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F.W. Taylor develops Scientific Management
Taylor's techniques for scientific management were designed to increase effectiveness and efficiency by studying the relationships between people and their tasks. He developed 4 principles; study workers and how they perform tasks then experiment ways to improve the tasks, integrate these nuaces into standard operating procedures, train workers to perform tasks under new regulations, and establish an acceptable level of performance and a reward system. (George/Jones, 2014) -
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History of Management
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Max Weber Writes the Theory of Bureaucracy
Weber wrote his theory of Bureaucracy at the beginning of the 1900's, however it was not published until 1930. It contained 4 principles; clear chain of command, written rules of how to act, specified system of task and role relationships, and an evaluation system that rewards employees for over-achieving. (George/Jones, 2014) -
Henry Ford Implements Conveyor Belts
These moving conveyor belts helped to improve performance for a while because it allowed Ford to control the speed at which the employees worked. It increased output and decreased costs, however, the repetitiveness of the belts made many workers dislike their jobs and led to a lot of work related stress. The use of conveyor belts has forever changed the way factories function. (George/Jones, 2014) -
Ford Implements Sociological Department
The sociological department at Ford Motors was designed to oversee the employees in their personal lives. It was implemnted due to the new employee benefits such as assisted living. Ford wanted to make a sociological department because he was interested in how his employees were spending the free time that he had given them by shortening their work days. (George/Jones, 2014) -
Henry Ford Doubles Wages and Cuts Work Day
Henry Ford made history in management when he double the wages of his factory workers which helped to increase employee satisfaction, though the satisfaction may not have been long lived. The increase in wages allowed employees to be able to afford more goods, including Ford's vehicles. This allowed Ford to help himself by helping his employees. This is a huge moment in management history. (George/Jones, 2014) -
Henry Fayol Creates His Principles of Management
Henry Fayol basically built off of Weber's theory. Fayol's theory contained 14 points; division of labor, authority and responsibility, unity of command, line of authority, centralization, unity of direction, equity, order, initiative, discipline, remuneration of personnel, stability of tenure of personnel, subordination of individual interests to the common interest, and espirit de corps. These were meant to increase efficiency and effectiveness. (George/Jones, 2014) -
DuPont Decentralizes GM's Management
Pierre DuPont took over GM in 1921 when it was facing bankruptcy. He created a decentralized management system within GM to help to manage its wide variety of products and markets. By creating this multi-divisional structure DuPont was able to turn GM completely around and make them the largest corporation in the world. (DuPont, 2014) -
The Introduction of Total Quality Management
Total quality management came into play in the 1940-1950's. This form of management focuses on an organizations inputs, conversion of materials into finished goods, and outputs. (Jones/George, 2014) -
Dynamic Administration is Published
Dynamic Administration is a compilation of Mary Parker Follett"s papers and studies. Her studies focused on behavior management; how managers interact with employees to increase efficiency. Her work was done around the same time as Weber and Fayol's, but it was not done in collaboration with either of them due to the language barrier. Much of her papers focused on how managers behave and what they do with their authority. (George/Jones, 2014) -
Maslow Writes "A Theory of Human Motivation."
