Week 8 - Organisation and Management Theory

Two of the key theories about organisation and management theory are:
1) Contingency Theory
2) Classical School Theory.

The contingency theory according to Mullins, L J (2007) is an extension of the systems approach to management that implies that the structure of an organisation and its success are dependent upon the nature of environmental influences. There is, therefore, no one best way to structure or manage organisations; rather it must be dependent upon the contingencies of the situation.

The classical school theory was developed by early management theorists to try to find the single best way or a ‘recipe’ to manage and organise. It is based on identification of single best approach to management and organisation, or ‘One Best Way’.

Scientific management was developed y F.W Taylor and is known as the classical approach to management as it advocated the breaking down of work processing into discrete tasks to find the ‘one-best-way’ of performing each task in terms of scientific procedures. Increased productivity is rewarded by financial rewards.

Some advantages of scientific management are:

- Scientific management helps to develop a relationship between managers and employees which encourages co-operation and understanding.

- When using scientific management, managers can clearly tell employees what it is that needs to be done and this is done in a way which avoids conflict in the workplace.

- Another advantage is that production standards are usually increased and because of this, more profit is generated. Employees can receive higher rewards and the business can also put extra retained profit into the organisation to help develop more and become stronger.

- Because of extended planning, work is clearly set out for employees and this also helps to get rid of any problems and change anything that may cause a problem.

- There are direct reward schemes for employees rather than end-of-year profit sharing schemes so this helps to keep employees motivation.

- There is an emphasis on measuring and this enables improvement for employees, managers and the entire organisation as a whole.

Some disadvantages of scientific management are:

- This theory can easily be abused in a way that makes scientific management to exploit employees and therefore there could be conflict with labour unions and other trade unions.

- Scientific management does not leave any room for an individual’s preference or own initiative as everything is done by the managers and the employees are just told what needs to be done rather than offering their own suggestions or dealing with a problem in their own way.

- Another disadvantage is that this approach does make employees out to be machines in the sense that they will do what they are told to do and if they don’t, they can leave. This can be a big de-motivational factor for employees if they do not feel welcome or feel like they are a part of the organisation.

- As there is normally a time limit on each piece of work, when there is a need to get the work done quickly, it could have an effect on the employees as well as the overall quality of the product may begin to lack.

- The whole process of scientific management is very time consuming and takes a lot of effort to think through therefore it can be quite difficult to make sure the right strategies are thought out and if these do not work then it can have an adverse effect on the business overall.

http://www.12manage.com/methods_taylor_scientific_management.html