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Classical Management Approaches
Classical Management approaches include scientific management, administrative principles, and bureaucratic organization. The classical approach is based on acting in a rational manner to improve personal gain and growth and being driven by economic concerns. -
Scientific Management
Fredrick W. Taylor designed the technique of scientific management. The study of relationships between people and tasks redesigns the work process to increase efficiency. Taylor developed four guiding action principles. These four principles are to create a "science" for every job, select workers that the right abilities for the job, train the worker to follow the "science" while doing their job, and support the workers in planning their work. -
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were two of F.W. Taylor's contemporaries. The Gilbreths' studied the use of motion as a management tool, to further prove the use of motion as stated in one of Taylor's principles. They would break up tasks into individual actions, discover better ways to perform each action, and reorganize each step so it can be completed quicker. In one famous case, they reduced the number of motions bricklayers had to make to do their jobs and tripled their productivity. -
Bureaucratic Organization
The late-nineteenth-century German intellectual, Max Weber, had a major impact on management and the sociology of organizations. Weber believed that a bureaucratic organization could correct these problems because it was founded on the principles of logic, order, and authority. The characteristics of Weber’s bureaucratic organization are as follows: a clear division of labour, a clear hierarchy of authority, formal rules and procedures, impersonality, and careers based on merit. -
Administrative Principles
Henri Fayol published Administration Industrielle et Générale in 1916. The book outlines his opinion on the proper management of organizations and the people within them. Henri Fayol identifies fourteen important principles of management, which includes division of labour, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interests, remuneration, centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, personnel tenure, initiative, and esprit de corps. -
Follett's Organizations as Communities
The work of Mary Parker Follett was an important part of the transition from classical thinking into behavioural management. Follett states in her writings, that she views organizations as "communities" in which managers and workers should work in harmony without one group dominating the other, and having the freedom to talk, and resolve conflicts and differences. -
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Behavioural Management Approaches
Behavioural Management approaches include Follet’s organizations as communities, Hawthorne studies, Maslow’s theory of human needs, McGregor's theory X and theory Y, and Argyris’s personality and organization. The behavioural approach is used to achieve personal goals and fullest potential, as well as to stay social. This approach follows the human need to socialize and encourages each person at work to satisfy their social relationships and search for personal fulfillment. -
Hawthorne Studies
The Western Electric Company launched a research program to study employee productivity in Chicago. The Hawthorne studies tested the variables of lighting, work breaks and pay incentives. The Hawthorne studies redirected the focus from Taylor's scientific management towards the study of human-based management. Researchers found that job performance and productivity improved without relation to economics but because more attention was being paid to workers. -
Organizations as Systems & Contingency Thinking
In 1938, Chester Barnard released his book, Functions of the Executive, which describes an organization like Mary Follett once did. He wrote that organizations were cooperative systems where individuals collaborate to achieve great things and contribute to a common purpose. The contingency thinking theory is based on the idea that there is no best way to make decisions. Instead, choose the course of action based on the internal and external situation. -
Maslow's Theory of Human Needs
Maslow’s theory is based on the deficit principle and progression principle. According to Maslow, every person tries to satisfy the five needs in a sequence, from the lowest level to the highest. At any level, the motivation to fulfill needs is only activated when the next lower level is satisfied. From lowest to highest the levels include physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. -
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Modern Management Approaches
Modern Management approaches include quantitative analysis and tools, organizations as systems & contingency thinking, quality management, knowledge management & organizational learning, evidence-based management, and 21st-century leadership. The theories, concepts, and organizations stated before were all foundations that helped set the stage for the continuing developments of management today. -
Quality Management
In 1951, Edward Deming was invited to Japan to teach quality control techniques that were being developed in the United States. The principles he taught were simple: record defects, analyze and find the source, make corrections, and record what happens afterwards. Joseph Juran was one of Deming's contemporaries in the quality movement, as well as working at major companies around the world. The quality movement can be described as always looking for new ways to improve on current performance. -
Argyris's Theory of Adult Personality
The ideas set out by Chris Argyris reflected the belief in human nature that both Maslow and McGregor studied. In his book Personality and Organization, Argyris contrasts the management practices founded within traditional and hierarchical organizations and explains his belief that managers who treat people positively and as responsible adults are more likely to achieve productivity. -
Quantitative Analysis and Tools
Quantitative analysis is a technique that uses mathematical and statistical methods and research to understand the behaviour between variables. For example, surveys, questionnaires, and evaluations that include multiple choice and ratings provide quantitative data for analysis. The foundation of this approach is the idea that mathematical tools can be used to better problem-solving. -
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
In the 1960s, social psychologist Douglas McGregor developed two contrasting theories that explained how managers' beliefs about what motivates their people can affect their management style. Theory X explains the importance of heightened supervision, external rewards, and penalties, while Theory Y highlights the motivating role of job satisfaction and encourages workers to approach tasks without direct supervision. Most managers will likely use a mixture of Theory X and Theory Y. -
Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning
Knowledge management describes how organizations use information technologies to develop, organize, and share knowledge to improve performance and increase chances of success. In his book, The Fifth Discipline, consultant Peter Senge states that knowledge management is like learning organization. He says "by virtue of people, values, and systems is able to continuously change and improve its performance based upon the lessons of experience." -
Peter Senge's Criteria For A Successful Learning Organization
Peter Senge's criteria for learning organizations model the following characteristics: Everyone sets aside old ways of thinking, becomes self-aware and open to others, learns how the whole organization works, understands and agrees to a plan of action, and works together to accomplish the plan. -
Evidence Based Management
Evidence-based management uses critical thinking and the best available evidence to make decisions, instead of using the accepted conventions and hierarchy of opinion. EBM is defined as the process of management decision-making based on “hard facts” rather than on “dangerous half-truths”. The practice of evidence-based management involves the following essential steps: asking, acquiring, appraising, aggregating, applying, and assessing. -
21st Century Leadership
In John Gardner's book, No Easy Victories, he speaks of leadership as a special responsibility and his words are well worth considering. A twenty-first-century manager should display these attributes: understanding the interconnections among economies, being comfortable and understanding information technology, having the ability to use technology to their best advantage, attracting highly motivated workers and inspiring them to do their best work, and acting ethically in all ways.