...M A N AG E M E N T D EV E LO P M E N T Part 1: Machiavelli, Fayol and Taylor The 20th century was remarkable for the rise of the professional manager – often basing his or her approach to management on a particular theory or favoured guru. MBA students all over the world have investigated these theories and written countless assignments discussing their value. As we progress through the 21st century, are these theories still relevant or have they had their day? This article is the first in a three-part series that looks at ten influential theorists and the influence they still have. The series does not attempt to create a ‘top ten’ or rank contributions in any way (they are presented in chronological order), but aims to provide food for thought and debate. Part 1 looks at Machiavelli, Fayol and Taylor – three famous theorists who have all passed into management mythology, but whose views are sometimes misunderstood. MANAGEMENT THEORISTS In a three-part series, Dilys Robinson looks at ten influential theorists and assesses their influence in business today Thinkers for the 21st century? NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, 1469–1527 The end justifies the means achiavelli lived in Florence, where he worked for the Florentine state as a secretary, then a diplomat. His best known work, The Prince,1 is based on his observation of Cesare Borgia – a cunning, cruel and self-seeking man. Machiavelli did not regard Cesare Borgia as an ideal person, but thought that, under him, the Florentines...
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...Conspiracy theory Protective sense of human-beings naturally help observe others’ action whether it is hostile or not. A person, who is suspicious of persecutory actions from others around him for some or no reason due to excessive protective sense, is said to be jealous. When this sense goes even further, it becomes a disease. In medicine, it’s called paranoia. This is one type of schizophrenia. Paranoia leads one to reach quick conclusion about why a bad thing has happened to him, accuse the suspect easily and overlook one’s easy conclusion. This disease is common in any society. Personal analysis is much better and healthier and therefore less prone to this disease while paranoia at the level of society is more common as it is more prone. Psychologists say that this has to do with the fact that individuals are directly responsible for consequences of his action while no one is held responsible for actions of society as a whole. Society is much more susceptible to paranoia and is easy to escalate it once infected. In other words, society holds much stronger conviction in order to find the person guilty of causing bad things got them. It’s very common for social paranoia to be directed towards people with different nationality, religion and beliefs, and different social strata. Its symptoms manifest in accusation and suspicion. Victims of social paranoia tend to be accused of having supernatural power and association with witches, and of plotting evil conspiracy. This delusion...
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...The ideas of the classical theorists, particularly those of bureaucracy and scientific management, are generally considered as rather old fashion and out of date, and of little relevance to work and organization today. Is this really the case? The classical theory is the earliest form of management that perceived that a set of universal principles would apply to all the organizations in all situations to achieve efficiency and organization's goals. Scientific management and bureaucratic theory were one of the several components of the classical school of organization. Important pioneers among them are Frederick Taylor and Max Weber. The classical theories have been contested of little relevance to work and organization today simply because today’s organizations have moved from industrial revolution to the information age due to the fast-paced change in technology (Toffler, 1984). Although bureaucracy has been synonymous to red tape and has negatives effects such as “rigidity, alienation and low commitment” (Adler, 1999, p.37) and dehumanizing people (Grey, 2009), the characteristics of bureaucracy such as specialization, hierarchy of authority, system of rules and impersonality (Stewart, 1986) as well as evidence of ongoing existence of this management method, bureaucracy is proved to remain noteworthy. This essay will examine the situation presented in organization today, and determine whether bureaucracy and scientific management can be considered as old fashioned,...
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...Licensed to: iChapters User Licensed to: iChapters User Management theory and practice, sixth edition Copyright © Gerald Cole 2004 The Thomson logo is a registered trademark used herein under licence. For more information, contact Thomson Learning, High Holborn House; 50-51 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4LR or visit us on the World Wide Web at: http://www.thomsonlearning.co.uk ___________________________________________________________________ All rights reserved by Thomson Learning 2004. The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. While the publisher has taken all reasonable care in the preparation of this book the publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions from the book or the consequences thereof. Products and services that are referred to in this book may be either trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher and author/s make no claim to these trademarks. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ___________________________________________________________________ ISBN...
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...Running head: Foundations of Management Evolution of Management Janesha Edwards Kaplan University MT140: Introduction to Management Dr. Jim January 19, 2012 There are numerous management methods and theories. In the world of business, reaching maximum efficiency is a common goal that companies all over the world strive to achieve in order to obtain the maximum profits. Management theories evolve from certain business gurus' perspectives on how to run the most efficient business, although some of them are arcane and hard to implement; many feature plenty of good concepts that are practiced in thousands of businesses. (Ehow, 1999-2012) The video discusses Classical, Behavioral, Systems and Contignecy maanagment theories. In this paper I will compare and contrast the previous mentioned theories and dicsuss which one I think is more important and why. The classical management theory is a method of management thought in which theorists determined how to find the best possible way for workers to perform their tasks. The classical management theory is divided into two branches, the classical scientific and the classical administrative. The classical scientific branch comes from the scientific mindset of attempting to increase productivity. During the height of the classical scientific theory, theorists would use almost mechanical methods towards labor and organization to achieve goals of productivity...
