IMPORTANCE OF CLASSICAL

MANAGEMENT TO NIGERIAN
ORGANIZATIONS
Classical management approach views an organization as a machine and its workers as elements of the
machinery. Its primary purpose is to optimize employee productivity which in turn would increase profit.
It consists of 3 major aspects;

1. Scientific Methods: It applies scientific methods of study and analysis to solving managerial
problems. This aims to get the best out of every employee by assessing jobs based on employee
skill set and competency.
2. Administrative: This aims to develop a comprehensive & conceptual framework, general
organization and management to all organizations.
3. Bureaucratic: This gave a hierarchal structure with clearly defined rules and regulations aimed at
producing order, regularity and a specialized workforce.

In as much as this theory has been criticized for disregarding elements like; Human relations, Employee’s
social needs, and teamwork, it is considered to be suited to static, unidimensional organizations (Nair,
2021) in which many small medium enterprises (SME’s) in Nigeria fall under.

Despite classical theory of management not being prevalent in modern organizations, certain principles
and branches of the classical theory of management are active within organizations in Nigeria today.
This paper capsules the importance of Classical Theory of Management to organizat ions in Nigeria and
various principles of Classical management that cuts across its different branches would be used to
illustrate its importance.

Scalar and functional process which is a principle of the scientific approach has provided a clear
management structure where each management has its own objectives and responsibilities. It
introduced hierarchal structure (3 layers of management) which has enabled the development of
organizational organogram (in the bureaucratic approach) and allowed for clear definition of roles and
responsibilities within an organization. This is evident in most small businesses where chain of command
moves from; CEO / COO

GENERAL MANAGER/
MANAGER

SUPERVISORS
 LINE WORKERS
Classical theory of management provided Unity of Direction, this is also referred to as centralized
leadership. It facilitates quick decision making and accelerates work flow. This ensured employees are
not being pushed in different direction due to conflicting instructions. It also ensures more productivity
as a result of goal and role definition.

Division of Labor; this approach allows workers to narrow their field of expertise and to specialize in one
area. In Nigeria today, projects within organizations are Brocken down into smaller tasks that are easy to
complete, these are allocated to specialized personnel or team/department e.g. (Marketing accounting
etc.). This has allowed for increased productivity, employee responsibilities and expectations are clearly
defined and are within their specialized field of study or expertise to enable maximum productivity.

Remuneration to personnel; this points out that people are motivated by money or monetary rewards.
This gives management a key to ensuring employees work harder and become more productive if the
incentive matches the tasks or job responsibilities. It gives management easier control over the
workforce. This has been applicable in several small businesses in the country where they increase
remuneration or monetary benefits to motivate the employee thereby increasing productivity and
reducing staff turnover.

In conclusion, without the impact of the classical theory of management, SME’s and organizations in
Nigeria generally would lack; the basic hierarchal structure, face the inability to match monetary
benefits with responsibility which may lead to high employee turnover, operate inefficiently due to
inability to clearly allocate tasks based on skills and specialization etc. with the points listed, even with
the flaws of classical theory of management, it is visible that it sits at the foundation of organizational
structure and operations.

REFERENCES

1. Nair, K. (2021, September 22). Classical Theory Of Management In Organization. Retrieved

October 24, 2022, from Harappa website: https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/classical-

theory-of-management/#heading_2