The classical organization thought transformed during the first half of the 20th century. Frederick Taylor and Max Weber contributed to this evolution through their arguments regarding scientific management theory and bureaucratic theory respectively.
Taylor developed the scientific management theory that focused on the idea of planning work to ensure simplification, specialization, standardization, and efficiency (Peltonen, 2016). Taylor argued that developing mutual trust between management and employees contributed to increased productivity (Kumar, 2017). Consequently, the level of trust could be increased by ensuring that workers benefited from the gains of improvement in productivity, eliminating anxiety and physical stress, developing the capacity of employees through training, and eliminating the conventional idea of the boss. Taylor’s arguments were based on four principles. They are finding the best technique for performing tasks, matching tasks to workers, supervising workers closely besides using punishment and reward to motivate them, and focusing on control and planning to manage tasks (Thompson & McHugh, 2009). The scientific ideas focused on obtaining the best workers and equipment before analyzing components of the production process. Through examining each task, managers could find the right match of factors that enhanced production.
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Weber improved the scientific technique by emphasizing the importance of decreasing ambiguity and diversity in an organization. Weber’s bureaucratic approach focused on establishing clear control and authority boundaries. The bureaucratic approach focused on five principles, which are the structure, specialization, predictability and stability, rationality, and democracy (Kumar, 2017). The structure involved arranging organizational positions hierarchically where each position had specific roles and authority. Specialization entailed differentiating tasks based on functions and separating them based on specialization with different chains of command (Peltonen, 2016). Predictability and stability involved operating the organization based on a system of procedures comprising of formal regulations and rules. Rationality focused on impartial selection and recruitment of employees whereas democracy stressed the importance of designators rather than persons recognizing authority and responsibility (Thompson & McHugh, 2009). Weber’s ideas identified the significance of specialization and labor division in which rules in the hierarchy structure ensured uniformity and stability. Besides, Weber highlighted the idea of organizational behavior as being a system of human interactions in which behavior could be considered based on cause and effect.
References
Kumar, P. (2017). Analysis the impact of classical management approaches on the management practices. Asian Journal of Management , 8 (3), 841. https://doi.org/10.5958/2321-5763.2017.00132.9
Peltonen, T. (2016). Organization theory: Critical and philosophical engagements . Emerald Group Publishing.
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Thompson, P., & McHugh, D. (2009). Work organisations: A critical approach . Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan.
