Chapter 2: Traditional and Contemporary Management Perspectives

Why do we use theories?

• Provide conceptual frameworks for organizing knowledge and blueprints for actions

• Management theories are grounded in reality

• Managers develop their own theories about how they should run organizations

Why study history?

• Aids managers in the development of management practices and in avoiding the past mistakes of others

2 Viewpoints of Classical Management

• Scientific Management

• Administrative Management

Scientific Management

• Concerned with improving the performance of individual workers

• Grew out of the industrial revolution’s labor shortage at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Administrative Management

• Focuses on managing the total organization

Frederick Taylor

• Father of Scientific Management

• Replaced rule-of-thumb methods with scientifically-based work methods to eliminate “soldiering”

• Believed in selecting, training, teaching, and developing workers

• Used time studies, standards planning, exception rule, slide-rules, instruction cards, and piece-work pay systems to control and motivate employees

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

• Reduced the number of movements in bricklaying, resulting in increased output of 200%

• Main contribution to scientific management

Henry Gantt

• Was an early associate of Fredrick Taylor

• Developed a chart to improve working efficiency through planning and scheduling

• Contribution to scientific management

Harrington Emerson

• Advocated job specialization in both managerial and operating jobs

• Contribution to scientific management

Administrative Management Theory

• Focuses on managing the total organization rather than individuals

Henri Fayol

• Helped to systematize the practice of management

• Was first to identify the specific management functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling

• Development of administrative management

Classical Management Contributions

• Laid foundation for later theoretical developments

• Identified management processes, functions, and skills

• Focused attention on management as a valid subject of scientific inquiry

Classical Management Limitations

• More appropriate approach for use in traditional, stable, simple organizations

• Prescribed universal procedures that are not appropriate in some settings

• Employees viewed as tool rather than resources

Behavioral Management Perspective

• Emphasized individual attitudes and behaviors, and group processes

• Recognized the importance of behavioral processes in the workplace

• We are focused on more intangible things

The Hawthorne Studies

• Conducted by Elton Mayo and associates at Western Electric

• Workplace lighting changes unexpectedly affected both control and experimental groups → Productivity increased regardless of whether the employees had high or low lighting

• The results were attributed to the presence of special attention and supervision among both the control and experimental groups

• Interview Program: Confirmed importance of human behavior in the workplace

The Human Relations Movement

• Proposed that workers respond primarily to the social context of work, including social conditioning, group norms, and interpersonal dynamics

• Assumed that the manager’s concern from workers would lead to increased worker satisfaction and improved worker performance

Abraham Maslow

• Studies motivation

• Advanced a theory that employees are motivated by a hierarchy of needs that they seek to satisfy

Douglas McGregor

• Proposed Theory X and Theory Y concepts of managerial beliefs about people and work

• Made contributions to behavioral management

• Theory X= People don’t like or want work but HAVE to work

• Theory Y= People do not naturally dislike work; work is a natural part of their lives

Organizational Behavior

• Focuses on behavioral perspectives of management

• Draws on psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and medicine

Important Organizational Behavior Topics

• Job satisfaction and job stress

• Motivation and leadership

• Group dynamics and organizational politics

• Interpersonal conflict

• The design of organizations

Behavioral Management Contributions

• Provided insights into motivations, group dynamics, and other interpersonal processes

• Focused managerial attention on these critical processes

• Challenged the view that employees are tools and furthered belief that employees are valuable resources

Behavioral Management Limitations

• Complexity of individuals makes behavior difficult to predict

• Concepts are not used because managers are reluctant to adopt them

• Research findings are not often communicated to practicing managers in an understandable form

Quantitative Management Uses

• Focuses on decision making, economic effectiveness, mathematical models, and the use of computers to solve problems

• Helped WWII Allied forces manage logistical problems

Management Science

• Focuses on the development of representative mathematical models to assist with decisions

Operations Management

• The practical application of management science to efficiently manage the production and distribution of products and services

Quantitative Management Contributions

• Sophisticated quantitative techniques can assist managers in decision making

• Application of its models has increased awareness and understanding of complex processes and situations

• It is useful in planning and controlling processes

Quantitative Management Limitations

• Mathematical sophistication may come at the expense of other managerial skills

• Its model may require unrealistic or unfounded assumptions, limiting their general applicability

• It cannot fully explain or predict behavior of people in organizations → human behavior is hard to predict

Systems Perspective Concepts

• Concept of Synergy

• Concept of Entropy

Concept of Synergy

• Subsystems are more successful working together in a cooperative and coordinated fashion than working alone

• The whole system is more productive and efficient than the sum of its parts

Concept of Entropy

• A normal process in which an organizational system declines due to its failing to adjust to change in its environment → natural competitors come in and trends change

• Can be avoided and the organization re-energized through organizational change and renewal

Contingency Perspective

• Suggests that each organization is unique

• Look at each individual to decide the best decision

• Appropriate managerial behavior for managing an organization depends (is contingent) on the current situation in the organization

An Integrative Framework

• Is a complementary way of thinking about theories of management

• Involves recognition of current system and subsystem interdependencies, environmental influences, and the situational nature of management.

Contemporary Applied Perspectives Authors

• William Ouchi’s “Theory Z”

• Peters and Waterman’s “In Search of Excellence”

• Biographies— Warren Buffet, Jack Welch

• Authors; Senge, Covey, Peters, Collins, Porter, Kotter, and Hamel

• Malcolm Gladwell’s series: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers

• Scott Adams’ Dilbert

Contemporary Issues and Challenges

• A sluggish and worrisome economy that limits growth

• Management of an increasingly diverse workforce

• Employee privacy

• Technology that promotes telecommuting

• The role of the Internet in business strategy

• Operating and competing in diverse global markets

• Ethics in corporate governance and social responsibility

• Quality as the basis for competition, increased productivity, and lower costs

• The shift toward a service economy

Elements of the Systems Perspective of Management

1. Input

2. Transformative Process

3. Output

4. Feedback