Management Theory in the Work Environment

Management theory is a group of ideas on management that evolved in the late 19th century and early 20th century. There is much written on management and how to achieve the overall objective which is to “work with and through other people to accomplish the objectives of both the organization and its members (Montana & Charnov, p. 2). The Air Force and in my organization we teach and use many of these theories in managing everyday operations and leading our people.

The Classical School evolved during the industrial revolution as large factories were created in response to economic expansion. Some of the pioneers of these theories were for instance, Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) who developed the scientific management theory in believing that efficiency and systematization could improve worker productivity. This method provides a logical framework for the analysis of problems. It basically consists of identifying the problem, gathering information, analyzing the information, developing solutions and selecting the best solution to the problem (Scridhar, p. 4).

Other contributors to scientific management were Henry L. Gantt (1861-1919) who emphasized the psychology of the worker and the importance of morale in the work place. Gantt created a wage-payment system and developed a chart system for scheduling and production. Incentives were given for workers who exceeded production standards, believing motivating workers would increase production. Frank and Lillian Gilbert (1878-1924) developed more efficient ways of performing repetitive tasks. Their studies time-and-motion is a process of analyzing jobs to determine the best movements for performing each task. The Gilbreth’s would analyze workers performing tasks and then look for ways to reduce the number of motions required to perform the task with the goal of increasing worker productivity. Mary Parker Follet (1868-1933) focused her efforts on conflict resolution. She asserted that...