Scientific management is that kind of management through which business is conducted according to the standards established on the basis of facts gained through systematic observation, experiment or reasoning. The following are some of the individuals who were instrumental in the development of scientific management.
Charles Babbage (1792-1871):He was a proponent of the specialization of labour. He advocated that managers should conduct time studies to determine how long it should take for each specialized task.
Fredrick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915):The principles of scientific management as enumerated by FW. Taylor are:
- Develop a science for each job with standardization.
- Select the workers scientifically with skills and abilities that match each job, and train them in the most efficient ways so that they may accomplish tasks.
- Bring cooperation among employees with the help of incentives
Frank (1868-1924) & Lillian Gilbreth (1878 -1972):The husband and wife team developed time and motion study, referring to each motion as 'therblig' (anagram of 'Gilbreth'). Their classification design covered such motions as grasping, moving, and holding, to name a few. Lillian devoted most of her research to the more human side of management. She was the first to introduce rest pauses in an 8-hour work.
Henry Gantt (1861-1919):He developed the Gantt Chart that provides a graphic representation of the flow of work required to complete a given task (Progress of Work). The Gantt Chart is the precursor of CPM and PERT. He also developed work quota systems, complete with bonus system for workers who met or exceeded quotas.
Henri Fayol (1841-1925):He was the first to envisage a function process approach to the practice of management. According to him, all managerial tasks could be classified under either of the categories - Technical, Commercial, Financial, Security, Accounting or Administrative. He developed the 14 principles of management (Annexure 1).
Chester Barnard (1886-1961):He believed that organizational success required individuals who were willing to accept the authority of others. He also developed a set of working principles by which organizational communication systems can maintain final authority.
Herbert Simon:He believed that a manager is an administratve man and not and not an economic man, who makes decisions amid bounded rationality and selects not the maximizing alternative but selects the first alternative that meets some minimal level of achievement.
Robert Owen (1771-1858):He was the first to speak out on behalf of the organization's human resources. He criticized industrialists who spent huge sums of money on production machines but did litle to improve the lot of the people.
Elton Mayo (1880-1949):He conducted the famous 'Hawthorme' studies. His finding is now known as 'Hawthorne Effects' or the tendency of people, who are singled out of special attention, to improve their performance. He also found that the same work factors (such as working conditions, pay etc.) can be sources of satisfaction for some workers and dissatisfactionfor other workers. These studies were a milestone in establishing the framework for the study of organizational behaviour.
Hugo Munsterberg (1863-1916):He studied the application of psychology to the organizational setting. Hugo Munsterberg is considered to be the father of industrial psychology.
Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933):She believed that groups wère the mechanisms through which people could combine their differing talents for the greater good of the organization. The Follett Behavioural Model of Control depicts control being sponsored by and oriented towards the group, while self-control exercised by both individuals and the group ultimately result in both sharing the power.
Abraham Maslow:He proposed that man's needs could be placed in a 'Hierarchy of Needs', ranging from physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.
Douglas McGregor (1906-1964):He argued that managers should shift their traditional views (Theory X) to a new humane view (Theory Y) concerning employee-work relationship. According to him, the views of Theory X, that man is lazy and wants to work are both pessimistic and counterproductive while the views of Theory Y that man wants to work and work was good is positive, and should become the standard for humanizing the work place.
Peter Drucker:Drucker is a profound thinker and a prolific writer. His contributions include specifying the functions of management in more objective terms, popularizing MBO and emphasizing time management. He has written a number of books outlining and developing his thoughts on management.
