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Chapter Two

Chapter Two discusses the historical development of management thoughts, highlighting the evolution of management practices since ancient civilizations, with significant contributions from figures like Adam Smith and the impact of the Industrial Revolution. It outlines key management theories, including Classical Management Theory, which encompasses Scientific Management, Administrative Management, and Bureaucratic Theory, emphasizing efficiency and productivity. The chapter also introduces early management theorists such as Robert Owen, Charles Babbage, and Frederic W. Taylor, who laid the groundwork for modern management principles.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views14 pages

Chapter Two

Chapter Two discusses the historical development of management thoughts, highlighting the evolution of management practices since ancient civilizations, with significant contributions from figures like Adam Smith and the impact of the Industrial Revolution. It outlines key management theories, including Classical Management Theory, which encompasses Scientific Management, Administrative Management, and Bureaucratic Theory, emphasizing efficiency and productivity. The chapter also introduces early management theorists such as Robert Owen, Charles Babbage, and Frederic W. Taylor, who laid the groundwork for modern management principles.

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Amen De Beki
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Chapter Two

Development of Management Thoughts


2.1 Introduction
Organized endeavours, directed by people, responsible for planning, organizing, leading and controlling activities
have been in existence for thousands of years. Management has been practiced in some form or the other since the
dawn of civilization. Ever since human beings started living together in groups, techniques of organization and
management were evolved. The Egyptian pyramids, the Chinese Civil Service, The Roman Catholic Church, the
military organizations and the Great Wall of China, for instance, are tangible evidence that projects of tremendous
scope, employing tens of thousands of people, were undertaken well before the modern times.
The pyramids are particularly interesting examples. The construction of a single pyramid occupied more than
100,000 workers for 20 years. Who told each worker that what did one do? Who ensured that there would be
enough stones at the site to keep the workers busy? The answer is Managers, regardless of what managers were
called at that time. He had to plan what was to be done, organize people and material to do it, lead and direct the
workers, and impose some controls to ensure that everything was done as planned. This example from the past
demonstrates that organizations have been around for thousands of years and that management has been practices
for an equivalent period.
However, two pre-twentieth-century events played significant roles in promoting the study of management. First is
Adam Smith’s contribution in the field of management and second is influence of Industrial Revolution in
management practice.
1) Adam Smith’s name is typically cited in field of economics for his contribution to classical economic doctrine,
but his contribution in Wealth of Nations (1776) outlined the economic advantage that organization and society can
gain from the division of labour. He used the pin-manufacturing industry for his example. Smith noted that 10
individuals, each doing a specialized task, could produce about 4800 pins a day. However, if each worked
separately and had to perform each task, it would be quite an accomplishment to produce even 10 pins a day. Smith
concluded that division of labour increased productivity by increasing each worker’s skill and dexterity, by saving
time lost in changing tasks, and by creating labour-saving inventions and machinery.

2) Industrial Revolution is another most important aspect that influences management in pre-twentieth century.
The major contribution of the industrial revolution was the substitution of machine power for human power, which
in turn, made it more economical to manufacture goods in factories. The advent of machine power, mass
production, the reduced transportation costs that followed a rapid expansion of the railroads and lack of
governmental regulation also fostered the development of big organization. In the twentieth century, the situation
had changed rapidly, some of the factors that contributed to the need of a systematic management are:

Development of mgmt thought Page 1


1. The development of capitalism and the emergence of industries, mass production, the concentration of
workmen and organization of trade unions, the growing competition for markets, technological innovations, the
increase in capital investment, increasing obsolescence of instruments of production etc. forced organizations to
be efficient or to find out ways for efficiency.
2. The complexities of organizations, society became more complex. These complexities of society were
generated by:
- The increasing size of organizations.
- High degree of division of labor & specialization
- Increase in government regulations & controls.
- Organized trade-union activities &
- Pressure of various conflicting interest groups in society.

