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The essential background for every successful manager or leader helps them in their role for an everyday routine to problem solving and effective decision making that is needed for the organisation to meet its’ targets and use the resources for the staff to operate well within the company. A good manager differs from a bad one by the boundaries they maintain within a team either to build the best team with good mentoring and guiding with positive feedback. In turn helps the employees to be better and work better in the floor.
The seven pioneers who have contributed towards the development of management. The pioneers are: 1. F.W. Taylor 2. H.L. Gantt. 3. Herrington Emerson 4. H.B. Gilbreth 5. Many Parker Follet 6. Henri Fayol 7. George Elton Mayo.
F. W. Taylor was a pioneer in propounding scientific principles of management as a result of his research in various areas of industrial activity.
He stimulated interest in time study of operations. He has also contributed in the direction of management and therefore, called as “Father of Scientific Management”. He changed the philosophy of management as a whole as he gave the scientific approach to the management.
Gantt is recognised as one of the-great contributors of the scientific management era. H. L. Gantt was a close associate of Taylor and worked with him. He emphasized the importance of leadership and paid more attention to the human factor involved in production planning and control in business operations.
Gantt developed a daily “Balance Sheet Chart” i.e. production control charts known as Gantt charts or Bar charts. These are used to deal with complex activities. In these charts the job or the activities being performed are represented on vertical axis whereas the time elapsed is shown on horizontal axis. This proved to be revolutionary in the area of production planning and control. Gantt charts graphically presented the process of work, by showing the machine operation, quantities completed, man hour performance, deliveries and the work in arrears to facilitate day to day planning of the work.
He concerned himself with the management of the enterprise as a totality and not only with shop management as was done by F.W. Taylor. He popularised scientific management and interpreted the concepts of standard time, standard cost and prevention of wastes of all kinds.
In 1912 he advocated 12 principles of improving the efficiency which are (1) Ideas (2) Common Sense (3) Competent Counsel (4) Discipline (5) Fair deal (6) Adequate reliable, Immediate and Permanent record (7) Dispatching (8) Standards and schedules (9) Standardized working conditions (10) Standardized Operations (11) Standard working instructions and (12) Reward for efficiency.
According to him, efficiency and hence productivity does not exist in extreme effort but in elimination of undesirable effort and preventing wastes of all kinds, the elimination of women and child labour in competitive employment; Efficiency of a system means that the right work is done in right manner by right men at right place and in right time.
Frank Gilbreth and his wife Lillian Gilbreth were contemporary of Taylor, but they worked independently on time and motion study. They made memorable contribution to improvement or working methods and thus to discover one best way of accomplishing a task, with marked efficiency and least expertisation.
He developed a unique technique of last work. Faster speed work however, did not refer to hurrying with the work but economising the time sequence by eliminating unnecessary movements and exhausting motions and methods of accomplishing a task. Whereas Lillian concerned herself with the human aspect of management.
They considered that the root cause of worker’s dissatisfaction was the lack of management interest in them. They stressed that management should understand their requirements and personality
Mary Parker Follet was a philosopher and political scientist, gave “Law of the situation” in 1919 and made important contributions in the field of functional authority, leadership, coordination, control and concept to the nature of management and of human relationship within industrial groups.
She analysed the nature of consent on which and democratic group is based through an examination of Psychological factors underlying it.
According to her, this consent was not static but was a continuous phenomenon. She also proved that conflict can be constructive and could be harnessed to the service of the group.
A French industrialist during his long and successful carrier as an Industrial manager Mr. Fayol tried to probe into the bottom of the principles of administration and management Fayal analysed the process of management as he had observed it first-hand.
He said that managerial activities at the upper levels are more significant than other activities. He was the first to state principles of management and functions of a manager. Many of the talents which are recognised today as principles of management were originally specified by Fayol.
His conclusion was that all industrial activities could be subdivided in following six groups:
1. Technical Activities:
Technical activities involve technical knowhow, production, manufacture and adaptation etc.
2. Commercial Activities:
Buying, selling and exchange.
3. Financial Activities:
These activities involve search for and optimum use of capital.
4. Accounting Activities:
Stock taking balance sheets, and cost sheets to determine financial position of the enterprise.
5. Security:
It is related with protection of assets and man power.
6. Managerial or Administrative Activities:
Means to follow management functions like planning, organizing, commanding, coordination and controlling (of all the above activities).
All the above mentioned activities are essential for the successful operation of the enterprise and none of these can be ignored. Though Fayol recognized the importance of first five above activities but the main objective of his study and analysis has been management i.e. to ensure the performance of the work well.
Elton Mayo, an Australian by birth and trained in Psychology is generally recognized as the “Father of Human Relations Approach”. Mayo’s main contribution to management thought was his emphasis on human and social factors in industrial relationships.
He led the team which conducted the Hawthrone investigation at Alarvard in the United States with the collaboration of the Western Electric Company between 1927 to 1936 and financial support of the Rock Feller Foundation.
Mayo and his associate’s studies revealed that an organization is not only a formal arrangement of men and function but also a social system which can be operated successfully by utilizing the principles of psychology and other behaviour sciences.
Mayo was of the opinion that cause of increase in productivity of the workers is not a single factor of changing working period and conditions but a combination of several other factors such as:
(i) Less restrictive techniques of supervision
(ii) Providing autonomy to workers
(iii) Permitting the formation of small cohesive sub groups of workers
(iv) Creating conditions which encourage and support the growth and development of these groups
(v) Cooperation between workers and management
(vi) Opportunity to be heard and participation in decision making etc.
