DAY-1

What is management

It is very difficult to give a precise definition to the term management. It is essentially the
common elephant which is explored by several blind men and explained according to individual
confined experiences. Management essentially has been evolutionary in growth. Different
thinkers laid stress on different aspects. Since it is a field which has borrowed heavily from other
disciplines hence the tendency has been to view and interpret it from very different angles. The
economist looks upon it as a resource like land, capital and labour. The bureaucrats interpret it as
a system of authority to achieve business goals. The sociologists considers managers as a part of
the class of elite in the society. The psychologist defines it as way to understand and motivate
people. For mathematician and scientist it is the quantitative technique to increase productivity
and decrease costs.

Management refers to the process of coordinating and integrating work activities

so that they’re completed efficiently and effectively with and through other
people.
1. The process refers to the ongoing functions or primary activities engaged
in by managers.
2. Coordinating others’ work activities is what distinguishes a manager’s job
from a nonmanagerial one.
3. Efficiency is getting the most output from the least amount of inputs, the
goal of which is to minimize resource costs.
4. Effectiveness is completing activities so that organizational goals are
attained; often described as “doing the right things.”

Some important definition which came up during its process of evolution are as follows:

F.W. Taylor: Management is the art of knowing what you want to do and then seeing it is done
in the best and cheapest way.

Henry Fayol: To manage is to forecast and to plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and
to control.

Ralph Davis: Management is the function of executive leadership anywhere.

George Terry: Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organizing, actuating

and controlling performed to determine and accomplish the predetermined objectives by the use
of people and resources.

Lawrence Appleby: Management is the development of people and not just that of the
organization.

Dalton Macfarland: Management is the process by which managers create, direct, maintain and
operate purposive organizations through systematic, coordinated, cooperative human effort.
Stanely Vance: Management is simply the process of decision making and control over the
action of humanbeings for the express purpose of attaining predetermined goals.

Peter Drucker: Management is work, and as such it has its own skills, its own tools, its own
techniques its own principles and its own ethics. It is the organ, the life giving, acting, dynamic
organ of the institution it manages.

Jhon Mee: Management may be defined as the art of securing maximum results with a minimum
of effort so as to secure maximum prosperity and happiness for both employer and employee and
give the public best possible service.

NATURE/CHARACTERISTICS OF MANAGEMENT

1) Management is a process: It is a process of planning, organizing, coordinating and

controlling. These functions are performed continuously and simultaneously and not necessarily
in any serial order.

It is possible to acquire knowledge for handling the different functions of this process through
experience and without any theoretical training. However it becomes a more effective and
efficient with the help of training and formal knowledge.

2) It is a social process: It takes place only through people. It is this pervasiveness of human
element that gives management its special character as a social process.

3) It involves group effort: Management came into existence when a group (animal?) decided
to join individual strength and abilities to attain a common and predetermined objective.
However, now it has attained a new dimension and even the individual efforts have been
recognized to possess management principles. Self-actualization, in fact, was recognized as the
ultimate level by Maslow while propounding his theory of motivation.

4) It is a Dynamic function: In an organization each and every time people keep on changing,
process, the level, hierarchy, designation everything keeps on changing. So in an organization
management has to be very dynamic, keep on forecasting the uncertainty which can come up,
take up the risk. It has to be very flexible in adjusting and coping up with the changing
environment.

5) It is a distinct entity: It is a distinct work. It involves “getting things done through others”
rather than “doing” itself.

6) It is a multi-disciplinary subject: It draws upon many other disciplines such as physics,

mechanics, anthropology, sociology, psychology and other social sciences.

7) Factors of production: Management basically deals with 5 M’s – men, material, money,
method and machines. These five M’s are very important for an organization to exist.
8) Intangible force.

9) It is all pervasive: Unlike the common perception, management is not limited just to business
organization, but exists at all levels be it the government of a nation, scientific research, religious
organizations or even sports.

10) It is an essential human activity: It has always been a part of human society ever since the
dawn of civilization. The life today has become so complex that entire world will collapse
without it.