A few of the contributor of early influences are:

1. Robert Owen (1771-1858):

He was a successful textile mill manager in Scotland from 1800-1828. During that time he carried out most of
his experiments in the area of management. He recognized that human resources were as valuable as financial
& material resources to the production of goods. He believed that factory workers would be more productive if
they were motivated through rewards rather than punishments.
He experienced with several motivating techniques. Some of them were:
 He improved working conditions within the factory, i.e., providing meal, bath facilities,
 Housing & marketing facilities.
 Reducing the workday to 10 ½ hrs. With no night work for children.
 Refused to hire children under the age of 10.
Because of his emphasis on the workers, he is regarded as the father of modern personnel management.
2. Charles Babbage /1792/1871/

He a British professor of mathematics, Charles Babbage become convinced that the application of scientific
principles to work processes would both increase productivity and lower expenses. He was an early advocator of
division of labor, believing that each factory operation should be analyzed so that the various skills involved in the
operation could be isolated. He had also a strong understanding of the importance of human resources as related to
efficiency. He advocated profit-sharing plans & bonus systems as ways to achieve better relations between
management & labor.

Despite the suggestions given by the early theorists, owners & managers did not begin to raise the concern of the
problem of material & human efficiency. They raised the issue when markets were becoming saturated, demands
for greater profits and when competition was becoming keen. This emphasis on cutting costs and increasing
efficiency led to the emergency of the classical school of management theory.

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Classification of Management Thought
 Classical management thought
 Neoclassical management thought
 Management science

I. Classical Management Theory


Assumptions:
People are most responsive to economic incentives, i.e, they will rationally consider opportunities made available to
them & do whatever is necessary to achieve the greatest economic gain.
Classical management consists primarily of three streams of thought.
(i) Scientific management of Frederic W.Taylor-concerned with productivity and the management of work &
workers.
(ii) Classical administrative management-concerned with administration-with discussing universally applicable
principles of management and the nature and management of the total organization (the organization as a
whole). It is identified with the Frenchman Henery Fayol.
(iii) Bureaucratic theory – concerned with the bureaucratic organization and is identified with a German author,
Max Weber. He believed in one best organizational structure – a highly formal and goal-oriented structure in
which human emotions, personal bias, and charismatic leadership are subordinated to rational thinking and
impersonal decision making.

1. Scientific Management Theory


Scientific management theory addresses issues concerning the management of work. It is a systematic & analytical
study of work, which originated in the United States around 1900. Its objective was to find the most efficient
method for performing any task and to train workers in that method.
The most important contributors of scientific management theory are Frederic W.Taylor, Henery Gantt, Frank &
Lithan Girbreth, and Harrington Emerson. Among these F.W. Taylor is considered as the father of scientific
management.

A. Frederic Winslow Taylor /1856-1915/


He was an American Engineer and worked in the Midvale steel co. as an apprentice pattern maker, a common
laborer, a foreman, a master mechanic and then a chief engineer of the steel co. That gave him ample opportunity to
know at first hand the problems & attitudes of workers and to see the great opportunities for improving the quality
of management.

His major concern was to increase efficiency in production, not only to cover costs raise profits but also to make
possible increase in pay for workers through their higher productivity, through one best of doing a job. Taylor
wanted to find the most effective way to use people and resources in the workplace. He believed that there was one

Development of mgmt thought Page 3


best way of performing every process and task in industry. He thought that, to find the best way, workers'
performance of a task should be examined scientifically, objectively, and in great detail, using an empirical and
experimental approach. Only then could a more productive way of doing the job be found.

After finding the one best way of doing a job, managers should then teach it to the workers . He thought that an
incentive system rewarding fast workers and penalizing slow workers would encourage them to adopt the new
system. He believed that scientific methods would eventually replace intuition and rule-of thumb, which had been
used in organizations up until then.

