Classical Management Theories

Introduction
The term ‘classical’ means something traditionally accepted or long-established. It does
not mean that classical views are static and time bound that must be dispensed with.

Classical management theory is based on the belief that workers only have physical and
economic needs. It does not take into account social needs or job satisfaction, but
instead advocates a specialization of labor, centralized leadership and decision-making,
and profit maximization

Management is divided into three levels in classical management theories

Top-level management:

This is generally the government (executive), which includes the board of directors,
general manager in business enterprises, the president, directors, deputy of directors,
heads of universities, etc. Top-level managers are responsible for development of long-
term strategic goals in line with organizational goals. Planning, organizing and directing
are major responsibilities of top-level managers

Middle-level management level:

This is between top level and low-level managers. Middle-level managers are
responsible for coordinating activities of the supervisors, developing and formalizing
policies and plans with respect to high-level strategic policies. Middle-levels managers in
the department of education are supervisor of a group, deputy and assistant of the
manager, deputy and assistant of supervisor of examinations, registrar and deputy of
department of education in the district, officials and teachers, deputy of director.
Middle-level managers are managers (production manager, administrative managers,
financial managers, etc.), deputy and assistant of managers in enterprises
First-level Management:

This includes supervisors also called supervision management. Policies and plans are
implemented at this stage. Activities are monitored day by day. Teachers are first-level
managers in the department of education. Foreman, supervisors, and shift assigners,
etc. are first-level managers in enterprises Division of labor: this is the second key
feature of classical management theories. Complex tasks are divided into more simple
tasks that can be easily undertaken by workers c) One-sided Top-Down influence:
There is one communicational route in classical management theories of
communication. Decisions are made at top-level and sent to low-level (Weijrich And
Koontz, 1993). Authoritarian leadership styles: authoritarian leadership style is another
feature of classical management theories. Management was impressed by the church in
older days. Therefore, authoritarian style belonged to those times and was the
dominant culture. In other words, the

Scientific management theory

This is a well-known management theory developed by Frederick Taylor in 1911. This
theory is also important due to temporal factors and purpose of the investigation. His
studies were the greatest event of the nineteenth century. This theory is mainly focused
on maximum productivity. This theory delivers a proper solution for problems and
challenges of industrialists Taylor believed that scientific management is the solution to
business problems. He discussed scientific management theory in his book entitled as
Principles of Scientific Management. He stated that certain efforts change the
management system in some cases, so that interests of workers are converted into
interests of management. In an experiment, shovellers efficiency increased from 16 to
59 tons per day, which reduced the number of yard workers from 500 to 140.

He brought a revolution in the art of cutting metal and quickly doubled the speed of
cutting metals. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Taylor
worked on increasing efficiency using scientific methods, eliminating additional
movements and transfers at workplace. He wanted to train workers for better jobs,
divide the tasks between management and workers and implement scientific
management style with respect to different practices and workers in action. In this
method, each group makes their best efforts. He introduced four principles of scientific
management theory to increase productivity. He also predicted that

These principles are suitable for all kinds of human activities, from an individual simple
task to complex organizational activities.

Four management principles to increase productivity

It is essential to develop the science of working. In other words, the job should be
investigated in action to find the best ways to do the job. Either scheduling or
orientation method can be used for data collection. Different methods should be used
to find the best method. A new method should be chosen. The workers should be
selected. Scientific training should be given according to the best way of performing the
job. Different workers should be selected for different jobs. Training should be given to
the workers according to their position in the organization, so that each worker would
be an expert in his job and perform a better job(15). Taylor's work was appreciated by
the industrialists at that time. His principles are still practiced in most parts of the world.
As cited earlier, workers are paid according to their productivity. Modern management
theorists such as Edward Deming and Juran also follow the principles of division of
labor presented by Taylor.

Taylor's work was improved by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth who studied time and motion
and divided tasks into small components by finding better methods to do each
component and reorganizing every component of a scientific work

Administrative management theory

Administrative management theory is another well-known classical management theory
developed by Henry Fayol in 1916. Fayol was a senior manager. He has developed this
theory based on personal experience. The theory encompasses business management
(business) and general management. His main focus was on management. He
introduced six functions and fourteen management principles in his theory. Six
management functions are predicting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating,
monitoring fourteen principles of Management are discussed as follows.

 Division of labor: Fayol believed that work specialization is the best way to
use human resources. He believed that the work should be divided among
individuals and groups to ensure that effort and attention are focused on specific
parts of the work.
 Authority: Fayol discussed authority as the right to give orders and the ability
to exactly obey and do what was ordered. Responsibility properly models
authority, which covers accountability. In other words, responsibility is a part of
authority. Responsibility is allocated to an individual simultaneously with the
authority.
 Discipline: Discipline is essential for success of an organization. Workers
should be fined in case of ignoring discipline in the organization. This is because
success requires joint effort of all workers
 Unity of command: unity of command should be observed in the
organization, so that the workers would be given orders just by an individual
(the manager)
 Unity of direction: Fayol believed that unity of direction should be observed in
asuccessful organization. In other words, the entire organization needs to move
towards a common goal in a common direction.
 Focusing on individual interests rather than public interests: general
interests and profits of the organization should be prioritized compared with
individual interests Remuneration: salaries of the workers should not be
determined based on workers’ productivity. Instead, salaries of the workers
should be determined based on many variables such as cost of living, supply of
qualified personnel, general business conditions and success in the business.
 Centralization: Fayol stated that centralization or decentralization of
management should be determined according to organizational requirement or
culture. He defined concentration as reducing the importance of rituals. The
importance of decentralization lies in escalating rituals in the organization.
 Scalar chain (hierarchy): management hierarchy should be present in the
organization. Authority should be given to the managers with regard to their
 ranks in the hierarchy. High-level managers should be given more authority
regarding management hierarchy and vice versa. Low-level managers should
always inform top-level managers of their activities.
 Order: activities should be operated in an effective and efficient manner in the
organization. All personnel and executives should hold their own position in the
organization. In other words, the individuals and agents should be at the right
place at the right time

