LEADERSHIP
&
MANAGEMEN
T
BY S . C H I S A N G A
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
ON MANAGEMENT
• Classical and scientific management perspective
• Bureaucratic approach or perspective
• The human relations thought or perspective
• System approach or perspective
• Current and emergent approach or perspective
IMPORTANCE OF
MANAGEMENT THEORY
• It helps to view the interrelationships between the development of theory,
behaviour in organisations and management practice
• An understanding of the development of management thinking helps in
understanding principles underlying the actual process of management and
reasons for the attention given to main topics areas
• Management theories are interpretive and evolve in line with changes in
the organisational environment
• Many of the earlier ideas of continuing importance to the manager and later
ideas on management tend to incorporate
DEFINITIONS OF
MANAGEMENT
• DEFINITIONs OF MANAGEMENT
• Henry Boettinger defines management as “ an imposition of order on
chaos.” The definition means that management attempts to put sense
where it does not exist.
• Mary Parker Follet define management as the art of getting things done
through people. This definition says
That there are organizational goals to be achieved,( that is getting things
done).
That management gets things done through other people.
DEFINITIONS OF
MANAGEMENT
• Jams Stoner and Charles Wankel define management as a process of planning,
organizing, leading and controlling the efforts of organization’s members and
using all other organizational resources to achieve stated organizational goals.
• Montana and Bruce (2001) viewed management as working with and through
other people to accomplish the objectives of both the organization and its
members.
• Kreitner(2001) views management as process of working with and through
others to achieve organizational objectives in a changing environment.
• All the definitions of management attempts to describe what is done in an
organization to achieve the stated goals of the organization.
FEATURES OF CLASSICAL
MANAGEMENT
• Emphasis on purpose
• Formal structure
• Hierarchy of management
• Technical requirements
• Common principles of organisation
• Maintaining specialisation and coordination
• Division of work
• Clear definition of duties and responsibilities
CLASSICAL APPROACH
• Classical approach focuses on the organisation purpose and formal
structure
• Emphasis is:
Planning of work
Technical requirements of the organisation
Principles of Management
The assumption of rational and logical behaviour
Proponents of this approach include Taylor, Fayol, Urwick and Brech.
CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT
SET OF PRINCIPLES
• Classical writers are also known as formal or scientific management writers
• Henri Fayol identified the following principles of management
Planning
Organizing
Command
Co-ordination
Span of Control
CRITICISMS OF THE
CLASSICAL APPROACH
• Do not take sufficient account of the social factors
• People exercise only limited control
• The idea of sets of principles to guide managerial action has also been
criticized
Two major sub-groupings of the classical approach are:
Scientific management
Bureaucracy
MAJOR DIVISIONS IN CLASSICAL
MANAGEMENT APPROACH
SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF
MANAGEMENT
• Defined by Frederick Taylor, late 1800’s. he is known as the father of scientific
management
• The focus is on improving management in order to increase productivity
• The systematic study of the relationships between people and tasks to redesign
the work for higher efficiency.
• The theory emphasizes on the problem of obtaining increased productivity from
individual workers through structuring of the work organisation and the provision
and the provision of monetary incentives as the motivator for higher levels output
• Taylor sought to reduce the time a worker spent on each task by optimizing the
way the task was done. ( the Machine metaphor)
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT –
INCREASING EFFICIENCY
• Four Principles to increase efficiency:
1. Study the way the job is performed now & determine new ways to do it.
Gather detailed, time and motion information. Try different methods to
see which is best.
2. Codify the new method into rules.
Teach to all workers.
3. Select workers whose skills match the rules set in Step 2.
4. Establish a fair level of performance and pay for higher performance.
Workers should benefit from higher output.
SUMMARY OF THE
PRINCIPLES
• The development of a true science for each person’s work;
• The scientific selection, training and development of workers;
• Co-operation with workers to ensure work is carried out in the prescribed
way;
• Hierarchical structures of authority and close supervision;
• Clear division of tasks and responsibility between management and
workers.
PROBLEMS OF SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT
• Managers often implemented only the increased output side of
Taylor’s plan.
They did not allow workers to share in increased output.
Specialized jobs became very boring, dull.
Workers ended up distrusting Scientific Management.
• Workers could purposely “under-perform”
• Management responded with increased use of machines.
THE GILBRETH
• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth refined Taylor’s methods. Made many
improvements to time and motion studies.
• Time and motion studies:
1. Break down each action into components.
2. Find better ways to perform it.
3. Reorganize each action to be more efficient.
• Gilbreths also studied fatigue problems, lighting, heating and
other worker issues.
BUREAUCRACY
• Max Weber developed the concept of bureaucracy. An ideal, intentionally
rational, and very efficient form of organization . Based on principles of
logic, order, and legitimate authority
BUREAUCRACY
• Max Weber suggested that ‘the decisive reason for the
advance of bureaucratic organization has always been its
purely technical superiority over any other form of
organization’.
• Weber pointed out that the definition of tasks and
responsibilities within the structure of management gave rise
to a permanent administration and standardization of work
procedures, not withstanding changes in the actual holders of
office
• He saw the development of bureaucracies as a means of
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF
BUREAUCRACY
• The tasks of the organisation are allocated as official duties
among the various positions.
• There is an implied clear-cut division of labour and a high level
of specialisation.
• A hierarchical authority applies to the organisation of offices
and positions.
• Uniformity of decisions and actions is achieved through
formally established systems of rules and regulations. Together
with a structure of authority, this enables the co-ordination of
various activities within the organisation.
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF
BUREAUCRACY C ON T- - -
• An impersonal orientation is expected from officials in their dealings with
clients and other officials.
• Employment by the organisation is based on technical qualifications and
constitutes a life long career for the officials
FOUR MAIN FEATURES OF
BUREAUCRACY
Specialisation
A bureaucracy Hierarchy of
Impersonality Authority
should have
System of rules
CRITICISMS OF
BUREAUCRACY
• The over-emphasis on rules and procedures, record keeping and paperwork may become
more important in its own right than as a means to an end. It is rigid
• Officials may develop a dependence upon bureaucratic status, symbols and rules.
• Initiative may be stifled, and when a situation is not covered by a complete set of rules or
procedures there may be a lack of flexibility or adaptation to changing circumstances.
• Position and responsibilities in the organisation can lead to officious bureaucratic behaviour.
There may also be a tendency to conceal administrative procedures from outsiders.
• Impersonal relations can lead to stereotyped behaviour and a lack of responsiveness to
individual incidents or problems.
• Restriction of psychological growth -
CRITICISMS OF
BUREAUCRACY- CONT---
• The overemphasis on process rather than purpose, fragmented
responsibilities and hierarchical control means that it’s all too easy for
individuals to neglect the larger purposes to which
their small effort is being put.
Some critics advocate for adhocracy
• Adhocracy is a flexible, loosely structured, adaptable, organic and informal
form of organisation.