Scientific management he testified, "required complete mental revolution", he believed that the mental revolution
must occur in the workers minds and in the minds of management as well. This is because he believed that
 The first problem of labor-management was the issue of division of surplus created by the industry. Here the
mental revolution was important to avoid the quarrelling about how surplus should be divided and unite to
increase the size of surplus.
 The second aspect was to make the scientific method the sole basis for designing work methods and production
standards (how much each worker should produce). This is because management was ignorant in setting 'fair
days work' and 'fair days pay'.

Taylor also believed in that people were basically lazy by nature, although training could improve performance. He
especially disliked "systematic soldiering", deliberate slow downs, and loafing (idle) promoted by what were latter
called informal work groups. Thus, he strongly believed in breaking up such groups and emphasizing rewards for
individual performance.

His engineering back ground provided a model for establishing principles of management that would guide
scientific analysis of work so as to improve task efficiency.
Taylor's principles can be summarized as follows.
1. Develop a science for each element of an individual’s work. /replacing rules of thumb with science.
/scientifically select then train, teach and develop the worker.
2. Achieving co-operation of human beings rather than chaotic (disordered) individualism.
3. Working for maximum output rather than restricted
4. Developing all workers to the fullest extent possible for their own and their company's higher prosperity.

B. Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924)


Gilbreth was primarily concerned with the method of doing work. He was concerned with the method requiring the
fewest and smallest motions as well as with the work area and the positioning of the tools and workers themselves.

Development of mgmt thought Page 4


Gilbreth and his wife Lillian developed recording techniques called "Therblings" and process-flow-charting.
Therblings are the basic elements of on-the-job motions and provide a standard basis for recording movements.
They included such items as search, find, graph, assemble and inspect. Flow-process-charts (process flow-charts)
were devised to enable whole operation or process to be scientifically analysed as opposed to a single task or
operation.

C. Henry Gantt (1861-1919):


He was a consulting engineer who specialized in control system for shop scheduling. He sought to increase
workers efficiency through scientific investigation. He developed the Gantt Chart (Figure-2.1) that provides a
graphic representation of the flow of the work required to complete a given task. The chart represents each planned
stage of work, showing both scheduled times and actual times. Gantt Charts were used by managers as a scheduling
device for planning and controlling work. Gantt devised an incentive system that gave workers a bonus for
completing their job in less time than the allowed standards. His bonus systems were similar to the modern gain
sharing techniques whereby employees are motivated to higher levels of performance by the potential of sharing in
the profit generated. In doing so, Gantt expanded the scope of scientific management to encompass the work of
managers as well as that of operatives.

2. Classical Administrative and Organization Theory


Scientific management theory was aiming at improving the efficiency and productivity of workers; consequently, it
provided little guidance for managers above the supervisory level. But, realizing the importance of efficiency
operations at all levels, theorists began to focus on organizations as a whole. The theory focuses on the total
organization and attempts to develop rules and principles that will direct managers to more efficient activities.
The single most contributor of this theory is Henery Fayol.

Henery Fayol (1841-1925)

Development of mgmt thought Page 5


The single greatest contributor to this theory is Henery Fayol, Now regarded as "the father of modern operational
management." He was a French mining engineer who spent many of his later years as an executive for a French
coal and Iron combine where he worked for 30 years.
He identified /classified business activities in to six. These are
1. Technical activities:- These include activities of production and manufacturing.
2. Commercial activities:- These include activities of buying, selling or exchange
3. Financial activities:- These activities include searching for & optimum use of capital
4. Security activities:- These include protection of property and persons.
5. Accounting activities:- These include recording and taking stock of costs, profits & liabilities, keeping balance
sheets, and compiling statistics; and
6. Managerial activities:- These include planning, organizing, commanding, co-coordinating and controlling.

Fayol felt that the first five activities were well known and performed by business people, but little was known
about the managerial activities and it had been the most neglected aspect of business operations. Thus, he
concentrated on /devoted much of his time on the analysis of the managerial activities.

