MIDTERM CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Introduction
Alongside horizontal differentiation, Classical organization theory deals with hierarchical levels of coordination and authority between several units. Three of the most prominent proponents of classical organization theories include Fredrick Winslow Taylor, Max Weber, and Henri Fayol. Some of them advocated for division of labour as a way of underlines specialization, which is the most efficient way of administration. Classical organization theory arrived just in time during the industrial revolution to powerfully rationalize economic organization. The theory also includes the flow of information as multidimensional, that is, from up downward and from down upward. This was made possible by the design of an information flow chart.
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor is also known as the father of scientific management movement. He is the author of The Principles of Scientific Management, in which he advocates that firms should do away with unions and political ambitions to maximize their profits. This would ensure the mass production of goods by the labouring class to “increase the thrift and virtue of the working classes”. This statement is commonly referred to as “Taylorism” or “Taylor system”. The following are 12 assumptions made by Taylor in the Taylor system (Taylor, 1911).
He argued that for one to make wealth, he must identify what he must provide to the world that the world consumes (Taylor, 1911). Here, Taylor identified that the cotton cloth is a commodity worn by everyone as opposed to 1840s when it was left only for the rich people for luxury. This world’s greatest improvement is marked by the enormous increase in the output of people living in the world. He remarked that within the last 300 years, output per every individual living in the world has improved 20 times. This is one of the major reasons for the increased wealth, quality time and better education. Evolution has taken toll of scientific management of every step. Every element in the scientific management must strive to outsmart the previous elements for it to survive; otherwise, that particular element may be rendered redundant. Taylor insists that a complete mental revolution is a basic necessity for scientific management, without which there can never exist a scientific organization. This complete mental revolution is the attitude of employers towards their employees, their duties as well as themselves (Taylor, 1911).
The duties and burdens that make scientific management successful have been divided into four categories called Principles of Scientific Management. The first principle is called “Deliberate Gathering Together of The Great Mass of Traditional Knowledge” (Taylor, 1911). It entails the gathering of the right information, tabulating, it and converting it into mathematical formulae for routine use and occasionally reduced into laws and principles to help in management. The second principle is called “Scientific Selection of the Workman and His Progressive Development” (Taylor, 1911). Here, the focus is on the employee and his competence to help cause the industrial realization of profit. The third principle is a unity of all workmen and the fourth is about “Complete Re-Division of the Work of Establishment” (Taylor, 1911).
Biblical back up of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s Classical organization theory is found in the book of 1 Chronicle 28:21 which says, “And behold, the courses of the priests and the Levites, even they shall be with you for all the house of God: and there shall be with you for all manner of workmanship, every willing skilful man, for any manner of service: also the princes and the people will be wholly at thy command”. This was the instruction that God gave to the Prophet to provide solid leadership among the people of Israel as they lived among the Canaanites. This statement advocates for both specialization and division of labour among the people. God gave every man the ability to perform different duties at their will to make the society complete. There were princes, ordinary people, prophets, audience, preachers and several other persons with various skills for workmanship, just as “Taylorism” advocates (Taylor, 1911).
Henri Fayol
The General Principles of Management by Henri Fayol is a set of ideas that Fayol proposes can help make a personal effort while creating team dynamics for a perfect organization. As a senior executive in a mining firm in France around, 1911, Fayol believed in the development of management theories and teaching them for the sake of development of the entire society (Fayol, 1949). He further believed that a good manager must first learn his management roles followed by forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, and coordinating with a purpose to control his subjects for the overall good of the firm. Fall had six main principles of management, which he believed would apply to all managers, all managerial duties and in all situations and universally applicable to almost all forms of organizations (Fayol, 1949). He, therefore, developed first comprehensive theory that entailed: technical skills, which is purely needed for the production of goods or development of services, commercial skills, which requires one to have the ability to buy and sell, financial skills, useful for development and correct use of capital, security, which is the skill of protecting people and property, accounting skills to help the firm account for a financial position, and finally, managerial skills that takes ones’ ability to forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, and coordinating with a purpose to control his subjects for the overall good of the firm.
Fayol’s 14 principles of management, therefore, include Division of Work, Authority and Responsibility, Discipline, Unity of Command, Unity of Direction, Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest, Remuneration of Personnel, Centralization, Scalar Chain, Order, Equity, Stability of Tenure of Personnel, Initiative, and Esprit de Corps (Fayol, 1949). Division of Work is useful in mass production of goods and improves quality as one particular workman is expected to focus on very few aspects of production, thereby improving his efficiency and experience. This is the best way of making use of many people. It also makes over-responsible should there be any problem along the line of products as the error can easily be traced. Authority is said to be the chance that a particular command will be followed by the workers. All workers in the firm are encouraged to take commands from their seniors to reduce confusing instructions from various sectors (Fayol, 1949). Discipline is mandatory for everybody. All standing agreements must be followed. In all sectors of human associations like military, education, industry, home and religious affiliations among others, unity of command is very vital as people should take instructions from their counterparts of superior ranks. Unity of direction on the other hand posts that there should be a universal plan being followed by all members of the society to work towards achieving similar goals. One should suppress his interest to help achieve the group interest in case his interest may work contrary to that of the group. Personnel remuneration should be as good as possible to motivate every member of the society to give his maximum input (Fayol, 1949).
Centralization requires that all effort and skills must be channelled towards achieving the central communal goal while scalar chain states that there should be the flow of information and command in a linear form, that is, from higher to lower ranks (Fayol, 1949). Esprit de Corps advocates for unity that brings strength, the initiative is the requirement for creativity, the order is necessary and equity is inevitable in a workplace. Roman 12: 6 advocates for various talents which is analogous to division of labour. The bible says that “Having then gifted differing according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith”.
Max Weber
Max Weber’s work and research were highly influenced by Taylor’s earlier proposals on the bureaucratic organization. In his proposal, he extrapolated the bureaucratic organization into a fully developed real-world bureaucracy (Weber, 1978). In a nutshell, Max Weber highlights six characteristics of bureaucracy and how they can be applied in a workplace for the good of the firm. The first characteristic is the principle of an official area of jurisdiction as ordered by regulations of administration. The second is the principle of office hierarchy, which defines the level of official authority as graded firmly from the topmost leadership to the lowest rank in an organization. The modern office must be operated in files and paperwork for the ease of remembrance, office changeover, records, originality, and to cushion the organization from illegal activities. All the modern office bearers should be specialized and formally trained in their areas (Weber, 1978). The office practice requires that the activities must carry on once the office is fully developed. Finally, general rules must be followed by management. These rules must be stable, learnt, and less exhaustive (Weber, 1978). Max Weber’s principle of bureaucracy is supported by the bible in Genesis 26: 5, which advocates for obedience to the higher authority and the elderly. Here God declares that “Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws,… ”
Summary
The classical organization theorists, Fredrick Winslow Taylor, Max Weber, and Henri Fayol provided theories that have stood the test of time since the 19th century. Max Weber advocated for bureaucratic leadership in an organization that ensures the flow of information and order from the right source in an organization. Tailor, on the other hand, insisted that for one to make wealth, he must identify what he must provide to the world that the world consumes. Henri Fayol posited that a good manager must first learn his management roles followed by forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, and coordinating with a purpose to control his subjects for the overall good of the firm.
References
Fayol, H. (1949). General and Industrial Management. (trans. C Storrs). London: Pitman.
Taylor, F. W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. New York, NY: Harper &
Brothers.
Weber, M. (1978). Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. 2 vols.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.