1. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought 1
The History of Management
Thought

2. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought2
Why Management History?
• To add perspective to the
present…nothing new
under the sun
• To understand where ideas
came from
• To see the role of social,
legal, political, economic,
technological factors

3. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought3
Management in the Past
• Management existed,
but…..
– Often hereditary (usually
male…)
– One-trial learning
– But, some thought about
management

4. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought4
• First large state
• Centralized government
– Provincial governors (nomarchs)
– Bureaucrats (taxation, irrigation)
– Based on writing (first Information
Revolution)
• Large scale construction
projects
– Pyramids, Sphinx, temples
– Workforce: thousands of peasants,
possibly slaves (prisoners of war)
The Case of Egypt

5. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought5
Sun Tzu and The Art of War
• Dates uncertain –
– Some say he lived ca. 544 BC to 496 BC
– Others place it closer to 600 BC
• A renowned Chinese general
• The Art of War a work on military strategy,
but seen in Asia as a guide to
management
• Principles:
– Moral cause for battle
– Leadership – wise, courageous, benevolent
yet strict
– Awareness of environmental conditions –
events and the playing field
– Organization and discipline
– Espionage

6. Sun Tzu and The Art of War
“Now the general who wins a
battle makes many calculations in
his temple ere the battle is
fought. The general who loses a
battle makes few calculations
before hand. It is by attention to
this point that I can see who is
likely to win or lose.”

7. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought7
Farming in Rome
• Cato the Elder (234 - 149 BC)
• De re rustica or Roman Farm
Management
• Instructions for the
management of a
commercial farm
– Absentee landlord
– Based on slave labor
– Wine grapes or olives

8. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought8
Cato’s Advice
• “When the weather is bad and field work
cannot go on, carry the manure out to the
manure heap. Clean thoroughly the ox
stable, the sheep pen, the yard…”
• How an olive orchard…should be
equipped…a foreman, a foreman’s wife,
five laborers, three ox drivers, one ass
driver, one swineherd, one shepherd,
thirteen persons in all….”
• “Have the work oxen cared for with the
greatest diligence and to some degree
flatter the ox drivers so that they will more
cheerfully care for the oxen”
• When the head of the household comes to
the farmhouse...he should make the round
of the farm; if not on the same day at least
on the next.
Planning
Organizing
Leading
Controlling

10. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought10
The Industrial Revolution
• A long-term process, not a
single event
– Protestant Work ethic
– Political changes (American,
French revolutions)
– Invention of steam power
• Some important figures:
– Adam Smith (1776)
– James Watt, Eli Whitney

11. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought11
The Industrial Revolution – New
Technology
• Manufacturing
– Steam engines
– Cotton gin
– Mass production through
standardization and
specialization
• Transportation
– Steam powered ships
– Railroads
• Communications
– Telegraph

12. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought12
Large Organizations and New
Approaches to Management
• Economic transformation
– Previously – family farms, small
workshops
– After Industrial Revolution – large
organizations, requiring
management skills
• New demands on
management
– Need for professional managers
(as opposed to owners)
– Need to plan, structure, and
schedule activities
– Push to efficiency
– Need for worker training and
socialization to factory work

13. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought13
The Fortune 500: When Were They
Founded?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1780-17891800-18091820-18291840-18491860-18691880-18891900-19091920-19291940-19491960-19691980-1995

14. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought14
Classical Management
• Time period: last half of 1800’s, first
part of 1900’s
• Environment:
– Social / Political: little restraint (Robber
Barons)
– Economic: manufacturing economy,
focus on efficiency
– Technology: most jobs relatively simple
• Major schools
– Scientific management
– Administrative management theory

15. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought15
Scientific Management
• Bottom- up approach
• Focus on efficiency,
primarily in industrial
settings
• Today: industrial
engineering, production
management
• Key players:
– Frederick W. Taylor
– Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

16. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought16
General Principles
• Standard methods for
performing jobs
• Push to efficiency
• Employee selection and
training
• Management control over
work processes
• Wage incentives for output

17. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought17
F. W. Taylor and Scientific
Management
• Worked at Midvale Steel
(beginning as a common
laborer, rising to chief engineer,
in 6 years)
• Identified “soldiering”
– Workers doing less than they were
capable of
– Due to lack of training, fear of
losing work or rate cuts
• Began with time study and
incentive plans
• Pig iron study: the right shovel
for each job

18. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought18
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth: The
One Best Way
• Focus on work
simplification and
efficiency
– Reduce time and fatigue
(Frank)
– Involve workers (Lillian)
• “The One Best Way”
• Therbligs

20. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought20
Scientific Management: Recap
• Contributions:
– Pay for performance
– Careful examination of job tasks
– Importance of training and
selection
• But……..*
– Assumed workers were robots
without social needs or higher
order needs
– Assumed all individuals were the
same
– Ignored worker’s potential to
contribute ideas, not just labor
* These are Taylor’s ideas; Gilbreths thought differently

21. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought21
Administrative Management
Theory
• Top-down approach
• Focus on rationality, no
matter what the setting
• Today: basis of most
management texts
• Key players:
– Henri Fayol
– Max Weber

22. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought22
Henri Fayol
• French manager (coal mining)
• Published Industrial and General
Administration in 1916 (not translated
into English until 1930’s)
• Elements of management
– Planning
– Organizing
– Command, Coordination, Control
• Fourteen principles
• Universality of management
• Management as a skill can be taught

23. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought23
Fayol’s 14 Principles
1. Specialization
of labor
2. Authority
3. Discipline
4. Unity of
command
5. Unity of
direction
6. Subordination
of individual
interests
7. Remuneration
8. Centralization
9. Scalar chain
(line of
authority)
10. Order
11. Equity
12. Personnel
tenure
13. Initiative
14. Esprit de corps

24. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought24
Max Weber and Authority
• Traditional
– Inherited - monarchs
• Charismatic
– Based on the individual
• Rational – Legal
– Based on the position

25. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought25
Max Weber and Bureaucracy
• Bureaucracy = management by the office
(Büro)
• Weber well aware that bureaucracy
could become an end in itself
• Bureaucracy
– Clearly defined division of labor, authority,
responsibility
– Offices organized in a hierarchy
– Recordkeeping (organizational memory
and continuity separate from individuals)
– Selection on the basis of qualifications
– Officials appointed, not elected
– Administrators work for fixed salaries, on a
career basis
– Administrators are not owners
– Administrators subject to impersonal rules,
discipline, control

26. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought26
Human Relations Movement and
Subsequent Developments
• Hawthorne Studies
• Mary Parker Follett
• Chester Barnard

27. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought27
Hawthorne Studies
• Western Electric plant, Hawthorne
Illinois, 1930’s
• Mayo, Roethlisberger and Dickson
• Original idea: effect of lighting on
productivity
• Three phases
– Relay Assembly Test Room (social
nature of work, effect of supervision)
– Bank Wiring Room (group norms)
– Interview program
• The “Hawthorne Effect”

28. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought28
Theory and Practice
• Mary Parker Follett
– Primarily a political thinker,
theoretical writer
– Emphasized the importance of the
group
• Chester Barnard
– AT & T executive
– Importance of communications
– Authority -- exists only if accepted
– Functions of the executive

29. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought29
The Last Fifty Years
• Management science
• Systems theory
• Motivation and leadership
• Contingency models

30. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought30
Management Science
• Different from "scientific
management”
• Formative years: 1940's to
1960's
• Operations research
• Uses a quantitative basis
for decision making -
mathematical models
• Emphasis on managing
production and operations

31. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought31
Systems Approach
• Formative years: 1950's to
1970's
• Views an organization as a
group of inter-dependent
functions contributing to a
single purpose
• Important contributor: U.S.
Department of Defense

32. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought32
Motivation and Leadership (1950’s
and 1960’s)
• Late 1950's: Douglas McGregor proposed
his Theory X and Theory Y assumptions of
the relations between
• Early and mid 1960's: contingency models
of leadership proposed a need for
different styles under different
circumstances (Fred Fiedler)
• 1964: Vroom's VIE theory (valence,
instrumentality, expectancy) of motivation
proposed
• Mid 1960's: David McClelland proposed
need for achievement theory
• Late 1960's: Frederick Herzberg proposed
his two-factor theory of motivation
(motivators and hygiene factors)
• Late 1960's: Edwin Locke outlined his goal
setting approach to motivation

33. Spring 2007 History of Management Thought33
Situational (Contingency)
• Formative years: 1970's to
1990's
• Is there “One Best
Way” ????
– Appropriate practice
depends on the situation
• Found in:
– Organization design
– Leadership