Management history and their modules:
Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of hind are proof that projects of tremendous scope, employing tens of thousands of people, were completed in ancient times.' It took more than 100,000 workers some 20 years to construct a single pyramid Who told each worker what to do? Who ensured that there would be enough stones at the site to keep workers busy? The answer is managers Someone had to plan what was to be drone, organize people and materials to do it, make sure those workers got the work done, and impose some controls to ensure that everything was done as planned
Another example of early management can be found in the city of Venice, which was a major economic and trade center in the 1400s. The Venetians developed an early form of business enterprise and engaged in many cattie's conman to todays organizations. For instance, at the arsenal of Venice, warships were floated along the canals, and at each stop, materials and riggings were added to the ship. Sounds a lot like a car "floating" along an assembly line, doesn't it? In addition, the Venetians
Used warehouse and inventory systems to keep track of materials, human resource management functions to manage the labor force (including wine breaks), and an accounting system to keep track of revenues and costs.
In 1776, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations, in which he argued
the economic advantages that organizations and society would gain from the division of labor (or job specialization)-that is, breaking down jobs into narrow and repetitive tasks. Using the pin industry as an example, Smith dammed that 10 individuals, each doing a specialized task, could produce about 48,000 pins a day among them, However, if each person worked alone performing each task
separately, it would be quite an accomplishment to produce even 10 pins a day! Smith concluded that division of labor increased productivity by increasing each worker's skill and dexterity, saving time lost in changing tasks, and creating labor- saving inventions and machinery. Job specialization continues to be popular For example, think of the specialized tasks performed by members of a hospital surgery tern, meal preparation tasks done by workers in restaurant kitchens, or positions played by players on a football team.
Starting in the late eighteenth century when machine power was substituted for human power, a point in history known as the industrial revolution, t became more economical to manufacture goods in factories rather than at home. These large efficient factories needed someone to forecast demand, ensure that enough material was on hand to make products, assign tasks to people, direct daily activities, and so forth. That "someone" was a manager: These managers would
need formal theories to guide them in running these large organizations. It wasn't until the eastly 1900s, however, that the first steps toward developing such the cines were taken.
In this module, we'll look at four major approaches to management theory:
classical, behavioral, quantitative, and contemporary. (See Exhibit.)Keep in mind that each approach is concerned with trying to explain management from the perspective of what was important at that time in history and the backgrounds and interests of the researchers. Each of the four approaches contributes to our overall understanding of management, but each is also a limited view of what it is and how to best practice it.
Classical Approach and various theories in the classical approach?
Although we've seen how management has been used in organized efforts since early his-
tory, the formal study of management didn't begin until early in the twentieth century. These first studies of management, often called the classical approach, emphasized rationality and making organizations and workers as efficient as possible. Two major theories comprise the classical approach: scientific management and general administrative theory. The
two most important contributors to scientific management theory were Frederick W. Taylor and the husband-wife team of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. The two most important contributors to general administrative theory were Henri Fayol and Max Weber. Let's take a look at cache of these important figures in management history.
If you had to pinpoint when modern management theory was born, 1911 might be a good choice. That was when Frederick Winslow Taylor's Principles of Scientific Management was published. Its contents were widely embraced by managers
around the world. Taylor's book described the theory of scientific management the use of scientific methods to define the "one best way" for a job to be done. Taylor worked at the Midvale and Bethlehem Steel Companies in Pennsylvania.
As a mechanical engineer with a Quaker and Puritan background, he was continually appalled by workers' inefficiencies. Employees used vastly different techniques to do the same job. They often "took it easy" on the job, and Taylor believed that worker
output was only about one-third of what was possible. Virtually no work standards existed and workers were placed in jobs with little or no concern for matching their abilities and aptitudes with the tasks they were required to do. Taylor set out to
remedy that by applying the scientific method to shop-floor jobs. He spent more than two decades passionately pursuing the "one best way" for such jobs to be done.
Taylor's scientific Management principles:
1. Develop a science for each element of an individual's work to replace the old rule-of-thumb method.
2. Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the worker.
3. Heartily cooperate with the workers so as to ensure that all work is done in accordance with the principles of the science that has been developed.
4. Divide work and responsibility almost equally between management and workers Management does all work for which t it better suited than the workers.
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Taylor's experiences
at Midvale led hire to define dear guidelines for improving
production efficiency. He argued that these four principles of management (see Exhibit ) would result in prosperity for both workers and managers, How did these scientific principles really work? Let's look at an example.
Probably the best known example of Taylor's scientific management efforts was the pig iron experiment. Workers loaded "pigs" of iron (each weighing 92 lbs.) on trial cars. Their daily average output was 12.5 tons. However, Taylor believed that by Scientifically analyzing the job to determine the "one best way" to load pig iron, output could be increased to 47 or 48 tons per day. After scientifically applying different combinations of procedures, techniques, and tools, Taylor succeeded in getting that level of productivity.
How?
By putting the right person on the job with the correct tools and equipment, having the worker follow his instructions exactly, and motivating the worker with an economic incentive of a significantly higher daily wage. Using similar approaches for other jobs, Taylor was able to define the "one best way" for doing each job. Overall, Taylor achieved consistent productivity
improvements in the range of 200 percent or more. Based on his groundbreaking studies of manual work using scientific principles, Taylor became known as the rather" of scientific management. His ideas spread in the United States and to
other countries and inspired others to study and develop methods of scientıfic management. His most prominent followers were Frank and Lillian Gilbreth.
A construction contractor by trade, Frank Gilbreath gave up that career to study scientific management after hearing Taylor speak at a professional meeting. Frank
and his wife Lilian, a psychologist, studied work to eliminate inefficient hand-and body motions. The Gilbreths also experimented with the design and use of the proper tools and equipment for optimizing work performance.* Also, as parents of 12 children, the Gilbreths ran their household using scientific management principles and techniques. In fact, two of their children wrote a book, Cheaper by
the Dozen, which described life with the two masters of efficiency.
Frank is probably best known for his bricklaying experiments. By carefully analyzing the bricklayer's job, he reduced the number of motions in laying exterior brick from 18 to about 5, and in layıng interior brick from 18 to 2. Using Gilbreth's techniques, a bricklayer was more productive and less fatigued at the end of the day.
The Gilbreths invented a device called a micro chronometer that recorded a
worker's hands-and-body Molins and the amount of time spent doing each motion. Wasted motions missed by the naked eye could be identified and eliminated. The Gilbreths also devised a classification scheme to label 17 basic hand motions (such as search, grasp, hold), which they called therbligs (Gilbreth spelled backward with the the transposed). This scheme gave the Gilbreths a more precise way of analyzing a worker's exact hand movements.
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