Management Theories Flashcards
Classical Management (Definition)
Organisation is thought of in terms of
- its purpose & formal structure
aims to identify how methods of working improve productivity
What is the significance of classical management?
Provided Framework for understanding:
organizational behaviour
structuring work processes
establishing hierarchies of authority
What is Henri Fayol’s definition of mangagement (1925)? (Activities)
(Classical management)
Six key activities:
Technical (Production)
Commercial (Buying & selling)
Financial (securing capital)
security (safeguarding property)
accounting (providing financial info)
Managerial (Planning & organising)
What are Fayol’s 14 Principles of management?
- Division of work (Reduces span of attention / effort for any person or group, develops practice & familiarity
- Authority (Right to give orders)
- Discipline (Outward marks of respect in accordance with formal)
Unity of command (One worker one superior)
Unity of direction (One head and one plan for group of activities with same obj)
Subordination of individual interest to general interest (interest of one individual mustn’t prevail over general good)
Remuneration (Pay should be fair to both employee & firm)
Centralization (Always present to a greater or lesser extent depending on company size and manager quality)
Scalar chain (line of authority from top to bottom of org)
Order (Place for everything & everything in its place)
Equity ( Combination of kindness & justice to employees)
Stability of tenure of personnel (Employees need given time to settle in therir jobs)
Initiative (within the limits of authority & discipline, all staff should show some initiative)
Esprit de corps ( harmony is a great strength in an organization, teamwork should be encouraged
What is Scientific Management (Taylor)?
A school of classical management theory, based on application of work study techniques to design & organisation of work in order to maximise output
- Form of job design theory & practice, stressing
- short repetitive work cycles & prescribed task sequences
Aimed to solve the issue of soldiering ( calculated effort of workers to produce far less than they’re capable of), which arose from 3 issues
Fear of unemployment
Fluctuations in earnings from piece rate systems
rule of thumb methods permitted by management
What are the principles of scientific management?
Develop a science for each operation to replace opinion & rule of thumb
determine accurately from the science & correct time/method for each job
set up suitable org to take all responsibility from all workers exceptthat of actual job performance
select and train the workers
accept that management will be governed by scienced developed for each operation & surrender arbitrary power over workers (cooperate with them)
Adv of Scientific management
Rational approach to org of work, enables tasks & processes to be measures with better degree of accuracy
increases productivity by improving working methods
What are the distadvantages of scientific management?
rules out realistic barganing of wage rates as every job is measured timed & rated scientifically
generated carrot & stick approach to motivation of employees (by enabling pay to be linked to output)
What is the human relations theory? (1930s)
A movement advocating for better treatment of employees, believing that a workers performance can be improved through praise / recognition for their efforts
focuses on understanding human behaviour
What is Motivation?
A driving force that encourages individuals to behave in particular ways as they seek to achieve a goal (Decision Making process)
What is the Hawthorne Studies? 1920-30s
(Mayo)
Study of employee behaviour under varying circumstances & stages, highlighting impact of social factors on productivty & job satisfaction
led to the term of hawthorne effect - employee behaviour improving due to attention from management
Hawthorne Study - Stage one
1 group (Control) has consistent lighting, 2nd group has varied lightning
both outputs increased
Hawthorne Study - Stage two
6 women segregated from the rest, placed in their own room
working conditions changed & were discussed with women before executing
output increased regardless of change - women responded to the fact that they were centre of attention, not the change, a special group
Hawthorne Study - Stage 3
Interview programme designed to ascertain employee attitutes towards working conditions, their supervision & their jobs
Responses gathered that relations with people is an important factor in attitutes of employees
Hawthorne Study - Stage 4
studied 14 men in same particular of work, removed to a separate observation room with the same principal working conditions as those in main room
after being observed for period of 6 months: group developed its own behaviour & rules:
- Short circuiting company wage incentive
- protected its sectional interests from rest of company
- group developed its own unofficial organization
- left supervisors powerless
Hawthorne Study - Stage 5 (Final)
Based on lessons learnt from previous studies (focused on employee relations
Personal counselling, counsellors encouraged employees to discuss work problems
