Download What is a Theory?

What is a Theory?
A theory is a conceptual (idea)
framework for organizing knowledge
and providing a blueprint (picture
design) for action.
What is Management Theory?
Management Theory is used to build
organizations and guide them toward
their goals.
Most managers develop and refine their
own theories of how they should run
their organizations and manage the
behavior of their employees.
The Classical Management Perspective
Consists of two distinct branches:
Scientific management
Administrative management
The Classical Management Perspective (continued)
1 Scientific Management
Concerned with improving the performance of individual
workers.
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•
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•
Frederick Taylor was the chief designer of this theory.
Identified the practice of soldiering – employees working
at a pace slower than their capabilities.
He studied and timed each element of the workers’ jobs.
He determined what each worker should be producing
and then determined the most efficient way of doing each
part of the job. Introduced rest periods to reduce fatigue.
Introduced the first ‘piecework’ pay system – workers
were paid for each target met and/or exceeded.
See Figure 2.2, page 44.
Figure 2.2
Steps in Scientific Management
The Classical Management Perspective (continued)
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
• Husband and wife team of industrial engineers.
• He was an expert in bricklaying techniques – identified
specific materials and techniques for craft and improved
productivity of layers by 200 percent.
• She was responsible for breakthroughs in industrial
psychology and personnel management.
• Applied their theories to raising their family of 12 children.
The Classical Management Perspective (continued)
Henry Gantt
• Continued to develop techniques to improve employee
output.
• Responsible for the development of the Gantt Chart – a
means of scheduling work which may be generated for each
worker or for a complex project as a whole.
• He refined and further developed Taylor’s ideas about
piecework pay systems.
The Classical Management Perspective (continued)
Harrington Emerson
• He was a managerial consultant who was a strong believer
in specialized management roles in organizations.
• Believed that job specialization was as important to
managerial work as it was to operating jobs.
The Classical Management Perspective (continued)
2 Administrative Management
Focuses on managing the total organization.
Henri Fayol
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•
French industrialist who was this theory’s chief promoter.
First to identify the functions of planning, organizing,
leading and controlling.
Lyndall Urwick
•
British officer who integrated the scientific theory with the
work of Fayol and other administrative management
theorists.
The Classical Management Perspective (continued)
Max Weber
• German sociologist who laid the foundation for contemporary
organization theory.
• Developed the concept of bureaucracy which is a rational set of
guidelines for structuring organizations in the most efficient
manner.
Chester Barnard
• Former president of large US telecommunications company who
developed a theory about the acceptance of authority.
• An order is accepted if the subordinate understands it, is able to
comply with it and views it as appropriate.
See Table 2.1 page 47.
The Behavioral Management Perspective
This perspective places emphasis on individual attitudes and
behaviors and on group processes and recognizes the
importance of behavioral process in the workplace.
Hugo Munsterberg [early 1900’s]
•
Recognized as the ‘father of industrial psychology’.
•
Believed that psychologists could make valuable
contributions to managers in areas of employee selection
and motivation.
Mary Parker Follett [early 1930’s]
•
Recognized the importance of the human element in
organizations.
•
She appreciated the need to understand the role of
behavior in organizations.
The Behavioral Management Perspective (continued)
1 The Hawthorne Studies
Conducted by Elton Mayo and his associates at the
Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric in the US; sponsored by
General Electric.
Productivity increased for both the experimental and control
groups when lighting was increased. Lighting was not a
factor, but the special attention given both groups by their
supervisors was a contributing factor.
Piecework incentive pay for producing terminal banks for
telephone exchanges did not have members trying to
maximize their earnings.
The group established an
acceptable level. Overproducers and underproducers were
not accepted by the group. Acceptance by the group was
more important.
The Behavioral Management Perspective (continued)
2
The Human Relations Movement
Argues that workers respond primarily to the
social context of the workplace.
Believes managers’ concerns for workers would
lead to increased satisfaction, which would in
turn lead to improved performance.
Abraham Maslow believed that people are
motivated by a hierarchy of needs.
Douglas McGregor developed Theory X (the
scientific management approach) and Theory Y
(the human relations approach)
The Behavioral Management Perspective (continued)
Theory X is a pessimistic and negative
view of workers consistent with the views
of scientific management.
