MGT 200 Management Theory

1
MGT 200 Management Theory

• Required Reading
• Chapter 2 of textbook
• Peter Senge Article
• Meg Wheatly Interview
• Todays Topic History of Management Theory

2
Learning Objectives

• Know the basic premises of six management
  theories
• Understand the context for the evolution and
  development of these theories
• Know the basic concepts of several current trends
  in management
• Explore three forces that are changing the
  context for managerial work today

3
Management Theories/Concepts

• Division of Labor
• Scientific Management
• Administrative Theories
• Behavioral Theory
• Chaos Theory
• Contingency Theory

4
Division of Labor

• Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations
• Premise Increase productivity by breaking down
  jobs into narrow, repetitive tasks

5
Scientific Management

• Management practices should be based on fact and
  observation
• Focuses on the relationship between individual
  workers and their tools or machines

6
Scientific Management

• Frederick Taylor
• There is one best way to perform a task
• Time and motion studies
• Money motivates employees to do their best
• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
• Followers of Taylor
• Henry Gantt
• Control systems for production scheduling

7
Assessing Scientific Management

• Many aspects used today
• Misreads human side of work
• Simple tasks and clear rules dont guarantee
  results

8
Administrative Theories

• Focus on managers and their behavior
• Henri Fayol, French industrialist
• Management is a discipline with principles that
  can be taught
• Max Weber
• Developed the concept of bureaucracy as the
  ideal structure for an organization

9
Fayols Administrative Principles

• 1. Division of labor
• 2. Authority to give orders
• 3. Discipline
• 4. Unity of command
• 5. Unity of direction
• 6. Subordination of individual interest
• 7. Remuneration pay for work done

• 8. Centralization
• 9. Scalar chain
• 10. Order
• 11. Equity
• 12. Stability and tenure of staff
• 13. Initiative
• 14. Esprit de corps

10
Bureaucratic Management

• Formal system of rules and procedures
• Impersonality
• Hierarchical structure with detailed authority
• Clear division of labor
• Rationality
• Career commitment

11
Assessing Administrative Theories

• Managers still use many of Fayols principles
• Overemphasizes the rational behavior of managers
• Advantages disadvantages of bureaucracy
• Benefits efficiency, consistency
• Costs rigid, slow, difficult to adapt

12
Behavioral Theory

• Focuses on the human aspects of organizations
• Mary Parker Follet
• Management is a dynamic process
• Workers should be involved in decisions
• Chester Barnard
• Organizations are social systems
• Managers need buy-in of employees

13
Hawthorne Studies

• A scientific theory study that provided strong
  support for the behavioral viewpoint
• The Hawthorne Effect Productivity is likely to
  increase when employees are given special
  attention regardless of whether working
  conditions change
• The social environment of employees also greatly
  influences productivity

14
Behavioral Theory

• Basic Assumptions
• Employees are motivated by social needs
• Social forces exerted by peers is strong
• Employees respond to managers who help them
  satisfy their needs
• Managers need to coordinate the work of
  subordinates democratically to improve efficiency

15
Behavioral Theory Assessment

• Adds greatly to the mechanistic view of managing
  people
• But human relation skills alone wont guarantee
  increased productivity or high quality work
• Managing the human aspects of an organization is
  a very complex task

16
Chaos Theory

• Margaret Wheatley, 1992
• Look at an organization as a living organism
• Learn management from natural systems
• Basic Premise Self-organization
• the tendency of living systems to organize into
  structure without any externally imposed plan

17
Chaos Theory Principles

• Information access
• Everyone has easy access to all the information
  they need to do their job
• Relationships
• Everyone has easy access to anyone they need to
  do their job
• Self-reference
• The organizations core identity or purpose

18
Chaos Theory Assessment

• Goes against many traditional beliefs about role
  of managers
• Requires educated, involved employees
• Requires change in communication methods
• Clear vision/joint purpose is crucial

19
Contingency Viewpoint

• There is no best way to manage in all situations
• Use the different management viewpoints as
  appropriate to deal with various situations
• Managers must be able to diagnose and understand
  a situation thoroughly

20
Contingency Viewpoint

• Basic contingency variables
• External environment
• Technology
• Individuals
• Importance of each variable depends on type of
  situation and problems being faced

21
Assessing the Contingency Viewpoint

• Useful approach - makes sense to change
  viewpoint depending on situation
• Most managers use intuitively
• Diagnosis very important to determine best
  approach
• Many dont consider to really be a theory of
  management
• just draws on other theories

22
Management Theories Summary

• Division of Labor - Adam Smith
• Scientific Management - Taylor, Gilbreths, Gantt
• Administrative Theories - Fayol, Weber
• Organizational Behavior - Follett, Barnard
• Chaos Theory - Wheatley
• Contingency Theory

23
Whats Next?

• Current Trends and Issues in Management
• Read Chapter 2 pages 40-53
• Read Senge handout on Systems Thinking