Evaluating the Influence of Classical and Human Relations Approaches in Management Today

University of South Wales Business school

Management Theories and Philosophies (BS4S02-V1)

TITLE

Evaluating the influence of Classical and Human Relations approaches in management today

Introduction

What is Management Theory?

The business dictionary defines management theory as

“A collection of ideas which set forth general rules on how to manage a business or organization. Management theory addresses how managers and supervisors relate to their organizations in the knowledge of its goals, the implementation of effective means to get the goals accomplished and how to motivate employees to perform to the highest standard.”

Management techniques and practices have been evolving from start of civilization when humans started to live in groups and had to apply managerial skills and practices to make living together easier, these skills have progressed and can be applied wherever groups or institutions are involved examples include; families, hospitals, businesses etc. This means that one can unconsciously adopt management practices and principles and not even be aware of it.

The formalization of management thoughts came up after the industrial revolution which brought about two major changes in the business scene: 1) production in mass scale due to inventions of sophisticated machines, and ii) formation of Joint stock companies to separate ownership from management function. These changes created a need for people who could manage the newly formed enterprises. It required management design that could help the present and future managers have a guide to help them effectively manage and achieve the organization’s goals without jeopardizing quality and efficiency of the production. This led to the coming together of several thinkers from various fields and disciplines i.e. the sociologists, anthropologists etc. who came up with their different versions of what management entailed. They all came up with different suggestions of approaching and defining management because they came from different works of life and had different professional ways of managing the groups and organizations they came from. Some defined management practice as an art and some as a science. But as management evolved and began to acquire a systemised knowledge that could be learnt and applied in real life with more defined principles and practises it became more a science.

The earliest management theorists can be divided into two main groups – the practising managers also labelled as “Classical” or “Scientific managers” who reflected and theorized about their personal experiences of management in order to produce a set of principles of management that could be applied universally to achieve efficiency in the organization. And the Social Scientist who were mostly academics and researched more about the human behaviour in the workplace.

In this essay, we seek to evaluate the influence of Classical and Human Relations approaches in well-known organizations and how it was applied for a successful performance in their organization. The write up concludes with the evaluation statement. Firstly, we review the most relevant Classical and Human-Relations theories to identify their main themes.

Classical Theories    

The systematic study of organization in a way began with the classical theorist. The classical theorist focused on structure and formal, or official activities of the organization. Writer will focus on the theories developed by the three well-known writers - of the classical theory - Frederick Winslow Taylor, Henri Fayol, and Max Weber.

Taylor’s Scientific Management Approach

Henri Fayol, (1841-1925) was a French industrialist and theorist. He is known as the father of scientific management because he responded to the challenges of management first and found a scientific way to handle organizational problems. Taylor discovered that there was a wastage of resources and he believed that from scientific analysis there should be a best way to perform a task which would lead to the increase of an organisation’s productivity. He proceeded to conduct series of experiment during his career as a machinist and a foreman to develop scientific and systematic ways of doing things which would lead to improved production efficiency and optimum utilization of resources. After years of experiments, Taylor proposed four principles that will ensure increase in productivity;

Principle 1

Replacing rules-of-thumb with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks; rule of thumb is based on common sense, estimation and experience. It cannot be regarded as a standard as it is most times subject to someone’s personal opinion. Scientific method which is created after careful enquiry, scientific investigation, data collection and framing of rules indicates precision and creates standard in determining any aspect of work.  This principle in summary is concerned with selecting the best of way of performing a job through careful observation and scientific analysis and not by intuition or trial and error.

Principle 2

Harmony, Not Discord: Taylor emphasized that there should be a harmonious relationship between workers and management within the organisation to ensure that the scientific principles of management are being followed to do the job. It is only through the co-operation of management and workers that the organization can efficiently achieve its goals. Taylor suggested a complete mental revolution on the part of both management and workers in order to achieve this feat.

Principle 3

Scientific Selection, Training & Development of Workers: To a great extent the efficiency of any organisation depends on the skills and capabilities of its employees. Therefore, proper selection of employee’s i.e. the right person for the job should be done and also scientific training for the workers provided. These steps are essential in order to attain efficiency and prosperity for both the organization and the employees.

Principle 4

Division of Responsibility; the division of tasks and responsibility between the management and workers should be equal. Managers should apply scientific methods to planning while keeping workers in mind by providing required infrastructure, facilities and giving maximum cooperation to workers. And workers should be concerned with performing theirs tasks as per instructions given to them by management.

Principle 5

Mental Revolution: Taylor emphasised on the great need of revision of the mental attitude of the workers towards management and vice versa. Both should realize the importance of each other and work together with full cooperation. Workers should be disciplined, dedicated and sincere in completing task assigned to them to enable the company to make profit and management should also be willing to share profits made with the workers.

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