1.

INTRODUCTION
Perhaps, the necessity to accomplish preset goals or objectives by working
together in groups is the reason for the development of thought of management.
However the modern operational management theory emerged in the early
twentieth century. In reality, for successful operation of any organization, the
crucial need for good management was perceived and this is why there was
serious thinking and theorizing about managing long before. Apparently, there
are many different management theories that are not identified in writing but
might be successfully implemented in enterprises and resulted in good output.
Notwithstanding, the contributions of writers and practitioners have resulted in
different approaches to management, and these make up a management theory
jungle. Among these identified ones, we will briefly discuss some of the salient.

2. THE EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT

I. EMERGENCE & EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
A. Contributions of Frederick Taylor (1856-1912): The experience as an
apprentice, a common laborer, a foreman, a master mechanic, and then the chief
engineer of a steel company gave Taylor adequate opportunity to know firsthand
the problems and attitudes of workers and to discover the ways of improving the
quality of management. Taylor portrayed that the problem of productivity was a
matter of ignorance on the part of both management and labor. He invented the
ways to increase productivity by means of greater efficiency in production and
increased pay for workers through the application of scientific methods. His

principles emphasized using science in place of rules of thumb, creating group

harmony and cooperation, achieving maximum output and developing workers to
the fullest extent possible for their own and their companys highest prosperity.
He invented the high-speed steel-cutting tools. His major works are Shop
Management (1903), Principles of scientific management (1911), and
Testimony before the Special House Commitment (1912).
B. Contributions of Henry L. Gantt (1861-1919): He is famous for scientific
selection of workers and harmonious cooperation between labor and
management. He developed the Gantt chart stressed the need for training.
C. Contributions of Frank (1868-1924) and Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972):
Frank is known for his time and motion studies. Lillian, an industrial psychologist,
focused on the human aspects of work and the understanding of workers
personalities and needs.
Comment : Mr. Taylor helped improving the productivity through scientific
methods. Henry L. Gantt modernized and modified the scientific theories of
Taylor. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth are also the followers of Frederick Taylor
and they facilitated the scientific theories of the latter.

II. EMERGENCE & EVOLUTION OF MODERN OPERATIONAL

MANAGEMENT THEORY
Contributions of Henri Fayol : Fayols major work is Administration
Industrielle et Generale (1916). He is called the father of modern
management theory. He divided industrial activities into six groups: technical,
commercial,

financial,

security,

accounting,

and

managerial-

planning,

organizing, command, coordination, and control. He recognized the need for

teaching management. Moreover, the most important is that he formulated

fourteen principles of management, each of which is briefly described below and

seemed very important for successful running of any organization:
1. Division of work: This is essential for efficiency in the use of labor. Fayol
opined to apply this principle to work of both managerial and technical.
2. Authority and responsibility: If responsibility is given to any person he or she
must be provided with some authority also.
3. Discipline: Disciple is the respect for agreements which are directed at
achieving obedience, application, energy, and outward marks of respect. Fayol
depicted that discipline requires good superiors at all levels.
4. Unity of command: This means that one should receive orders from one
superior only.
5. Unity of direction: Each group of activities aimed at the same objective must
have one head and one plan.
6. Subordination of individual to general interest: If the employees fall in any
conflict, management should reconcile them.
7. Remuneration: Remuneration and methods of payments should be fair and
afford the maximum possible satisfaction to employees and employer.
8. Centralization: Authority is to be concentrated or dispersed at the individual
circumstances to the degree which will give the best overall yield.
9. Scalar chain: There should be a chain of command breaking of which would
be detrimental for both the individuals and the organization.
10. Order: The right people and right thing should be in the right place. This is
essentially a principle of organization in the arrangement of things and people.
11. Equity: Managers should be kind and just when dealing with subordinates.
12. Stability of tenure: Unnecessary turnover is the reason for bad management.
Therefore, there should be stability of tenure.

13. Initiative: Initiative is conceived of as the thinking out and execution of a plan.
Since men get pleasure when they can experience this, Fayol exhorts managers
to sacrifice personal vanity in order to permit them to exercise it.
14. Esprit de corps : This means in union there is strength. It emphasizes the
need for teamwork and the importance of communication in obtaining it.

