Scientific and Behaviourist School of Management

Scientific and Behaviourist School of Management Management in all business organization activity is simply the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. It comprises of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling an organization for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources. Management has therefore defined as a process of getting things done with the aim of achieving goals effectively and efficiently. Management is a goal oriented process. Management increases the efficiency of the organisation and the development of society. Management is a continuous process with separate functions performed by all managers at all times. Management is a dynamic function and has to adapt itself to the changing environment. An organisation interacts with external and internal environments and needs to change itself and its goals accordingly. Management is responsi ble for setting and achieving objectives for the organisation. A few of its basic objectives are to survive, generate profits year on year, growth in terms of sales volume and product line while sustaining the social environment. Introduction of Scientific Management Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 1915, Philadelphia) was a trained engineer who advocated the concept of Industrial Efficiency. Taylor is known as the Father of Scientific Management and is regarded as one of the first most successful Management Consultants. He is most famous for his Time and Motion Study and the Piece Rate system that he introduced Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows, with the objective of improving labour productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his monographs, Shop Management and The Principles of Scientific Management. Taylor believed that decisions based upon tradition and rules of thumb should be replaced by precise procedures developed after careful study of an individual at work. Its application is contingent on a high level of managerial control over employee work practices. Taylorism is a variation on the theme of efficiency it is a late-19th-and-early-20th-century instance of the larger recurring theme in human life of increasing efficiency, decreasing waste, and using empirical methods to decide what matters, rather than uncritically accepting pre-existing ideas of what matters. In management literature today, the greatest use of the concept of Taylorism is as a contrast to a new, improved way of doing business. In political and sociological terms, Taylorism can be seen as the division of labor pushed to its logical extreme, with a consequent de-skilling of the worker and dehumanisation of the workplace. The Principles of Scientific Management Taylors scientific management consisted of four principles: Replace rule of thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks. Taylor believed there was only one way to increase efficiency was through study and analysis. Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the workman, whereas in the past the employee chose his own work and trained himself as best he could. Provide Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that workers discrete task Divide work equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific principles of management to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks Taylor decided the workers should get rest after time intervals to recover from time fatigue There should be complete harmony between the management and workers. Management should share the gains of the organisation with the workers. Techniques of Scientific Management 1. Standardisation and simplification of work Standardisation refers to the process of setting standards or benchmarks which must be adhered to during production. Simplification refers at eliminating superfluous varieties, sizes and dimensions. 2. Method Study Method study means to find out the best way of doing a job there are various methods of doing a job. To find out the best way and carry it out from procurement of raw materials till the final product is delivered. eg Ford Motors used this concept and was very successful. The objective was that to minimise the cost of production and maximise the quality and satisfaction of the customer. 3. Motion Study Motion study refers at eliminating unnecessary movements like lifting objects, sitting and changing positions which are undertaken while doing a typical job. 4. Time Study It determines the standard time-taken to perform a well-defined job. Time measuring devices are used for each element of task. The objective of time study is to determine the number of workers to be employed frame suitable incentive schemes and to determine the labour costs. 5. Fatigue Study A person is bound to feel tired physically and mentally if she/he does not rest while working. The rest intervals will help one to regain stamina and work with the same capacity. This will help the organisation to increase productivity. 6. Differential piece wage system Taylor was a strong a strong advocate of piece wage system. He wanted to differentiate between the efficient and the inefficient workers. He had standard time to complete a job. He also rewarded the efficient workers. Introduction to Behaviourist School of Management Elton Mayo (1880 1949, Australia) was the Director of the Department of Industrial Research at Harvard University. He is known as the founder of the Human Relations Movement. Mayos involvement in the most famous Hawthorne Studies led to an altogether different school of thought on management known as the Human Relations Movement. Organisational behaviour is concerned with: the study of behaviour of people within an organisational setting. Organisational behaviour started to be recognized in Harvard business school in 1962. The science of organisational behaviour has developed out of a growing commitment to the belief that people are the most important part of an organisation. Organisational behaviour consists of theories like motivation, leadership, groups and group formation, culture within organisation and change. Principles of Human Relations Management Motivation Motivation is one of the most traditional topics of organisational behaviour. Motivation is the process of stimulating people to action to desired goals. Motivation depends upon satisfying the needs of people. Motivation leads to a drive in the human beings. The organization must try to understand and respect the emotions, sense of recognition and satisfaction of non-monetary needs of the employees. Individuals are motivated by social needs and good on-the-job relationships and respond better to work-group pressure than to management control activities. Organizations are co-operative social systems. Satisfaction of psychological needs should be the primary concern of the management. Informal work groups can have a substantial effect on productivity. This has been proved by the Hawthorne experiment. Leadership Leadership indicates the ability of an individual to influence others. Leadership is not guaranteed from people with leadership titles and informal leaders can emerge at any level where, through being well liked or skilled they exert influence over others. The function of the leader is to co-operate among the employees and to work for the betterment of the organisation. Groups and group formation A group consists of two or more people to achieve common goals. There are two types of groups formal and informal groups. Formal groups are formed to achieve organisational goals and informal work groups emerge naturally in response to the common interests of organisational members. Group formation helps in deciding and dividing the work amongst each other. Group work is very efficient: the team encourages open ended, problem-solving meetings Comparisons between Scientific and Behaviourist School of Management The function of a manager under scientific management is to set a work criterion and to divide the work among the labourers and it was seen as a figure of high authority. While under human relations the leader is responsible to facilitate co-operation and co-ordination among employees and providing them with opportunities to excel as well as to help them in their personal growth and development. Taylorism was against the informal groups because they believed the employees worked as mechanical passive only for monetary rewards whereas the behaviourist school of management believed in informal groups as this facilitates communication and co-operation among employees which will help to achieve the organisational goals. Scientific management is only aimed at the organisational growth and very little attention is paid to the workers growth or performance. While in human relations it is aimed at organisational growth as well as individual growth of the worker. As per Taylor, the sole motivator for a worker was monetary incentive. Therefore, the worker under scientific management was an economic man. According to Mayo, satisfaction of social wants of the workers like communication and the sense of acceptance was the driving force of the organization. Therefore, the worker under the human relations movement was a social man. Scientific management treated the worker as a human machine and used the differential system for motivation. While, the human relations movement held that the satisfaction of the worker would enhance his productivity at the work place. Conclusion Both the schools of management thoughts were so different from each other in their approach they shared common grounds on one issue increasing productivity which is the ultimate goal of an organisation. Scientific management believed that planning should be separated from doing, Human resources believed in a far wider participation when it came to decision-making. Whereas, Reshef. Y says in his web publication that The Human Relations movement emphasized emotional aspects in human behaviour, yet still maintained the division of labour between those who planned and those who executed. While both mean the same, there is a slight difference in the two statements. Hence it can be concluded both aim towards the common goal. Hence it can be concluded both of them have different principles and policies their final is to achieve organisational goal through organisational excellence and increased efficiency. A good manager is one who applies a blend of both the management theories into pract ice. Thus scientific management and human relation management can be two wheels of the same cart and none is superior to the other.