11) It is a profession: It is backed by a systematic body of knowledge. A number of its

principles need proper learning and formal education. But it fails (unlike medical and legal) to
qualify the test of professionalism relating to restricted entry.

Is Management Art or Science?

The debate has been long and intense. Generally it is said that Management is an art, though not
so perfect as music or painting. At the same time it is considered a discipline of science though
not as exact as physical Science

Art is an expression of our feelings, emotions, ideas and values and a release of our fear,
anxieties and tensions. It provides an opportunity to stretch ourselves beyond the physical
confines of our universe. Management shares all these attributes with arts.

Science refers to a systematized body of knowledge acquired by mankind through observation,

experimentation and intelligent speculation, which is capable of verification. Through this
process some general principles related to a phenomena can be evolved. This is true for
Management also.

However it is obvious that management is a discipline of arts. Music too is based on principles of
sound, yet by no stretch of imagination can it be termed a discipline of science. The same is true
for painting.

WHAT DO MANAGERS DO?

No two managers’ jobs are alike. But management writers and researchers have
developed some specific categorization schemes to describe what managers do. We’re
going to look at five categorization schemes: functions and processes, roles, skills,
managing systems, and situational analysis.
A. Management Functions and Processes. Henri Fayol, a French industrialist from
the early part of the 1900s, proposed that managers perform five management
functions: POCCC (plan, organize, command, coordinate, control). These
functions still provide the basis around which popular management textbooks are
organized, but the functions have been condensed to four.
 a. Planning involves the process of defining goals, establishing
strategies for achieving those goals, and developing plans to
integrate and coordinate activities.
b. Organizing is the process of determining what tasks are to be
done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who
reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
c. Staffing is the process of determination who will do the tasks
identified during organizing.
c. Leading includes motivating subordinates, influencing individuals
or teams as they work, selecting the most effective communication
channel, or dealing in any way with employee behavior issues.
d. Controlling is monitoring activities to ensure that they are being
accomplished, comparing performance with previously set goals,
and correcting any significant deviations.
2. The reality of managing isn’t quite as simplistic as these descriptions
imply. It’s more realistic to describe managers’ functions from the point of
view of a process.
3. The management process is the set of ongoing decisions and work
activities in which managers engage as they plan, organize, lead, and
control.

PIONEERS IN MANAGEMENT
The development of management thought has been evolutionary in nature. Though the
systematic study of management started only in the second half of the nineteenth century, but
management in some form or the other has existed ever since the dawn of civilization. Evidence
of the use of principles of management is to be found in the administration of Mohenjodaro and
Harappa in 2000 B.C., the Buddha order and the sangha in 530 B.C., the organization of public
life in ancient Greece, the organization of Roman Catholic Church and the organization of
military forces.
Some important contributors in the field of management are:

F.W. TAYLOR: The scientific Management era is profoundly associated with [Link], so
much so that he is called the “Father of Scientific Management”. Taylor was the first one to
recognize the need of a scientific approach to the task of managing an enterprise. He was an
Industrial Engineer. He studied the causes of low efficiency carefully and concluded that
management did not really manage. He decided to work out a system whereby the interests of the
management and workers became the same. His scientific approach comprised of
(a) Observation, (b) measurement, (c) experimentation and (d) Inference. He further condensed
the knowledge and experience by classifying, tabulating and reducing to rules, laws and
formulae. He summed up his approach in these words:

• Science, not rule of thumb.

• Harmony and not discord.
• Co-operation and not individualism.
• Maximum output in place of restricted output.
• Development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.
• Equitable division of work and responsibility between management and labour.
• To find one best method of working.
• Carefully determine a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage.

Techniques recommended for the achievement of these principles and objectives are:

• Functional control instead of line control to prevent the necessity of all round executive
which is of rare occurrence. Division of work into thinking and doing for separation of
mental work from manual work.
• Determination of task - on the basis of method study, routing, motion study, time study,
fatigue study and rate setting.
• Planning of Industrial operations - what work shall be done, how the work shall be done,
where the work shall be done and when the work shall be done.
• Proper selection, placement and training of workers by a centralized personnel department.
• Improvement in the methods of work viz:
(a) Standardization of tools and equipment’s
(b) Regulation of speeds of machine.
(c) Improvement of work environment

• Introduction of cost analysis to find out inefficiency and wastage and to distinguish between
profitable and unprofitable activities.
• Mental revolution to bring about harmony between labour and management.
• Creation of healthy and cheerful atmosphere within the factory to remove dullness and
monotony of factory life.
• Supply of proper materials and UpToDate machineries.