led to improved personal adjustments, employee supervisor & management relations
What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs? (1940s)
Study that argues workers can be motivated through other means rather than pay, measures though a hierarchy of needs (in order)
Self - need for self fufilment
Esteem - needs for self respect, self esteem & esteem of others
Belonging / love - needs related to affectionate relations to others & status within a group
Safety & security - needs for a stable environment, relatively free from threats
Physiological needs - need for food / sleep etc
- People tend to satisfy their needs systematically, working their way up their hierarchy until their needs are met
What is Behavioural Management (McGregor, 1950-60s)
Aims to understand individual & group behaviour within organizations
Theory X & Y - assumptions about employee motivation & behaviour
Theory X - Employees are inherently lazy, requiring cocercion & control, avoiding responsibility, seeking security. Explains importance of intensified supervision, external rewards & penalties
Theory Y - Employees are seen as liking work, do not need to be controlled & coerced, so long as they are committed to organizational objectives. Considers motivating role of job satisfaction and encourages workers to approach tasks without direct supervision
Theory Y managers have a hands off style, encouraging participation, Theory X has an authoritatian approach, actively intervene & micromanage employees
What is the systems approach?
Management approach where attention is focused on total work of organizations & interrelationships of structure & behaviour & range of variables within organisations
theory that views organization as complex social system
What is the systems theory (Bertalanffy 1950s)
Aims to define an organization as an open system, (Recieves inputs / energy from environment, converts input to output, output is discharged to their environment
Organizations can have sub systems either open or closed (Closed systems are designed for efficiency stability & consistency)
What does the organization Environment cycle look like (Systems theory)
Inputs (People, materials info, finance)
Conversion (Producting & marketting, planning, organizing, control mechanisms, research & development)
Output (Products, services, ideas, waste)
Feedback (info / results) which then is redistributed to inptuts & conversion
What are some sub systems within organisations
Production (Concerned with acomplishment of basic tasks)
Supportive (Procure inputs & dispose of outputs of production sub system. Maintain relationship between org & external environment
Maintenance (Concerned with relative stability /predictability of org. Provide for roles rules & rewards applicable to those who work in org
Adaptive - concerned with what org may become: deals with issues of change in environment (eg. marketting. research and development)
Managerial - comprise controlling & coordinating activities of total system, authority structure
What is the contingency theory (Burns, stalker 1950s)
Asserts that there isn’t a best system to adopt for an organization. Management should be focused on achieving the most appropiate system for a given set of circumstances
Lawernece and Lorsch (1967) best way to organisze depends upon the nature of environment to which organization must relate
Contingency Theory (Woodard 1953)
Aimed to assess whether there was any relationship between organizational characteristics & technology. Categorised technology in 3 ways
Unit & small batch production (Small scale production, custom made products, production of prototypes
Large batch & Mass production( assembly line)
Process production (production of chemicals in multi purpose talent)
Concluded that classical theorists only made sense when viewed in terms of mass scale production processes
suggested that system of production a key variable in determining structure but a particular form of org most suited to each org
Lawerence contingency theory (1967)
Theory aimed to showcase how orgs & org sub units adapt to meet demands of immediate environment, emphasising on differentiation & integration within orgs
differentiation - divisions of lavour / specialisation / differences in atittude & behaviour of managers concerned
integration - quality of state of collaboration existing amongst departments
adopted the view that there is no best way to organise, aimed to provide systematic understanding of what states of differentiation & integration were related to effective performance
Conclusions of Lawernce contingency theory
More dynamic & diverse environment, higher degree of D&I required for successful org
less changable environemtns require lesser degree of differentiation but require high integration
more differentiated an org = more difficult to solve conflict
high performing orgs develop better ways of resolving conflict compared to competitors: improved conflict resolution leads to states of D&I more appropiate for environment
when environment is uncertain, integrating functions tend to be carried out by middle & low level managers. when stable, integration tends to be achieved at senior end of management hierarchy