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...Fayol’s classic analysis of the management function has largely been made redundant by the more recent empirical studies of what managers actually do, such as that favoured by Mintzberg Introduction The function of a manager is not a set in stoned role. It can be interpreted very widely and differently due to changes in time and also personal opinions. There is the classical approach to management which was concerned with the structure and activities of an organisation, and the modern approach to management which emphasized organisational effectiveness through focus on strategic issues. Fayol had the classical approach to management while Mintzberg had the modern approach. Mintzberg (2005) said the four words; planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling introduced by Fayol only indicate vague objectives that managers have when they work. Throughout this essay I am going to explore the claim that Fayol’s classic analysis of the management function has been made redundant by the more recent views of Mintzberg through comparing and contrasting both theorists’ conceptions of what a manager actually does. Henri Fayol Henri Fayol was a French industrialist who worked as a young mining engineer. He spent his life working his way up in the mine until he became the managing director. Under Fayol the business thrived and grew despite it nearly being bankrupt when he took over. Fayol, who undertook the classical approach to management meant he was mostly concerned...
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...Group 1 Corporate Governance Theories of corporate management and Process Definition:- According to the business directory, management theory is a collection of ideas which set forth general rules on how to manage a business or organization. Management theory addresses how managers and supervisors relate to their organizations in the knowledge of its goals, the implementation of effective means to get the goals accomplished and how to motivate employees to perform to the highest standard. Nexus-of-Contracts Theory Nexus-of-Contracts Theory argues that the firm, or the modern corporation, is a complex adaptive system comprised of definable subsystems, called stakeholders. A stakeholder is any individual or group of individuals that either benefits or suffers as a result of the actions of that corporation. Therefore, the modern corporation is essentially a set of contracts or agreements between various stakeholder groups. The corporate stakeholder groups, engaged in this bargaining process typically include: stockholders, employees, consumers, suppliers, financiers, and local communities. The interests of these various groups are often represented by “agents.” An agent is a person possessing technical knowledge that is paid by someone else to serve their interests In order for the Nexus-of Contracts Theory to be useful it must be both descriptive and prescriptive; that is, it must describe how the classes of stakeholders (stockholders, consumers, managers, employees...
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...Early Management Thought in Perspective Management is not a new concept. It has been employed for thousands of years, as seen in the practices of the Sumerians, the Romans, and the Roman Catholic Church. However, the emergence of the factory system. presented management with a new challenge. With industrialization it became necessary to develop rational, scientific principles for handling workers, materials, money, and machinery. The scientific managers played a major role in helping attain this objective. The primary goal of these managers was that of achieving the highest productivity possible by devising efficient work methods and encouraging employees to take advantage of these new techniques. In the United States, scientific management was made famous by people such as Frederick W. Taylor. His experiments at Bethlehem Steel illustrated the importance of time-and-motion study, and his difFerential piece-rate system provides students an insight into the types of wage incentive payment plans used during this period. Another important scientific manager of the day was Frank Gilbreth, renowned for his work in time-and-motion study and for a large body of work in management in which he collaborated with Lillian Gilbreth. The success of the scientific managers brought about changes in the worker-manager ratio and moved the focus of attention farther up the hierarchy. The result was two distinct levels of inquiry about management. The first sought to identify generally...
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...Definition of Management & Management Theory Management is ‘The art of getting things done through people’. (Follett et al., 1973) ‘Managers give direction, provide leadership & decide how to use resources to accomplish goals’. (Drucker, 1954) ‘Management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organising, leading and controlling organisational resources’. (Daft and Marcic, 2009) There are many definitions of management. Classical theorists such as Fayol and Taylor believed in applying universal principles to achieve ‘one best way’ of management. Henri Fayol emphasised ‘command and control’ and taught the five functions of management as; planning, organising, commanding, co-ordinating and controlling. Taylor in the Principles of Scientific Management (Taylor, 1911) taught that there was ‘one best method’ of management based on the scientific study of each task. Taylor would not have approved of the focus on the individual, as later developed by Elton Mayo using the Hawthorne experiments which highlighted the importance of social interaction (Mayo, 1949). The work of Mayo was a radical concept in its timeframe. In a review of approaches to management Crainer states that Mayo’s studies ‘were important because they showed that views of how managers behaved were a vital aspect of motivation and improved performance’ (Crainer, 1998). Given Taylor’s obsession with control and self-discipline, it is unlikely that he would have...
