Management Note - Modebehavioural view point

 Model Behavioural View Point

Early Advocates

There is four people stand out as early advocates of the human resources approach. These include Robert Owen, Hugo Munsterberg, Mary Parker Follett, and Chester Barnard. Robert Owen, a successful Scottish businessman, proposed a utopian workplace. Hugo Munsterberg created the field of industrial psychology—the scientific study of individuals at work to maximize their productivity and adjustment. Mary Parker Follett was a social philosopher who thought the manager’s job was to harmonize and coordinate group efforts. Chester Barnard, president of New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, saw organizations as social systems that required human cooperation. He believed that managers’ major roles were to communicate and stimulate subordinates to high levels of effort. He also introduced the idea that managers have to examine the environment and then adjust the organization to maintain a state of equilibrium. Hugo Munsterbeg  is considered to be the “father of industrial psychology” and is regarded by students of psychology as an important figure as Frederick Taylor is by students of management. Munsterberg attempted to develop practical applications of psychology. He argued that psychologists could help industry in three major areas of finding ways to identify individuals best suited to particular jobs, identifying the psychological conditions for optimum efficiency and finding ways to influence individual behavior to be congruent with management’s objectives. Mary Parker Follett is the one who brought to management the perspectives of political science and social work. She identified the importance of the functioning of groups, not just individuals, in organization, the principle of “power with” rather than “Power over” in managementemployee relations, conflict resolution through integration for an example, finding a solution to a conflict that would satisfy both parties and lastly is the achievement of integrative unity, whereby the organization operates as a functional whole, with the various interrelated parts working together effectively to achieve organizational goals.

 

The Hawthorne Studies

The most important contribution to the developing Organization Behavior field came out of the Hawthorne Studies, is a series of studies conducted at the Western Electric Company Works in Cicero, Illinois. These studies, started in 1924 and continued through the early 1930s, were initially designed by Western Electric industrial engineers as a scientific management experiment. They wanted to examine the effect of various illumination levels on worker productivity. Control and experimental groups were set up with the experimental group being exposed to various lighting intensities, and the control group working under a constant intensity. If you were one of the industrial engineers in charge of this experiment, what would you have expected to happen? That individual output in the experimental group would be directly related to the intensity of the light? Seems perfectly logical, doesn’t it? However, they found that as the level of light was increased in the experimental group, output for both groups increased. Then, much to the surprise of the engineers, as the light level was decreased the productivity decrease was observed in the experimental group only when the level of light was reduced to that of a moonlit night. What would explain these un-excluded that illumination intensity was not directly related to group productivity, and that something else must have contributed to the results. However, they weren’t able to pinpoint what that “something else” was. In 1927, the Western electric engineers asked Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his associates to join the study as consultants. Thus began a relationship that would last through 1932 and encompass numerous experiments in the redesign of jobs, changes in workday and workweek length, introduction of rest periods, and individual versus group wage plans.9 For example, one experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of a group piecework incentive pay system on group productivity. Hawthorne studies reflected the scientific management tradition of seeking greater efficiency by improving the tools and methods of work—in this case, lighting. In the first set of studies, no correlation was found between changes in lighting conditions and individual work performance. In fact, performance nearly always went up with any change—brighter or darker—in illumination. In the second set of studies, the concept of the Hawthorne effect emerged. The Hawthorne effect refers to the possibility that individuals singled out for a study may improve their performance simply because of the added attention they receive from the researchers, rather than because of any specific factors being tested in the study. The third set of studies centered on group production norms and individual motivation. Although simplistic and methodologically primitive, the Hawthorne studies established the impact that social aspects of the job (and the informal group) have on productivity.

Human Relations Movement:

Human Relations Movement was an attempt to equip managers with the social skills they need.Abraham Maslow developed a theory of motivation that was based on three assumptions about human nature. Human beings have needs that are never completely satisfied, Human behavior is aimed at satisfying the needs that are yet unsatisfied at a given point in time and Needs fit into a somewhat predictable hierarchy ranging from basic. Douglas McGregor developed the Theory X and Theory Y dichotomy about the assumptions managers make about workers and how these assumptions affect behavior. Theory X managers tend to assume that workers are lazy, need to be coerced, have little ambition, and are focused on security needs. These managers then treat their subordinates as if these assumptions were true. Theory Y managers tend to assume that workers do not inherently dislike work, are capable of self-control, have the capacity to be creative and innovative, and generally have higher-level needs that are often not met on the job. These managers then treat their subordinates as if these assumptions were true. Workers, like all of us, tend to work up or down to expectations.

