What is Meant by Management Thought?

Management has been around as long as there has been a need for decision making. Even though scientific management began and established itself in the early twentieth century, references to planning and organization are found in ancient Greek and Biblical literature, and in histories of the Roman Empire. Imagine building ancient monuments such as the Great Pyramid, and consider what that would have required in terms of planning, work allocation, organizing, directing and decision making.

Management does not have a unique body of knowledge. The theories and precepts of management have been adopted from other disciplines and applied to real life situations, with a clear focus on performance of managerial roles.

Management has evolved and changed considerably over a period of time. It has continuously adopted new theories and practices and replaced old ones so as to make management activity increasingly efficient. The universal theory of management evolved in the early twentieth century has been replaced by a number of contingency theories currently in vogue. In the early twentieth century, the focus was on physical factors, viewed from industrial, engineering and economic perspectives. Subsequently, the focus shifted to productivity, with an emphasis on human factors.

Managerial accounting and classical concepts of personnel and finance management were emphasized. Thereafter, many schools of thoughts evolved, each influencing the evolution of modern management. Some of these are described below.

· The quantitative measurement school began with concern for handling uncertainty and making decisions logically through use of mathematical models and statistical techniques. Simultaneously, there evolved the decision theory school, which also stresses managerial decisions, and considers the management process as a series of decisions that must be made by managers as they confront problems. Subsequently, computers used with a systems approach became the instruments of sound and logical decision making. The systems management school considers management as a system composed of various sub-systems (finance, accounting, production and marketing). These sub-systems are interconnected in some fashion, and operate to achieve the overall objective of the organization.

· The social school views management as a system of cultural interrelationships. It deals with identifying various social groups in an organization and integrating these groups into a complete social system. It recognizes that the organization is not isolated and must operate within the purview of social organisms in a changing environment.

· The behaviourial science school encompasses psychology, sociology and anthropology. It looks at management as a process of generating active interaction among individuals in an organization to influence individual or collective behaviour. It considers human behaviour important and focal to managerial actions. This approach views various activities in relation to their impact and influence on people, who are the primary component of management.

· Currently, the emphasis is on contingency theories specific to the environmental situations in which they are applied. The contingency management school attempts to translate systems theory by assessing the operating factors in any situation and establishing definite patterns and relationships between those factors, which can then be used as guides in other, similar situations. Legal aspects, cultural considerations and public administration issues are also stressed.

· In the eyes of the operational or management process school, management is a unique process, which consists of certain sub-activities (planning, organizing, controlling and decision making). It considers management as a series of operations and processes which provide guidelines for successful management. This is similar to the approach of the empirical school, which considers management from the standpoint of experience which can be generalized and certain guiding principles derived.

Reference:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7501e/w7501e03.htm