Principles and Elements of Management:-


Fayol's monograph can be divided in to three categories
1. Elements of management-he listed planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling as
elements of management.
2. Managerial qualities and training – he identified the following qualities managers should possess to be
effective on his job.
- Physical – state of health – good manager should be in good state of health
- Mental – ability to understand, appreciate, learn, judge and decide.
- Moral – Loyal, true to his words,
- General- solid educational background & Technical education
- Experience – helps a person to discharge his function efficiently & confidently.

3. General Principles of management:-


- Based on his own experience in the field he developed fourteen principles of management which are useful not
only in business organizations, but also in military, religious, governmental and financial institutions. But these
principles are not commandments; they are used by modifying, or adjusting to fix the prevailing realities.
These principles are
1. Division of labor - The more people specialize, the more efficiently they can perform their work.
2. Authority & responsibility - Managers must give orders so that they can get things done, this authority rests on
the job the manager holds. Responsibility, on the other hand, is the sense of obligation that goes with authority.
Authority should be delegated only to subordinates who are willing to assume commensurate responsibility.
3. Discipline - members of an organization need to respect the rules and agreements that government the
organization.

Development of mgmt thought Page 6


4. Unity of Command - Each employee should receive instructions or orders from one superior; he believed
that it was fundamental to effective management of an organization violating this principle undermines
authority & jeopardizes discipline and stability.
5. Unity of Direction -Those operations within the organization that have the same objective should be directed
by one manager using one plan. Tasks of similar nature that are directed toward the same goal should be
grouped under one manager. It emphasizes that there should be "one head and one plan."
6. Subordination of individual interest to the general interest - the interests of any employee or group of
employees should not take precedence over the interests of the organization as a whole.
7. Remuneration - compensation for work done should be fair and afford satisfaction to both employees and
employers.
8. Centralization - This refers to the involvement of subordinates in decision making. Decreasing the role of
subordinates or concentration of authority at the top can be referred as centralization. When it is dispersed
through out levels/increasing the involvement of subordinates in decision making is DECENTRALIZATION.
Fayol believed that managers should retain final responsibility but also need to give their subordinates enough
authority to do their jobs properly. The question of centralization and decentralization is the question of
proportion. It is important to find optimal degree of proportion.
9. Scalar Chain/The hierarchy) - The line of authority runs in order of rank from top management to the
lowest level of the enterprise. Communications should flow through this chain or line of authority. However, if
following the chain creates delays, cross communications can be allowed if agreed to by all parties and
superiors are kept informed.
10. Order - People and materials should be the right place at the right time. People particularly should be in the
jobs or positions most suited for them.
11. Equity - Managers should be kind and fair to their subordinates.
12. Stability of Tenure of personnel - high employee turnover results in inefficiently. Management should provide
orderly personnel planning and ensure replacements are available to fill vacancies.
13. Initiative - Subordinates should be given the freedom to conceive and carry out their plans, even though some
mistakes may result.
14. Esprit do corps - Promoting team spirit will build harmony and unit within the organization.

Fayol's principles were not meant to be exhaustive. Rather hey attempt to provide managers with necessary building
blocks to serve as guidelines for managerial activities. In some the principles emphasize efficiency, order, stability
and fairness. Managers apply these principles today. The problem with Fayol's principles of management was
knowing when to apply them and how to adopt them to new situations.

3. Theory of Bureaucracy

Development of mgmt thought Page 7


This theory is concerned with the bureaucratic organization and is identified with a German author Max Weber.
(1864-1920). He believed in one best organizational structure, which is highly formal, and goal oriented
structure, human emotions and personal bias are subordinated by rational thinking and impersonal decision
making. He described an ideal type of organization that he called bureaucracy. It was a system characterized
by division of labor, a clearly defined hierarchy, detailed rules & regulations and impersonal relationships.