Limitations of Taylor’s approach:

Taylor’s approach had mixed reaction during his lifetime.

• It was not appreciated by workers and their unions for obvious reasons. It prescribed one best
way’ of doing jobs and workers were compelled to follow it.
• The approach gave advantage to physically strong workers over others.
• The Industrial psychologists challenged the assumption of ‘one best way’ and criticized
treating workmen as cogs in a machine without giving them an opportunity to think about
their jobs and methods of work.
• The human approach got subordinated to mechanical approach. Many vital aspects of
management were overlooked.
• His insistence on detailed planning was flawed as such plans were not flexible and any new
circumstance or situation rendered the plan clueless.

Taylor's methods have also been challenged by socialist intellectuals. The arguments put forward
relate to progressive defanging of workers in the workplace and the subsequent degradation of
work as management, powered by capital, uses Taylor's methods to render work repeatable,
precise yet monotonous and skill-reducing. James W. Rinehart argued that Taylor's methods
of transferring control over production from workers to management, and the division of labor
into simple tasks, intensified the alienation of workers that had begun with the factory system
of production around 1870–1890

Henry Fayol: A French Industrialist, he developed a theory of general management applicable

equally to all kinds of organizations and in all fields whether social, political, economic or
Industrial.

He was born in 1841 and graduated as a mining engineer. He worked as a director general for 30
years in a mine. During the period he brought the enterprise from bankruptcy to a great success.
In 1916 he published his well-known work - Industrial and General Administration.

• He identified six activities in a management setup:

• Technical activities concerning production.
• Commercial activities concerning buying, selling and exchange.
• Financial activities concerning optimum use of capital.
• Security activities concerning protection of property.
• Accounting activities concerning final accounts, cost and statistics.
• Managerial activities concerning planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and
controling.

He suggested following principles of management:

• Division of work: This emphsasizes the importance of specialization so as to produce more

and better with same effort
• Authority and Responsibility: These two terms are correlated and responsibility is a
corollary of authority.
• Discipline: It is essential for successful management. In essence it is obedience, application,
energy, behaviour and outwards mark of respect shown by subordinates to the superiors.
• Unity of Command: An employee must receive orders from one and one person alone.
• Unity of direction: Each group of activities with common objectives should have one head
and one plan.
• Subordination of individual interest to group interest: Group interest must always prevail
over individual interest.
• Remuneration of personnel: It should be fair and afford maximum satisfaction to both the
organization and its employees.
• Centralization: Everything that increases the importance of the subordinate’s role is
decentralized, everything that reduces it is centralized. Degree of concentration of authority
varies according to the needs of the situation.
• Scalar chain: It denotes the line of authority from the highest executive to the lowest one for
the purpose of communication. An employee should feel free to contact his superior.
• Order: There must be a place for everything and everything must be kept in its place.
Similarly a place should be assigned to each employee and every employee should be at his
assigned place.
• Equity: Equity is the combination of kindliness and justice in a manager. This helps in
creating loyalty and devotion among the employees.
• Stability of Tenure of Personnel: Management should strive to minimise employee
turnover. High turnover is detrimental to the organization.
• Initiative: It refers to freedom to propose a plan and execute it. Freedom to take initiative
helps in incresing zeal and energy of the employee and makes him more responsible.
• Espirit de Corps: The need for teamwork and the importance of effective communication.

Fayol made it clear that this list was not complete and more may be added to it. He also
emphasized that none of these principles are inflexible. However he did emphasize the
universality of management principles.

Compare and Contrast Taylor and Fayol

Taylor an Fayol.
• Both were Engineers
• Both employed scientific approach to revolutionize Management
• Both were extremely successful
• Both were contemporaries
• Both advocated
o Fair wage for fair work
o Discipline
o Subordination of individual interest to group interest
o Division of work
o Order
Both differed:
1. Taylor was involved with Operations Management whereas Fayol with general
management
2. Taylor experience pertained to grass root functions; Fayol had the view from the top
3. Taylor suffered criticism towards the end but Fayol remained above criticism
4. Tayor favored centralization; Fayol autonomy.
5. Taylor had no place for initiative; Fayol believed in Initiative
6. Taylor could not comprehend the importance of human motivation; Fayol emphasized
Espirit the corps.

Contribution of Frank Gilberth (1868-1924)

He and his wife (Lilian Gilberth - 1878-1972) made substantial contribution to management
thought. Their contribution included:

• Motion Study: This technique went on to revolutionize the work efficiency and efficacy.
They defined it as "The science of eliminating wastefulness resulting from unnecessary, ill-
directed and inefficient motions."
• He evolved the principles of motion economy.
• He evolved the concept of flow-charts.
• He identified 17 (to which subsequently an 18th was added) Therbligs - the fundamental
motions involved in performing a manual task.
• He introduced micromotion study and simo chart.
• To perform the above he invented Microchronometer, Cyclegraph, Chronocyclegraph and
two-handed charts.
• He successfully applied motion analysis to enhance efficiency and effectivity in office
procedures.
• While serving in US army he developed astonishingly efficient method for assembling and
disassembling weapons.
• He analysed the fatigue, the reasons behind it and came out with practical solutions to
overcome it.
• The very concept of systems management was evolved by him. He provided 231 rules for
mixing cement!
He understood that productivity is also linked to personality and working environment. He
listed fifteen chracterstics such as anatomy, experience, habits, health, temparament, nutrition etc
as parameters to understand peronality and productivity. He also proposed 19 elements such as
clothes, entertainment, lighting, reward and punishment to define working environment and its
possible relationship with productivity.

George Elton Mayo: Elton Mayo was born and educated in Australia, joined the faculty of
Howard University in 1926. He studied the outout of a few workers in relation to the changing
conditions of the work and prescibed the following:
• Optimum and proper lighting arrangement.
• Optimum Rest periods
• Optimum number of working hours.
He also propounded that it is not just the relationship between the management and the workers
but that between workers themselves also which was an important consideration. He wrote two
books viz., The Industrial Civilization and social problems of Industrial Civilization. He pointed
out that attitude and motivation of workers are the result of of a number of factors. To understand
human behaviour, therefore, one has to take an overall view of the situation.

The Hawthorne Studies were, without question, the most important contribution to the
developing OB field.
1. These were a series of experiments conducted from 1924 to the early
1930s at Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works in Cicero,
Illinois.
2. The studies were initially devised as a scientific management experiment
to assess the impact of changes in various physical environment variables
on employee productivity.
3. Other experiments looked at redesigning jobs, making changes in workday
and workweek length, introducing rest periods, and introducing individual
versus group wage plans.
 4. The researchers concluded that social norms or group standards were the
key determinants of individual work behavior.
5. Although not without critics (of procedures, analyses of findings, and the
conclusions), the Hawthorne studies did stimulate an interest in human
behavior in organizations

The major finding of the study was that almost regardless of the experimental manipulation
employed, the production of the workers seemed to improve. One reasonable conclusion is that
the workers were pleased to receive attention from the researchers who expressed an interest in
them. The study was only expected to last one year, but because the researchers were set back
each time they tried to relate the manipulated physical conditions to the worker's efficiency, the
project extended out to five years.

Four general conclusions were drawn from the Hawthorne studies:

• The aptitudes of individuals are imperfect predictors of job performance. Although

they give some indication of the physical and mental potential of the individual, the
amount produced is strongly influenced by social factors.
• Informal organization affects productivity. The Hawthorne researchers discovered
a group life among the workers. The studies also showed that the relations that
supervisors develop with workers tend to influence the manner in which the workers
carry out directives.
• Work-group norms affect productivity. The Hawthorne researchers were not the first
to recognize that work groups tend to arrive at norms of what is "a fair day's work,"
however, they provided the best systematic description and interpretation of this
phenomenon.
• The workplace is a social system. The Hawthorne researchers came to view the
workplace as a social system made up of interdependent parts.

