To Manage or Not to Manage A Business?

Imagine living in an era where, mechanical innovations are taking over with power operated engines. Workers are overwhelmed and over worked, not compensated for their hard work through their right to a high income. In short, it is chaos. Then, in comes our every heroes, Max Weber, Frederick Taylor, and Henri Fayol, to form the Classical Management Theory.

Max Weber approached his theory using logic by seeing the whole picture and applying to it. He preferred the “legal-Rational” authority rather than the ‘traditional” because it would be un-biased. In contrast, Frederick Taylor, only focused on a particular subject such that he could refine with less amount of time and motions needed to do a task for the highest job efficiency. This particular theory has been a major hot with industries and manufacturers because productivity rose to 300%.(Lyon, 2017) Whereas, Henri Fayol’s theory was a middle ground of the previous two that specifically concentrated on training a better management to help govern the organization. All their theories combined formed the big “Classical Management Theory”.

The Classical Management Theory basically focused on all three’s commonalities such as their believe in hierarchy in workplace, division of labor, set of rules that helped to perform the work, one authority figure to answer to, both office and personal should be separate to avoid conflict, selection of the best employees based of qualifications and productivity, and wages should be paid fairly in order to maintain the highest productivity levels.(Lyon,2017)

For examples, “Classical Management Theory” can be utilized in factories, warehouses, companies such as Amazon, and industries that focus on food production.(Lyon, 2017) On the other hand, Forbes 100 companies such as Facebook, and Google, that are information based, do not use this approach because they are not selling goods.

The Classical Management Theory isn’t the only theory that is talked about. Mary Parker Follett, known as the Mother of Modern Management, proposed that teamwork and groups collaboration were the key elements that helped a company succeed. Moreover, if the employee isn’t comfortable in their work environment or is being treated unfairly, they will not be willing to do the work. This would cause a decline in the productivity, improvement, and innovation. She also emphasized that conflict needs to be dealt as integration of both the authority or manager and the employee so that the demands of the company are met. Follett determined a “matrix structure” so that there is more than one management figure available to discuss any issues within the organizations. This modern theory was used in my previous place of employment at a hospital where, there were two different management supervisors that helped with workplace conflict and issues.

In conclusion, the revolutionized era had its up and downs, but the four management gurus helped many companies to function at a fast-paced speed with all its changes. The theory of classical management can be observed in many businesses, but so can modern management. Hopefully, as the world keeps modernizing, the theories would be used in a more approachable and positive light for employees to feel motivated rather than over-worked and dissatisfied.

Citations:

1. Lyon, A. (2017, October 23). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLvkPI8QIE9MKnF4CH0XqvKgSaHUE0K9-4&v=d1jOwD-CTLI