This paper eventually extended into his "Compliance/Ethics Program Hierarchy of Needs." Maslow stated that humans have many needs that can be transferred into the workplace. They include physiological needs, safety needs, loving and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. None of these needs being of equal importance; he listed them in an ordinal scale. (Snell, 2007) -
The Cold War Era Changes Management
During the 1940's the threat of communism and nuclear warfare had a direct influence on workers' loyalty to their managers. With the perceived danger of loss of life, many workers failed to see a need to listen to authority which led to a loss of power among the managers. (Landau, 2006) -
Cold War Effects Are Reversed
In the early 1950's the threat of nuclear warfare seemed to dissipate which allowed managers to reverse the effect the Cold War had on their authority. The rapid return of authority also enhanced power within the government as well. (Landua, 2006) -
McGregor Proposes Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X states that people dislike work and need direction from managers to complete their work, whereas, Theory Y is a set of assumptions that state that individuals enjoy work and will flourish under circumstances where they are able to be creative and, thus, improving the organization as a whole. The ideas behind these theories have been implemented and are commonly used in workplaces today. (Sahin, 2012) -
Albert Humphrey Starts SWOT Research Project
Humphrey worked on his SWOT research project between 1960-1970 and is regarded as the inventor of the model. The SWOT analysis, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Weaknesses, is used by many organizations to understand the current health of the company and how it can be improved. It is a huge piece of management to this day. (Helms, 2010) -
Edward Lorenz Develops The Chaos Theory
While working on meteorology Lorenz began using a program that used 6 decimals, but to save paper, only printed 3. He realized the results varied wildly despite how similiar the numbers looked. He concluded that even the smallest changes can create a drastic difference. The supply chains were largely affected by this new theory as it related to the change in how the supply chains were run. (Stapleton/Hanna/Ross, 2006) -
Burns, Stalker, Lawrence, Lorsch Develop Contingency Theory
Another big development in management is the development of the contingency theory. This theory states that the organizational structures and control systems managers choose depend on characteristics of the external environment in which an organization operates. This thoery changed the way managers designed the hierarchy, motivated employees, and chose control systems. (Fisher, 1998) -
Victor H. Vroom Develops Expectancy Theory
During the 1960's many new theories in regards to management were surfacing; one of the most important was the expectancy theory. The theory states that motivation is high when employees feel that high output on their part results in greater rewards. This theory led more managers to reward employees which in turn would increase production. (George/Jones, 2014) -
John Adams Develops Equity Theory
This theory is based on workers motivation in respect to how others working the same job as them are rewarded in comparison with their own rewards. According to Adams' model, when employees perceive that they are being underrewarded they are likely to put in less effort, request pay raises, request a transfer, or even leave their job all together. This changed the way managers rewarded employees in comparison with others at an equal level in the organization. (Skiba/Rosenberg, 2011) -
The Equal Pay Act Is Passed
Although the topic of equal pay is still one that is statistically argued; the Equal Pay Act was a giant leap in womens' rights in the workplace. It made it illegal for a woman to earn less than a man who was working the same job. (Kleiner/Creamer, 1998) -
Kenneth Andrews Writes "The Concept of Corporate Strategy."
In his book he describes the main objective of executives is planning and strategizing for the companies future. Once the plan is set in place, he states, that it is extremely important to collaborate all elements of the strategy into one message and clearly communicate it with the entire organization. This changed the way many people looked at management as a whole. (Garcia, 2012) -
Michael Porter Introduces His Five Forces Model
Porter's "Five Forces" model is an essential key to understanding investor's concerns in regards to competitive positioning. The five forces model describes the key forces that take place in an industry that effect how a business strategizes it's business plan for the future in regards to rivalry among existing firms, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, and bargaining power of suppliers. (Randall, 2011) -
Peters and Waterman Write "In Search Of Excellence"
This book did not change the way management activities were performed, instead it created an awareness that studying management is something that everyone should do, not just managers. In that aspect it changed management drastically. (Barter, 1994) -
Schneider Develops His ASA Model
Schneider developed a model that is based on the theory that the personalities of everyone in the company defines the organization as a whole. This model helped to predict whether certain employees would mesh well with the others of the organization by grading the values of the prospective employee in respect to the values of the organization as a whole. Chnaging the hiring process and how employee satisfaction is developed. (Schneider/Goldstein/Smith, 1995) -
The Civil Rights Act Is Implemented
The Civil Rights Act changed the way managers were allowed to treat their employees from a legal standpoint; it made discrimination illegal, and created a system to award for damages for intentional discrimination. (Jones/George, 2014) -
"Supply Chain Redesign: Transforming Supply Chains into Integrated Value Systems"
The book, written by Handfield and Nichols, aimed to changed the way the supply chain is managed by making it a value-added, core competitave strategy. This was extremely useful for organizations that were currently updating their supply chain to excel in the current economic system. (Voss, 2003)
