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Management History Module
In this chapter, we’re going to take a trip back in time to see how the field of study called
management has evolved. What you’re going to find out is that today’s managers still
use many elements of the historical approaches to management. Focus on the following
learning objectives as you read and study this chapter.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
2. Explain the various theories in the classical approach.
4. Describe the quantitative approach.
5. Explain the various theories in the contemporary approach.
Since the birth of modern management theory in the early 1900s, management experts
have developed theories to help organizations and their managers coordinate and
oversee work activities as effectively and efficiently as possible. In presenting the history
of modern management, this supplement explores the evolution of management thought
and practice during the twentieth century. Students discover how knowledge of
management history can help us better understand current management practices while
avoiding some mistakes of the past.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
MH.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF MANAGEMENT
Many fascinating examples from history illustrate how management has been
practiced for thousands of years.
A. Organizations and managers have existed for thousands of years. The
Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China were projects of
tremendous scope and magnitude, requiring the efforts of tens of
thousands of people. How was it possible for these projects to be
completed successfully? The answer is management. Regardless of the
B. Examples of early management practices can also be seen by studying
the Arsenal of Venice. Assembly lines, accounting systems, and
personnel functions are only a few of the processes and activities used in
business in the fifteenth century that are common to today’s organizations
as well.
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division of labor (the breakdown of jobs into narrow, repetitive tasks)
would bring to organizations and society.
D. The Industrial Revolution is possibly the most important pre-twentieth-
MH.2 CLASSICAL APPROACH
A. Scientific management is defined as the use of the scientific method to
determine the “one best way” for a job to be done.
1. Frederick W. Taylor is known as the “father” of scientific
management. Taylor’s work at the Midvale and Bethlehem Steel
companies stimulated his interest in improving efficiency.
a. Taylor sought to create a mental revolution among both
workers and managers by defining clear guidelines for
2. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were inspired by Taylor’s work and
proceeded to study and develop their own methods of scientific
management.
3. How Do Today’s Managers Use Scientific Management?
Guidelines devised by Taylor and others to improve production
efficiency are still used in today’s organizations. However, current
management practice is not restricted to scientific management
practices alone. Elements of scientific management still used
include:
a. Using time and motion studies
B. General Administrative Theorists. This group of writers, who focused on
the entire organization, developed more general theories of what
managers do and what constitutes good management practice.
1. Henri Fayol, who was a contemporary of Frederick W. Taylor, was
the managing director of a large French coal-mining firm.
2. Max Weber (pronounced VAY-ber) was a German sociologist who
wrote in the early twentieth century.
a. Weber developed a theory of authority structures and
3. How Do Today’s Managers Use General Administrative Theories?
Some current management concepts and theories can be traced
to the work of the general administrative theorists.
a. The functional view of a manager’s job relates to Henri
Fayol’s concept of management.
MH.3 BEHAVIORAL APPROACH
The field of study concerned with the actions (behaviors) of people at work is
organizational behavior. Organizational behavior (OB) research has
contributed much of what we know about human resources management and
contemporary views of motivation, leadership, trust, teamwork, and conflict
management.
A. Early Advocates of Organizational Behavior.
Four individuals—Robert Owen, Hugo Munsterberg, Mary Parker Follett,
and Chester Barnard—were early advocates of the OB approach. Their
ideas served as the foundation for employee selection procedures,
important ideas of these early advocates.)
B. The Hawthorne Studies were the most important contribution to the
development of organizational behavior.
1. This series of experiments conducted from 1924 to the early
1930s at the Western Electric Company Works in Cicero, Illinois,
2. After Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his associates joined the
study as consultants, other experiments were included to look at
4. Although not without criticism (concerning procedures, analyses of
findings, and the conclusions), the Hawthorne Studies stimulated
interest in human behavior in organizational settings.
C. How Do Today’s Managers Use the Behavioral Approach?
1. The behavioral approach assists managers in designing jobs that
2. The behavioral approach provides the foundation for current
theories of motivation, leadership, and group behavior and
development.
MH. 4 QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT
The quantitative approach to management, sometimes known as operations
research or management science, uses quantitative techniques to improve
decision-making. This approach includes applications of statistics, optimization
models, information models, and computer simulations.
A. Important Contributions.
1. The quantitative approach originated during World War II as
2. As often happens after wartime, methods that were developed
during World War II to conduct military affairs were applied to
private industry following the war. For instance, a group of military
officers—the Whiz Kids—used quantitative methods to improve
decision-making at Ford Motor Company in the mid-1940s.
B. How Do Today’s Managers Use the Quantitative Approach?
1. The quantitative approach has contributed most directly to
2. The availability of sophisticated computer software programs has
made the use of quantitative techniques more feasible for
managers.
