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Term Paper on Management Science
Term Paper Contents:
- Term Paper on the Introduction to Management Science
- Term Paper on the Contribution of Peter Drucker to Management Science
- Term Paper on the Contribution of Elton Mayo to Management Science
- Term Paper on the Contribution of Max Weber to Management Science
- Term Paper on the Contribution of Taylor to Management Science
- Term Paper on the Contribution of Henry Fayol to Management Science
Term Paper # 1. Introduction to Management Science:
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Management science in one or the other form has existed in every nook and corner of the world since the dawn of the civilization. Although the 20th century is marked in the history as an era of scientific management, yet it does not mean that management was totally absent before.
Evidence of the use of the well-recognized principles of management is to be found in the organisation of public life in ancient Greece, the organisation of Roman Catholic Church and the organisation of military forces. However, the study of modern management principles is a twentieth century phenomenon. Management science actually has grown and developed with the growth of socio-economic, political and scientific institutions.
The process of development of science of management can be studied under the following four broad heads:
1. Management in antiquity.
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2. Management during mediaeval period or pre-scientific management.
3. Scientific and functional approach to management
4. Modern human relations approach.
1. Management in Antiquity:
Management first began in the family organisations, later expanded to the tribe and finally pervaded the formalized political suits such as those found in early Babylonia. In these organisations, a type of financial control and record keeping was intended which usually took the form of clay tablets with inscriptions. The recognition of the concept of managerial responsibility was clearly evidenced through the code of Hammurabi.
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In earlier days, management science generally took the form of personal leadership. Approach to administration was governed more by practical thinking and guidelines rather than by any systematised theories. In ancient Mesopotamia there was a group of priests who did management work. They directed and governed by virtue of their authority and representatives of the gods whom the people worshipped. They planned trade routes and organised the work of labours, artisans, soldiers and traders.
2. Management during Mediaeval Period/Pre-Scientific Management:
The medieval period serves as a bridge between antiquity/and the age of awakening, known as the Renaissance. Although organised in a feudal structure, man began to take significant steps in his thinking about organisations and management.
Alfarabai in the 900s in effect set forth a job description for a state ruler. In 1100 Gharali counselled the king on how he should act and the traits he should develop to be a good manager. Venice, the caldron of economic exchange, developed early forms of business enterprise and her arsenal in particular gives us an excellent picture of the state and managerial awareness, thinking and practices of the period. Sir Thomas more contributed Utopian ideas for the management of an ideal society.
Machianelli, on the other hand, gave us clear insights into the machinations of young prince-managers are distilled the thinking of the time into four managerial principles:
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(i) Reliance on managerial consent,
(ii) Cohesiveness,
(iii) Leadership, and
(iv) Will to survive.
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But from the stand point of management thought this period is not very significant. It is merely of academic importance.
3. Scientific and Functional Approach to Management:
The evolution of management concept runs almost parallel to the evolution of manufacturing processes. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, some times in the middle of the eighteenth century, machines were designed to increase productivity and remove many of the laborious tasks from productive activities.
Workers were not chained to machines more than they had previously been chained to or dominated by, their inefficient hand tools. Instead, the workers were provided with equipment with which they could substitute machine power for muscle power. Since, much of the machinery was massive, stationary and dependent on given source of power, such as waterfall, it was necessary to locate materials and equipments in a central plant, employees went to their work instead of receiving it, as in the putting out system.
And so, the factory system, as it is known today, became a dominant feature of the economy. Under this system, land (including buildings), hired labour, and capital (supplied by owners) are made available to the entrepreneur, who strives to combine these factors in the efficient achievements of a particular goal.
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Following closely on the heels of the vast physical changes in the world economy was an equally significant change in the concepts and conduct of management. The new scientific management emphasised rational decisions rather than decisions based on tradition or intuition. Prior to the inception of this new approach, young men had followed fairly closely in the footsteps of their fathers.
As a result, the tools in use during the early eighteenth century showed little deviation from those which had been used by the early Egyptians. Scientific management is a philosophy of management or an approach to management problems where by experimentation and analyses displace the blind acceptance of things traditional and conventional.
Being the latest of all the social science with tremendous possibilities towards securing plenty, prosperity and peace in the world. In the words of L.F. Urwick, ‘Modern management has thrown open a new branch of human knowledge, a fresh universe of discourse’.
Fayol’s general and industrial management was a singular and significant contribution to management thought in that it presented three revolutionary aspects highly important to the development of management:
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(a) The concept that management as a separate body of knowledge is applicable to all forms of group activity. The universality of management;
(b) A first complete and comprehensive theory of management which could be applied to all endeavours, and
(c) The concept of teaching and developing management curricular in colleges and universities.
