Classical Management Theory
Classical management theory, for all it’s rationality and potential to improve efficiency, dehumanised the practice of management (Inkson & Kolb, 2001). Choosing either bureaucracy or scientific management, discuss this quote and argue whether modern business’ continues to dehumanise.
People’s conception of the nature of work and the social relationships between individuals in various levels in organizations changed, brought by the industrial revolution of the late 1800s. Classical management believed in work specialization. That is, that work should be organized and divided according to one’s specific individual skill. There are three subfields of management, each with a slightly different emphasis: scientific management, bureaucratic organisations and administrative principles (Wrege & Stoka, 1978). Using scientific management, we will explore the ways it dehumanised the practice of management. Firstly, by discussing it’s systematic approach that was designed by Frederick Taylor, to solely improve productivity by reducing the amount of time and effort needed in solving a task. Secondly, by exploring how human needs and considerations were given little or no regard. Then lastly, how the human relations movement was formed and the ways it ‘humanised’ the practice of management to become what modern management is today.
Scientific management was a systematic approach that was designed by Frederick Taylor, one of the original advocates of scientific management, to solely improve productivity by introducing a machine-like structure that reduced the amount of time and effort needed. His philosophy is encapsulated in his statement, “In the past the man has been first. In the future, the system must be first” (Wren, 1979). This job redesign was at the heart of the scientific management movement, and efforts to simplify job design reached its peak in the assembly-line production techniques that became popular in the early 1900s. It formed the basis for what became
People’s conception of the nature of work and the social relationships between individuals in various levels in organizations changed, brought by the industrial revolution of the late 1800s. Classical management believed in work specialization. That is, that work should be organized and divided according to one’s specific individual skill. There are three subfields of management, each with a slightly different emphasis: scientific management, bureaucratic organisations and administrative principles (Wrege & Stoka, 1978). Using scientific management, we will explore the ways it dehumanised the practice of management. Firstly, by discussing it’s systematic approach that was designed by Frederick Taylor, to solely improve productivity by reducing the amount of time and effort needed in solving a task. Secondly, by exploring how human needs and considerations were given little or no regard. Then lastly, how the human relations movement was formed and the ways it ‘humanised’ the practice of management to become what modern management is today.
Scientific management was a systematic approach that was designed by Frederick Taylor, one of the original advocates of scientific management, to solely improve productivity by introducing a machine-like structure that reduced the amount of time and effort needed. His philosophy is encapsulated in his statement, “In the past the man has been first. In the future, the system must be first” (Wren, 1979). This job redesign was at the heart of the scientific management movement, and efforts to simplify job design reached its peak in the assembly-line production techniques that became popular in the early 1900s. It formed the basis for what became