SHB2034 – Management Guru & QualityChapter 2: Administrative Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OBJECTIVES........................................................................................................2ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................22.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................32.2 HENRI FAYOL................................................................................................42.3 LYNDALL URWICK........................................................................................52.4 CHESTER BARNARD....................................................................................62.5 MARY PARKER FOLLETT.............................................................................8Additional MATERIALS.........................................................................................9

OBJECTIVES

At the end of this topic, you will be able to: Enable learners to understand the lives, philosophies, ideas and contributions of

Administrative Management Gurus and Thinkers Enable learners to assess and evaluate the importance and impact of those ideas in

organizations and society Enable learners to relate the ideas to other management gurus from other disciplines of

knowledge Enable learners to apply the best and the most relevant concepts formulated by

management gurus and thinkers in behaviors and practices in daily lives.

ABSTRACT

Administrative Management is a classical management approach that attempted to identify major principles and functions that managers could use to achieve superior organizational performance.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

As the complexity of organization grew, management needed new theories to overcome the management issues and the new challenges. In order to resolve these problems, management thinkers have made significant contributions by developing administrative management in many ways. Management thinkers involved include Fayol, Urwick, Chester Barnard and Mary Follett.

Administrative management is concerned about all aspects of services, recording and analyzing information, of planning and communicating, efficiency and productivity in running factories and businesses - by means managing the company's assets, promotes its affairs and achieves its objectives.

2.2 HENRI FAYOL

Henri Fayol, known as the Father of Modern Management, was a French industrialist who developed a framework for studying management. He believed that management was a matter of personal talent that was born with.

From practical experience he knew that management required specific skills that could be learned if taught. He developed five management functions that form the basis of much of modern management thought and action. Fayol's work contained the first significant attempt to develop principles that are basic to the foundation of management practice and administrative structure.

Henri FayolHenri Fayol was born in 1824. His key work was Administration Industrielle et Generale. He belongs to the Classical School of Management Theory and was writing and exploring administration and work about same time as F W Taylor in USA. Even both have a task focus, their approaches are quite different.

Fayol was particularly interested in authority and its implementation while Taylor concentrated on work organization (e.g. efficiency). In many ways their views illustrating some of the differences between the USA and Europe. Fayol died in 1925 and his book, ''General and Industrial Management'' was translated into English in 1930 and published in the U.S.

Five Management FunctionsFive functions of modern management thought and action are:1. plan (and look ahead) 2. organize3. command4. co-ordinate5. control (feedback and inspect)

PrinciplesHe also identified 14 principles that he saw as common to all organizations.

1. Specialization/ division of labor2. Authority with responsibility 3. Discipline 4. Unity of command 5. Unity of direction 6. Subordination of Individual Interests 7. Remuneration 8. Centralization 9. Chain / line of authority 10. Order 11. Equity 12. Lifetime jobs (for good workers) 13. Initiative 14. Esprit de corps

 

2.3 LYNDALL URWICK

Lyndall Urwick has been prolific and an enthusiastic writer on the subject of administration and management. His experience covered industry, the armed forces and business consultancy. Like other classical writers, Urwick developed his 'principle' on the basis of his own interpretation of the common elements and processes, which he identified in the structure, and operation of organization. In 1952 he produced a consolidated list of ten principles in administration and management.

Urwick's ideas in general were popular because of their commonsense appeal to managers in organization. In the last decade, however Urwick's emphasis on purpose and structure has not been able to provide answers to problems arising from social changes and needed for organizational health. Nevertheless his influence on many modern businesses has been enormous.

Lyndall UrwickUrwick was born in England in 1891. He attended Repton and New College, Oxford, and was awarded a B.A. degree in 1913 and a M.A.degree in 1919. He began his career in his family's glove manufacturing business, Fownes Brothers and Company. Following service in the First World War, he became organizing secretary for Rowntree and Company, a confectioner. He subsequently moved to the position of administrator of the Management Research Groups and then became Director of the International management Institute in Geneva in 1929. When the Great Depression cut short the life of the institute, Urwick returned to England and established the management consultancy; Urwick, Orr and Patterns.

