HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF Management

• The 1st known management ideas were recorded

between 3000-4000 B.C.
• A theory is a set of assumptions, propositions, or
accepted facts that attempts to provide a reasonable
explanation of causal relationships among a group of
observed phenomenon (Bus dictionary 2014)
• Each theory has a different way of looking at
organizations, activities and how managers function.
 Classical Scientific Management theories
(F. Taylor worker efficiency)

• Emphasis of scientific management was to try

and establish the best ways to produce and
run the production process.
 F. Taylor cont...
• Taylor developed 4 principles of scientific
management that would lead to high levels of
work achievement namely:
i) Breaking the job into small duties
ii)Carefully select and train workers
 F. Taylor cont...
iii)Establishing a clear division of responsibility
between management and workers.
iv)Establishing controls where managers would
set objectives to be achieved and
subordinates would co-operate in achieving
them.
 F. Taylor cont...
• Taylor explained the application of scientific
methods to factory problems and the proper
use of human labour and time in carrying out
duties.
• He introduced time series to analyse workers’
movements on the job.
 F. Taylor cont...
• He established how much workers should be
able to do with their given materials and
equipment.
• His findings pointed out the quickest way to
perform a task.
• Taylor’s principles were aimed at improving
production, discipline on the job, reduce
interpersonal contacts amongst workers and
the strict application of incentive pay systems.
 Classical Administrative theories (H. Fayol
Manager efficiency)
• Fayol’s emphasis was on the development of
managerial principles rather than the
methods of operation.
• Fayol believed that with scientific focusing and
proper methods of management, satisfactory
results were inevitable.
 H. Fayol cont...
• Fayol believed that management was not an
inborn behaviour or person talent, but a skill
that could be learnt or taught. He developed
14 principles of management which looked at;
i) division of labour (specialization)
ii)authority and responsibility (to give orders)
iii) discipline (need to respect organizational
doctrine)
 H. Fayol cont...
iv) unity of command (one supervisor per
employee)
v) unity of direction (goals and objectives)
vi) remuneration of personnel (reward
management, salary, promotion)
vii) centralization (managers must have final
say)
 H. Fayol cont...
viii) Chain of command (line of authority
should be clear)
ix) Order (materials and people should be at
the right place at the right time)
x) Equity (fairness and consistency)
 H. Fayol cont...
xi) Subordination of individual interest to
general interest (interests of one person/group
should not prevail over that of the organization)
xii) Stability of tenure of personnel
xiii) Innovation
xiv) Promote teamwork (unity/espirit decorps)
 Bureaucratic theory (Max Weber
Organizational structure)
• Weber stressed the need for a strictly defined
hierarchy governed by clearly defined
regulations and lines of authority.
• He emphasised the need for technical
competence.
• He sought to improve the performance of
socially important organizations by making
their operations predictable and productive.
 Max Weber cont...
Weber’s principles of bureaucracy
i) Hierarchical structure
• Authority evolves from the top to the bottom
in a pyramidal shape.
• Each manager or supervisor is responsible for
those under him, thereby increasing
accountability.
 Max Weber cont...
ii) Division of labour
• Each person in the organization should
perform specific duties according to
qualifications and training to ensure efficiency
in production.
 Max Weber cont...
iii) Control by rules
• There ought to be clearly written rules and
regulations governing employee activities.
 Max Weber cont...
iv) Impersonal relationships
• Employees must be subjected to strict and
systematic discipline.
• There must be fairness in the application of
the code of conduct.
 Max Weber cont...
v) Career orientation
• Each individual employee in an organization is
trained to perform a specific task and become
a specialist..
 Classical management theories
contributions
• Duties can be made more efficient and
objective.
• Emphasise on job design and scientific
selection and development of workers by
organizations.
 Classical management theories
limitations
• Application of the classical management
principles is highly centralised.
• The principle assumes a passive group of
workers and that lower level employees can
be manipulated to work to the satisfaction of
their managers.
• Managers have the authority and capacity to
make decisions that focus on productivity.
 Classical management theories
limitations
• The classical management theories reject the
presence of worker needs such as rest.
• It assume that money other than anything
else motivate the worker.
• This approach is only concerned with
productivity...
Human relations/Motivation theories
• The thrust in production of goods and services
should encompass both the economic and
human side of production.
• Motivation are the forces internal or external
to an individual that arouse interest and
commitment to purse a certain course of
action.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Self
Actualization
Esteem/Ego
Social needs
Security/Safety

Physiological needs
 Physiological needs

• These are the basic needs for survival.

• Examples are food, air, shelter, water, clothing,
sex.
 Security/safety needs
• These are needs that make an individual feel
secure or safe in an environment that he
works in.
 Social needs
• Managers need to understand society and
how individuals were socialised, their beliefs
and cultures.
 Ego/Esteem needs
• This is an individual assessment in terms of
value or status.
• A person feels inspired to work when s/he is
valued more than others in a group.
• This can be as a result of a promotion, award,
initiation.
 Self Actualization

• This is a situation whereby one feels that s/he

has done the best, has reached the climax of
all his needs.
 Criticisms
• Hierarchical?
• one stage at a time?
• All beings follow same channel?
• Self actualisation in everything?
 Douglas McGregor’s
theory X and Y
• McGregor sort to establish how employees
are treated by their superiors.
• He produced 2 theories which he called
theory X and theory Y.
 Theory X Assumptions
• Assumption: most workers prefer to be
coerced, controlled, directed and threatened
with punishment to get them to put adequate
effort.
• Theory X managers are usually intolerant,
unfriendly, arrogant, poor listeners, one-way
communicators as well as deadline and results
driven.
 Theory Y assumptions
• Theory Y workers have the capacity to accept
assignments, seek responsibility and apply
imagination and creativity for organizational
problems.
 Theory Y assumptions cont…
Theory Y encourages:
• Delegation of authority for decision making to
lower level workers
• Increase the level of responsibility in each
employee’s job
• Improve free flow of information and
communication within the organization.
 The contingency approach to
management
• It assumes that there is no universal way of
managing organizations because
organizations, people, and situations vary and
change over time.
 The contingency approach to
management cont…
• Management functions must be tailored to suit
specific situations.
• Both classical management and Human relations
models should be used selectively and appropriately
depending on the situation at hand.
• The model calls for a thorough understanding of the
situations surrounding the worker and the duties
s/he performs..
 The Systems Approach
• A system is a set of interrelated and inter-dependent
parts arranged in a manner that produce a unified
role.
• An organization functions as a system with structures
and organs.
• There must be harmony in all the sub-systems for the
organization to work well.
 Four major concepts inspire the systems approach

• Specialization: A system is divided into smaller

components allowing more specialized
concentration on each component.
• Grouping: Related disciplines or sub-
disciplines must be grouped to void
generating complexity with increased
specialization.
 Cont…
• Coordination: interactions of the components
and sub-components of a system ought to be
managed.
• Emergent properties: dividing a system into
subsystems, requires recognizing and
understanding why the system as a whole is
greater than the sum of its parts…