Introduction
“Organizations are (1) social entities that (2) are goal directed (3) are designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems and (4) linked to the external environment.” (Daft, 2004). The study of their behavior forms an integral part of business management because it is only from their study that organizations can be designed to provide desired outputs from the most efficient combination of resources. It is important to note that organizations are not only business based but also may be of other types too. (The La Cosa Notra, the Government, councils, clubs, a school, etc. are some non-conventional organizations.)The “Classical Organizational Theories"refer to the initial theories of organizational behavioradvocated by researchers within the first quarter of the 20th century, in a collective sense.They have played a pivotal role in influencing and shaping social consensus and public administration and have been the bedrock of modern organizational behavioral theories.
Evolution of organizational theory with scientific management principles
Frederick Winslow Taylor, pioneered the efficiency and productivity oriented, scientific management theory vide his 1911 book “Principles of Scientific Management”. Taylor believed that a job can be done only in a single way with maximum efficiency and productivityand therefore, the job should be done that way, everytime. Taylor championed the concept of “efficiency above everything” and “fair wages for fair work” (Daft, 2004). He carried out time study tests to find out the fair work level of different activities in the shop floor of a Pig Iron processing plant. His scientific theory consists of four principles.
- Workers should be allotted to jobs as per their skill and efficiency in doing them, not on random basis.
- Monitoring should be done to ensure efficient working of the workers and their productivity should be around the fair work amount as measured by time-motion studies.
- Workers should not take initiative. Only the supervisors and managers should provide initiative and guidance.
Today, Taylor is criticized for hisemphasis on production over workers. Some of his theories tenets such as rewarding high outputs, reward for suggestions, procedural instructionsto workers in writing (the QAP of today’s firms), etc.arestill in practice in many organizations.(Freelibrary)
Fayol’s Administrative Theory
Henri Fayol , a French engineer, contributed a theory called “Administrative Theory” in 1925. Unlike Taylor, who covered the production part only, Fayol’s theory is more detailed. Fig: Fayol’s Administrative Theory
Planning(what to do, PLANNING
Strategy to be applied
Etc.
How to divide task,
How to group, whom
delegations
.
COMMANDING COORDINATING CONTROLLING
Instructing, carrying Harmonizing and Checking,
Out all related tasks, ensuring that work Inspecting output
Notes,etc is towards common goal with actual vs planned
. Fayol first divides the theory to encompass five primary functions and then carries on the process by deriving fourteen management principles from the five primary functions. (Dixon,2003) These are Division of work, Authority and Responsibility, Discipline, Unity of Command, Unity of direction, Subordination, Remuneration, Centralization, Scalar Chain, Order, Equity, Stability of Tenure, Initiative and Espirite de corps.(Freelibrary)
Weber’s theory of bureaucracy
Max Weber was a German sociologist and he propounded his now well-known bureaucratic theory of Organizational behavior. While forming his theory, Weber considers the history and social perspectives of the organization too. Weber first conceptualizes a hierarchical structure and says that orders of higher levels are obeyed by lower levels because of three types of authority, e.g. traditional or inherited, legal-rule oriented and charismatic. The Charismatic mode is unstable and cannot be relied upon (voters in politics is a good analogy). Of the remaining two, Weber justifiably argues in support of the legal-rule oriented communication based organization and calls it the “bureaucracy”. Weber also gives an ideal of such a bureaucratic organization and a member of the same as a public sector or local public office and a public servant or employee, respectively.
Weber propounds six major properties of bureaucratic organizations, which are
- A pyramid like,hierarchical structure.
- Management by rules defined or laid down.
- Organization arranged by functional expertise or skill.
- An up-focused or in-focused mission
- Intentionally impersonal and impartial
- Employment is a long-term career option and depends upon technical qualifications.
Weber’s bureaucratic model has been riddled by criticism from today’s management gurus but cognizance has to be taken that Weber had published his theory in 1922, and he did anticipate the bad name that bureaucracy has now come to be. (Freelibrary)
Taylor, Fayol and Weber are considered the originators of “Classical Organizational Theory”. Further developing from their theories, many more theories have spawned such as Senge’s“The Learning Organization” and Christiansen’s “Disruptive Technology”.
Public Administration is the implementation of the government’s policy by the organization of public servants, which is the bureaucracy. Bureaucracy has a bad name today for complete lack of initiative andshifting the responsibility (as per Taylor). Layers of red tape lead to delays as each public servant can do only what he is supposed to do as per rules. Fayol’s Espirite de Corpsis badly needed here but who will administer it and is it in the rulebook? Bureaucracy’s rules make bureaucracy unable to function but more rules are still made to counter the status quo, only escalate the organizational complexity in a classic Catch22 situation.
In spite of criticism in hindsight, the three social scientists continue to be studied and their theories continue to be used as starting stones for new and modern organizational theory.
References
1. Daft R.L. (2004). Organizational Theory, Change and Design.Cengage Learning India, New Delhi.
2. Dixon.R . (2007). The Management Task, 3rd Ed. Elsiever Publication, Burlington,
MA 01803
3. Frederick Winslow Taylor: father of scientific management. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Accessed on Jun 04 2014 at http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Frederick+Winslow+Taylor%3a+father+of+scientific+management.-a0151189057
4. Henri Fayol: planning, organization, command, coordination, control.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Jun 04 2014 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Henri+Fayol%3a+planning%2c+organisation%2c+command%2c+coordination%2c+control.-a099932523
5. Lǣgard J, Bindslev.M (2006). Organizational Theory (E-book),Ventus Publishing ApS& bookbon.com
6. Max Weber (1864-1920): the conceptualization of bureaucracy.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Jun 04 2014 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Max+Weber+(1864-1920)%3a+the+conceptualisation+of+bureaucracy.-a099733309