The first experiments were with illumination - lighting in the factory. It was thought that
workers might work better when there was more light, but light was very expensive, so they
needed to find the optimum level to satisfy both requirements.

They assigned workers making induction coils to 2 groups: test and control. Both started with
same amount of light. Then the Test group was given more light. Productivity went up. But,
unfortunately, it also went up in the control group. So then they increased the light in the Test
group again. Once again, productivity went up or stayed the same in both groups. Again they
raised the light level, and again the same result.

So then they reduced the lighting in the Test group way down, below the level in control group.
Productivity soared in the Test group, and continued to go up in the control group. They reduced
light some more: same result. They finally got down to a level of light equivalent to a moonlit
night, and found that productivity decreased. This really confused the researchers. As one of the
researchers put it at the time, they were "knocked galley-west" by the results.
They had to conclude that light didn't seem to matter in the way they expected. And there was
something very strange about why output kept going up relative to the rest of the factory. So they
planned a more elaborate experiment

The second experiment was the relay assembly test room. Six women who assembled telephone
relay switches were taken out of the main area and placed in special test room where they could
be observed. All immigrants (as were most factory workers).

It was a 5 year experiment. Productivity was measured the whole time by a machine that counted
the number of relays that each person assembled as she dropped it down a little chute. They
gauged the effects of rest pauses, shorter work days, shorter work weeks, wage incentives and
different supervisory practices on output.

The results were just like the results of the lighting experiment. No matter what change they
introduced, it always seemed to either have no effect, or it improved productivity, even when the
change was just returning the variable to its original state!

As a result of these two studies, the Hawthorne team theorized that there was a key variable that
managers had been ignoring, which had to do with workers' relationships, attitudes, feelings, and
perceptions. By separating people into groups and then making lots of changes in working
conditions, the researchers inadvertently did two things:

1. Made workers feel like management actually cared about them. They felt important and
special. This is a problem with the experimental design.
2. They created bonds among people in the test and control groups -- in effect turning them
into true groups as described above. People work better when they are part of a clear
social structure.

So an important conclusion (in spite of the experimental design problem) was that people did not
necessarily behave according to models of economic rationality. Social processes within the
group that formed were much more important than purely material gains. Also, even material
goods or physical events or wages or work hours etc. were perceived differently by different
people in different situations and so it's not so much the money or the hours themselves that
matter, it's what meaning they hold for people, and meaning is something that is socially
mediated. The group affects

SCHOOLS OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHTS

We have already seen that the development of management thought has been evolutionary in
nature. The present position is therefore, best appreciated and understood in the light of its
evolution over the years. The time periods in which different concepts have developed may be
divided into five parts:

1. Pre-scientific management era (before 1880)

 2. Scientific management era (1880-1930)
3. Human relations era (1930-1950)
4. Social Science era (1950-oneards)
5. Management Science era ( - do- )

The management Theory Jungle:

Prof. Harold Koontz in his famous article on “The Management Theory Jungle” has identified
six major schools of management thoughts.

1. The Management Process School

2. The Empirical School
3. The Human Behaviour School
4. The Social System School
5. The Decision Theory School
6. The Mathematical School
7. The Systems Approach School

The Management Process School: It developed during Scientific Management era. Fredrick
Taylor and Henri Fayol were the founders of this school of thought. They looked upon
Management theory as a process of getting things done through and with people operating in
organized groups.

The work of Taylor and Fayol was complementary. They both realized that the problem of
personnel and its management at all levels is the key to Industrial Success. Both applied
Scientific methods to this problem. Taylor worked primarily on the operative level from the
bottom of the Hierarchy towards the top, while Fayol worked downwards. Fayol in addition to
his general principles also gave a list of ‘Elements of Management’ which he later called the
Functions of Management. They were - a) Forecasting, b) Organising, c) Command, d)
Coordination and e) Control.