 Personnel rights (equity): All employees should be treated fairly and

properly. This shows that basic rights, laws and regulations should be the same
for all employees for success of an organization. Justice should be established
within the organization. It should also be noted that equal rights and
opportunities cannot be secured in the organization.
 Stability of tenure of personnel: Fayol believed that salaries and other
benefits should be allocated to the employees based on their length of service in
a successful organization. This is because new recruitment necessitates
additional costs and causes various problems.

 Esprit de corps: Management should coordinate and encourage the

employees, which increase productivity.
It can be stated that unity is powerful this theory is very popular and is
currently implemented in large organizations. This is also effective in the army
force. Management functions developed by Fayol are used in all organizations
and enterprises. The six functions are reduced to four, which are still running.
These are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Giving the right
authority and responsibility is also practiced in the whole world. This shows the
strength of administrative theory. Unfortunately, the Management Matrix ignores
two principles of unity of command and unity of direction.

Advantages of Administrative Management

 Viewed management as a profession which can be trained and developed.

 Offered universal managerial guidelines.

 Promoted communication between managers and employees.

  Highlighted the needs of employees through the unity of command, unity of
direction, equity, etc.

 Encouraged employees to act on their own initiatives.

Disadvantages of Administrative Management

 Lacked consideration for organization’s environmental, technological and
personnel factors, due to the blind application of Fayol’s concepts.

 Fayol’s recommendations are too experience-based and therefore not driven by

formal research. Hence its concepts have not been tested.

Management bureaucratic theory

This theory is proposed by the German sociologist Karl Emil Maximilian known as Max
Weber. This is also called Weber's theory of bureaucracy. He proposed this theory in
1947. He called his work a social and economic organization theory. This theory mainly
focuses on organizational structure. He focused on hierarchy and authority-control strict
lines in structuring the organization into a hierarchy. He suggested that the
organizations should develop precise and comprehensive operating procedures to do
predefined tasks. He felt that the West is changing from Wertrational to Zweckrational.
Principles of bureaucratic management theory are as follows.

1) Formal rules and regulations: According to this theory, the best standard rules and
regulations should govern the organization. These rules should be properly defined and
written in the forms.

2) Working relationship system: this should be present in the organization to do the

work and establish a relationship between the system and tasks in the organization.

3) Specialized training: the workers should be trained based on their designated tasks.
Different training programs should be designed for different systems in the
organization. The managers require relevant training programs based on their tasks.
The workers also need training programs based on their tasks.
 This theory is still running. Modern theories of management have used the advantages
of this theory. Written rules, ideal bureaucracy, paperwork, punishment and reward
systems, training of workers and managers are almost implemented all the
organizations in the world. This shows that this theory has an important role in the
history of management theory.

Theory of scientific management was presented in the United States of America to

enhance productivity. Labor shortage is a major challenge in the U. S. since the
Industrial Revolution.

Therefore, increased productivity of workers is the only way to increase productivity.

Four principles of scientific management theories are actual development of
management science, scientific selection and training of workers, the right reward for
quick and high-quality work and equal division of work and responsibility between
workers and managers.

Administrative management theory sought to create an organization with increased

efficiency and effectiveness. This theory supports the workers in contrast with the
theory of scientific management. Planning, organizing, controlling and directing are the
basic functions of this theory. Unity of command, unity of structure, division of labor,
justice in authority and order are the most important principles among the fourteen
principles of this theory. Functions and principles of Fayol are still used for management
of international organizations.

Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy management focuses on ideal structure of an

organization. This theory contains eight principles. Formal rules is the basic principle of
bureaucracy. Another important principles are formulating rules, the authority to control
management and balance in the reward system. Bureaucracy is still implemented in the
global large companies.

Classical theories promote managerial capability to predict and control behaviors of the
workers. These theories are designed to predict and control behavior within the
organization. These theories encompass communicational functions and ignore human
relations in the organization. They improve and preserve communicational functions.
These theories are used in simple, small and stable organizations. On the other hand,
these theories cannot be implemented in large, complex and aggressive modern
organizations.

Appraisal of classical approach:

Classical approach made a significant contribution to the development of management

theories. This perspective had three primary thrusts (Griffin R.W. 2006). Scientific
management focused on employees within organizations and on ways to improve their
productivity. Administrative theory focused on the total organization and on way to
make it more efficient. Bureaucratic management focused on eliminating managerial
inconsistencies that means it emphasized the position rather than person and
organization continues even when individual leave. Classical approach highlighted the
universal character of management principles (Berdayes V, 2002). It made a clear
distinction between operative activities and managerial activities. It also identified the
application of scientific method to the problems of management and highlighted the
need for mutual cooperation between employers and employees. Classical approach has
been criticized on several counts. First, this theory is said to be too formal, secondly, it
is more appropriate for stable and simple organization than for today’s dynamic and
complex organizations. Thirdly, it often prescribed the universal procedures that are not
appropriate in some setting