Compare and Contrast between Scientific School of Thought

Scientific school of management (also known as Taylorism or Taylor system) is a theory of management which analyzes & synthesizes the processes of workflow, while improving labor efficiency. The theory as a whole was developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor between 1880s & 1890s, & was first published in many of his monographs such as Shop Management in 1905 & The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911. He also believed that decisions which were based upon tradition & rules of thumb should be replaced by procedures which are precise and were developed after careful study of a volunteer at work.

The behavioral school of management thought was developed, because of weaknesses that were perceived in the assumptions formulated from the classical school. The classical school had emphasized on efficiency, process & principles. Many people felt that this emphasis did not give any importance to any of the important aspects of life of an organization, particularly as it related to human behavior. Therefore, the behavioral school of management was mainly focused on trying to get the meaning of the factors which would affect human behavior at the workplace.

As organizations developed & became more complex, there aroused a need for systematic understanding of managing the overall process of getting things done through many other people. Management is combination of a vast spectrum of theories. Management is divided into two important divisions’ i.e. The classical school of thoughts & the Neo-classical school of thoughts.

“Process of designing and maintain an environment in which individual working together in groups efficiently accomplish selected aims”

Management is an essential organ for all business organizations. Management consists of sires of interrelated functions which are performed by all managers. Management is a process of planning, organization, staffing, directing and controlling. So now we can say that management is a continuous process of interrelated functions of an organization in order to set basic goals which are to be performed for the existence of the company. Management is a complex activity .Management is an intangible force that cannot be seen but its presence can be felt in the way the organization functions. It is a group activity with different types of individuals getting together to achieve the organizational goals .Management is very dynamic .It operates in a changing environment .It adapts these changes so, that the business is able to maintain its competitiveness .Management ensures that the organization makes profit which is an incentive for continued successful operation of the enterprise.

Management is essential for achieving the goals of an organization. The task of a manager is to give a common direction to the individual effort in achieving overall goals of the organization. Management aims at reducing cost & increasing productivity. Management also operates in an ever changing environment. It has to make changes to adapt to face challenges that may come up in the future. Managers motivate and lead the individual in such a way so that he can achieve his personal individual goals or objectives. Management helps the development of society by providing good and durable quality products and service by creating an employment opportunity and adopting new technology.

Fredrick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) is known as the father of scientific management. The disciplines given by Taylor became famous in their own way. Scientific management is the word or the phrase given to the principle & practices which grew out of the work done by Taylor.

The Four basic principles contributed by Taylor are given below:-

(i) Scientific, not rule of thumb

(ii)Harmony, not discord

(iii) cooperation, not individualism

(iv) development of each and every person to his or her greatest efficiency and prosperity.

Therefore the scientific methods provide an understanding framework for the overview of the problems. It usually consists of defining the problem & gathering data, analyzing the data, developing alternatives and the best alternatives. Taylor believed that the scientific method would provide a useful way to determine the most productive method to perform the work.

Henri Fayol (1841-1925) was a French management theorist whose theories on scientific organization of labor were hugely influential in the end of the nineteenth century. Fayol graduated from the mining academy of St.Ethian in 1960. His theories dealt with the organization of production in the context of a competitive enterprise that has to control its production costs. Fayol was the first person to identify four functions of management-planning, organizing, directing & controlling although his method was a bit different as in plan, organize, command, coordinate and control. According to Fayol all the activities done by an industry can be divided into technical; commercial; financial; security; accounting and managerial. Fayol even told that one should have the qualities possessed by a manager such as physical, moral, education, knowledge & experience. He gave fourteen principles of management which are

Division of work

Authority & responsibility

Discipline

Unity of command

Unity of direction

subordination of individual interest to general interest

remuneration of employees

centralization and decentralization

scalar chain

order

equity

stability of personnel

initiative

Spirit de corps.

‘Max’ Weber (1864-1920) was a sociologist and a political economist who originated from Germany. The most notable organization was huge & fully industrialized. They often included ongoing routine tasks that produced a variety of products.

Tasks were standardized as much as they could. Max focused on dividing organizations into hierarchies, by establishing a strong line of authority & control. He suggested that organizations should develop comprehensive & detailed standard operating procedures for all tasks that are reutilized. Eventually unions & government regulations reacted to the rather dehumanizing effects of these theories. Too much attention was given to individual & their unique capabilities in the organization. Human resource departments were added to the organizations. The behavioral sciences played a major and an important role in helping to understand the needs of the workers as well as the needs of the organizations.

The six major principles of Max Weber are

1. A formal hierarchical structure
2. Management by rules
3. organization by functional specialty
4. An “up- focused” or “in-focused mission”
5. purposely impersonal
6. Employment based on technical qualification.

The classical or traditional thought of management was generally concerned with the structure & the activities of a formal organization. The importance derived from the achievement of an effective & efficient organization were seen to be the issues like the creation of a hierarchy of authority, the division of work, & the span of control.

The classical thought of management focuses on the efficiency or productivity and includes scientific, bureaucratic & administrative management.

The scientific approach requires many major principles in its application on management:

Develops a science for each operation to replace opinion & the rule-of-thumb.

It suggests that workers should be scientifically selected and should be based on their qualifications & trained to perform their jobs in the most optimistic manner.

It advocates genuine cooperation between workers & management based on mutual self-interest.

Suggests that management should take full responsibility for planning the work & that worker’s primary responsibility should be the achievement of management’s plans.

Scientific thought of management is a series of approaches which are aimed at improving the performance or efficiency of individual workers through the use of analytical procedures to lift workplace productivity. The system was developed by Fredrick Taylor (1856-1915), in the hope of providing the workplace with greater productivity & efficiency, which in turn gave the individuals a whole better understanding of management. He defined his theory as “the one best way for a job to be done” .Scientific management had brought many improvements to productivity of an organization, which was much needed & impressive. Highly repetitive jobs were re-designed, with a remarkable increase in output, which has contributed to the workplace greatly.

Despite all the criticisms of Taylor`s work, his work is considered to be an essential study in management. By recruiting the best employees & training them in the best useful way and also giving them satisfactory wages according to the up-to-date values can improve the stage of work and yield (productivity). This will certainly lead to an increase in the efficiency or productivity of business. We still rely on these ideas along with some of the aims of human relations theory which are flexibility, informal communication, and motivation. Both overlook the organizational excellence through increased efficiency. This can be achieved today by equally depending upon both the theories.

Scientific management is very important, therefore, because it could raise the standard of living of all the countries by making workers more efficient & productive & adding their wages. Unlike the theorist of the human relation movement, the behavioral theorist engaged in objective research of human behavior movement in organization. They carefully attempted to keep their personal belief out of their work life. It has added the importance meaning to our understanding of power, conflict, & organization. Our vote of thanks leads to all those who introduced these theories to the world. This is the conclusion for this project.