The Other important contributors of this School were:

Charles Babbage (1771-1858): A mathematics genius He advocated accurate data obtained

from rigid investigation.
Frank Gilbreth: (1868-1924) was an Engineer and concentrated his attention on motion study.
He is well known for:
• Micromotion study - a technique to analyse individual motions.
• Chronocyclograph - an improvement on above technique.
• Therbglibs (Gilberth spelled backwards) which are 17 basic motions such as ‘hold’, ‘search’
etc.

Oliver Sheldon: A British industrial consultant he wrote, Philosophy of Management. He sought

to formulate a theory of management as a whole.
Lawrence Gantt: An engineer from USA he is best known for his graphic methods in designing
and operating charts. Gantt charts displaying the activity and time duration relationship are
popular even today.

The Empirical School: It started around 1952. It was based on the premises that management
problems can be solved better by drawing upon the experience of the managers. Earnest Dale,
the founder of this school identified management as a study of experience rather than general
principles. However this thought too starts making generalization on the basis of experience and
research. Moreover experience is not useful in changed and new circumstances and dynamic
situations.

The Human Behaviour School: This period is known as the legacy of Elton Mayo and Mary
Foliet. They believed that an organization was more than a formal structure or arrangement of
functions. Their insight represented a reaction to the dehumanizing aspects of scientific
management. Proponents of scientific management looked upon workers as mere ‘economic
men’ who could be motivated by monetary incentives alone. Human relations approach on the
other hand recognized workers as a product of personal sentiments and emotional involvement.
In fact Mayo went on to prove that beyond a point Motivation depends more on social status and
personal appreciation and less on materialistic incentives. The supporters of this theory are
heavily influenced by Psychology and indeed most of them are trained psychologists. This
school of thought has further two branches - Interpersonal Behaviour Approach and Group
Behaviour Approach.

Interpersonal Behaviour Approach: It is based on the idea that managing involves getting things
done through people, and therefore, its study should be centered on interpersonal relationships.
Leadership, Motivation, emotions are the key considerations. It believes that a successful
manager is a good leader and an amateur psychologist.
No one can deny that managing deny that managing involves human behavior. Also we know
that leadership and motivation are vital aspects of management. Yet the fact remains that even
good psychologists do not necessarily prove to be good managers. Even psychologists need to
know something about planning, control and control techniques. Thus managers must extend
their views far beyond psychological matters. It is being realized that leadership, for example, is
very much a function of situation and circumstances also. Motivation is linked to operation
theory techniques which show clearly who is responsible for what, and accurate and prompt
feedback of information, on how well a person is doing.

Group Behavior Approach. This approach is similar to the interpersonal approach and sometimes
is confused with it but in this approach psychology of individual in a group becomes more
important. Thus it tends to be based on socio-psychology. Its proponents look upon management
as a study of of group behavior pattern. Thus organizational behavior becomes important in
management. The cultural traits of the group, their average education etc. assumes greater
importance. This approach further refined the management concept but this alone could never
prove sufficient for good management performance.

One important contributor of this theory was Douglas McGregor. He wrote The human side of
enterprise which is still regarded as landmark in management literature. He challenged the
conventional management approach, questioning many myths in the process. His theory is
known as the X and Y theory:

Theory X Theory Y

1 Work is downright distasteful Work is as natural and enjoyable as play

or rest

2 The average human being dislikes and The average human being likes work
avoid work when it is source of satisfaction and
dislikes it when it is source of
punishment

3 Most people must be coerced, Man will exercise self-direction and

controlled, led, directed, threatened with self-control in the service of objectives
punishment to make them work to which he is committed. Commitment
is a function of achievement

4. Average human being avoids Average person in proper condition,

responsibility, has little ambition, wants accepts and even more seeks
security. responsibility. The capacity for
imagination, ingenuity and creativity in
finding solutions is popular.

Social Science Approach: It would be obvious that Social Science approach is a natural
extension of Human Relations Approach. In fact it would be impossible to demarcate them.
Some experts, for example, look upon Theory X & Y a part of Social Science Approach. It is
argued that the Social Science Era has largely utilized the Conclusions of Human Relations Era.
Thus this period is characterized by process of refinement, extension and synthesis of
management in the last period. The spiritual Father of this approach was Chester Barnard.