Comment: It is observed that these principles are very effective in

management application and are followed by the practitioners and
academicians.

III. EMERGENCE & EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

The Emergence of Industrial Psychology

A. Contributions of Hugo Munsterberg: A renowned medical doctor and a

psychologist

discover

the

application

of

psychology

to

industry

and

management. In his landmark book Psychology and Industrial Efficiency

published in 1912 he depicted the ways- (1) how to find people whose mental
qualities best fit them for the work they are to do, (2) under what psychological
conditions the greatest and most satisfactory output can be obtained from the
persons and (3) how a business can influence a worker to procure the best
possible output.

B. Contributions of Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972): She illustrated the application

of psychological concepts to the practice of scientific management in her work
Psychology of Management published in 1914.

C. Contributions of Walter Dill Scott: He also applied psychology to

management and wrote many books on this concern.

D. Contributions of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and Vilfredo Pareto: These

three outstanding scholars are regarded as the fathers of organization theory or
the social system approach to management. They emphasized on the ideas and
the ways to control human conduct in social organizations and distinguished
between the elite or ruling class and the general and sought the good
management systems for possible measures to maintain balance between them.

E. Contributions of Elton Mayo and F.J. Roethlisberger: These two scholars

and their associates undertook a research study from 1927 to 1932 at the
Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in The USA and through
different experimentations found that the mainstay of productivity is the high
morale of the workers and employees. Therefore the motivation and the good
interpersonal relationship are the keys to higher productivity.

Comment: Human mind is the actual moderator of all activities that are to
be accomplished. The thorough study on the theories of the abovementioned scholars about the psychology will help aiding our knowledge
of influencing people to work more as well as utilizing their attitudes
properly.

IV. CONTRIBUTIONS TO SYSTEMS THEORY

Contributions of Chester Barnard: A lifelong executive and the president of
the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, Chester I. Barnard in his famous book

The Functions of the Executive (1938) discussed how to maintain a system

of cooperative effort in a formal organization. The book is a social system
approach, concentrating on major elements of the managerial job, containing
extraordinary insights on decision making and leadership, and bearing the
authority of an intellectual with exceptional executive experience.

Comment: Chester Barnard suggested a comprehensive social system

approach that is perceived to be very fruitful to maintain a very good
cooperative effort in an organization.

V. CONTEMPORARY CONTRIBUTORS OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT

Peter F. Drucker has written on various management topics. American scholar

W. Edwards Deming has improved the quality of Japanese products. Another
management theorist Laurence Peter commented that finally executives get
promoted to a level where they are incompetent and no further promotion is
possible. And this may result in organization with incompetent people. Actually
this is an intellectual thought that people are incapable of maintaining the
quality of managing at an upper stage. William Ouchi in his book Theory Z
discussed the process of applying selected management practices in enterprises
in the United States. Harold Koontz wrote The Management Theory Jungle
referring the huge theories and practices of management evolved over centuries.
He recognizes that the vegetation in this jungle has changed somewhat- new
approaches have developed, and older ones have taken on some new meanings
with some new words attached- but the developments of management science
and theory still have the characteristics of a jungle.

3. PATTERNS OF MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS

I. THOROUGH STUDY ON THE DEVELOPMENT THEORIES OF
MANAGEMENT
Huge Writers, practitioners and theorists contributed a veritable deluge of writing.
And the variety of approaches to management analysis, the amount of research,
and the number of different views have resulted in much confusion as to what
management is, what management theory and science is, and how management
events should be analyzed. Mr. Koontz called this situation the management
theory jungles. If we study the writings of the contributors we will find that the
approaches of these writings are of the following patterns: 1) the empirical
approach, 2) the interpersonal behavior approach, 3) the group behavior
approach, 4) the cooperative social systems approach, 5) the sociotechnical
systems approach, 6) the decision theory approach, 7) the systems approach, 8)
the mathematical, or management science approach, 9) the contingency, or
situational approach, 10) Mintzbergs managerial roles approach, 11) McKinseys
7-S approach, and 12) the operational approach. Each of the approaches has its
advantages as well as the limitations. Through adequate study we will be able to
recognize which one/ones is/are applicable to any distinguished organization.
However, last few of the above integrates the various perspectives of
management and deserve mentioning:

