HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF Management

• The 1st known management ideas were recorded between 3000-4000 B.C.

• A theory is a set of assumptions, propositions, or accepted facts that attempts to provide a reasonable explanation of causal relationships among a group of observed phenomenon (Bus dictionary 2014)

• Each theory has a different way of looking at organizations, activities and how managers function.

Classical Scientific Management theories (F. Taylor worker efficiency)

• Emphasis of scientific management was to try and establish the best ways to produce and run the production process.

F. Taylor cont...

• Taylor developed 4 principles of scientific management that would lead to high levels of work achievement namely:

i) Breaking the job into small dutiesii)Carefully select and train workers

F. Taylor cont...

iii)Establishing a clear division of responsibility between management and workers.

iv)Establishing controls where managers would set objectives to be achieved and subordinates would co-operate in achieving them.

F. Taylor cont...

• Taylor explained the application of scientific methods to factory problems and the proper use of human labour and time in carrying out duties.

• He introduced time series to analyse workers’ movements on the job.

F. Taylor cont...

• He established how much workers should be able to do with their given materials and equipment.

• His findings pointed out the quickest way to perform a task.

• Taylor’s principles were aimed at improving production, discipline on the job, reduce interpersonal contacts amongst workers and the strict application of incentive pay systems.

Classical Administrative theories (H. Fayol Manager efficiency)

• Fayol’s emphasis was on the development of managerial principles rather than the methods of operation.

• Fayol believed that with scientific focusing and proper methods of management, satisfactory results were inevitable.

H. Fayol cont...

• Fayol believed that management was not an inborn behaviour or person talent, but a skill that could be learnt or taught. He developed 14 principles of management which looked at;

i) division of labour (specialization)ii)authority and responsibility (to give orders)iii) discipline (need to respect organizational

doctrine)

H. Fayol cont...

iv) unity of command (one supervisor per employee)

v) unity of direction (goals and objectives)vi) remuneration of personnel (reward

management, salary, promotion)vii) centralization (managers must have final

say)

H. Fayol cont...

viii) Chain of command (line of authority should be clear)

ix) Order (materials and people should be at the right place at the right time)

x)Equity (fairness and consistency)

H. Fayol cont...

xi) Subordination of individual interest to general interest (interests of one person/group should not prevail over that of the organization)

xii) Stability of tenure of personnel xiii) Innovationxiv) Promote teamwork (unity/espirit decorps)

Bureaucratic theory (Max Weber Organizational structure)

• Weber stressed the need for a strictly defined hierarchy governed by clearly defined regulations and lines of authority.

• He emphasised the need for technical competence.

• He sought to improve the performance of socially important organizations by making their operations predictable and productive.

Max Weber cont...

Weber’s principles of bureaucracyi) Hierarchical structure• Authority evolves from the top to the bottom

in a pyramidal shape. • Each manager or supervisor is responsible for

those under him, thereby increasing accountability.

Max Weber cont...

ii) Division of labour• Each person in the organization should

perform specific duties according to qualifications and training to ensure efficiency in production.

Max Weber cont...

iii) Control by rules• There ought to be clearly written rules and

regulations governing employee activities.

Max Weber cont...

iv) Impersonal relationships• Employees must be subjected to strict and

systematic discipline.• There must be fairness in the application of

the code of conduct.

Max Weber cont...

v) Career orientation• Each individual employee in an organization is

trained to perform a specific task and become a specialist..

Classical management theories contributions

• Duties can be made more efficient and objective.

• Emphasise on job design and scientific selection and development of workers by organizations.

Classical management theories limitations

• Application of the classical management principles is highly centralised.

• The principle assumes a passive group of workers and that lower level employees can be manipulated to work to the satisfaction of their managers.

• Managers have the authority and capacity to make decisions that focus on productivity.

Classical management theories limitations

• The classical management theories reject the presence of worker needs such as rest.

• It assume that money other than anything else motivate the worker.

• This approach is only concerned with productivity...

Human relations/Motivation theories

• The thrust in production of goods and services should encompass both the economic and human side of production.

• Motivation are the forces internal or external to an individual that arouse interest and commitment to purse a certain course of action.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Self Actualization

Esteem/EgoSocial needsSecurity/Safety

Physiological needs

Physiological needs

• These are the basic needs for survival. • Examples are food, air, shelter, water,

clothing, sex.

Security/safety needs

• These are needs that make an individual feel secure or safe in an environment that he works in.

Social needs

• Managers need to understand society and how individuals were socialised, their beliefs and cultures.

Ego/Esteem needs

• This is an individual assessment in terms of value or status.

• A person feels inspired to work when s/he is valued more than others in a group.

• This can be as a result of a promotion, award, initiation.

Self Actualization

• This is a situation whereby one feels that s/he has done the best, has reached the climax of all his needs.

Criticisms

• Hierarchical? • one stage at a time?• All beings follow same channel?• Self actualisation in everything?

Douglas McGregor’s theory X and Y

• McGregor sort to establish how employees are treated by their superiors.

• He produced 2 theories which he called theory X and theory Y.

Theory X Assumptions

• Assumption: most workers prefer to be coerced, controlled, directed and threatened with punishment to get them to put adequate effort.

• Theory X managers are usually intolerant, unfriendly, arrogant, poor listeners, one-way communicators as well as deadline and results driven.

Theory Y assumptions

• Theory Y workers have the capacity to accept assignments, seek responsibility and apply imagination and creativity for organizational problems.

Theory Y assumptions cont…

Theory Y encourages:• Delegation of authority for decision making to

lower level workers• Increase the level of responsibility in each

employee’s job• Improve free flow of information and

communication within the organization.

The contingency approach to management

• It assumes that there is no universal way of managing organizations because organizations, people, and situations vary and change over time.

The contingency approach to management cont…

• Management functions must be tailored to suit specific situations.

• Both classical management and Human relations models should be used selectively and appropriately depending on the situation at hand.

• The model calls for a thorough understanding of the situations surrounding the worker and the duties s/he performs..

The Systems Approach

• A system is a set of interrelated and inter-dependent parts arranged in a manner that produce a unified role.

• An organization functions as a system with structures and organs.

• There must be harmony in all the sub-systems for the organization to work well.

Four major concepts inspire the systems approach

• Specialization: A system is divided into smaller components allowing more specialized concentration on each component.

• Grouping: Related disciplines or sub-disciplines must be grouped to void generating complexity with increased specialization.

Cont…

• Coordination: interactions of the components and sub-components of a system ought to be managed.

• Emergent properties: dividing a system into subsystems, requires recognizing and understanding why the system as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts…