Do Organisations Need Managers

Do Organisations need managers?

Styles of Management

It can be seen that there is a very diverse range of management styles which have evolved over time to create a spectrum stretching from autocratic to democratic, each with different principles on how an organisation should be managed.

One of the earliest management styles was developed by the controversial Frederick W.Taylor with his idea of Scientific Management, which aimed to increase efficiency by carefully planning workers’ movements, this involved jobs becoming standardised and simplified so that they were broken down into core elements, making the job more simple which therefore could be done more quickly and efficiently. This created undemanding and repetitive tasks to be carried out by workers under expert supervision. Taylor’s primary interest was to improve efficiency and believed both managers and workers shared a common interest, to raise their earnings and hence their standard of living. To achieve this he created the payment scheme of ‘piece rate’ which made a direct link between output and pay, giving workers an incentive to earn more by increasing their individual productivity. Although it was claimed (by who – reference) that this style of management was successful with major firms, such as ford, seeing productivity increase by 122%, labour costs reduce by 38% and workers earnings rise by 18% within 40 years, it has received major criticism as Harrison states the dehumanisation of work, with the assumption that workers are purely motivated by money and that they have nothing else to contribute to the workplace contributed to growing industrial unrest. Subsequently this contributed to the rising power of trade unions. (Harrison, 2004, pp.18) Hoxie agrees that Scientific Management inevitably tends to the constant breakdown of the established crafts and craftsmanship and the constant elimination of skill. (Hoxie, 1915, pp.129-131) Taylor’s autocratic style of management led to theorist...