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The Principles of Scientific Management Theory
Frederick Taylor created the “Principles of Scientific Management Theory” in 1909. This theory focused on a system of management rather than just the employees. It also focused on increasing productivity and efficiency through standardization, division of labor, centralisation and hierarchy. A very “top down” management with strict control over people and processes dominated a lot of business industries. -
Functional Organizations
Due to growing and more complex organizations, the 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of functional organizations and the Human Resource (HR) movement. Managers began to understand the human factor in production and productivity. Tools such as goal setting, performance reviews and job descriptions were born. -
Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow wrote a book named "Motivation and Personality" in 1954 which helped explain his theory of a hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy puts all categories of human needs into a pyramid. The idea is that employees need to fulfill their needs on the lower levels of the pyramid so that they can have enough motivation to accomplish the needs on the higher levels. -
Theory X and Theory Y
In the 1960s, social psychologist Douglas McGregor developed two comparing theories that explained how managers' beliefs about what motivates their employees can affect their management style. Theory X says that if you believe that your team members dislike their work and have little motivation you'll likely use an authoritarian style of management. Theory Y says that if you believe your people take pride in their work you more likely will adopt a participative management style. -
General Systems Theory
The General Systems Theory was established by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1968. This theory sets up a business as a system with several parts that are all related and dependent on one another. These parts all work together to create one uniform business and the better the parts work together, the more successful the business will be. -
Human Competence
"Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance" is a book that was published by Thomas Gilbert in 1978 that had a big impact on business management. It established that specific accomplishments should be used as the basis for performance standards. -
Learning Organizations
Peter Senge developed the concept of a learning organization in 1990 which establishes a business as an organism that could work together to better itself and its future which in turn would better all of the employees in that business. Aspects of a learning organization include shared visions, systems thinking, mental models, personal master, team learning, the use of feedback mechanisms, and they value teams. -
Business Process Management
This form of management was developed in the early 2000s and focuses on using a precise but relatively simple system to manage workflow. Some aspects of this form of management include record management, process management, and business process re-engineering. -
The Drive Theory
In 2009, Daniel Pink published his book named "Drive" which established the Drive Theory. This theory focuses on using traditional ways of motivating workers except it moves away from using rewards and punishments to motivate employees. Instead, it focuses more on autonomy, mastery, and purpose for motivation. -
Hybrid and Remote Business Practices
Hybrid and remote jobs have become increasingly popular since the pandemic in 2020, which has an impact on the performance trend of management overall. Because of this, some jobs can be done anywhere and/or any time. However, this led to more continuous feedback and check-ins, as well as still being able to perform data and gather it in real time.