “human side of enterprises” published
in 1960 argued that there are two types of individual in the
organisation, respectively X and Y type. Theory X managers have a
negative view of workers and perceived them as untrustworthy, lazy, and
lacking the initiative to take responsibility. Therefore, such types of
managers are more autocratic and rigid in their respective approach.
The employees are seen to have low or no motivation to take initiative by
their own, thus, require set of directions to execute tasks. On the other
hand, Theory Y managers view employees are trustable and have the
potential to take a charge of responsibility. Furthermore, the employees
are highly self-motivated.
 2.3. Modern Management Theory
2.3.1. System Theory

• The first theory in modern school of management is system theory that offers a holistic view –
“organization as a whole”. System as an entity reflects coherent whole , implying an exchange
of dialogue between "holism" and "reductionism".
• he emphasis of contingency approach is on the adaption of managerial strategies as per the need
of situation. In other words, each situation should be viewed separately, and the plans should be
made while taking into consideration a wide range of internal and external factors to administer the
context, connectedness and complexities of the dynamic environment. Based on the scenario, a
best fit of the managerial approach for the situations should be implemented.
2.3.1. INTEGRATIVE APPROACH
• The objective of the integrative approach is to have integration between different management
theories. It states that classical, behavioral and other schools of management are supplementary
and the systems and contingency approaches can help to integrate the various schools of thought.
The initial premise of the integrative approach is that before attempting to apply any concepts or
ideas from the various schools of management thought we must recognize the interdependence of
units within the organization,