ESSAY: The five key management theory/principle milestones

Assignment Instructions

Assignment Title: The five key management theory/principle milestones over time.
Based on your readings and research, develop a timeline of five key management theory/principle milestones over time. Please address the following questions for each of the milestones you elect to include on your timeline:
•Why was this milestone significant for the period of time it was created? What was going on in the world of work that allowed the environment to know the time was right for this particular milestone?
•Which theorist “fathered” the principle? What were the signs of the time which led the theorist to develop the management concept?
•What are the highlights and limitations of the theory/principle?

ANSWER

Introduction

Management, from an implementation or functional perspective, refers to the process that involves preparation, organization, resourcing, guiding and controlling different activities with the purpose of achieving desired goals. It basically is a mechanism of problem-solving. The concepts of management theory have evolved into the present theories in practice that are applied in modern days. From ancient civilizations, management has been a cornerstone of progress for mankind.  The classical management theories that are in practice today emerged around the start of the twentieth century. They include scientific management, which mainly aims at matching tasks and people for the purpose of maximizing efficiency. They also include administrative management which mainly focuses on identifying the systems and principles of management that will lead to the creation of the most competent management and organization systems. Behavioral management …

Early History of Management

The idea of management was first conceived in 500 B.C when Sumerian traders came up with written records for commercial and government use (Hayes, 2018). Throughout history, the application or management has been evident in different civilizations, from the Egyptian civilization to the Roman civilization to modern civilization. The pyramids of Egypt, possibly built as early as 4000 B.C required great management and coordination (Hayes, 2018). The hierarchy and military organization of the ancient Roman Empire also displays a great deal of management…

The Scientific Management Theory

            The evolution of modern management began with the scientific management theory, in the late 19^th century, after the industrial revolution had swept through Canada, the United States, and Europe.  The originally existing small workshops before the revolution were replaced by large factories, which accommodated hundreds or thousands of semi-skilled and unskilled employees. Most of the mangers of the time only had technical skills and were not prepared for the social challenges that arise when people come together for a common purpose (Wright et al., 2018). Therefore, managers began to research on ways to effectively execute their duties, while maintaining …

            Adam smith was a famous Scottish economist who was among the first people to research on the effects of different manufacturing models (Wright et al., 2018). From his research, smith concluded that factories in which employees specialized in one of a few tasks performed better than factories in which employees performed multiple tasks (Wright et al., 2018). Based …

The Administrative Management Theory

            While some managers were researching on person-task based efficiency, others were studying administrative management, which is basically the study of creating an organizational structure that results to high effectiveness and efficiency (Wright et al., 2018). An organizational structure can be defined as a configuration of duty and authority relationships that control….

            To assist Germany support its emerging and growing industrial enterprise, Weber came up with the principles of bureaucracy, which was a formal system of the administrative organization designed for the purpose of ensuring effectiveness and efficiency (Carnevale, 2018). The five principles clearly explained the roles of managers and those of employees in an…

            Henri Fayol on the other side identifies 14 principles which he believed were essential in increasing efficiency of management in an organization. Some of these principles have been dropped while others have survived. The Fayol principles are a clearly set guidelines that managers ought to use to create a working environment that makes it effective and efficient to apply organizationa…

Behavioral Management Theory

            The behavioral management theorists were developed in the first half of the twentieth century. These theories choose a theme that was focused on how managers should behave at a personal level for the purpose of motivating employees and encouraging them to be more committed and dedicated to the achievement of the goals of the organization. While F.W. Taylor may be considered to be the father of modern management, Mary Parker Follett may be considered as the mother of the management ideology (Berry, et al., 2016). Most of Follet’s writings were based on the concept that Taylor had ignored the human resource side of management and…

Management Science Theory

            Management science theory is a more modern approach to organizational management which focuses on the application of severe quantitative techniques with the purpose of helping managers make the best use of organizational resources in the production of goods and services. Essentially, management science is a theory that explores and expands scientific management. There…

Organizational Environment Theory

            One of the most important milestones in the history of management happened when scholars went beyond how managers influence behavior in an organization to how they control the relationship of the organization to its external environment. The external environment, in this case, includes the conditions beyond the boundaries of the organization that may affect the ability…

            The open-set theory was developed by Robert Kahn, Daniel Katz, and James Thompson in the 60s. The famous theorists regarded organization to be an open system, a system that gets resources from the external environment and through management, converts them to be sent back into the environment again. The theorists argued that ‘parts can be more than the sum of the…

            The contingency theory, also developed in the 60s was another influencing factor of the organizational environment theory. The theory was developed by Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch in the USA and Tom Burns and G.M. Stalker in the UK (Noe et al., 2017). This theory was based on the understanding that organizations should acquire valuable resources. The crucial message of … operates.

Conclusion

            Management is a concept that has been a part of human life for a long time. The system of hierarchy has a very long history. Today, organizations are successful, partly because of quality management. The modern management structure is a product of centuries-long research and development of theories of management. The current managerial structures…

References

Berry, A. J., Broadbent, J., & Otley, D. T. (Eds.). (2016). Management control: theories, issues, and practices. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Carnevale, D. (2018). Organizational development in the public sector. Routledge.

Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Wright, M., Amess, K., Bacon, N., & Siegel, D. (2018). Management Buyouts: The history of an organizational innovation. In The Routledge Companion to Management Buyouts (pp. 40-50). Routledge.