History
Classical Organization and Management Theory
– Adam Smith
oWealth of Nations
oIncrease wealth, organizational issues
oBader method of exchange: hours of production, ine”cient, use common currency
oCra# method of production: one employee did all work to produce good
oAll through 1900s – assembly line
Divide tasks up, sequential
– Frederick W. Taylor
oTechniques were used in a sloppy way, not e”cient
oTime of manufacturing
oGuiding principle: only reason people come to work is to be paid
oKey to success: connection between pay and work to be done
oWorking conditions: lots of immigrants, US needed labor, young men le# family behind
Were taken advantage o2, long working hours
o4 principles of scienti4c management:
Piece rate (compensation), bonuses tied to performance
Functional foreman (supervisor should be a trainer)
Somebody else should be hiring, etc.
Sharing of responsibility
Time and motion study
– Lillian and Frank Gilbreth
oBreak all the tasks of company in specific, basic elements
oMost basic elements of production: Therbligs
oTable of physical elements
Therblings – motion
Series of motion – cycles
oCycles – operations
Operations – processes
– Henri Fayol
oUniversal managerial functions
oUniversality
oCharacteristics of companies to stay existent:
Unity of command (everyone has to be supervised)
Unity of direction
Centralization of decision making (small number should make decisions)
Clear scalar of command (hierarchy)
– Max Weber
oBureaucratic structure
oStructures were growing
oGreater e”ciency – quality of life would increase
oList of characteristics of bureaucracy
Formalized (driven by rules)
Specialization (narrowly designed work)
Hierarchy authority
Limited authority (limits to job description)
Clear separation of sta2 from ownership
Human Relations and Participation
– Elton Mayo
oHawthorne Studies 1927-1932
Learn about scienti4c management
Importance of groups in a2ecting the behavior of individuals at work
– Fritz Roethlisberger and William Dickson
oSummary of Hawthorne studies
oFew studies actually worked out
oScienti4c work was not most important
Human relations is
oSocial and psychological needs of employees
oHawthorne studies
The Hawthorne studies were conducted with the workers at the Hawthorne
plant of the Western Electric Company by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger in
the 1920s. The Hawthorne studies were part of a refocus on managerial strategy
incorporating the socio-psychological aspects of human behavior in
organizations
The studies originally looked into whether workers were more responsive and
worked more e”ciently under certain environmental conditions, such as
improved lighting. The results were surprising, as Mayo and Roethlisberger
found that workers were more responsive to social factors—such as the people
they worked with on a team and the amount of interest their manager had in
their work—than the factors (lighting, etc.) the researchers had gone in to
inspect.
The Hawthorne studies helped conclude that workers were highly responsive to
additional aDention from their managers and the feeling that their managers
actually cared about, and were interested in, their work. The studies also
concluded that although financial motives are important, social factors are
equally important in defining the worker productivity.
Scienti4c method is the best?!
Illumination studies: lights too bright, less production
Every production group increased productivity
Examine physicality of the humans/effect on humans
Manipulating length of rest and lunch breaks
Physical environment – people – production
oManagement and the worker
Level of production is set by social norms, not by physicality
None-economic rewards/sanctions are more important than economic
We do not work as individuals but as group members
oMayo ended up saying they were wrong
Social/psychological factors are the important ones
Socio-Technical Systems
– Chester Barnard
oSystems theory
All phenomena are interrelated
Change one part, everything else changes
Focus on what is most important – 4nal output
oProduction system is most important
oOrganization: physical, persons, social
oSuccessful organization
Willingness to cooperate
Belief in common purpose
Communication (as often as possible, communicate about common purpose)
oCommunication is most important
– Mary Parker Follet
oResearch in consulting
oOne of the only women at Harvard
oUse systems theory
o4 principles to follow:
Should be direct contact vertically and horizontally in the organization
