SCHOOL OF

MANAGEMENT
THOUGHTS
introduction

 The purpose of studying various schools of management thought is

to enable you to recognize and appreciate how developments in
the field of management could contribute to current practices.
 An examination of these past and present approaches can help to
discover the strengths and weaknesses of current managerial
practices and finally enable you, as a potential manager of an
information centre, to choose appropriate management styles.
• Today’s management is both a reflection of and a reaction to past
management theories.
CLASSIFICATION OF MANAGEMENT
THEORIES
i) Classical management theory
ii) Neoclassical management theory
iii) Modern management theory
Under each group a few schools of thought are identified.
CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT THEORY

 Classical management theory consists of a group of similar ideas on

the management of Organizations. it generally concerns ways to
manage work and organizations more efficiently.
• Scientific Management
• Administrative Management
 Bureaucratic Organization
The predominant and common characteristic to all three branches is
the emphasis on the economic rationality of management and
organization.
The economic rationality of the individual employee at work assumes
that people choose the course of action that maximizes their
economic reward.
Scientific Management

 Scientific management was introduced in an attempt to create a

mental revolution in the workplace.
• It can be defined as the systematic study of work methods in order to
improve efficiency
• In the late 19th century, management decisions were often arbitrary
and workers often worked at an intentionally slow pace. There was little
in the way of systematic management and workers and management
were often in conflict.
 F.W Taylor is the major contributor to this school of management
thought
 The basic components of scientific management
as propounded by Taylor are:
 Determination of the standard of performance
 Functional foremanship
 Responsibilities of management
 Differential piecework system of wage payment
 Mental revolution
 Determining the standards of performance
 Taylor introduced the “time and motion study” to
identify exactly how long it takes to do a task and
identify and eliminate wasteful motions
 Functional foremanship
 The functional foreman (specialist) did the planning
of various aspects of work
 Responsibility and management
 Managers should accept responsibility for planning,
directing and organising
 Managers should perform these functions in a
scientific way – i.e. analyse all operations and
develop scientific methods of doing them
 Workers should be scientifically selected and trained
 Managers should heartily cooperate with workers to
ensure that work is done according to scientifically
selected managers
 Differential piece work system of payment – to ensure that workers turn
out optimal production – so that workers who work hard get more
 Mental revolution
 Taylor held that the technique of determining work standards,
delimiting wasteful operations and differential piece rate system of
wage payment should benefit the worker in form of higher wage
payment and the employer in form of higher production and this
would result to a “mental revolution” between ,management and
workers
 They would develop a cooperative rather than antagonistic attitude
towards each other
Criticism of Tailors Study

 Saw man as an economic being - man is only motivated

by money
 Saw that man can be programmed as a machine – in
the development of standards of performance
Administrative Management

 Focuses on the management process and principles of

management.
• In contrast to scientific management, which deals largely with jobs
and work at the individual level of analysis, administrative
management provides a more general theory of management.
• Henri Fayol is the major contributor to this school of management
thought and according to him this school basically deals with people
in system.
 Although administrative management has been criticized as being
rigid and inflexible and the validity of the functional approach to
management has been questioned, this school of thought still
influences management theory and practice
• The functional approach to management is still the dominant way of
organizing management knowledge, and many of Fayol's principles of
management, when applied with the flexibility that he advocated, are
still considered relevant.
Bureaucratic Management

 It focuses on ideal form of organization and follows the same.

• Max Weber was the major contributor. Weber's theory of
bureaucratic management also has two essential elements. First, it
entails structuring an organization into a hierarchy. Secondly, the
organization and its members are governed by clearly defined
rational-legal decision-making rules.
• Based on observation, he concluded that many early organizations
were inefficiently managed, with decisions based on personal
relationships and loyalty.