Chester Barnard: He viewed organization as a social system or a system of cultutral inter-

relationships. His book The Functions of an executive is considered to be a pace-setter in
management thought. He divides organization into formal and informal.

Formal Organization according to him is any cooperative system in which there are persons
able to communicate with each other and who are willing to contribute towards a conscious
common purpose.
Informal Organization he defined as any joint personal activity without any conscious joint
purpose. He believed that informal organization is an essential part of the formal organization
and it must be taken into account while determining managerial behaviour.
He also looked upon communication as the lifeline of management system. He said “In an
exhaustive theory of organization, communication will occupy a central place, because the
structure, extensiveness and scope of organization are almost entirely determined by
communication techniques”.

Yet another aspect he put emphasis on was Leadership. Dynamism of leadership in the execution
of business policies and securing the cooperation of employees through the use of incentives. He
realized that material reward is crucial only upto a definite point. The incentives of status, power,
good physical conditions, opportunities of participation and good social conditions are very
important. He also pointed put that incentive should not be symbolic. It must be equal to or
greater than the efforts involved..

He commented upon decision-making process and suggested participation of employees at all

levels.

Rensis Likert: He conducted extensive research in human behaviour which he explained in his
two books: The new pattern of Management and Human Organization. He came out with a basic
theory of Leadership where he dealt with four basic styles of management.
Exploitative authoritative: Under this style, management has no confidence or trust in
subordinates and also looks upon them as incompetent, dishonest and work-haters.
Benevolent authoritative: Under this style management condescending and patronizing
confidence in subordinates just as a master has in his servants.
Consultative: Management has substantial but not complete confidence and trust in subordinates
and therefore management consults them while making decisions.
Participative: Management has complete confidence and trust in subordinates and may be called
truly participative form of management.

He was a strong supporter of participative form of management. He rejected close supervision of

subordinates. He advocated general supervision which is associated with high productivity.

Systems Approach: This approach, in the recent years, is being increasingly emphasized and
advocated to study and analyze management thought. A system is essentially a set or assemblage
of things interconnected/interdependent, so as to form a complex unity. These systems could be
physical (Engine), biological (human body) or theoretical (an idea or a concept). The study of
different systems has helped in understanding systems knowledge and it has been found to be
useful for exploring management theory and science.
A system works in a particular environment which my change or may be changing. Thus an
understanding of environment and defining its boundaries is essential aspect of these study.
Systems can be further subdivided into planning systems, organizational systems; control
systems; process systems etc. A system has many subsystems within it such as systems of
delegation, network planning and budgeting system.

This approach has become quite popular today but it does not make other approaches such as
human relations approach or social science approach irrelevant. Also though considered recent,
this in fact has been in use for a long time.
QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT.
The quantitative approach to management involves the use of quantitative techniques to
improve decision making. It includes applications of statistics, optimization models,
information models, and computer simulations.
A. Important Contributions.
1. The quantitative approach evolved out of the development of
mathematical and statistical solutions to military problems during World
War II.
2. One group of military officers—the Whiz Kids—included Robert
McNamara and Charles “Tex” Thornton
3. This approach has contributed most directly to managerial decision
making, particularly in planning and controlling.
4. The availability of sophisticated computer software programs made the
use of quantitative techniques somewhat less intimidating for managers

Decision making Approach: A successful management is the one which continuously and
consistently makes correct decision. Thus if correct decisions are ensured management will be
successful. In other words a good management is a function of correct decisions. Thus certain
scholars such as R. Schlaifer and Herbert Simon advocated decision theory school. This is also
known as decision Science, operation research and rationalistic model. It looks upon
management as a logical process. It is quite useful in managing certain areas but it has following
disadvantages:
• It is oriented more towards technique than philosophy.
• Decision is too narrow a premise to carry entire management thought.
• It is useful to only those problem areas where parameters are quantifiable and clear or where
parameters can be directly measured or reliably estimated.