The Ideas of the Classical Theorists, Particularly Those of Bureaucracy and Scientific Management, Are Generally Considered as Rather Old Fashioned and Out of Date, and of Little Relevance to Work and Organisation Today.
The ideas of the classical theorists, particularly those of bureaucracy and scientific management, are generally considered as rather old fashioned and out of date, and of little relevance to work and organisation today.
The classical school of management is thought to of originated around the turn of the current century and dominated management thinking into the 1920 's. It had one main focus and this was on the efficiency of work processes, either through bureaucratic management that focuses on rules and procedures, or scientific management which concentrates on the one best way in which a job can be done. It is now commonly considered by modern theorists that these ways of management are outdated and not completely relevant to organisations in this day and age. This essay will look to examine wether this is actually the case, through the use of personal experiences and case studies of other people and companies. Traditionally these theorists saw employees and their needs or wants as being secondary to the needs of the business, this has been seen as one of the main reasons for these theories to become outdated. However they can still be argued as useful because they introduced the theory of management and provided ideas for the development of future management.
When the phrase bureaucratic management is mentioned we usually relate this to Max Weber, a German socialist who 's research into management structure formed this theory of management. There were 6 key elements of his theory and was usually used within large businesses, mainly because of the hierarchal attributes of the theory which allowed a structured chain of command. It is for reasons such as these that businesses today use these management theories despite the fact that there are other more in depth and comprehensive models. Bureaucratic businesses today generally uphold a culture that the job or role description, is often more important than the individual who fills it. (Handy, C 1993)
The classical school of management is thought to of originated around the turn of the current century and dominated management thinking into the 1920 's. It had one main focus and this was on the efficiency of work processes, either through bureaucratic management that focuses on rules and procedures, or scientific management which concentrates on the one best way in which a job can be done. It is now commonly considered by modern theorists that these ways of management are outdated and not completely relevant to organisations in this day and age. This essay will look to examine wether this is actually the case, through the use of personal experiences and case studies of other people and companies. Traditionally these theorists saw employees and their needs or wants as being secondary to the needs of the business, this has been seen as one of the main reasons for these theories to become outdated. However they can still be argued as useful because they introduced the theory of management and provided ideas for the development of future management.
When the phrase bureaucratic management is mentioned we usually relate this to Max Weber, a German socialist who 's research into management structure formed this theory of management. There were 6 key elements of his theory and was usually used within large businesses, mainly because of the hierarchal attributes of the theory which allowed a structured chain of command. It is for reasons such as these that businesses today use these management theories despite the fact that there are other more in depth and comprehensive models. Bureaucratic businesses today generally uphold a culture that the job or role description, is often more important than the individual who fills it. (Handy, C 1993)
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