Mayo was the first person to advocate for the understanding of workers difficulties in view of growth of science and technology. He desired the management to understand the problems of work force and make efforts to redress them.
He and his associates pointed out:
(i) Workers were not simply “Cogs in the machine” i.e. they are not only small part of large organization.
(ii) The employee morale-both individually and in groups could play significant role in productivity.
(iii) The work arrangements in addition to meeting the objective requirements of production must at the same time satisfy the employee’s subjective requirements i.e. social satisfaction during work.
(iv) Higher production could be achieved through good human relations.
Despite these observations Mayo’s work was a turning point in the development of management thought.
Conclusion:
Evolving Viewpoints: How We Got to Today's Management
A rational approach to management is evidence-based management, which means translating principles based on best evidence into organizational practice, bringing rationality to the decision-making process. The two overarching perspectives on management are (1) the historical perspective, which includes three viewpoints—classical, behavioural, and quantitative; and (2) the contemporary perspective, which includes three other viewpoints—systems, contingency, and quality-management. There are five practical reasons for studying theoretical perspectives: They provide (1) understanding of the present, (2) a guide to action, (3) a source of new ideas, (4) clues to the meaning of your managers' decisions, and (5) clues to the meaning of outside ideas.
Classical Viewpoint: Scientific & Administrative Management
The first of the historical perspectives is the classical viewpoint, which emphasized finding ways to manage work more efficiently. It had two branches: (1) Scientific management emphasized the scientific study of work methods to improve productivity by individual workers. It was pioneered by Frederick W. Taylor, who offered four principles of science that could be applied to management, and by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, who refined motion studies that broke job tasks into physical motions. (2) Administrative management was concerned with managing the total organization. Among its pioneers were Henri Fayol, who identified the major functions of management (planning, organizing, leading, controlling), and Max Weber who identified five positive bureaucratic features in a well-performing organization. The classical viewpoint showed that work activity was amenable to a rational approach, but it has been criticized as being too mechanistic, viewing humans as cogs in a machine.
Behavioural Viewpoint: Behavourism, Human Relations, & Behavioural Science
The second of the historical perspectives, the behavioural viewpoint emphasized the importance of understanding human behaviour and of motivating employees toward achievement. It developed over three phases: (1) early behaviourism (2) the human relations movement, and (3) the behavioural science approach. Early behaviourism had three pioneers: (a) Hugo Munsterberg suggested that psychologists could contribute to industry by studying jobs, identifying the psychological conditions for employees to do their best work. (b) Mary Parker Follett thought organizations should be democratic, with employees and managers working together. (c) Elton Mayo hypothesized a so-called Hawthorne effect, suggesting that employees worked harder if they received added attention from managers. The human relations movement suggested that better human relations could increase worker productivity. Among its pioneers were (a) Abraham Maslow, who proposed a hierarchy of human needs, and (b) Douglas McGregor, who proposed a Theory X (managers have pessimistic view of workers) and Theory Y (managers have positive view of workers). The behavioural science approach relied on scientific research for developing theories about human behaviour that can be used to provide practical tools for managers.
Quantitative Viewpoints: Management Science & Operations Research
The third of the historical perspectives, quantitative viewpoints emphasized the application to management of quantitative techniques. Two approaches are (1) management science, which focuses on using mathematics to aid in problem solving and decision making; and (2) operations management, which focuses on managing the production and delivery of an organization's products or services more effectively.
Systems Viewpoint
We turn from the study of the historical perspective to the contemporary perspective, which includes three viewpoints: (1) systems, (2) contingency, and (3) quality-management. The systems viewpoint regards the organization as a system of interrelated parts or collection of subsystems that operate together to achieve a common purpose. A system has four parts: inputs, outputs, transformational processes, and feedback. A system can be open, continually interacting with the environment, or closed, having little such interaction.
Contingency Viewpoint
The second viewpoint in the contemporary perspective, the contingency viewpoint emphasizes that a manager's approach should vary according to the individual and the environmental situation.
Quality-Management Viewpoint
The third category in the contemporary perspective, the quality-management viewpoint is concerned with quality (the total ability of a product or service to meet customer needs) and has three aspects: (1) Quality control is the strategy for minimizing errors by managing each stage of production. (2) Quality assurance focuses on the performance of workers, urging employees to strive for "zero defects." (3) Total quality management (TQM) is a comprehensive approach dedicated to continuous quality improvement, training, and customer satisfaction. TQM has four components: (a) make continuous improvement a priority; (b) get every employee involved; (c) listen to and learn from customers and employees; and (d) use accurate standards to identify and eliminate problems.
The Learning Organization in an Era of Accelerated Change
A learning organization is one that actively creates, acquires, and transfers knowledge within itself and is able to modify its behaviour to reflect new knowledge. Seven reasons why organizations need to become learning organizations are (1) the rise of virtual organizations, with members connected by electronic networks; (2) the rise of fluid, adaptive, boundary-less organizations; (3) the imperative for speed and innovation; (4) the increasing importance of knowledge workers, those principally concerned with generating or interpreting information; (5) an appreciation for the importance of human capital, the economic or productive potential of employees; (6) an appreciation for the importance of social capital, the economic or productive potential of strong and cooperative relationships; and (7) new emphasis on evidence-based management, in which managers face hard facts about what works and what doesn't. Three roles that managers must perform to build a learning organization are to (1) build a commitment to learning, (2) work to generate ideas with impact, and (3) work to generalize ideas with impact.
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