This document provides a brief outline of the historical development of management thoughts. It discusses two ways of defining "management thought" - as coherent theories or systems of management, or more broadly as thinking and ideas about the meaning, purpose, and tasks of management. The main problem is defining where to start, as management ideas have existed since ancient times but the most influential work was Frederick Taylor's "The Principles of Scientific Management" in 1911. To understand why Scientific Management emerged, one needs to look back further to the late 19th century and the first calls for improved management methods stemming from the Industrial Revolution. The document questions where exactly to start - with thinkers like Charles Babbage, Robert Owen, Adam Smith, or even further back
A historical development_of_the_management_thoughts
1. A HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
THE MANAGEMENT THOUGHTS
A BRIEF OUTLINE
âA sense of the past ⊠is essential to anyone
who is trying to understand the here-and-now
of industrial organisation. What is happening
now is part of a continuing developmentâ
- Tom Burns
âThe art of administration is as old as the
human raceâ
- Edward D Jones
2. MANAGEMENT THOUGHT
ï TWO WAYS OF DEFINING âMANAGEMENT
THOUGHTâ:
1. âCoherent (logically connected) Theories or Systems
of Managementâ,
or
2. More Broadly :
âą âTHINKING ABOUT MANAGEMENTâ,
âą âIDEAS ABOUT THE MEANING, PURPOSE,
FUNCTION and TASKS OF MANAGEMENTâ,
âą which are IMPORTANT & RELEVANT,
ï±But, DO NOT necessarily amount to a Coherent
Overall Theory
3. BUT THE MAIN PROBLEM IS
âDEFINING THE BOUNDARY LINESâ
ï REASONS:
i. Year 2011 - 100th anniversary of the publication of
arguably THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WORK OF
MANAGEMENT THINKING OF ALL TIME :
ïFrederick Winslow Taylorâs âTHE PRINCIPLES OF
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENTâ
ïSCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT - One of the First Major
Systems of Thinking About Management to be
developed
ï±BUT, it emerged at A TIME which was VERY RICH IN
THINKING about management, in general.
4. Scientific Management â the most
durable theory of Management
ii. Taylorâs contemporaries included
people such as:
ï§ Harrington Emerson,
ï§ Henri Fayol,
ï§ Lyndall Urwick and others
ï§ These people developed Their Own Concepts of
Management
ï§ But it was only Taylorâs Scientific
Management Theory that proved Most
Durable
5. A Vital Question â THE FIST CALLS
Now, if we take the first definition of the Management Thought,
that is,
âCoherent Theories or Systems of Managementâ,
Then,
ïŒ Our Study should commence with Scientific Management â 100
years ago - and move forward in time from there
ïŒBut the Vital Question - How and Why did Scientific
Management emerge?
ïŒ To answer This Question, we need to go back to the late
nineteenth century (1890s) and to look at the FIRST CALLS:
ïŒFor Improvement in Management Methods
ïŒPlus, what led to those calls for improvement and
change?
6. THE FIRST CALLS FOR IMPROVEMENT
IN MANAGEMENT METHODS
The Answer leads us to:
The Heart of âIndustrial Revolutionâ
But again the question:
âwho to start from ?â, such as:
ï± Charles Babbage, who defined :
ï± âNeed For Knowledge In Managementâ and called for a âMore Scientific and
Rigorous Approach to Managementâ
ï± Or, Robert Owen, who developed ideas on
ï± âHow to Manage People Effectively and Humanelyâ,
ï±Or, Adam Smith, who redefined
ï± âDivision of Labourâ
ï±Or, French Physiocrats (political economists who advocated for
laissez-faire economy) who
ï± Also wrote on the division of labour and developed the âFirst Ideas on
Entrepreneurshipâ
ï±Or, back to Ancient China, where at least one key physiocratic
idea, the âNotion of Laissez-Faireâ, has its roots