Features of Weber's ideal bureaucracy:


1. Division of labour: - Jobs are broken down into simple, routine and well-defined tasks.
2. Authority Hierarchy: - Offices or positions are organized in a hierarchy so that power and authority increases
as one moves up through the levels of positions in the organization. /This is similar to scalar chain/
3. Formal selection /technical competence: - All organizational members are to be selected on the basis of
technical qualifications demonstrated by training, education, or formal examination as opposed to friendship,
family this, or other forms of favoritism.
4. Formal Rules & Regulations: - To ensure uniformity and to regulate the action of employees there is a heavy
dependence on formal organizational rules. Rules and regulations governing decision making and interpersonal
behaviors are critical to bureaucratic organizations. He believed that continuity in rules & regulations was
necessary to maintain order and enhance organizational achievement of goals. Where owners, managers and
workers may come and go, the rules and regulations provided organizational stability. Moreover, rules and
regulation serve to restrict decision makers who may feel compelled to act in their over interests of the
organization.
5. Impersonality: - Rules & controls are applied uniformly avoiding involvement with personalities and personal
preference of employees.
6. Career Orientation /Separation from ownership/ : - managers are professional officials rather than owners of
the units they manage, They work for fixed salaries and pursue their career within the organization. /This was
because he believed that owners were the causes for inefficiency/. He believed that societies are rational in
performing their activities. Organizations, to be efficient, they shall have to be arranged in rational
way/structured in bureaucratic way.

Contribution
1. To efficiency & Productivity: - Their idea to increase efficiency and productivity is applied in many
organizations today.
2. Provision of guide lines and general principles of management that tend to be important to all types of
organizations
Limitation
1. Reliance on experience:- many of the writers of classical theorists wrote based on their experience as managers
or consultants to a few firms.

Development of mgmt thought Page 8


2. Untested assumptions:- the assumptions of classical theorists were not tested scientifically.
3. Failure to consider informal organizations:- by stressing on formal relationship in the organizations, classical
approaches tend to ignore informal organization.
4. Human Machinery:- The classical approaches to management theorists considered /reduced the human side of
the organization to machines to make the organization run efficiently.

II. Behavioral Management Theory


This management theory is commonly referred to as the NEOCLASSICAL management theory, consists of both
the human relation and behavioral science movements. It is built on the basis of classical management theories.
It modified, unproved and extended the classical theory. Classical theory concentrated on job content and
management of physical resources. But, behavioral theory gave greater emphasis to the man behind the
machine and stressed on the importance of individual as well as group relationships in the plant or the
workplace.

Behavioral management theory:


- Emphasizes the interaction of people in the organization in order to understand the practice of management.
- Points out the role of psychology and sociology understanding the individual as well as group behavior in the
organization
- Advocated the human values in an organization.
Major contributors are
 George Elton Mayo
 Duglas McGregor
 Abraham Maslow

A. George Elton Mayo (1880-1949) (Australian Psychologist)


- One of the prominent contributor /writer of behavioral management theory is G.E. Mayo. He was known of
conducting an experiment at the Howthorn plant at the Western Electric Co. in U.S.A. The experiment was
divided in to four:
1. Illumination experiment
2. The relay assembly test room
3. The massive interview program
4. Bank wining observation roof.

The illumination experiment was designed to prove the effect/impact of physical surroundings such as noise,
light, tonicity on productivity. The result of the experiment was that there was little relationship/or physical
surroundings did not have an impact on productivity.

Development of mgmt thought Page 9


But of all the various experiments in this period, it was the relay assembly experiments (1927-32) that captured
the attention of people concerned with human relations in industry. The relay assembly test room helped them to
conclude that the most likely cause was that changes in the social conditions and in the method of supervision
brought about the improved attitude and increased output. To investigate these factors, they conducted a
MASSIVE INTERVIEW PROGRAM. Based on the responses they realized that the individuals work.
Performance, position and status in the organization were determined not only by the person himself but by
the group members as well. His peers had an effect on his performance. In order to study this more
systematically, the research entered its fourth and final phase, that is, the bank wiring observation room. By this
they realized the existence of INFORMAL WORK GROUPS.

