What can be learned from classical
management thinking?
Ans:
The
classical management approaches encompass scientific management, administrative
principles, and bureaucratic organization. The basic assumption of the
classical management approaches is that people are rational and are primarily
driven by economic concerns.
The useful
lessons from scientific management, as espoused by Frederick Taylor, are: make
results-based compensation a performance incentive; carefully design jobs with
efficient work methods; carefully select workers with the abilities to do these
jobs; train workers to perform the jobs to the best of their abilities; and
train supervisors to support workers so they can perform the jobs to the best
of their abilities. In addition, the work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, also
done within the scientific management tradition, provided a foundation for
later advances in job simplification, work standards, and incentive wage plans.
The
contributions of the administrative principles branch of the classical
management approach are exemplified by the work of Henri Fayol and Mary Parker
Follett. Henri Fayol developed rules and principles of management that served
as guides to management practice. His rules of managerial foresight,
organization, command, coordination, and control are similar to the modern
planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions of management. Fayol’s
scalar chain, unity of command, and unity of direction principles also served
to guide management practice. Follett brought an understanding of groups and a
deep commitment to human cooperation to her writings about businesses and other
organizations. Her insights about groups and human cooperation include the
following: groups are mechanisms through which individuals could combine their
talents for a greater good; organizations should be viewed as communities in
which managers and workers work in harmony; and the manager’s job is to help
organization members cooperate with one another and achieve an integration of
interests. Follett’s work also anticipated many modern management concepts and
practices, including employee ownership, profit sharing, gain-sharing, systems
concepts, managerial ethics, and corporate social responsibility.
Max Weber
viewed bureaucracy as an ideal, intentionally rational, and very efficient form
of organization founded on principles of logic, order, and legitimate
authority. The characteristics of bureaucratic organizations include the
following: a clear division of labor, a clear hierarchy of authority, formal
rules and procedures, impersonality, and careers based on merit. Weber believed
that by designing and operating organizations as bureaucracies, productivity
could be optimized.
Source: Management, 11th Edition -
John R. Schermerhorn
