Unit Two: Schools Of Management

Thought
Application of management knowledge is as old as
human civilization
Even Gigantic projects like Great Wall of China
and construction of Egypt applying management
knowledge but Management was not emerged as a
recognized discipline until the 20th century. or
development of management thought and theory is
relatively of recent origin
The age of industrial revolution in the 19th
century and subsequent emergence of large
corporate organizations called for new approaches
to management
 2.2. Contributors to management thought
and Historical forces shaping
management
Contributors to management thought
Practicing managers who described their own
experiences and generalized principle from those
experiences
Social and behavioral scientists who study
management as a social phenomena using scientific
methods

Engineers, sociologists, psychologists,

economists, political who represent a middle
ground between management as practice and
management as science perspective to study
management.
Historical forces shaping/affecting/ management
1. Social forces- the aspects of a culture that
guide the influence relationship among their
values, needs and standards of behavior,
2. Political forces- the influence of political and
legal forces on people and organizations
3. Economic forces- forces that affect the
availability, production and distribution of
society‘s resources among competing users.
 Approaches to management
thought

There are four approaches to management thought

The schools of management (approaches to
management) are ―highly related.
The classical school
Scientific Management
Classical theory of management
Bureaucracy
The Behavioral School
The Human Relations movement
Organizational Behavior
The Quantitative management
Management Science
Operational Management
Modern management thought
The system approach
Contingency approach
 A. The Classical School

 The ideas of the writers under the classical school

represent the first well development
framework of management.
 The classical school is further grouped in to three
categories. These are Scientific Management ,
Classical theory of management , and
Bureaucracy.
 1) Scientific Management

 Frederic Taylor played the dominant role,

and he is usually referred to as the father of
scientific management.
 Taylorism of course, is a term used by many
people to mean scientific management.
 The thought (approach) was formulated to
increase productivity and make the work
easier by scientifically studying work methods
and establishing standards.
 The primary aim of scientific management was
maximizing profits and minimizing costs of
production.
 The guiding principle was getting the most
out of the workers.
 Taylor developed a strong dislike for waste
and inefficiency.
 Basic Principles of scientific management
1. The development of management of scientific
method of designing jobs.
2. The scientific selection of workers
3. Bringing together scientifically selected
employees and scientifically developed
methods of doing jobs
4. A division of responsibility between
management and labor.
 2) Classical theory of
Management(Administrative management)

 Henri Fayol, a Frenchman, was the pioneer of the

school of thought.
 He was concerned with upper rather than lower
levels of management and with organizational
concept rather than techniques of production.
 Unlike the scientific management the guiding
principle of administrative management was
Getting the most out of management.
 Fayol‘s greatest contribution is considered to be
his theory of management principles and elements
called fourteen principles of management.
 Principles of Management
1. Division of labor
2. Authority
3. Discipline
4. Unity of command
5. Unity of direction
6. Subordination of individual interest to the
common
7. Remuneration
8. Centralization
9. Scalar of chain(hierarchy)
10. Order
11. Equity
12. Stability of staff
13. Initiative
 3)Bureaucracy
 The theory was formulated by a German
sociologist known as Max Weber.
 Bureaucracy is a system of administration of
organization by the instrumentality (means) of
departments or bureaus.
 Bureaucracy, according to Weber, is a very
rational form of organization.
 Rationality implies that an organization‘s
structure is based on rules and procedures
which are intended to help it achieve its objectives.
Such rules provide a system of order within which
the work of an organization can be conducted.
According to Weber, the ideal bureaucratic model
has the following basic characteristics.
Officials are organized in a clearly defined
hierarchy of offices
Administrators are selected on the basis of
qualification, for posts in bureaucracy
Each office has a clearly defined area of
competence.
 Office holders are personally free and subject to
authority only so for as their official duties are
concerned.
 Promotion of office holders is based on seniority or
achievement or combination of both.
 Office holders are guided by stable rules and
policies. Rules and policies promote efficiency and
ensure continuity.
 The job of office holder is her/his sole or main
occupation. They are paid fixed salaries and have
person rights
 Officials are subjected to strict discipline and control
Advantages of the model
 The distinct rules allow the organization to act with
precision and sometimes with speed.
 Bureaucratic organizations have high degree of
predictability of outcomes.
 Bureaucratic organizations exhibit a high degree of
impersonality.
Disadvantages of the model
 Over-rigidity or inflexibility
 One-way communication
 Contributions and Limitations of the
classical school
Contributions
1. Laid foundation for later development in
management theory.
2.Identified key management process, functions and
skills that are still recognized as such today
3.Focused attention on management as a valid
subject of scientific inquiry.
Limitations
1.More appropriate for stable and simple
organizations than for today‘s dynamic and
complex organizations.
2.Often prescribed universal procedures are provided
which are not really appropriate in some setting
3.Less concern for employees and viewing employees
 B. The Behavioral School

