Classical And The Human Relations Theory And Theories Of Management

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Classical and the Human Relations theories of management.
The classical management is sometimes called the scientific approach, it was developed during the Industrial Revolution in order to cope with the problems that arose in the factories. It attempted to find the most efficient way of managing and completing the tasks that were set for the employees. The classical approach saw organisations as rational entities that should be based on facts rather than intuition. The approach suggested a highly structured method for doing jobs and the employees were trained to do their own specialised job.

The approach emphasized ‘one best way of doing it’, so encourages organisations to develop one. It proved to be a very good approach as it sped up the rates that the jobs were executed in, reduced wastage and increased efficiency. Directive management was used, so the managers had control, passed down direct orders and passed the rules and job specifications down to the employees. The approach saw humans as economic beings and believed that emotions should be eliminated as they threatened the efficiency of the employees. Money was the sole motivator and only form of reward scheme, it was believed that if you paid people more, then they were willing to work harder and better.

Henry Fayol supported this approach as he believed in the levels of efficiency rather that the task itself, he also believed that the flow of information should be from the top to bottom rather than the bottom to the top, he believed in unity of direction, centralisation and order. He believed that the managers roles were planning, organising and command coordination control. It was believed that the most appropriate form of job design was achieved through the use of hierarchy and rules.

Max Weber – Bureaucracy is characterised by the division of labour, it suggests a clear hierarchy structure and focuses on organisational structure, procedures and authority.
Classical approach could be effective in routine or redefined jobs. This could include factory work where no creativity was required. This approach merely saw its employees as economic beings, they were seen as another set of the factory machines, communication only came from the top to the bottom, employees had no opinion. The management did not participate there were a lot of hierarchies included making it almost impossible for the employees to be heard. The employees were not given the option to be creative or to think outside of the box they were externally controlled. There was no form of employee recognition, employee empowerment or flexibility for the employees. The managers had too much control and too much to do. There are employment laws and human right against some of the proposed methods. Hierarchy’s show levels of power, not a lot of people are in control, but this still goes on in some organisation. Flatter hierarchy’s would make communication more effective.

The Human Relation Approach was created in the early 20th century and was a result of the limitations of the classical management perspective. It recognised employees are emotional and social beings rather than being economic rational beings. This approach aimed at motivating employees and increasing the work productivity through collaboration and teamwork which effectively fulfils their needs and leads to achieving organisational goals as work was viewed as a group activity. This approach also used the most popular Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which stated that every human being has some needs which affects his performance and motivation. These needs in the order from the most basic are Physiological needs, Safety needs, Social needs, Esteem needs and Self-actualization