The History of Management Theory - Research Paper Example

The history of management dates back to the times when men started hunting and went on to plan and execute their strategies for killing, saving, and distributing their prey. However, the modern history of management is a relatively new phenomenon as management as an acceptable practice started to emerge after the industrial revolution. Management as a theoretical discipline, therefore, started to emerge out of the need to handle too many people working to achieve a common goal. During the 19th century, when the industrial revolution started to take its roots and large corporations were formed to produce industrial output, the need to control and coordinate a large number of people became an obvious problem for new capitalists.

The classical school of management outlined the scientific management principles and suggested using scientific methods to deal with the problems of handling assembly lines. More emphasis was placed on achieving specialization so that productivity can be improved. The Human Relations School attempted to add more dimensions to the management and suggested the psychological dimensions of the management also. (Roth, 1994)

The open system school attempted to reconcile the differences between classical and human relations schools and provided a systematic approach to viewing organizations as a complete system with humans operating as one part of the whole system.

The social action school has also put forward the arguments of viewing the employees as individuals having their own interests and goals. The social action school of management is one of the latest advancements in the theory of management.

Comparison and Contrast between Classical and Human Relations School

Classical School of Management is considered as the oldest school of management and it started with the advent of the industrial revolution in developed countries. One of the key aspects of the classical school of management or scientific management was based upon the notion that employees have an only physical need and their social needs or the need for job satisfaction does not matter or does not fall under the purview of management.  (Morden, 2004). Based on this assumption, the scientific school of management attempted to define the relations of the employees with the work. This view was, however, refused under the human relations school wherein it was outlined that organization is not just a mechanical thing with employees working like mechanical objects. Employees being humans also possess feelings and have their social needs and it is the responsibility of the management to actually account for such social needs of the employees.

My current organization, considering employees have social needs and responsibilities, tends to provide different facilities such as leaves, bonuses, paid vacations, etc which actually help employees to free themselves from the stress of work and to become more productive in nature. This also serves as the source of intrinsic motivation for most of the employees as it outlines that the organization is taking care of the needs of the employees and employees feel they are part of the organization. Work is also delegated to the employees and there is more need to develop employees who can perform multiple tasks.

There is, therefore, a clear diversion from the principles of scientific management which advocates for the specialization of the tasks whereas my current organization focuses on developing the capabilities of the employees in different areas of the work so that can better perform for the overall organization level.

Scientific management also advocated the use of things like following best practices and complying with the policies and manuals of the company. This view has been held till now also wherein management still believes that employees work as economic agents with their own self-directed interests to achieve monetary gains. In order to provide such monetary gains to the employees, management must force them to comply with their policies and manuals.

Although the human relations movement did not negate this position but highlighted that employees should be treated equally and no such practices should be adopted which could actually demotivate the employees. Demotivation of employees can actually result in loss of productivity and the organization can actually suffer by following practices that can hamper the motivation level of the employees.  (Griffin, 2006)