Introduction to management

Topic 2 review
Understanding of early
management practice

Discuss the important

contributions of
scientific management

Learn what has and has not worked.

Examples include construction of Egyptian
pyramid and Great Wall of China
Important events:
1. Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nation argues
the benefits of division of labour or job
specialisation (The breakdown of jobs into
narrow and repetitive tasks)
2. Industrial revolution which emphasises the
on the mass production in factories
making it more economical goods in
factories than at home. Manager needed
to manage these factories.
Scientific management is an approach that
involves using scientific methods to define
the one best way for a job to be done.
Frederick W. Taylors four principles of
management:
1. Develop a science for each element of an
individuals work with standardised work
implements and efficient methods for all
to follow
2. Scientifically select worker with skills and
abilities that match each job and train
them in the most efficient ways to
accomplish tasks
3. Ensure cooperation through incentives
and provide the work environment that
reinforces optimal work results in a
scientific manner
4. Divide responsibility for managing and for
working, while supporting individuals in
work groups doing what they do best.
Some people are more capable of
managing, whereas others are better at
performing tasks laid out for them
Gilberths identified efficient hand-and-body
motions and designed tools and equipment
for optimizing work performances. They also
devised a classification scheme to label 17
basic hand motions which they called
therbligs a classification system for labelling
basic hand motions.
Todays application of scientific theory:
1. Scientific management concepts to
analyse work tasks, hire best qualified
workers for a job and design incentive
systems based on outputs

Explain the influences of

General Administrative
Theorists

2. Time-and-motion study to eliminate

wasted motions
General administrative theory is an approach to
management that focuses on describing what
manager do and what constituted good
management practice.
2 most prominent theorist of the general
administrative approach are Henri Fayol and Max
Weber
Fayols 14 principles of management:
1. Division of work Specialisation increases
output by making employees more efficient
2. Authority Managers must be able to give
orders Authority gives them this right. Along
with authority, however, goes responsibility
3. Discipline Employees must obey and
respect the rules that govern the organisation
4. Unity of command Every employee should
receive orders from only one superior
5. Unity of direction The organisation should
have a single plan of action to guide
managers and workers
6. Subordination of individual interests to the
general interest The interests of any one
employee or group of employees should not
take precedence over the interests of the
organisation as a whole
7. Remuneration Workers must be paid a fair
wage for their services
8. Centralisation This term refers to the degree
to which subordinates are involved in
decision making
9. Scalar chain The line of authority from top
management to the lowest ranks is the scalar
chain
10.Order People and material should be in the
right place at the right time
11.Equity Mangers should be kind and fair to
their subordinates
12.Stability of tenure of personnel
Management should provide orderly
personnel planning and ensure that
replacements are available to fill vacancies
13.Initiative Employees who are allowed to
originate and carry out plans will exert high
level of effort
14.Esprit de corps Promoting team spirit will
build harmony and unity within the
organisation

Weber developed a theory of authority structures

and relations based on an ideal type of organisation
he called a bureaucracy a form of organisation
characterized by division of labour, a clearly defined
hierarchy, detailed rules and regulations, and
impersonal relationships. He emphasised on
rationality, predictability, impersonality, technical
competence and authoritarianism.

Describe the
quantitative approach to
management

Todays functional view of managers job can be

attributed to Fayol and bureaucratic mechanisms to
ensure resources are used effectively and efficiently.
- The quantitative approach involves the use of
quantitative techniques, such as data
collection and mathematical manipulation of
that data, to improve decision-making. This
approach has also been labelled operations
research or managerial science.
- Approach involves application of statistics,
optimisation models and computer
simulations to management activities.
- Total quality management, or TQM is a
management philosophy devoted to continual
improvement and responding to customer
needs and expectations.
- What is quality management:
1. Intense focus on customer The customer
includes outsiders who buy the
organisations products or services, but
also internal customers who interact with
and serve others in the organisation.
2. Concern for continual improvement
Quality management is a commitment to
never being satisfied. Very good is not
good enough. Quality can always be
improved.
3. Process focused Quality management
focuses on work processes as the quality
of goods and services is continually
improved.
4. Improvement in the quality of everything
the organisation does Quality
management uses a very broad definition
of quality. It relates not only to the final
product, but also to how the organisation
handles deliveries, how rapidly it responds
to complaints, how politely the phones are
answered, and the like.
5. Accurate measurement Quality
management uses statistical techniques
to measure every critical variable in the

