Management theories and principles are concerned with giving the appropriate skills and practice in management. With the change in industrialization and human behavior, the theories have significantly evolved (Smith, Cronje, Brevis, & Vrba, 2011). Since in the past, management has been used in various settings such as in churches and businesses. Theorists that existed in the 20th century have contributed significantly to the evolution of the theories over time. The management theories have been developed in a bid to increase productivity and managing people in the best ways possible (Hamel, 2008). Each theorist had an aim to come with the best theory that could be acceptable universally by all managers. The attempts have led to the development of several theories and principles over the years up to the ones used to date. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to give a timeline of five broad management theories and principles milestones over time.
The first theory is the scientific management theory that was developed at the end of the nineteenth century. At this time, the industrial revolution had found its way through United States, Canada and Europe (Smith, Cronje, Brevis,& Vrba, 2011). Large factories replaced small workshops, but unskilled workers still ran machines. On the other hand, the managers and the supervisors had only the technical skills and did not know how to handle large groups of workers. Thus, managers began to seek new ways to manage the employee's tax mix. Adam Smith, a famous economist at that time decided to look at the problem in the manufacturing (Smith, Cronje, Brevis, & Vrba, 2011). He compared two different production methods in a crafts company. In the first method, all the employees were involved in all the steps of the pin production. In the other method, a group of employees took part in one part of manufacturing and another group would take up another task until the final product was realized. He observed that the second method produced more pins compared to the one that each employee was involved in every stage of the manufacturing process. He thus concluded that job specialization is quite crucial for higher levels of performance in a company.
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Later, Frederick Taylor considered the importance of creating a relationship between the employees and the task they are performing to increase efficiency. He argued that manufacturing would be better if the time one spent in producing a unit of a product could be reduced (Smith, Cronje, Brevis, & Vrba, 2011). He then noted that specialization together with the division of labor would increase efficiency. This method had its advantage in increasing output to most companies. However, instead of the managers sharing the gains with the workers, they advocated for an increase of work (Smith, Cronje, Brevis, & Vrba, 2011). Consequently, the increase of work led to employees layoffs because less was required.
As the scientists were focusing on how to improve efficiency, other were researching on ways to increase both efficiency and effectiveness. The research gave rise to the rise of the administrative management theory to focuses on creating an organizational structure that improves efficiency and efficacy (Smith, Cronje, Brevis, & Vrba, 2011). Two main views brought about to the creation of the theory. Max Weber created the first known as the theory of bureaucracy theory that required managers to develop a system of authority that would involve the establishment of positions within the organizations and a system of reporting. The theory also encouraged the formation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) (Smith, Cronje, Brevis, & Vrba, 2011). He argued if the theory was followed, their wold is increased coordination of activities and people and thus improved performance. However, managers should not over rely on the SOPs, but they should also use their skills and judgment to make decisions. At the same time, Fayol came up with 14 principles of management that would improve efficiency. Fayol came up with principles such as authority, equity, and order that would help in the efficient and effective management of resources (Smith, Cronje, Brevis, & Vrba, 2011). Most of his principles are still used up to date.
Later In the first half of the twentieth century, the behavior management theory was developed (Jones & George, 2015). The previous theories focused more on productivity at the expense of the employees, and therefore this theory focused on the personal behavior of managers to improve employees' motivation. Taylor is considered the ‘father’ of the theory and poker the ‘mother' (Jones & George, 2015). This is because, in most of her writings, Mary was responding to Taylor's lack of concern about the human behavior in an organization. Mary also argued that manager's formal authority should not be the only determinant of who should lead during a particular situation but the person who can lead the organization to achieve its goals should take the lead (Jones & George, 2015).According to the theory, most managers have a negative assumption about employees that they are always unwilling to work and hence their work is to supervise and control them. They should instead know that their work is to create a conducive working environment that creates an opportunity for self-direction, imagination, and initiative (Jones & George, 2015). One positive impact of the theory is the ability to have a unified system of actions towards achieving the organizational goals. The drawback in theory is the tendency of manager's attitudes and behavior dominate the organization.
The management science theory is a model that assists managers to utilize the available resources for the maximum production of goods and services (Hamel, 2008). Essentially, the theory is an extension of the scientific management theory. The theory utilizes several branches such as quantitative management, operations management, total quality management and management information system. The quantitative management uses mathematical knowledge to help managers make financial decisions about the organization (Hamel, 2008). Operations management is used in the analysis of production aspects of an organization to increase efficiency. Total quality management balances the input and output activities to increase the quality of the products (Hamel, 2008). Finally, the management information systems inform the management of activities inside and outside of the organization for proper decision making (Hamel, 2008). The theory helps the managers to coordinate the scarce resources to produce quality and enough products to satisfy the market.
Lastly, the organization environment theory marked a great milestone in the evolution of management theories. In this theory, researchers decided to go beyond the influence of managers to employees to focus on how the managers affect the organization's relationship with the external environment (Jones & George, 2015). The theory also encompasses the external forces that may hinder the manager’s access to resources or use them. The external resources include the raw materials and the human resource required to produce the goods. Customers also provide the organization with the market for their products and finances to run the business and thus are an integral part of the external environment. The focus on environment became more focused in 1960 on the development of the open systems theory and the contingency theory.
The open system theory suggests a system that receives resources from the outside environment and then processes them and takes the finished products to the outside market for use by the consumers (Jones & George, 2015). On the other hand, that contingency theory implies that the choice of manager's structural choices is dependent on the external environment that the organization operates (Jones & George, 2015). Therefore, the theory suggests a comprehensive study of the external environment before making decisions. The theory is relevant because managers can be able to determine the external factors that affect their organization and also can respond well to the demands of the market. However, there is a risk of managers focusing on the external factors till they forget about the internal factors such as the employees.
References
Smit, P. J., Cronje, G. D. J., Brevis, T., & Vrba, M. J. (Eds.). (2011). Management principles: A contemporary edition for Africa . Juta and Company Ltd.
Hamel, G. (2008). The future of management. Human Resource Management International Digest , 16 (6).
Jones, G., & George, J. (2015). Contemporary management . McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