The Behavioral Science Approach

It emphasizes scientific research as the basis for developing theories about human behavior in organizations that can be used to develop practical guidelines for managers. The emphasis is upon developing useful tools for managers. Unlike Scientific Management from the Classical Era, the findings in behavioral studies are often somewhat difficult to find with mathematical certainty. That does not mean however, that the scientific approach should not be attempted nor that the findings of such an approach are any less useful. An example is the idea of improving performance by setting goals the individual finds to be attainable yet not too easy. 

Management Note - Classical view point

1.     Classical View Point

Scientific Management

The use of the scientific method to define the “one best way” for a job to be done. Frederick W. Taylor is known as the “father” of scientific management. Taylor’s work at the Bethlehem Steel companies motivated his interest in improving efficiency. Taylor sought to create a mental revolution among both workers and managers by defining clear guidelines for improving production efficiency. He defined four principles of management. His “pig iron” experiment is probably the most widely cited example of scientific management. Using his principles of scientific management, Taylor was able to define the one best way for doing each job. Overall, Taylor achieved consistent improvements in productivity in the range of 200 percent. He affirmed the role of managers to plan and control and of workers to perform as they were instructed. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth did studies aimed at eliminating unnecessary motions and way of reducing task fatigue. They perfected the time-and-motion study techniques first introduced by Taylor. Together they provided the first vocabulary for identifying hand, arm, and body motions used at work—which they called “Therbligs.” Lillian’s doctoral dissertation was published as the book, The Psychology of Management, one of the first books published on the findings of psychology in the workplace. Frank “proved” the value of motion studies in his own construction company whose productivity was nearly three times better than his competitors who used the older work methods. Henry L. Gantt , one of Taylor’s closest associates is best known for his Gantt chart, a graphic aide to planning, scheduling, and controlling. His other interests included a unique pay incentive system and the social responsibility of business.

Bureaucratic management

 

General administrative theorists is group of writers focused on the entire organization. They’re important for developing more general theories of what managers do and what constitutes good management practice. The two most prominent theorists behind the general administrative approach were Henri Fayol and Max Weber. Henri Fayol wrote during the same time period as Frederick Taylor. Fayol was the managing director of a large French coal-mining firm. His attention was aimed at the activities of all managers. He described the practice of management as distinct from other typical business functions. Max Weber (pronounced VAY-BAR) was a well known German sociologist who wrote in the early part of the 20th century. He developed a theory of authority structures and described organizational activity based on authority relations. He described the ideal form of organization—the bureaucracy , defined as a form of organization marked by division of labor, a clearly defined hierarchy, detailed rules and regulations, and impersonal relationships Max Weber stated 14 principles of management (fundamental or universal truths of management that can be taught in schools). It emphasized the need for organizational rationality rather than the owner’s whims as a means for determining how work should be divided into individual work positions and how the work should be rewarded. Max Weber, the most important early advocate of this approach, argued that too often organizational decisions and rewards were made because of who the worker was (possibly a relative of the manager) or who the worker knew rather than on the performance of the worker. Scientific management focused on the work or the job and how to do it better. Bureaucratic management, on the other hand, focused on how to structure the organization better so that better overall performance might be achieved. He coined the term “bureaucracy” to apply to the ideal of large organizations operating on a rational basis. Weber’s original definition was much different than the definition of government red tape and bungling usually associated with the term “bureaucracy” today. The major characteristics of Weber’s ideal bureaucracy include Specialization of a labor, Formalization of rules and procedures, Impersonality in application of rules and sanctions, Formalization of lines of authority into a hierarchical structure, Formalization of the career advancement process to be based on merit.

Administrative management

Administrative management is a term used for those early-day contributors who developed and taught principles to be used by managers, both individually and collectively, to improve the performance of the overall functions of the organization. Henri Fayol is a successful French industrialist, developed theories about management he thought could be taught to those individuals with administrative responsibilities. Fayol’s lasting contribution is the functional approach to management which is still used today. The major managerial functions, according to Fayol, were planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. The functions have been slightly modified several times since Fayol. In the main, though, they still provide the basic framework for studying management as witnessed by the organization of this and most other principles of management texts used today. Like Weber, Fayol’s works were not translated into English for a couple of decades after his death. Fayol gives us 14 principles of management which are still being used nowadays.