4. Modern Human Relations Approach:
Elton Mayo, a Harvard Professor, led the team which conducted the Hawthrone investigations at Harvard in the United States with the collaboration of the Western Electric Company and the financial support of the Rockfeller Foundation. Briefly stated, Mayo’s idea was that logical factors were less important than emotional factors in determining productive efficiency.
Furthermore, of all the human factors influencing employee behaviour, the most powerful were those emanating from the worker’s participation in social groups. Thus, Mayo concluded that work arrangements of addition to meeting the objective requirements of production must at the same time satisfy the employee’s subjective requirement of social satisfaction at his workplace.
Other main contributors were:
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Mary Parker Follelt, Oliver Sheldon, Henry Dennison, Mooney and Railey, Chester Bernard, Lyndall Urwick etc.
Term Paper # 2. Contribution of Peter Drucker to Management Science:
Peter F. Drucker, a management consultant and professor of management has written a number of books on managerial topics like The Practice of Management (1954), The End of Economic Man (1939), The Future of Industrial Man, The Concept of Corporation, Economic Tasks & Risk Taking Decisions etc. He is also called as Father of Modern Management.
Peter Drucker is against bureaucratic management instead he has emphasized creative and innovative management. He has treated management both as discipline and profession. He sees management through its tasks. Drucker stresses the setting up of objectives for each member of organisation, the distribution of all necessary information to each member so that he can make his own change with a view to meet his objectives, and the self-control of each unit in the organisation.
According to him, control, as domination of a superior over a subordinate is inappropriate in management. He is regarded as a father of ‘management by objectives (MBO) Technique’ which has revolutionalised the management process. Drucker’s MBO philosophy includes method of planning, setting standards, appraisal of performance and motivation. It applies to every manager, whatever his level of function and to any business enterprise whether large or small. It ensures performance by converting objective needs into personal goals.
Peter Drucker advocates the organisation of departments around products rather than skills and processes and argues that product departments are more conducive to autonomy. He prefers flat or horizontal structures, as opposed to pyramidical ones based on limited ‘span of control’.
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He is also of the view that the organiser should assure that specialists (staff) remain in their place and do not interfere with the freedom of the line manager. Druckers’s management by objectives control by self-control and organisation federalism with always be remembered and be practised in management. He has advised the entrepreneurs to take change as a challenge and manage it in such a way as to make a better society.
Recently the management concepts are attracting mathematical analysis. Operations Research, Linear Programming, Programme Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT), etc. have been developed to devise models as aids to decision-making, forecasting, evaluation and controlling.
Term Paper # 3. Contribution of Elton Mayo to Management Science:
The human relation approach had its beginning in the late 1930s and early 1940s. This movement took a small group, person centred approach to management. The famous Hawthrone experiments were conducted by Elton Mayo and his Harvard associates from 1924 to 1932 at the Hawthrone plant of Western Electric, U.S.A.
The human relations movement began when a group of researchers from Harvard University was invited to conduct studies at the Chicago Hawthorne plant of Western Electric. Elton Mayo and his Harvard associates conducted these experiments.
These experiments were divided into three phases:
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1. Test Room Studies.
2. Interviewing programme.
3. Observational studies.
1. Test Room Studies:
A group of women were separated and variations made in the intensity of illumination, hours of work, rest pauses and their performance was recorded. The results were baffling as output increased, even when working conditions were made poorer. The researchers felt that the improvements in output were due to improved social or human conditions rather than due to physical working conditions. The more important factors were not incentives or working conditions but the team spirit that had developed in the group and the special attention paid by the supervisor and higher management.
2. Interviewing Programme:
In order to find out the reasons for improved model, Mayo interviewed more than twenty thousand employees. Employees were allowed to talk freely and air their opinions in a friendly atmosphere. The importance of work groups was revealed at that stage. To probe further into the working of the informal work groups the researchers started several observational studies.
3. Observational Studies:
These studies revealed that work groups norms, beliefs; sentiments had greater influence in the individual behaviour of the participants in the experiments.
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These studies revealed that work group norms, beliefs, sentiments had a tremendous impact in influencing individuals’ behaviour than did the economic incentives offered by the management. The work group determined the production output of individual group members by enforcing informal standards of behaviour.
The Hawthrone studies dramatize that the worker was not a glorified machine on inert instrument in the production process. People do not work for bread alone. They have multifarious needs—physical as well as psychological. Satisfaction of psychological needs is as important as satisfaction of physical needs.
Moreover, the behaviour is a product of sentiments, beliefs, and work group norms and to draw an equation between productivity and organisational incentives is a gross understatement of the problem. Money is less a factor in determining output than group standards, group sentiments and security. The scientific management’s one best way philosophy has to be moderated to recognize the effects of work groups.
An organisation should be viewed, therefore, as a social system which has both economic and social dimensions. The work environment must be so designed as to provide for the restoration of man’s dignity. The movement as a whole developed as necessary correction to the excesses of classical theory propagated by Taylor and Fayol.
