Development of Management Thought

A-Level: Business Studies

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Fayol’s principals of management:
1. Division of work
2. Authority and responsibility
3. Discipline
4. Unity of command
5. Unity of direction
6. Subordination of Individual Interests
7. Remuneration of personnel
8. Centralisation
9. Scalar chain (line of authority)
10. Order
11. Equity
12. Stability of tenure of personnel
13. Initiative
14. Esprit de corps (harmony)

Criticisms of administration management approach
• Insufficient account taken of personality factors
• Creates organisational structures where people can exercise only limited control over their work environment
• Out of date approach

2. Scientific Management
Principles of scientific management
• The development of a true science for each persons work
• The scientific selection, training and development of workers
• Co-operation with workers to ensure work is carried out in prescribed way
• The division of work and responsibility between management and workers

3. Bureaucratic management
Characteristics of Bureaucratic management
• Tasks are allocated as official duties among the various positions
• An implied clear cut division of labour and a high level of specialisation
• Uniformity of decisions and actions achieved through formally established systems of rules and regulations
• An impersonal orientation expected from officials in their dealing with clients
• Employment is based on technical qualifications

Criticism of Bureaucratic management
• Over emphasis on rules and procedures, record keeping and paperwork
• Lack of flexibility and stifling of initiative
• Position and responsibilities can lead to officious bureaucratic behaviour
• Impersonal relations can lead to stereotype behaviour and lack of responsiveness to individual incidents or problems


(ii) Human Relations Approach

Attention to social factors at work, groups, leadership, the informal organisation, and behaviour of people.

Human Relation Theorists
1. Elton Mayo
2. Abraham Maslow
3. Douglas McGregor

1. Elton Mayo
• Conducted the famous Hawthorne Experiments
• Concluded that productivity increased because someone was paying attention to workers
• Mayo’s work represents the transition from scientific management to earlier human relations movement

2. Abraham Maslow
Hierarchy of needs theory
• Physiological
• Safety
• Social
• Esteem
• Self-actualisation

Criticisms
• Weak methodology of Hawthorne Experiments including failure to take sufficient account of environmental factors
• Adoption of management approach a unitary frame of reference and over simplification of theories
• Insufficiently scientific and takes too narrow a view, ignoring the role of the organisation within society
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