Develop an
understanding of the
organisational behaviour
approach

Clarify the systems

approach and
contingency approaches

organisations operations. These are

compared against standards to identify
problems, trace them to their roots and
eliminate their causes.
6. Empowerment of employees Quality
management involves the people on the
line in the improvement process. Teams
are widely used in quality management
programs as empowerment vehicles for
finding and solving problems
- Todays managers use to approach in
allocating resources, improving quality,
scheduling work and determination optimum
inventory levels.
Organisational behaviour (OB) a field of study
concerned with the actions (behaviours) of people
at work.
- Approach believed people are the most
important asset.
- Hawthorne studies a series of studies during
the 1920s and 1930s that provided new
insights into individual and group behaviour.
His studies led to emphasis on human
behaviour.
- Human relations movement believed
(unsubstantiated research) in the importance
of employee satisfaction.
- Behaviour science theorists are Psychologists
and sociologists who relied on scientific
method for the study of organisational
behaviour.
- Conclusions from Hawthorne studies and
early OB advocates influenced current
theories of motivation, leadership and group
behaviour.
The system approach:
- A system is a set of interrelated and
interdependent parts arranged in a manner
that produces a unified whole. The 2 basic
types of systems are closed and open.
- Closed systems are systems that re not
influenced by and do not interact with their
environment
- Open systems are systems that interact with
their environment.
- Managers coordinate the work activities of
the various parts of the organisation, they
ensure that all these parts are working
together so that the organisations goals can
be achieved.
- The system approach implies that decisions

Current trends and

issues

and actions taken in one organisational area

will affect others, and vice versa.
- System approach helps managers recognize
that organisations rely on the environment for
inputs and outlets to absorb their outputs
The contingency approach:
- A management approach that says that
organisations are different, face different
situations (contingencies) and require
different ways of managing.
- Popular contingency variables:
1. Organisation size as size increases, so
do the problems of coordination.
2. Routineness of task technology To
achieve its purpose, an organisation uses
technology. Routine technologies require
organisational structures, leadership
styles and control systems that differ from
those required by customised or nonroutine technologies.
3. Environmental uncertainty The degree of
uncertainty caused by environmental
changes influences the management
process.
4. Individual differences Individuals differ in
terms of their desire for growth,
autonomy, tolerance of ambiguity and
expectations.
Globalization
- Working with people from different cultures
- Coping with anti-capitalist backlash
- Movement of jobs to countries with low-cost
labour
Ethics
- Understand the ethical dilemma
- Identify the affected stakeholders
- Identify the factors that are important to the
decision which include personal,
organisational and, possibly, external factors.
- Identify and evaluate possible courses of
action, keeping in mind that each alternative
will impact on affected stakeholders
differently.
- Make a decision and act on it.
Workforce diversity
- A workforce that is more heterogeneous in
terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age and
other characteristic that reflect differences.
Entrepreneurship
- The process whereby an individuals or a
group of individuals uses organised efforts

and means to pursue opportunities to create

value and grow by fulfilling wants and needs
through innovation and uniqueness, no
matter what resources are currently
controlled.
Knowledge management and learning organisations
- Learning organisations Organisations that
have developed the capacity to learn, adapt
and change continuously
- Knowledge management Cultivating a
learning culture where organisational
members systematically gather knowledge
and share it with others in the organisation so
as to achieve better performance.
Managing for sustainability
- Sustainable management The responsibility
of all organisations to ensure that their
operations use all forms of capital human,
natural and financial in such a way that all
stakeholders receive value, and that the
capital required by future generations is
maintained.