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THE ROLE OF THEORY AND HISTORY IN MANAGEMENT | THE CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVE | THE BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE | QUANTITATIVE PERSPECTIVE | INTEGRATING PERSPECTIVES | CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT THOUGHT THE ROLE OF THEORY AND HISTORY IN MANAGEMENTThe importance of theory and historyTheory provides a simple conceptual framework for organizing knowledge and for providing a blueprint for action to help guide organizations toward their goals.Contributions from past industrialists have molded the organizational culture and managers can benefit from an awareness of these contributions.
The historical context of management Social forces are the norms and values that characterize a culture. Early social forces allowed workers to be treated poorly; however, more recent social forces have provided for more acceptable working conditions for workers. Social forces have influenced management theory in areas such as motivation and leadership. Economic forces are the ideas behind the concept of a market economy such as private ownership of property, economic freedom, competitive markets, and a limited role for government. Political forces such as govemmental regulations play a significant role in how organizations choose to manage themselves. Political forces have influenced management theory in the areas of environmental analysis, planning, control, organization design, and employee rights.
Precursors to management theoryWhile the practice of management can be traced back to 3000 B.C., it was not given serious attention until the 1 800s when large organizations emerged.Early management pioneersThe early pioneers include:
Scientific managementScientific management focuses on ways to improve the performance of individual workers. Some of the major contributors are:
Administrative managementAdministrative management focuses on managing the total organization.
Contributions
Limitations
The HawthornestudiesThe Hawthome studies were held at Westem Electric and sponsored by General Electric. Elton Mayo and his colleagues controlled the lighting in one room of workers but not in another.When the illumination was increased in the experimental group, productivity increased in both groups. The increase in productivity was attributed to the fact that the workers were having extra attention paid to them, maybe for the first time. Other studies found that employees will not work as fast as they can when beingy paid piece-rate wages. Instead, they will perform to the level informally set by the group in order to be accepted by the group. These two studies, and others, led Mayo to the conclusion that individual and social processes played a major role in shaping workers attitudes and behavior at work. The human relations movementThe human relations movement, which stemmed from the Hawthome studies, is based on the idea that a manager's concem for workers will lead to their increased satisfaction and improved perforrnance.The movement includes the need theories of motivation, such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y. The emergence of organizational behaviorThe emergence of organizational behavior occurred because of the too simplistic descriptions of work behavior by the human relationists. Organizational behavior takes aholistic view of behavior by addressing individual, group, and organization processes.Contributions
Limitations
Management scienceManagement science focuses specifically on the development of mathematical models. These models help organizations to try out various activities with the use of a computer. Modeling can help managers locate the best way to do things and save money and time.Operations managementOperations management is an applied form of management science that helps organizations develop techniques to produce their products and services more efficiently.Contributions
Limitations
The systems perspectiveA system is an interrelated set of elements functioning as a uhole. An organization as a system is composed of four elements:
The contingency perspectiveAppropriate managerial behavior depends on the elements of the situation. Universal perspectives tried to identify the "one best way" to manage organizations. Contingency perspective argues that universal theories cannot be applied to organizations because each is unique.An integrating frameworkManagers need to include the parts from each perspective that are relevant to their situation and apply them using both a systems and contingency approach. CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT THOUGHT Popular management theoryType Z model organizations attempt to integrate parts of the Japanese model of management (collective decision making, slow evaluation and promotion, and holistic concem), individual responsibility from the U.S. model of management, and variations of other aspects of management models to create a hybrid model of management.The concem for excellence is an approach used by firms who have a basic set of characteristics that leads them to excel. These characteristics include getting things done on time, staying close to the customer, using hands-on management, and doing what the company knows best among others. |