A. MINTZBERGS MANAGERIAL ROLES APPROACH

Interpersonal roles
1. The figurehead role (performing ceremonial and social duties as the
organizations representative)
2. The leader role
3. The liaison role (particularly with outsiders)

Informational roles
1. The recipient role (receiving information about the operation of an
enterprise)
2. The disseminator role (passing information to subordinates)
3. The spokesperson role (transmitting information to those outside the
organization.

Decision roles
1. The entrepreneurial role
2. The disturbance-handler role
3. The resource-allocator role and
4. The negotiator role (dealing with various persons and groups of persons).

Comment: The roles Mintzberg identified appear to be incomplete.

Because

unquestionably

important

managerial

activities

such

as

structuring an organization, selecting & appraising managers, and

determining major strategies etc are absent here. However if we analyze

wisely we may consider that these activities might be done through leader
role and the entrepreneurial role.

B. McKINSEYS 7-S APPROACH

The 7-S framework for management analysis is the basis for the research of two
best-selling books The Art of Japanese Management and In Search of
Excellence. The 7-S refers to strategy, structure, systems, style, staff, shared
values, and skills. The outstanding feature of this model is that it has been
experimented extensively in many companies. Moreover this framework has
been used by renowned business schools, such as Harvard and Stanford.

Comment: Appraising this model, it can be concluded that theory and

practice seem to support each other in the study of management. The most
salient feature is that it supports the framework of the managerial
functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. A
lucid, easy-to-remember framework like this suggested by McKinsey, is
certainly an effort to be praised by the practitioners and academicians.

C. THE OPERATIONAL, OR MANAGEMENT PROCESS, APPROACH

This approach integrates the concepts, principles, and the techniques of the
tasks of managing. It recognizes that there is a central core of knowledge, as
shown in the diagram below, about managing that is pertinent to the area of
management. And the identified knowledge covers all the managerial functions.

Comment: As an immense number of variables of the environment of any

organization effects the managerial activities, the thorough knowledge

about the management science and theories around managerial functions

is requisite for the successful operation of any enterprise or organization.

4. SUMMARY
Numerous writers, practitioners, and executives have contributed to the
development of management thought. Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific
management, suggested the ways to improve productivity through scientific
methods. Henry Gantt is renowned for the scientific selection of workers and the
cooperation between labor and management. He developed the Gantt chart
focusing the need for training. Frank Gilbreth is famous for his time and motion
theory. Henri Fayol, the father of modern management theory, formulated
fourteen principles of management. Hugo Munsterberg applied psychology to
industry and management, while Walter Dill Scott applied it to advertising,
marketing, and personnel management. Max Weber is well-known for his theory
of bureaucracy. Vilfredo is appreciated for his social systems approach. Elton
Mayo and his associates discovered the impact of the social attitudes of working
class. Chester Barnard suggested a complete social system approach,
concentrating on major elements of the managerial job, containing extraordinary
insights on decision making and leadership. Nevertheless, developing the
management thought the contributions of some public administrators, business
managers, behavioral scientists, and prolific writers deserve mentioning. Peter F.
Drucker, W. Edwards Deming, Laurence Peter, William Ouchi, and Harold
Koontz are some of them; the contributions of whom are discussed earlier.

5. RECOMMENDATION
Even though the practitioners realize that the fundamentals of management are
universal, theorists of this school would readily admit that the difficulties

managers face and the situations in which they operate vary among managerial
levels in an enterprise and among different enterprises and that the application
of concepts, theories, and techniques will naturally vary. Hence the managers
are to integrate their knowledge of management science and theories, insights,
and intellects to select the best approach or the approaches to conduct the
functions of their organizations to make them successful through creating
surplus.
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