Top 10 Classical Management Theories of the Twentieth Century

Mondo Entertainment Updated on 2024-01-31

1. Taylor's Theory of Scientific Management (1903).

Frederick W. TaylorTaylor (1856-1915) was a classical American management scholar whose main works include Principles of Scientific Management (1911) and Scientific Management (1912). The core of scientific management:

1. Management should be scientific and standardized

2. It is necessary to advocate a spiritual revolution and the interests of both labor and management are the same.

The result of the implementation of scientific management is to improve production efficiency, and high efficiency is the basis for employees and employers to achieve common prosperity. Therefore, Taylor believes that only by replacing traditional experience management with scientific and standardized management is the means to achieve the highest work efficiency.

The content of scientific management:

1. Carry out action research, determine the operating procedures and action specifications, determine the labor time quota, and improve the scientific operation methods to improve work efficiency.

2. Make scientific choices for workers, train workers to use standard operating methods, and make workers grow in their posts.

3. Formulate a scientific process flow to standardize machines, equipment, processes, tools, materials, and working environments as much as possible.

4. Implement piecework wages, excess work, and excess remuneration.

5. Separation of management and labor.

Successful cases of the application of scientific management theory: The Gantt chart was used for planning control, the world's first Ford automobile assembly line was created, the mechanized large industry was realized, the labor productivity was greatly improved, and the situation of high efficiency, low cost, high wages and high profits appeared.

II. A Study of the Movements of the Gilbres (1907).

Frank BGilbreth (1868-1924), the father of American action studies. Mrs. Gilbles, the first doctor of psychology in American history, is honored as the "First Lady of Management" in the United States.

His main works include: Studies in Action (1911), Management Psychology (1917), Studies in Fatigue (1919), and Studies in Time (1920). They use observation, recording, and analysis methods to conduct motion studies to determine standard process actions and improve production efficiency.

At the same time, they developed production flow charts and program diagrams, which are still widely used today. They argue that workers' sense of self-management can be developed through the study of movements;They pioneered fatigue research, and their impact on worker health and productivity continues to this day.

3. Weber's Theory of Organization (1911).

Max Weber (1864-1920), a classical German management theorist, is known as the "father of organizational theory".

His main works include: "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", "General Economic History", "The Theory of Social and Economic Organization", etc.

According to Weber, there are three kinds of power in society, one is traditional power, which is possessed by traditional conventions or hereditary;The second is supernatural power, ** to worship or follow nature;The third is the legal power, the power prescribed by law or system.

For economic organizations, it should be based on reasonable and legitimate power in order to ensure the continuous and lasting business objectives of the organization.

The rules and regulations are the guarantee for the healthy operation of the organization and the basis of the legitimate power in the organization. Weber's ideal model of bureaucratic organization is:

1. The organization is formed according to legal procedures, with clear goals and complete rules and regulations.

2. The structure of the organization is a hierarchical control system, and the people in the organization exercise their powers according to their positions and formal job responsibilities.

3. The relationship between people is the relationship between people and work, not the relationship between people and people.

4. According to the needs of the position, open selection of suitable talents.

5. Reasonable division of labor and professional training to improve production efficiency.

6. Pay according to the position and contribution, and establish a promotion reward and punishment system to improve the professionalism and sense of achievement of workers.

Weber rationally and creatively put forward the organizational theory and organizational norms of administrative organization science, which is his greatest contribution to the history of management thought.

4. Fayol's General Theory of Management (1916).

Henri Fayol (1841-1925), a French classical management theorist, is known as the three pioneers of Western classical management theory along with Weber and Taylor, and is respected as the founder of the management process school.

His representative work is Industrial Management and General Management (1916). Fayol put forward the theory of five functions of management: that is, management is the five functions of planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling, and put forward 14 management principles: division of labor, power and responsibility, discipline, unified command, subordination of individual interests to the interests of the whole, personnel compensation, centralization, hierarchy, order, fairness, personnel stability, innovation and team spirit. Fayol's general management theory distilled the universal principles of management, which are still used as a guide for our day-to-day management.

5. Mayo's Theory of Human Relations (1933).

George Elton Myao (1880-1949), an American behavioral scientist originally from Australia, was the founder of the theory of human relations.