10 PrinciplesUrwick 10 principles are:

1. The principles of objective - the overall purpose or objective is the raison d'être of every organization.

2. The principles of specialization - one group, one function.3. The principles of coordination - the process of organizing is primarily to ensure

coordination.4. The principles of authority-every group should have a supreme authority with

clear line of authority to other members of the group.5. The principles of responsibility - the superior is absolutely responsible for the acts

of his subordinates.6. The principles of definitions - jobs, with their duties and relationships, should be

clear defined.7. The principles of correspondence - authority should be commensurate with

responsibility.8. The span of control - no one should be responsible for more than 5 - 6 direct

subordinates whose work is interlocked.9. The principles of balance - the various units of the organization should be kept in

balance.10. The principles of continuity - the structure should provide for the continuity of

activities. 

2.4 CHESTER BARNARD

Chester Irving Barnard viewed the organization as a social system and argued that employees must co-operate if the firm should become effective. He proposed that managers seek congruence between the interest of the organization and that of the group. He was the first person to speak of the informal organization and the importance of understanding it. Barnard is also well known for his ''Acceptance Theory of Authority''. This early concern for human relations at work subsequently gave rise to a broader approach to management and organization. It placed emphasis upon the quality of working life and flexibility in working arrangements. This emphasis which was, in some ways, a reaction to the principles of Scientific Management/Work Rationalization and the problems associated with them.

Chester Irving BarnardHe was born in Malden, Massachusetts, USA. After working as an engineer with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in Boston from 1909 to 1922, he moved on to head the Pennsylvania and then New Jersey Bell companies. He served on various civic boards and during World War 2, he was the president of the United Service Organizations for National Defense and the director of the National War Fund. After the war he was a US representative on the Atomic Energy Committee and he chaired various science foundations.

Social SystemHis argumentation on organization social system:

1. He stressed the view that a corporation should be goal-driven and that authority should be accepted. He also argued, that subordinate could only accept orders, if they understand the order. He found ''The Acceptance Theory of Authority''.

2. Assessment of the behavioral approach (viewpoint)3. The basic assumption according to Hellriegel and Slocum (1993) are: Workers are motivated by social needs. Workers are more responsive to the social forces exerted by their peers than to

management's financial incentive rules. Managers need to co-ordinate the work of their subordinates democratically in order to

improve efficiency. All these points can be regarded as very positive-applied properly.

Informal Organization

The Informal Organization

Acceptance Theory of Authority This theory states that workers will only obey your command if the following conditions prevail:

That the worker can and does understand the command That at the time the command is given, it is not inconsistent with the objectives of the

organization That it is compatible with the interests of worker That he mentally and physically is able to obey. Barnard argued that the manager's real

power came from the degree of acceptance of his workers.

2.5 MARY PARKER FOLLETT

Mary Parker Follett believed that people work best as members of a group and that there should not be a formal authoritative leader but that leader should be people best suited to the job because of their greater knowledge and expertise.

The main points of Mary Parker Follett are:1. Management is a continuous process - not static one.2. Management has to involve the workers in the decision process.

Follett was the first author writing about handling conflicts. Her approach was that one should look for compromises. As an example she took her conflict with a fellow researcher in the Havard library. The other person in the room wanted the window open, while Follett wanted it closed. After discussion the compromise was: they opened the window in the next room and left the door open, so, the other worker had fresh air and Follett no problems with the cold draft on her back.

Mary Parker FollettFollett was born in Boston in 1868. In 1892 she entered Radcliffe College, the women's branch of Harvard, from which she graduated summa cum laude in 1898. Follett published the work she did at Radcliffe in The Speaker of The House of Representatives (1896, 1909), which was widely lauded, a great success but in retrospect dull and conventional by the standards of her later works; The New State (1918) and Creative Experience (1924).

From 1900 to 1908 Follett devoted herself to social work in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. In 1908 she became chairperson of the Women's Municipal League's Committee on Extended Use of School Buildings, and in 1911 she helped open the East Boston High School Social Center. In 1918 she published ''The New State'', which was reissued in 1921 with a foreword by the British statesman Viscount Haldane. In 1924 she published ''Creative Experience''. From this point until her death in 1933, Follett made a mark on the emerging discipline of management.

Decision ProcessWorkers should involve in the decision process because:

Co-ordination is best achieved when the people responsible for making decisions are in direct contact.

Co-ordination during the early planning stages is essential· Co-ordination should address all factors in a situation. People closest to the action will make the best decision.

 

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

http://www.onepine.demon.co.uk/fayol.htm http://ollie.dcccd.edu/mgmt1374/book_contents/1overview/management_history/

mgmt_history.htm