 Contrary to the classical management thought

which viewed organization and jobs from a
mechanistic point of view, this theory placed
much more emphasis on individual attitudes and
behaviors and on group processes in the work
place.
 It recognized the importance of behavioral
processes in the work place.
 In this school concentration is made on
motivation, communications, and work group
and other behavioral related topics.
 It was developed partly because the classical
approach sometimes failed to improve efficiency
and harmony.
 Contributors are: Mary Parker Follet, Elton
Mayo, Abraham Maslow, and Douglas McGregor
The Human Relations movement
 The movement was started as a reaction
particularly against the doctrines and practices
of scientific management.
 The movement was generated by:

 The growing strength and militancy of labor

unions
 The Hawthorne experiments of Elton Mayo
 The theoretical and empirical evidences from
social science
 The movement focused attention on the human
element in the work place.
 They emphasized that workers (labor) is not a
commodity to be bought and sold. They must be
considered in the context of the work group of
which they are a part.
 Their relationship with their fellow workers and
their bosses influence their behavior, morale and
productivity
Organizational Behavior
 Theorists who developed this model have noted
that many of the assertions of the human
relations work were simplistic, inadequate
description of work behavior.
 Organizational behavior theorists take a holistic

view of behavior by considering individual group

and organization process.
 The scope of Organizational behavior includes
such issues as:
 the needs people seek to achieve in their work
 the formal and informal organization of the
work place
 motivation and job satisfaction,
 leadership,
 group dynamics
 communication, organization politics,
 interpersonal conflict, etc
 c) The Quantitative Management

 Quantitative management theory applies quantitative

techniques to managerial problem solving and decision
making situations.
 It emphasized the application of quantitative or
mathematical approaches to management
problems.
 The use of statistical analysis, liner programming for
the allocation of resources, the development of models
before implementing an idea, production scheduling
techniques, and financial analysis are all examples of
modern-day implementation of the quantitative
approach.
1. Management Science:
Management science, not scientific
management, focuses specifically on the
development of mathematical model,
equations and similar representation of
reality.
2.Operational Management:
 Operations management is somewhat less
mathematical and statistically sophisticated
than management science and can be applied
more directly to managerial situations.
 Generally, operational management is concerned
with helping the organization produce its
products or services more efficiently and can be
applied to a wide range to problems.
 Contributions and Limitations of the
quantitative management school

Contributions
The development of sophisticated quantitative
techniques to assist in decision making
Application of models has increased awareness and
understanding of complex process and situations
Quantitative management theory has been very
useful in planning and controlling.
Limitations
Cannot fully explain the behavior of people in
organization
Mathematical sophistication may come at the
expense of other important skills.
Models may require unrealistic or unfounded
assumptions
 D) Modern Management Thought

 The system approach :The system concept is a

relatively recent approach. A system can be seen
as a complexity of element standing in
interaction.
 The system approach is built on the premise
that the manager of an organization must
understand all the various systems that
compose the entire operation.
 This approach views organization as a total
system comprised of a group of interrelated
department contributing to a single purpose.
Contingency Approach :The contingency
approach is based on the premise that the actions
or the approaches managers should take
depend on the situation and its variables.
The approach holds that universal solutions and

principles cannot be applied to all organizations.

The best management approach depends on

the situation.
While system theory provide the broad framework for
understanding organization (high degree of
generalization)

Contingency views tend to be more concrete and to

emphasize more specific characteristics and
patterns of interrelationship among subsystems.

The contingency theory suggests the manager may

make use of all valid tools, techniques concepts
and theories of the classical, behavioral, and
quantitative schools of thought.