Interrelationship Between Management Functions

APPROACHES TO MANAGEMENT

Starting with the oldest School of Management theory, the different approaches can be listed as follows:

1. Scientific management approach.
2. Management process or Administrative Management approach.
3. Human relations approach.
4. Behavioural science approach.
5. Quantitative or Mathematical Approach.
6. Systems approach.
7. Contingency approach.
8. Operational approach.
9. Empirical approach.

Scientific Management Approach

The Industrial Revolution in England gave an immense impetus for the scientific management approach. It brought about such an extra ordinary mechanization of industry that it necessitated the development of new management principles and practices. Bringing groups of people together for the purpose of working in the factory problems for the factory owners. The establishment of formal organization structure, formal lines of authority, factory systems and procedures had to be undertaken for coordinated effort. In order to deal with these problems, a management movement known as ‘Scientific Management' was born.

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1865 to 1950) was the first to recognize and emphasise the need for adopting a scientific approach to the task of management. The introduction of the concept of standard time, standard output, standard cost, standardization of production process, change in the attitude of management and workers to bring about the mutuality of interests are the important landmarks of scientific management. This approach was supported and developed by Henry L. Gantt, Frank Gilbreth, Lillian Gilbreth, Harrington Emerson, etc.

Management Process or Administrative Management Approach

The advocates of this school perceive management as a process consisting of planning, organizing, commanding and controlling. In the words of W.G. Scott. “It aims to analyze the process, to establish a conceptual framework for it, to identify principles underlying it, and to build a theory of management from them”. It regards management as a universal process, regardless of the type of the enterprise, or the level in a given enterprises. It looks upon management theory as a way of organizing experience so that practice can be improved through research, empirical testing of principles and teaching of fundamentals involved in the management process.

The process school is also called the ‘traditional’ or ‘universalist’ school as it believes that management principles are applicable to all the group activities. Henry Fayol is regarded as the father of this school. Oliver Shelden, J.D. Mooney and Chester I. Barnard are among the other important contributors to this approach.

Human Relations Approach

The human relations approach is concerned with the recognition of the importance of human element in organisations. Elton Mayo and his associates conducted the world Famous Hawthorne Experiments and investigated the myriad of informal relationships, social cliques, patterns of communication and patterns of informal leadership. As a result of these experiments, a trend began which can be phrased as ‘being nice to people'. This trend was eventually turned as ‘the human relations movement'.

The human relations approach revealed the importance of social and psychological factors in determining workers' productivity and satisfaction. It was instrumental in creating a new image of man and the workplace. It put stress on interpersonal relations and the informal groups. “Its starting point was in individual psychology rather than the analysis of worker and work. As a result, there was a tendency for human relationalists to degenerate into mere slogans, which become an alibi for having no management policy in respect of human organization.” Nevertheless, this school has done a unique job in recognizing the importance of human element in organizations.

Behavioral Science Approach.

The ‘behavioral science' approach utilises methods and techniques of social sciences such as psychology, sociology, social psychology and anthropology for the study of human behaviour. Data is objectively collected and analysed by the social scientists to study various aspects of human behaviour. The Pioneers of this school, such as Gantt and Munsterberg reasoned that in as much as managing involves getting things done with and through people, the study of management must be centred around the people and their interpersonal relations. 

The advocates of this school concentrated on motivation, individual drives, group relations, leadership, group dynamics and so forth. The noted contributors to this school include Abraham Maslow, Frederick, Herzberg, Victor Vroom, McGregor, Lawler, Sayles, and Tannenbaum.

Quantitative or Mathematical Approach

This approach stands for using all pertinent scientific tools for providing a quantitative basis for managerial decisions. The abiding belief of this approach is that management problems can be expressed in terms of mathematical symbols and relationships. The basic approach is the construction of a model because it is through this device that the problem is expressed in its basic relationships and in terms of selected objectives. The users of such models are known as operations researchers or management scientists. 

Linear programming, critical Path Method, programme Evaluation Review Technique, Break even analysis, Games Theory and Queueing Theory have gained popularity for solving managerial problems these days. These techniques help the managers in improving their decisions by analysing the various alternatives in the scientific manner. The application of mathematical techniques is particularly useful in solving the physical problems of management such as inventory and production control. They can never be. Substitute for knowledge, experience and training necessary for understanding the human behaviour.

System Approach

A system is composed of elements or subsystems that are related and dependent on each other. The system approach is based on the generalization that an organization is a system and its components are interrelated and inter-dependent. This approach lays emphasis on the strategic parts of the system, the nature of their inter-dependency, goals set by the system and communication network in the system. Another basic feature of the systems approach is that attention is paid towards the overall effectiveness of the system rather than the effectiveness of subsystems. Under system approach, the overall objectives and performance of the organization are taken into account and not only the objectives and performance of its different departments or subsystems.

The spiritual father of this School of Management was Chester I. Barnard. The systems theory lays emphasis on the inter-dependency and interrelationships between the various parts of a system. It stresses communication and decisions process throughout the organization. It follows an open system approach. The organization as an open system has an interaction with the environment. It can adjust to the changes in the environment.

Contingency Approach

The latest approach to management is known as ‘contingency’ or ‘situational’ approach. Underlying idea of this approach is that the internal functioning of organisations must be consistent with the demands of technology and external environment and the needs of its members if the organisations is to be effective. This approach suggests that there is no one best way to handle any management problem. The application of management principles and practices should be contingent upon the existing circumstances. Functional, behavioural, quantitatives and systems tools of management should be applied situationally.

There are three major parts of overall conceptual framework for contingency management:

(a). environment;

(b). management concept, principles and techniques; and

(c). contingent relationship between the two.

The environmental variables are independent and management variables (process, quantitative, behavioural and systems tools) are dependent. Every manager has to apply the various approaches of management according to the demands of the situation. 

Operational Approach

Koontz and O’ Donnell have advocated operational approach to management. This approach recognizes that there is a central core of knowledge about managing which exists in management such as line and staff, patterns of departmentation, span of management, managerial appraisal and various managerial control techniques. It draws from other fields of knowledge and adapts within it those parts of these fields which are specially useful for managers. 

“The operational approach regards management as a universally applicable body of knowledge that can be brought to bear at all levels of managing and in all types of enterprises. At the same time, this approach recognizes that the actual problem managers face and the environments in which they operate may vary between enterprises and levels”. The application of science by perceptive practitioner must take this into account in finding solutions to management problems.

Empirical Approach

According to this approach., management is the study of the experiences of managers. The knowledge based on experiences of successful managers can be applied by other managers in solving problems in future and in making decisions. Thus, the empirical school is based on analysis of past experience and uses the case method of study and research. Managers can get an idea of what to do and how, by studying management situations of the past. They can develop analytical and problem solving skills. They can understand and learn to apply effective techniques in comparable situations.

No one can deny the value of analyzing past experience to obtain a lesson for the future. But management, unlike law, is a science based on precedent, and future situations exactly resembling those of the past are unlikely to occur. Indeed, there is a positive danger in relying too much on past experience….. for the simple reason that a technique found “right” in the past may be far from an exact fit for a somewhat similar situation of the future.