Theory Y is a positive view of workers; it
represents the assumptions that human
relations promoters make.
See Table 2.2, page 49.
The Behavioral Management Perspective (continued)
3
The Emergence of Organizational Behavior
Believes that human behavior in organizations
is much more complex than the human
relationists realized.
Organizational behavior looks at individual,
group and organizational processes.
Important topics in this field include:
job
satisfaction, stress, motivation, leadership,
group
dynamics,
organizational
politics,
interpersonal conflict, multicultural diversity,
and the structure and design of organizations.
See Table 2.3, page 51.
The Quantitative Management Perspective
This
perspective
applies
techniques to management.
quantitative
It focuses on decision making, economic
effectiveness, mathematical models and the
use of computers.
Two branches include:
Management Science Approach
Operations Management Approach
The Quantitative Management Perspective (continued)
1
Management Science
Focuses specifically on the development of
mathematical models.
A mathematical model is a simplified
representation of a system, process or
relationship.
Examples include: GM uses a simulation model
to determine damage to cars at various speeds,
banks use models to determine how many
tellers need to be on duty at various times of the
day, etc.
The Quantitative Management Perspective (continued)
2
Operations Management
Concerned with helping the organization
produce its products or services more
efficiently.
Examples: inventory management which may
include balancing carrying and ordering costs
and determining the best order quantity; linear
programming used by airlines to plan their flight
schedules; breakeven analyses and running
simulations.
Equally valuable in areas of finance, marketing
and HR management.
See Table 2.4, page 53 and Figure 2.3, page 54.
Integrating Perspectives for Managers (continued)
The Systems Perspective
• A system is an interrelated set of
elements functioning as a whole.
• An open system is one which interacts
with its environment.
• A closed system is one which does not
interact with its environment.
Integrating Perspectives for Managers
(continued)
A subsystem is a system within
another system. ( relationship between production, finance and
marketing)
Synergy occurs when two or more
subsystems working together produce
more than the total of what they might
produce working alone. (Durham Athletic Club gym and
salon)
Entropy is a normal process leading to
system decline. (not keeping pace with the environment – Kmart and
Studebaker)
Integrating Perspectives for Managers
(continued)
The Contingency Perspective
• The Universal Perspective includes the classical,
behavioral and quantitative approaches because
they tried to identify the ‘one best way’ to manage
organizations.
• The Contingency Perspective suggests that there is
no ‘one best way’ for all organizations because each
is unique.
• Believes that appropriate managerial behavior in a
given situation depends on, or is contingent on,
these unique elements in the situation.
The Systems Perspective
of Organizations
Inputs from the
environment:
material inputs,
human inputs,
financial inputs, and
information inputs.
Transformation
Process:
technology,
operating systems,
administrative
systems, and
control systems
Feedback
Outputs into
the environment:
products/services,
profits/losses,
employee behaviors,
and information
outputs
Integrating Perspectives for Managers
(continued)
An Integrated Framework
Before attempting to apply any specific concepts or
ideas from the three major perspectives, managers
must recognize:
the interdependence of units within the organization
the effect of environmental influences
the need to respond to the unique characteristics of each
situation.
The ideas of subsystem interdependencies and
environmental influences are given to us by systems
theory.
The situational view of management is derived from a
contingency perspective.
See Figure 2.5, page 57.
An Integrative Framework of
Management Perspectives
Systems Approach
Recognition of internal
interdependencies.
Recognition of environmental
influences.
Classical
Management
Perspectives:
Methods for enhancing
efficiency and
facilitating planning,
organizing, and
controlling

Contingency Perspective
Recognition of the situational
nature of management.
Response to particular
characteristics of situation.
Behavioral
Management
Perspectives:
Insights for motivating
performance and
understanding individual
behavior, groups and
teams, and leadership
Quantitative
Management
Perspective:
Techniques for
improving decision
making, resource
allocation, and
operations
Effective and efficient management
Figure 2.5: The Emergence of
Modern Management Perspectives
Contemporary Management
Challenges
Managers today face many challenges as
they guide and direct their organizations:
Stalled economy that limits growth
Diversity [culture, values, beliefs]
Employee privacy issues
Technology
Internet
Globalization
Ethics and social responsibility