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...planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Mintzberg suggests that managers have quite similar roles as they have to be able to be a leader and communicate well. These are the two main roles of any manager as they need to be able to a good leader. If they have good leadership skills then they will get the trust from employees and the job will get done effectively. If you were to have a very weak leader then they would not have the authority to get anything done. This would be a very bad thing for the business as it would mean that they will not get anything done. The classical approach was the framework to what management is all about. It was where all of the following theorists got their ideas from and then expanded on them. Therefore they can be said that they were the foundation thoughts for all the theorists. So most theorists are going...
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...Fayol’s suggested that there were 5 main roles of managers, these being planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Mintzberg suggests that managers have quite similar roles as they have to be able to be a leader and communicate well. These are the two main roles of any manager as they need to be able to a good leader. If they have good leadership skills then they will get the trust from employees and the job will get done effectively. If you were to have a very weak leader then they would not have the authority to get anything done. This would be a very bad thing for the business as it would mean that they will not get anything done. The classical approach was the framework to what management is all about. It was where all of the following theorists got their ideas from and then expanded on them. Therefore they can be said that they were the foundation...
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...Management Theorists have tried to form general principles of management, which could be applied to all business and organisations. Based on your own experience of working in an organisation, use one management theoretical approach that you have studied to explain how the organisation was structured and how it functioned. Your essay should also address how this theoretical approach can be used to analyse the effectiveness of the organisation and achieving its goals? The author of this assignment firstly will give a definition of management in order for the reader to understand the key element of this assignment. This assignment will give a brief outline of the history of management theory while also giving a detailed explanation of these management theories. The assignment will then describe the organisation briefly and its main function using the organisations mission statement to do so. The assignment will then show which management theory is used in the organisation and will give examples of when these theories are applied. This will give the reader a better understanding of how the organisation functions whilst relating theory to practice. “Management is concerned with planning, organising, coordinating, commanding or controlling the activities of staff” McKimm & Phillips, (2010). According to Cole (1996), developments in management originated with practising managers as well as social scientists. In recent times it has been academics or management consultants...
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...I. Classical Management Theory The Evolution of Classical Management Theory The Industrial Revolution was a time where innovation really began to change the way that products were produced and sold. The invention of machines to produce goods in the 19th century drastically improved productivity, which in turn lowered the cost to the consumer. The lower price resulted in a greater demand for products and thus a greater need for more factories and workers. Responsibilities of a manager As factories increased in number, managers continued to search for ways to improve productivity, lower cost, increase quality of their products, improve employee/manager relationships and increase efficiency. The focus shifted from using machines to increase productivity to how they could increase employee productivity and efficiency. When they did this, they began to notice some new problems inside their factory systems. Employees were dissatisfied with their current working conditions, and many lacked the necessary training for how to do their work efficiently. Managers then began to formulate and test possible solutions, one of which was to find the best possible way for workers to perform and manage their tasks. The research resulted in the development of classical management theory. Factory workers must be placed in suitable job roles. Expansion of Classical Management Theory Classical Management theory expanded throughout the first half of the...
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...scope of management Management has different definitions, from different theorists. There are various ways of describing management, so in this assignment the different definitions of management would be discussed and we would also see how most of the definitions are similar, along with their functions. We should consider management look at why management is very relevant. We should see how the various views of these management theorists are similar and also if they contrast. Management, as defined, “is the activity of getting things done with the aid of people and other resources efficiently and effectively, it is a feature of most human circumstances; domestic, social and political, as well as in formally established organisations”(David Boddy, 2008, ps.10). We human beings perform different activities everyday such as; eating, drinking, playing and they are related to management etc. According to Mary Parket Follet, “Management is the act of getting things done through people. So management is an activity because a manager accomplishes his task or objective with the help of others and also directs these people in order to obtain his objective, so management achieves its objectives through people, so management is quite useful to people. In management there are various activities that are carried out. These include informational activities, decisional activities and inter-personal activities and all these activities are to be done by a manager. Management endeavours...
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...Stakeholders, Shareholders and Wealth Maximization V. Sivarama Krishnan, University of Central Oklahoma ABSTRACT This paper attempts reconciliation between the two somewhat extreme views espoused by the shareholder wealth maximization paradigm and the stakeholder theory. The stakeholder theory challenges the basic premise built into corporate finance theory, teaching and practice. Corporate finance theory, teaching and the typically recommended practice are all built on the premise that the primary goal of a corporation should be shareholder wealth value maximization. Extant theoretical and empirical research in financial economics also generally accept shareholder wealth maximization as the normative and ideal goal on which all business decisions should be based. This paradigm assumes that there are no externalities and all the participants engaged in transactions with the firm are voluntary players competing in free, fair and competitive markets. A very different view is offered by what is loosely called stakeholder theory. The stakeholder theory posits that the focus on shareholders and firm value is misplaced and managers should be concerned with all stakeholders of the firm. The paper attempts to address what is felt as a lack of dialogue between the two camps. INTRODUCTION Corporate finance theory, teaching and the typically recommended practice at least in the US are all built on the premise that the primary goal of a corporation should be the maximization...
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