Evolution of Management Thought - Essay Example

From there, the behavioral school emerged partly because the classical approach did not achieve sufficient production efficiency and workplace harmony. The bureaucracy became helpful for many companies, but in the competitive global market of the 1990s organizations started throwing away the organizational chart and replacing it with patterns of teams and projects with the idea of unleashed employee creativity. The systems approach to management views the organization as a unified, purposeful system composed of interrelated parts. Much of what we have built in terms of modern management grew from ancient theory in one form or another.

Nevertheless, we do not need to know what happened yesterday to function today. Still, it helps. It helps to know how things were and how people acted to emulate what they did right, eliminate what they did wrong, and improve upon what they could have done better. By studying the past, we gain insight into today and inspiration for the future. Even though it is not necessary for daily function it is an indispensable enhancement.

The first third of the 20th century featured two separate managerial approaches. The scientific management approach of Taylor, Gilbreth, and the other engineers and that of the behavioral scientist led by Munsterberg, Maslow, and Mayo.

They each differ from one another. Scientific management relies upon managers to make decisions. It tries to develop the best, standard method for performing each job. It selects workers with appropriate abilities and trains them according to the standard method developed. It seeks to help workers by planning work, eliminating interruptions, and providing wage incentives.

Behavioral management addressed the human dimension of work. Behavioral theorists believed understanding motivation, conflict, expectations, and group dynamics improved productivity. They viewed employees as individual resources and assets to be developed.

Both concepts could be applied to the same company at the same time. Organizations were not limited to only one. They usually practiced some combination of the two but often leaned more one way than the other. Nevertheless, each management theory is not necessarily mutually exclusive in practice.

To the emerging labor unions being formed in the post-WWI era the behavioral school was more favorable. It was so because scientific management did not seem to appreciate the social context of work and the higher needs of workers, did not acknowledge variance among individuals and tended to regard workers as uninformed ignoring ideas and suggestions. The behavioral theory saw employees as people with which to work not just managers.

The golden age of management post WWII had the greatest advancement in the American standard of living and economy. It was the period during which many new management techniques were developed.

The more significant new management techniques developed during this era were operations research and operations management. Each should be part of one’s managerial style in the current American business world.

Although rudimentary forms of these practices are pragmatic in any business, the formal practice is sometimes not worth the resources depending on the size of the operation. Nevertheless, with decision support systems (DSS), once the management information has been standardized in software, it is possible that the return (ROI) for even a small business would make it worthwhile. For some fledgling operations, to put in significant resources toward these measures in the present could mean financial ruin in the short run whereby they may never see the ROI at all.