To summarize, changing illumination for the test group and other conditions such as modifying rest periods,
shortening work days, etc did not seem to explain changes in productivity. They found in general, that the
improvement in productivity was due to such social factors as moral, satisfactory interrelationships between
members of a workgroup and effective management a kind of managing that would understand human behavior,
specially group behavior, and serve it through such interpersonal skills as motivating, condoling, loading and
communication. This phenomenon's arising basically from people's being "noticed," has been known as the
Hawthorne Effect.

From the Hawthorne study, May and his colleagues realized that an important contribution to the study and practice
of management had evolved from the experiment. These contributions are:
1. The Hawthorne study established that workers, were not so much driven by pay and working conditions as
by psychological wants and desires which could be satisfied by belonging to a workgroup.
2. The chance by workers to make decisions concerning the task, whither as individuals or in a group, was a
stimulus to treat the task as more important.
3. Recognition by superiors made workers feel that they made a unique and important contribution to the
operation of the organization.

B. Douglas McGregor- (1906-1964)


He felt that organizations were designed on faulty assumptions about human behavior. Those assumptions were
1. Most workers disliked work, that workers preferred to be directed by supervisors rather than assume
responsibility for their tasks, and that workers were more interested in monetary gains than in performing their
jobs well. Because of these assumptions, he felt that managers were prone to design organizations that were
centralized in decision making, contained in numerous rules and regulations and required close supervision of
subordinates. Thus, for fear of technical and financial inefficiency, he felt that organizations over-emphasized
control mechanism.(Theory X)

Development of mgmt thought Page 10


2. Theory Y, view that man wanted to work and work was good should become the standard for humanizing the
workplace. Theory Y offers a positive view, assuming that people can exercise self-direction, accept
responsibility and consider work to be as natural as rest of play. McGregor believed that Theory Y assumptions
best captured the true nature of workers and should guide management practice.

C. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970):


He was a humanistic psychologist, proposed a hierarchy of five needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self
actualization. He proposed that man was a wanting animal whose behaviour was calculated to serve his most
pressing needs. A need can be described as a physiological or psychological deficiency that a person is motivated to
satisfy. Maslow further proposed that man’s need could be placed in a hierarchy of needs.
The study shows that a man has various needs and their order can be determined.
The moment the first need of man is satisfied he starts thinking of the second need, and then follows his worry
about the third need and the sequence continues till all the needs are satisfied. Maslow’s theory is operationalized
through two principles.
1. The deficit principle holds that a relatively well-satisfied need is not a strong motivator of behaviour.
2. The progression principle holds that, once a need is fairly-well satisfied, behaviour is dominated by the next
level in the need hierarchy.
1) Physiological Needs: This category includes those needs which a man needs to satisfy first of all in order to
remain alive. It includes food to eat, house to live in, clothes to wear and sleep for rest.
2) Safety Needs: After having satisfied the physical needs a man thinks of his safety. Safety needs mean physical,
economic and psychological safety. Physical safety means saving him from accidents, diseases and other
unforeseen situations. Economic safety means security of employment and making provision for old age.
Psychological safety means maintaining his prestige.
3) Social Needs: Man is a social being and wants to live in society with honour. It is, therefore, necessary that he
should have friends and relatives with whom he can share his joys and sorrows.
4) Esteem and Status Needs: They are called ego needs of man. It means everybody wants to get a high status
which may increase his power and authority.
5) Self Actualization Needs: Last of all man tries to satisfy his self-actualization need. It means that a man should
become what he is capable of. For example- a musician wants to be proficient in the art of music, an artist wants to
gain proficiency in creating works of art and similarly, a poet wants to be an expert in the art of writing poems.

Contribution:
Development of mgmt thought Page 11
Advanced our understanding of management by emphasizing the importance of the individual within the
organization which is an element ignored by writers in the classical school. That are social needs of individuals,
group processes, and subordinate – superior relations were all identified as integral components to the practice of
management
Limitation
 They did not completely resolve issues concerning the nature of the individual.
 The psychological and social dimensions of the individual only partially explain organizational out comes
and constitute only a part of the larger and more complex managerial picture.

