Theoretical Perspectives of Management Theorists

INTRODUCTION: This study will compare and contrast the theoretical perspectives of management theorists Henri Fayol and Frederick Winslow Taylor.

The development of Taylor's theory of scientific management began with his first encounter with workers as an "executive trainee." That encounter reveals that his priorities were not with the worker, but instead with management. Taylor himself "associated" the encounter with the "beginning of scientific management." In this incident, Taylor sought to increase the productivity of the workers (specifically the machinists), a focus of most of his theory. He considered their output low and unacceptable, and a result of the failings of both the factory system and the work methods of workers. He fired some men, lowered others' wages, installed a piecework-based system notorious still today in sweatshops, and tried to institute a "fining system . . . to punish men who broke tools or spoiled work" (Nelson, 1980, pp. 33-34).

Taylor came out of this encounter with the view that management was not strong or organized enough to institute whatever approaches it deemed necessary to increase productivity and profit for the factory owners. Many of his contributions certainly aided the work of the laborer:

The majority of his inventions pertained to the operation of metal-cutting machines. They included a tool grinder, machine tool table, a chuck, a tool-feeding device for lathes, a work carrier for lathes, a boring-bar puppet, and two borin

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ks and reporting and authority relationships that is the very essence of organizing. Fayol's principles thus provide the framework for the organization chart and the coordination of work (Moorehead and Griffin, 1998, p. 463). Fayol focused on the single-product firm, specifically a coal-mining company. He believed that "organization structure will not just 'evolve,'" but must be planned and institutionalized from the top down: "Organization design and structure require thinking, analysis, and a systematic approach" (Drucker, 1974, p. 523). Jarvis writes that Fayol's theory was effectively applied in the coal-mining firm. His "theorising about administration was built on personal observation and experience of what worked well in terms of organisation" and "his aspiration for an 'administrative science' sought a consistent set of principles that all organizations must apply in order to run properly" (Jarvis, 2001, p. 1). Jarvis adds that Fayol's five described functions are relevant still today with respect to the roles and action of management. These functions allow the manager not only to deal with current problems but to "examine the future and draw up plans of action" for dealing with likely problems before they arise. Orga

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