C. Total Quality Management.
1. Quality management is a philosophy of management that is
2. TQM was inspired by a small group of quality experts, including
W. Edwards Deming, who was one of its chief proponents.
3. TQM represents a counterpoint to earlier management theorists
4. The objective of quality management is to create an organization
committed to continuous improvement in work processes.
MH.5 CONTEMPOARY APPROACH
A. Systems Theory. During the 1960s, researchers began to analyze
organizations from a systems perspective based on the physical
sciences. A system is a set of interrelated and interdependent parts
arranged in a manner that produces a unified whole. The two basic types
of systems are closed and open. A closed system is not influenced by
and does not interact with its environment. An open system interacts
with its environment (see Exhibit MH-7).
1. Using the systems approach, managers envision an organization
2. Managers coordinate the work activities of the various parts of the
3. The systems approach recognizes that organizations are not self-
contained; they rely on and are affected by factors in their external
environment.
B. The Contingency Approach. The contingency approach recognizes that
different organizations require different ways of managing.
1. The contingency approach to management is a view that the
2. Some popular contingency variables are shown in Exhibit MH-8.
ANSWERS TO REVIEW AND DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
MH-1. Explain why studying management history is important.
While the study of management history reviews the work of experts in the past, from a
practical side, it shows the techniques and implementations that companies are using
MH-2. What early evidence of management practice can you describe?
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MH-3. Describe the important contributions made by the classical theorists.
Many of the ideas that were pioneered by Taylor, Fayol, and Weber are still in use today.
MH-4. What did the early advocates of OB contribute to our understanding of
management?
MH-5. Why were the Hawthorne Studies so critical to management history?
MH-6. What kind of workplace would Henri Fayol create? How about Mary Parker
Follett? How about Frederick W. Taylor?
Fayol would likely create a workplace in which managers could perform the managerial
functions of planning, organizing, coordinating, commanding, and controlling. In the
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MH-7. Explain what the quantitative approach has contributed to the field of
management.
MH-8. Describe total quality management.
As proposed by Edward Deming, TQM is a management philosophy devoted to
Continual improvement and responding to customer needs and expectations. (see
MH-9. How do systems theory and the contingency approach make managers better at
what they do?
MH-10. How do societal trends influence the practice of management? What are the
implications for someone studying management?
Societal trends have a major impact on the practice of management. For example, the
change in society’s emphasis on the value of diversity has profound implications for the
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MY TURN TO BE A MANAGER
• Choose two non-management classes that you are currently enrolled in or have
taken previously. Describe three ideas and concepts from those subject areas that
might help you to be a better manager.
• Read at least one current business article from any of the popular business
periodicals each week for four weeks. Take one of those articles and describe what it
is about and how it relates to any (or all) of the four approaches to management.
• Choose an organization with which you are familiar and describe the job
specialization used there. Is it efficient and effective? Why or why not? How could it
be improved?
• Can scientific management principles help you be more efficient? Choose a task that
you do regularly (such as laundry, fixing dinner, grocery shopping, studying for
habits isn’t easy to do).
• How do business organizations survive for 100+ years? Obviously, they’ve seen a lot
of historical events come and go! Choose one such company (for example, Coca-
Cola, Procter & Gamble, Avon, General Electric) and research its history. How has
the company changed over the years? From your research on this company, what
did you learn that could help you be a better manager?
• Find the current top five best-selling management books. Read a review of each
book, read the book covers, or even read the books. Write a short paragraph
• Steve’s and Mary’s suggested readings: Gary Hamel, The Future of Management
(Harvard Business School Press, 2007); Malcolm Gladwell, Blink (Little, Brown and
Company, 2005); James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the
• Come on, admit it. You multitask, don’t you? And if not, you probably know people
who do. Multitasking is common in the workplace. But does it make employees more
efficient and effective? Pretend you’re the manager in charge of a loan-processing
• In your own words, write down three things you learned in this chapter about being a
good manager.
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Turbulent Change? How Well Do I Handle Ambiguity? and What Do I Value? Using
the results of your assessments, identify personal strengths and weaknesses. What
will you do to reinforce your strengths and improve your weaknesses?
ADDITIONAL CHAPTER INFORMATION
You may want to use the following information to generate class discussion. If so, be
prepared to defend why students nonetheless need to know how management thought
has evolved.
Real Time: Preparing for the Age of the Never Satisfied Customer, a book by Regis
McKenna, argues that companies will have to reorganize in order to conduct their
business in real-time because “the competitive environment will no longer tolerate slow
response or delayed decision–making.” The assumption from decades of scientific
Studying the major theories and theorists can be challenging to some students. One
approach to learning this material that has been used in a classroom is to play a trivia
game for points. The instructor develops questions in the format used in “Jeopardy”
about management history, early theories, and early theorists. The class is divided into
teams for competition. One team selects a category, and the instructor reads the
appropriate question. If the team successfully answers the question, the team is