III. Modern Management Theories


This stage of management is the rein of the refinement, extension and synthesis of the classical and behavioral
theories to management. A few of the streams of this approach are:
1) Quantitative approach
2) Systems
3) Contingency
A. Quantitative Approach
This theory of management can also be called management science or mathematical operations research
approach. It tries to offer systematic analysis and solutions to many complex problems faced by management. New
mathematical models and statistical tools are applied in the field of management, particularly in decision making
on complex problems. Some of the quantitative models suggested are:
- Linear Programming – Technique managers use for resource allocation choices.
- Critical path method – Technique used by manager for work scheduling.
- Economic –Order-Quantity Model – Technique used to determine the optimum inventory levels a firm should
maintain.
- Queuing (waiting) live theory)
- Probability Theory
Quantitative approach helps to solve many managerial problems: such as
 Production /work scheduling
 Inventory control
 Replacement of capital equipment
 Resource allocation choices
The above problems are often solved with the help of operation techniques and computers. As management is
multidisciplinary field, different field of study such as mathematics, statistics, economics, etc. have contributed to the
development and application of the quantitative approach to management.

Development of mgmt thought Page 12


In general, management science represents the use of scientific methods to facilitate managerial planning and
decision making. However, quantitative approaches to management are limited to their usefulness. They can't take
final decision. They can merely suggest best alternatives based on mathematical data. A mgr. has to decide whether
or not to follow the solutions suggested by these tools. Quantitative analysis can be valuable supplement rather than
a substitute for management.
B. The Systems Approach:-
During recent years, many management scholars and writers have emphasized the systems approach to the study
and analysis of management.
A SYSTEM is essentially a set or assemblage of things interconnected, interdependent, (so as to form a complex
unit with a purpose:) things that form a complex unity. It consists of two or more parts, subsets, elements, and
interacting together in order to form a whole. A system has its boundaries, which it keeps its identity. These
things may be physical such as parts of an automobile, they may be biological such as like components of human
body; they may be theoretical, as is a set of concepts principles, theory, and techniques in an area such as managing.
All systems perhaps except the universe, interact with, and influenced their environments although we define
boundaries for them so that we can see them more clearly and analyze them.
Key concepts in systems approach:
(i) Synergy:- tells us that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
- a system can be open or closed.
(ii) Open system:- a system interacting with the environment
Closed system:- a system that does not interact with the environment.
(iv) Any system, probably with the exception of the universe, is the subset of another larger system.
Contribution of systems approach to the development of mgt. thought:-
 It calls attention to the dynamic and interrelated nature of organizations and the mgt. of task.
 It provides a framework within which we can plan actions and anticipate both immediate and far-reaching
consequences; at the same time, it allows us to understand unanticipated consequences as they may develop.
 With a systems perspective, general managers can more easily maintain a balance between the needs of the
various parts of the enterprise and the needs and goals of the firm as a whole.
The systems approach to management attempts to view the organization as a unified, purposeful system composed
of interrelated parts. Rather than dealing separately with the various segments of an organization the systems
approach gives managers a way of looking at an organization as a whole and as a part of the larger, external
environment. In so doing systems theory tells us that the activity of any segment of an organization in varying
degrees affects the activity of every other segments.

Development of mgmt thought Page 13


C. The Contingency Approach
The system approach forces managers to recognize that organizations are systems made up of interdependent parts
and that a change in one part affects other parts. It reeks to identify the characteristics of jobs, people and
organizations allowing managers to see the interdependence between the various segments of an organization. The
basic idea of the contingency approach is that there is no one best way of managing planning, organizing,
staffing, leading and controlling) Rather, manages must find different ways to fit different situations, method
highly effective in one situation may not work in other situations. The contingency approach seeks to match
different situations with different management methods

Development of mgmt thought Page 14

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