MGMT Chapter 2: Management History & Perspectives

Theory

A conceptual framework for organizing knowledge and providing a blueprint for action.

Scientific Management

A management approach concerned with improving the performance of individual workers.

Soldiering

The practice of employees deliberately working at a slow pace.

Gantt Chart

A tool used for scheduling work across individual tasks or complex projects.

Administrative Management

A management approach that focuses on managing the total organization.

Classical Management Perspective

Early management framework identifying core functions and establishing management as a scientific field.

Limitation of Classical Management

Assumed stable environments, used universal procedures, and often treated employees as tools.

Behavioral Management

Management perspective emphasizing individual attitudes, behaviors, and workplace group processes.

Hawthorne Study

Research manipulating workplace illumination that demonstrated the impact of social factors on productivity.

Human Relations Movement

Approach arguing that worker productivity responds primarily to the workplace social context.

Theory X

A pessimistic view assuming workers dislike work and require strict supervision.

Theory Y

A positive view assuming workers are self-motivated and accept responsibility.

Organizational Behavior

A contemporary field focusing on human behavior and psychological processes in management.

Universal Perspective

An attempt to identify the one best way to manage in all situations.

Contingency Perspective

View suggesting appropriate managerial behavior depends on unique situational elements.