Management as a Basic and Dominant Institution - Literature review Example

Management Will Remain A Basic and Dominant Perhaps As Long As Western Civilization Itself Survives" (Peter Drucker, 1955) Introduction The human race has faced problems in all walks of life and it the curiosity that breeds humans to face challenges and present new and better solutions each day. The use of Man's complex mind to iterate all the problems, make sense of them and solve the issues have always been promoted and lauded. It can be seen, that from earliest recorded times groups of people have been organized to work together towards planned goals. Their efforts coordinated and controlled to achieve such outcomes. The management skills required to solve everyday problems in historic times have given us a base to formulate the modern management theories. For instance the management skills required by the ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids; by the ancient Chinese to build the Great Wall of China; the management skills of the Mesopotamians to irrigate their land and wall their cities; of the Romans when building their roads, aqueducts and Hadrian's Wall; the understanding of uniform work methods by the ancient Greeks soldiers to act out surprise attacks by laying their weapons strategically; use of songs to develop a rhythm to improve their productivity etc. [3] All these man-made constructions required large amounts of human effort and therefore organization i.e. planning, control and coordination. The management function is therefore inherent in human nature even from the times we not know much about. [3] Keeping in mind what Peter Drucker said (1955), "Management will remain a basic and dominant institution perhaps as long as Western civilization itself survives", we cannot ignore its truth. To further examine Drucker's statement, let's take a look at how management has been used and has evolved to instill itself into our lifestyles. Early Development of Management Theory Ancient management functions take roots from the severity of the conditions faced. All the inventions or structures were based on the concept of solving a problem or enhancing the working of the situation. Early development of management theory came with a few events which the people at that time solved according to the means available. Here are some of those events. 17th Century - Industrial Revolution During the industrial revolution in the seventeenth century, agricultural methods started to improve in Europe to the extent that surpluses were generated which in turn were used for trade. This brought the expansion of trade routes global scale meeting East to the West. This phase of time brought many challenges to the people who answered them with advancements in technology such as in textile manufacturing. Hargreaves's spinning jenny, Arkwright's water frame and Compton's mule were also notable accomplishments. The steam engine first developed in 1698 by Thomas Savory, was harnessed by James Watt. Improved hygiene and diet, including the boiling of water to make tea (from the East,) led to expanding populations. [8] 18th Century - Adam Smith's The Factory System Seeing the time lags in the factory system, Adam Smith, in the eighteenth century, advocated making work efficient by means of specialization. He advocated breaking the work down into simple tasks. [8] War of Independence The War of Independence also brought with it challenges for the military to gain competitive advantage over the enemy force. Facing a shortage of musket parts in the United States, Eli Whitney proposed the manufacturing of muskets by means of using interchangeable parts. Though the idea was viewed with initial skepticism, his process was successful in producing large quantities of interchangeable parts. Thus was born the process of tooling up for production. At this time Whitney developed and used techniques such as cost accounting and quality control. [8] Development of Management Theory - A Timeline of Management Management theory evolved mainly out from the business and social issues the people at that time saw and took a measure to do something about it. The management theories are explained below along with the issues that led to these theories being formulated in a chronological order. 1880 - Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management Theory Taylor's work was strongly influenced by his social/historical period and the Industrial Revolution for him was a chance to prove himself to the community. During those times, autocratic management was the norm and the manufacturing community had the idea of interchangeable parts for almost a century. The sciences of physics and chemistry were gaining popularity by bringing forth new miracles on a monthly basis. [1] Taylor's theory to overthrow management "by rule of thumb" leading to formulate "the one best" practice was an indication that turning to "science" was a solution against the inefficiencies and injustices of the period he faced. Furthermore, the concepts of training the workers and developing "a hearty cooperation" represented a significant improvement over the feudal human relations of the time. [1] Taylor's work of designing coal shovel to improve productivity of the workers was a result of seeing the hours wasted by the workers. By redesigning the shovel, workers could work all day long. His belief into scientific management in organizations has influenced the fields of industrial engineering, personnel, and quality control. [1] [11] Scientific Management - Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Frank Gilbreth's early career led him to become interested in standardization and method study. While working at construction sites he noticed that in the bricklaying, no two bricklayers used exactly the same method or even the same set of motions. Working fast as opposed to slow, he set about trying to find an improved method. The result of the study was that he was able to raise output from 1000 to 2700 bricks per day. [2] By studying various fields, the Gilbreths developed the laws of human motion from which evolved the principles of motion economy. They distinguished their work by studying 'motion study' to cover their field of research against those involved in 'time study'. [2] Henry Ford's Production Assembly Line The invention of internal combustion engine led to the development of the motor car. Henry Ford's car factory in the United States is the best example of the change to modern assembly-line techniques. Before the 'line' was set up each car chassis was assembled by one man, taking a time of about twelve and a half hours. Eight months later with standardization and division of labor, the total labor time had been reduced to just ninety-three minutes per car. This idea of assembly line came to him when he was watching a moving conveyor of carcasses in a Chicago slaughterhouse. [2] Max Weber - Bureaucracy Max Weber's theory on bureaucracy came as a result of the social environment transitioning from older emotion and tradition driven values to technological ones.Weber claimed that western civilization was shifting from having value oriented thinking, affective action and traditional action to having technocratic thinking. He believed that civilization was changing to seek technically optimal results at the expense of emotional or humanistic content. Viewing the growth of large-scale organizations of all types during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Weber developed a set of principles for an 'ideal' bureaucracy. The bureaucracy was envisioned as a large machine for attaining its goals in the most efficient manner possible. [11] Henri Fayol - Administration Henri Fayol, being a successful mining engineer and senior executive prior to publishing his principles of 'administrative science', was influenced