UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICA

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION

ADVANCED PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT (MANAGEMENT THEORY &

PRACTICE) – MAN4037 & 4028

PART A: AN UNDERSTANDINGS OF ORGANIZATION THEORY

Management Theories Lesson 1A

Management theories are a collection of ideas that recommend general rules for how to
manage an organization or business. Management theories address how supervisors implement
strategies to accomplish organizational goals and how they motivate employees to perform at
their highest ability.

What is a theory?
Theory: “The phenomenon of interest” + concepts
 Phenomenon of Interest: This is the main part of the theory which is explained by the
concepts. Even though this can be expressed as a formula, this is not always the case. For
instance, some phenomenon of interest can be explained in terms of statistics, or sayings.
This is extremely common when it comes to explaining human behaviour, as it is very
difficult to describe.

 Concept: These are like folders, which we create to store similar experiences and ideas, only
highlighting a few similar features. A concept is formed after abstraction has taken place.
The diagram below describes abstraction further:
o By matching more personal experiences to a concept, the more elaborate the concept will
become and the more likely you are to remember and understand it.

 Chunking: Abstraction also allows the “chunking” of information. This is the process that
enables us to think of many different things at the same time.
o This is evident in concepts as they are made up of large or big “chunks” of information.

Benefits of management theories

o There are several reasons why leaders should study and apply management theories,
including:

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  Increased productivity: Using these theories, leaders learn how to make the most of their
team members, improving performances and increasing productivity.
 Simplified decision-making: Management theories give leaders strategies that speed up
the decision-making process, helping those leaders be more effective in their roles.
 Increased collaboration: Leaders learn how to encourage team member participation and
increase collaboration in the workplace.
 Increased objectivity: Management theories encourage leaders to make scientifically
proven changes rather than relying on their judgment.

 
PART B BEGINNINGS OF ORGANIZATION THEORY
 
How did it all start?
 The Prehistory of organization theory is mostly concerned with the modernist perspective. It
should also be mentioned that at this time, the field of organization theory did not exist.
 Theorists of the time employed inductive and deductive methods of reasoning.
o Inductive Reasoning: using experience and input from workers to create a theory.
o Deductive Reasoning: using measurement and scientific research to prove against the
inductive reasoning.
 The prehistory of organization theory evolved from two schools of thought:
o Sociological School of Thought: This is concerned with the effects of the industrial
revolution and society on organizations. It involves the following scholars:
 Emile Durkheim
 Max Weber
 Karl Marx
 
o Classical Management School of Thought: This is concerned with the managers and their
involvement with the organization. It involves the following scholars:
 Fredrick Taylor
 Mary Parker Follet
 Henri Fayol
 Luther Gulick
 Chester Barnard
  
Influential theorists – their main ideas
o Karl Marx: Theory of Capital
 Stated that there is a conflict of interest between workers and the owners of the
organization.
 Wrote that alienation in the work place can occur due to depersonalisation of workers.
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  From this theory, critical organization theory emerged, concerning how power is
delegated in an organization and the empowerment of employees.
o Emile Durkhein
 Main focus on division of labour
 Specialization
 Describes the informal (e.g. culture) and formal organization
 The effects of industrialisation
 
o Max Weber
 How industrialisation affected authority
 There are different types of authority:
 Traditional Authority: Prevalent before industrialisation. This type of authority meant
that positions of authority were usually inherited.
 Charismatic Authority: Authority is gained from the personal liking of someone. For
example, Martin Luther King Jr.
 Rational-Legal Authority: This type of authority arose during industrialisation. It is a
mixture of traditional and charismatic authority.
 Max Weber wrote “Theory of Bureaucracy.”
 He also distinguished between:
 Formal Rationality: Rationality based on measurements and calculations
 Substantive Rationality: The wanted outcome of calculations and measurements.
o Fredrick Taylor
 Author of “scientific management.”
 Carried out scientific research to enhance productivity and efficiency. For example,
employee -product output rate measured.
 Incentive systems introduced.
 Criticised for treating employees as machinery rather than human beings.

o Mary Follet
 Embraced democratic ideals for the work place - work place democracy.
 Believed in organizations functioning as a community.
 
o Henri Fayol
 Established his Administrative Principles, which included:
 Span of Control: the amount of people that report to one manager.
 Formation of departments.
 Hierarchy: the ‘position’ and communication of everyone in the organization.

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  Exceptions to routine: a concept which involves managers only having to deal with issues
that cannot be handled by the subordinates.
 Emphasised organizational culture.
 Defined managerial duties including: planning, coordination, control, commanding and
organising.
 
o Luther H. Gulick
 Defined the duties of a chief executive as: Planning, organizing, staffing, directing,
coordinating, reporting and budgeting.

o Chester Barnard
 Emphasised the “informal organization.”
 Discussed how organizations should be moulded into Cooperative Social Systems –
 This is similar to Follett’s idea of the organization as a community, as well as emphasis
on employee involvement and motivation and communication of all organizational goals.
  
o The Three Perspectives in Further Detail
a. Modernist Organizational Theory: there are three theories that help to make up this
theory:
o General Systems Theory: Ludwig Von Bertalanffy is the founder of this theory. The
theory assumes that anything can be classified as a system.
 System: made up of subsystems (which can also be defined as systems) and their
relationships with one another.
 A system can only be understood fully only if all subsystems and their
relationships are understood.
 The Level of Analysis: This has to be defined when looking at a system. For
example, if an organization is being analysed, then the organization is the system
and the departments within the organization a subsystem.
 The organization is surrounded by a Super System, the environment, and the
subsystems of an organization include:
 Social Structure
 Physical Structure
 Culture
 Technology

b. Contingency Theory: States that the organization is based on reactions to different

situations.

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o Symbolic-Interpretive Theory: focuses on individual and group experiences within
the organization and how these are interpreted. This theory can be seen as being
based on the following theories:
 Social Construction Theory: Society is based on our interpretations and
experiences. Social construction is made up of three phases: externalisation,
objectification and internalisation- we learn something new, ‘internalise it’ from
someone else’s perspective of reality ‘objectivised reality’ and then you
‘externalise’ it. An organization can also go through the aforementioned phases.
 Sense making Theory: “Organizations exist largely in the minds of organization
members in the form of cognitive maps, or images of particular aspects of
experience.”

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