Main publications: "People in the Organization" and "Management and Morale". Mayo's famous Hawthorne experiment, which lasted nine years at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in the United States, really kicked off the study of human behavior in organizations.

The original intention of Hawthorne's experiment was to try to find ways to improve the external conditions and environment to improve labor productivity, but the results showed that the fundamental factors affecting productivity were not external working conditions, but the workers' own factors and the sense of harmony and security accepted by the group.

Mayo's "Theory of Human Relations" points out that workers are social beings, not economic beings in the simple senseThere is an informal organization in the enterprise, and care must be taken to maintain a balance with the formal organization;Improving worker satisfaction is the primary condition for improving labor productivity, and high satisfaction is the reasonable satisfaction of both material and spiritual needs.

6. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory (1943).

Abraham HMaslow, 1908-1970), an American psychologist, proposed the theory of hierarchy of human needs. Representative work: "Theory of Human Motivation". Maslow pointed out that people's needs are ranked according to importance and hierarchy, and after the low-level needs are satisfied, people will pursue high-level needs.

7. McGregor's Human Nature Assumption and Management Style Theory (1960).

Douglas MMcT Gregor (1906-1964) was a well-known behavioral scientist in the United States. As a representative of "The Human Aspects of Enterprise" (1957), he put forward the famous X-Y theory.

McGregor called the traditional view of management theory X and put forward the assumptions about human nature and the way of management, while he proposed Theory Y as opposed to Theory X.

8. Herzberg's two-factor motivation theory (1966).

Fredrick Herzberg, American behavioral scientist. His main works include: "Motivational Factors of Work", "Work and Human Nature", "The Choice of Management: Is It More Effective or More Human?".etc.

The two-factor theory is his main achievement. According to Herzberg, it brings a positive attitude to work. Most of the factors that increase satisfaction and motivation are factors related to the content of the work or the work itself, which are called motivational factors, such as a sense of achievement, recognition from colleagues, appreciation from superiors, more responsibilities or more room for growth. What can make employees feel unsatisfied, which belongs to the work environment or work relationship, is called health factors, such as company policies, management measures, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, wages and benefits, etc.

The enlightenment of the two-factor theory to managers is that it is necessary to pay attention to the importance of factors in the work content of employees, especially to enrich the work and meet the needs of employees in many aspects.

9. Wei Lian Da Nei's Z Theory (1981).

William is a Japanese-American scholar who is best known for his Z Theory (1981). Theory Z believes that the success of all enterprises is inseparable from trust, sensitivity and intimacy, so it can be managed democratically based on the principles of frankness, openness and communication.

The process of building a Z-type organization is:

1. Cultivate everyone's integrity and kindness.

2. Leaders and managers work together to formulate new management strategies and clarify common business objectives.

3. Implement the company's goals through efficient collaboration and flexible incentives.

4. Cultivate the communication skills of managers.

5. Stable employment system.

6. Reasonable and long-term assessment and promotion system.

7. Job rotation to cultivate and expand the career development of employees.

8. Encourage employees and trade unions to participate in the management of the company and expand the field of participation.

9. Establish a comprehensive overall relationship between individual employees and the organization.

10. Peter Shengji's Theory of Learning Organization (1990).

Peter MSenge is the founder of the "Learning Organization Theory" in the United States and the most outstanding new management master of our time. His representative work is "The Fifth Cultivation - The Art and Practice of Learning Organization". The learning organization theory believes that the source of sustainable development of enterprises is to improve the overall competitive advantage and improve the overall competitiveness of enterprises. In the future, a truly outstanding company will be an organization that engages all employees wholeheartedly and is good at learning and continuous learning—a learning organization. By brewing the working atmosphere and corporate culture of a learning organization, we lead employees to continue to learn, make progress, and constantly adjust their concepts, so that the organization has more enduring vitality.

The characteristics of a learning organization are:

1. All members have common aspirations and ideals.

2. Be good at continuous learning.

3. Flat organizational structure.

4. Autonomy and conscious management of employees.

5. Balance between employees' families and careers.

6. The new role of the leader is changed to designer, servant and teacher.

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