by Taylor's work. His theories of administration fit nicely into the bureaucratic framework described by Weber. Henri Fayol focuses on the personal duties of management at a much more granular level than Weber did. While Weber laid out principles for an ideal bureaucratic organization, Fayol's work is more directed at the management layer. [11] 1932 - Elton Mayo's The Hawthorne Studies Elton Mayo's Hawthorne Works Experiments were done during the time of significant change. The "the one best way" of doing things was being strongly challenged by the "new physics" results of Michalson, Rutherford and Einstein. In the work place there were strong pressures for shorter hours and employee stock ownership. As the effects of the 1929 stock market crash and following depression were felt, employee unions started to form. To combat these changes in the workers, Mayo started The Hawthorne Studies in the early 1920's as an attempt to determine the effects of lighting on worker productivity. He proved that social dynamics of the team were a stronger force on productivity than doing things "the one best way". Also that people vary their work methods to avoid boredom without harming overall productivity and a great deal of freedom helped too. These results made it clear that the group dynamics and social makeup of an organization were an extremely important force either for or against higher productivity. This caused the call for greater participation for the workers, greater trust and openness in the working environment and a greater attention to teams and groups in the work place. [11] Changes in Management Theory Thinking As long ago as in the 1920s, there was opposition to the scientific management principles and discretion was removed from individuals as a way of centralizing control and authority into specialized functions. On occasions this was clearly in the best interests of the workforce but often it was not. Benefits went inexplicably to the company and the workers were treated as extensions to the machines. [4] Theories such as Elton Mayo's helped the people realize that there were many things which scientific management had not taken into account like the importance and influence of formal and informal groups at work. Prior to 1940 the major theory about employee motivation was the classical management approach which focused mostly on the jobs which individuals performed and how they could be improved. [4] Modern Concepts of Management Theory Modern concepts have evolved from the scientific management and classical organization theory and they represent modifications based on research and experience. It was not long before the human relations school, recognizing the importance of individual motives and the interaction of groups in organizations, highlighted areas neglected by traditional managers. [6] To counter these weaknesses the behavioral science approach was adopted. The period between 1951 and 1971 was the era of rapid growth in management. At the turn of 20th century, efficiency and productivity became a critical concern for the managers. The scientific management theory was being used for the lower level managers and classical organizational theory was concentrated for the top-level managers. The labor was in short supply and theorists at that time started to think of two ways to cope up with the demand. They could either look to substitute capital for the labor or they could use labor more efficiently [6]. It was during this time that theorists such as Maslow (1954 - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) provided a framework for gaining employees' commitment. Peter Drucker (1954 - Peter Drucker's Leadership/Management) based his ideas on the best leadership style and the best was to handle the workers. Herzberg (1959 - Frederick Herzberg's Hygiene and Motivational Factors) explained motivation while McGregor (1960 - Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y) pointed out that there are two kinds of people in the world and they must be managed differently to attain the results. [10] Even now we practice the principles and practices of management based on the researches and explanations of theorists. It is interesting to see that all the theorists mentioned above belong to the western world, proclaiming that the western world is more adept in management and is to be credited for its services to man kind. Conclusion Management has played vital roles in our lives in the past and it will continue to play its part in the future. Just like the usage of management in wars, have won many a war for many soldiers and leaders, employing management in our personal wars help us settling our disputes and problems of everyday life. Weber's bureaucracy theory is promoted by the government while from the Gilberths we know how management is being used in economics. We manage social groups and social activities together as Mayo said, is just the reality we live in today. People tried to change management into a 'science' however they soon realized that though it was science, it was science of management. It is amazing to see how a management idea of moving carcasses on a conveyor slaughterhouse could create another management idea of assembly lines on which our necessities like cars are easily built. How perfectly management has controlled our lives is not even on our minds yet it is we who adopt management. With the world becoming an even more complex place for us, the solution lies in the management of such problem. New management theories come in daily as a response to new problems faced by managers and as we progress even further to exploit the technological aspects and scientific boundaries, more and more problems for managers are bound to occur. One can say that there is no one best practice except practicing management to solve all kind of problems. Druker's statement may have been stated about 50 years ago, but its integrity and its reality can not be denied even today. Works Cited 1. Accel Team (1999), "Scientific Management and Fredrick Winslow Taylor", http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_02.html, Accel Team, Accessed on January 13, 2007 2. _____, "Scientific Management - Frank and Lillian Gilbreth ", http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_03.html, Accel Team, Accessed on January 13, 2007 3. _____, "The ageless search for better ways", Accel Team, http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/index.html, Accessed on January 13, 2007 4. _____, "The growth of social sciences", http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/socialSciences_00.html, Accel Team, Accessed on January 13, 2007 5. _____, "The present role of management services and wider perspectives", http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/managementRole_00.html, Accel Team, Accessed on January 13, 2007 6. _____, "Continuing evolution of approaches", http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/socialSciences_01.html, Accel Team, Accessed on January 13, 2007 7. _____, "Developments from the second world war on", http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_04.html, Accel Team, Accessed on January 13, 2007 8. _____, "Development through the industrial revolution", http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_01.html, Accel Team, Accessed on January 13, 2007 9. BUET (2007), "Evolution of management thought", Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, www.buet.ac.bd/iict/iictcourses/ict6009/IICT6009_L3.pdf, Accessed on January 13, 2007 10. Clark, Don (2004) "115 years Management", Nwlink, http://www.nwlink.com/donclark/history_management/management.html, Accessed on January 13, 2007 11. Kerns (2000), "An overview of management theory", Kerns analysis, http://www.kernsanalysis.com/sjsu/ise250/history.htm, Accessed on January 13, 2007 Read More