Evolution of Management Thought: An Overview of Classical, Neo-Classical, and Modern Eras

Evolution of management thought Introduction: Modern managers use many of the practices, principal, and techniques developed from earlier concepts and experience. In 1975, Raymond E. Miles wrote Theories of Management: Implications for organizational behavior and development. In it, he evaluated management includes classical, human relations, and human resources management. __The development of management thought has been evaluated in nature under the following four parts: 1. Pre-Scientific Management Era (before 1880) 2. Classical management Era (1880-1930) 3. Neo-classical Management Era (1930-1950) . Modern Management era(1950-on word) Classical Management: includes 1. Scientific Management School 2. Administration Management school 3. Bureaucracy Management. Neo- classical Management: includes 1. Human relation school 2. Behavioral Management School Modern Management: includes 1. Social system school 2. Decision theory school 3. Quantitative Management school 4. System Management school 5. Contingency Management school. Bureaucracy Management: Max Weber known as father of modern Sociology analyzed bureaucracy as the most logical & structure for large organization.

Features of Bureaucracy Rational authority: This is based on law, procedures, rules, and so on. Positional authority: Positional authority of superior over a subordinate stems from legal authority. Charismatic authority: Charismatic authority stems from the personal qualities of an individual. Principal of Bureaucracy 1. Clearly defined and specialized functions. 2. Use of legal authority; 3. Hierarchical form; 4. Written rules and procedures; 5. Technically trained bureaucrats; 6. Appointment to positions based on technical expertise; 7.

Promotions based on competence; 8. Clearly defined career paths. Scientific Management Frederick Taylor, known as the father of Scientific Management, Published Principals of Scientific Management , in which he proposed work methods designed to increase worker productivity. Scientific Management focuses on worker and machine relationships. Organizational productivity can be increased by increasing the efficiency of production processes. The efficiency perspective is concerned with creating job that economizes on time, human energy, and other productive resources.

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Job are designed so that each worker has a specified, well controlled task that can be performed as instructed. Principal of scientific management 1. Replacement of old rule of thumb method. 2. Scientific selecting and training. 3. Labor management co-operation. 4. Maximizes output. 5. Equal division of responsibility. Perspective of scientific Management: There are four scientific management systems: 1. Develop a science for each element of the job to replace old rule of thumb method. 2. Scientifically select employees and then train them to do the job as described in step 1. . Supervise employees to make sure they follow the prescribed method for performing their job. 4. Continue to plan the work but use worker to actually get the work done. Administrative Management Administrative Management emphasizes the manager and the functions of management. Henri fayol known as the father of modern Management. He wrote General and Industrial Management. His five function of managers were plan, organize, command, co-ordinate, and control. Principal of administrative management 1. Division of labor 2. Authority & responsibility, 3. Discipline, . Unity of command, 5. Unity of direction, 6. Subordination of individual interests to general interest, 7. Remuneration of personnel, 8. Centralization, 9. Scalar chain, 10. Order, 11. Equity, 12. Stability of tenure, 13. Initiative and 14. Esprit de crops (union of strength). Mary parker Follett’s concepts included in the administration management that is * The universal goal, * The universal principal, * Law of the situation: Emphasizes that there is no one best way to do anything, but that it all depends on the situation. Neo- classical Management: includes Human relation school * Behavioral Management School Human relation school: Behavioral or human relations management emerged in the 1920s and dealt with the human aspects of organizations. It has been referred to as the neo-classical school because it was initially a reaction to the shortcoming of the classical approaches to management. The human relations movement began with the Hawthorne studies. The Hawthorne studies are significant because they demonstrated the important influence of human factors on worker productivity. There are four major phases to the Hawthorne studies: . The illumination experimen : Tried to determine whether better lighting would lead to increased productivity. 2. The real assembly group experiments 3. The interviewing program and 4. The bank wiring group studies. Chester Barnard Record his insights about Management in his book function of Executive. It outlined the legitimacy of the supervisors directive and the extend of the subordinates acceptance. Barnard taught that the three top functions of the executive were to – 1. establish and maintain an effective communication system, 2. Hire and retain effective personnel . Motivate those personnel. His Acceptance Theory of authority state that managers only have as much authority as employees. The acceptance of authority depends on four conditions. 1. Employees must understand what the manager wants them to do. 2. Employees must be able to comply with the directive. 3. Employees must think that the directive is in keeping with organizational objectives. 4. Employees must think that the directives are not contrary to their personal goal. Behavioral Management schoo : The behavioral approach did not always increase productivity.

Thus, motivates and leadership techniques became a topic of great interest. The human resources school understands that employees are very creative and competent, and that much of their talent is largely untapped by their employers. Employee want meaningful work; they want to contribute; they want to participate in decision making and leadership functions. Meaning of principles: Principle is the tested guide lines for a certain course of action . In another way a principle can be defined as a fundamental statement of truth providing a guide to thought and action.

We can also say that it is a statement which reflects the fundamental truth about some phenomenon. A fundamental statement tells us what results are expected when the principle is applied. Nature of management principle: 1. Flexibility 2. Universal application 3. Principal are relative not absolute 4. Based on situation 5. General statement. Modern Management concept Modern Management concept mainly divided into two classes:-- 1. Decision theory schoo : Herbert Simon, Glurk and lyndall urwick the major contributors to this school of thought. The main features of this theory are as follow:-- . Decision is central to the study of organization. 2. The organization effectiveness depends on the quality of decision. 3. All factors affecting decision making are the subject matter of the study of Management. 4. The member of the organization is decision makers and problem solvers. Contingency Management school / Situational approach: The latest approach to management which interact the various approaches to management is known as the contingency approach or open and adaptive systems approach. The work of Joan Woodward in the 1950s marked the beginning of this approach in management.

Contingency school states that management is situational & the study of management lies in identifying the important variables in the situation. It recognizes that all the subsystem of the environment are interconnected and interrelated. By studying their interrelationship, the management can find solution to specific situation. Emerging Management position : New management viewpoints are emerging. Quality management emphasizes achieving customer satisfaction by providing high quality goods & services. Reengineering the organization redesigns the processes that are crucial to customer satisfaction.

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