Evolution of Management

The Evolution of Management Theory

In the closing decades of the 19th century there was a quest of seeking innovative ways to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The Scientific Management Theory initiated on the basis of that. In this period of time crafts production was substituted by large factories in which a lot of technical revolutions have been taking place. The owners and managers were not capable of coping to these challenges therefore they hunted for advanced techniques to overcome this situation. As a solution the concepts of Job Specialization and division of labour came about. In this scenario workers who specialized in their respective tasks became more skilled.

The Scientific Management Theory

At the turn of the century, the most notable organizations were large and industrialized. Often they included ongoing, routine tasks that manufactured a variety of products. The United States highly prized scientific and technical matters, including careful measurement and specification of activities and results. Management tended to be the same. Frederick Taylor developed the “scientific management theory” which espoused this careful specification and measurement of all organizational tasks. Tasks were standardized as much as possible. Workers were rewarded and punished. This approach appeared to work well for organizations with assembly lines and other mechanistic, routinized activities. There were four core principles of this concept.

• Investigation and experimentation on organization performance

• Codification of new methods/standards

• Selection of employees according to codified standards

• Establishing a level of performance and a pay system with rewards

In 1910 most of the organizations were using this concept but selectively. Even though there was an increase in performance some disputes about this concept lead to an increase in trade union involvement. There were some major issues...