And to the large extent, the movement was successful in bringing about the necessary changes. The philosophy of rational economic man has been duly replaced by social man philosophy. Mayo’s work definitely led to a new interest in the dynamics of work groups. Managers began contemplating in terms of group norms, standards and group rewards to support their former preoccupation with individual behaviour.
The movement has also helped in understanding the therapeutic value of allowing workers to air their options regarding working conditions freely. Probably, the major contribution of Hawthrone studies is that they generated the great amount of interest in human problems of work place. They were also the catalyst of a number of future studies of human behaviour in organisational settings.
Term Paper # 4. Contribution of Max Weber to Management Science:
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Bureaucratic model was given by Max Weber, a sociologist in early 1900s. Weber presented what he thought was an ideal organisation structure that he called as bureaucracy. Weber specified several characteristics of his ideal organisation structure.
The four major ones are:
1. Specialisation and division of labour.
2. Hierarchial positions.
3. A system of abstract rules.
4. Impersonal relationships.
1. Specialisation and Division of Labour:
Weber’s bureaucracy contained a specified sphere of competence.
i. A sphere of obligations to perform a function which has been marked off as a part of the systematic division of labour.
ii. The provision of the incumbent with the specific authority.
iii. That the necessary means of compulsion are clearly defined and then use this subject to definite conditions.
It implies that Weber recognized the importance of having the authority to carry out assigned duties.
2. Hierarchial Positions:
In an ogranisation, there are positions arranged in the hierarchy. Each lower office is under the control and supervision of the higher one.
3. A System of Abstract Rules:
According to Weber a rational approach of organisation requires a set of formal rules for uniformity and unification of effort. A well understood system of regulations also provides the continuity and stability. Rules persist whereas personnel may frequently change.
4. Impersonal Relationships:
It was the Weber’s belief that the ideal official should be dominated by a spirit of formalistic personality without hatred or passion, and hence without affection and enthusiasm. He felt that in order for bureaucrats to make completely rational decisions, they must avoid emotional attachment to subordinates, clients and customers.
These four characteristics are not in all the characteristics of bureaucracy.
The others include:
i. Employment is based on technical qualification.
ii. The bureaucrats are protected against arbitrary dismissal and promotions are made according to seniority and/or achievement.
Criticism of Bureaucracy:
Bureaucratic model of Max Weber is being criticised on the following grounds:
i. Bureaucracy does not adequately allow for personal growth and the development of mature personalities.
ii. It develops conformity and groups think.
iii. It does not take into account the informal organisation and the emergent and unanticipated problems.
iv. Its system of control and authority is outdated.
v. It does not possess adequate means for dissolving differences and conflicts between ranks and most particularly between functional groups.
vi. Communication and innovative ideas are thwarted or distorted as a result of hierarchial divisions.
vii. It modifies personality structure in such a way that the person in a “bureaucracy becomes the dull, grey conditioned organisational man”.
Term Paper # 5. Contribution of Taylor to Management Science:
Frederick Winslow Taylor was the first person who gave the concept of scientific management. He is also called as the Father of Scientific Management. Taylor started his career as an Apprentice and Turner in Cramp Shipyard in Philadelphia, U.S.A. After three years he joined as Midvale Steel Works.
After two years he was promoted as Gang Boss. After four years he was promoted as chief engineer. After that he left this organisation in 1898 and joined Bethlehem Steel Company till 1901. After that he became consultant and devoted his life for the cause of management.
“Scientific management means knowing exactly what you want men to do and seeing that they do it in the best and the cheapest way.”
“Its (scientific management) core is the organised study of work, the analysis of work into its simplest elements and the systematic improvement performance of each element.”
“The term scientific management characterizes that form of organisation and procedure in purposive collective efforts which rest on principles and laws derived by the process of scientific investigation and analysis, instead of any tradition or on policy determined empirically and casually by the process of trial and error.”
i. Science, not rule of thumb.
ii. Harmony, not discord.
iii. Co-operation not individualism.
iv. Maximum output in place of restricted output.
v. Development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.
Aims and Objectives of Scientific Management:
Management can be summarized as below:
i. To achieve increased production, reduce costs and maximum efficiency.
ii. To provide trained and efficient workforce.
iii. To standardize methods of work, material and equipment.
iv. To develop science for each of element of a man’s work.
v. To replace old rule of thumb.
vi. To select, train, teach and appoint work men scientifically.
vii. To promote co-operation.
viii. To ensure division of work and responsibility.
Principles/Elements of Scientific Management:
In order to, implement the principles of scientific management.
Taylor developed the following techniques:
1. Scientific Work Study:
Work study refers to the systematic, objective and critical examination of all the factors influencing the efficiency of operations to effect improvement therein. It involves the measurement and improvement of work.
Work study involves the following types of studies:
(a) Motion Study:
It refers to the study of the movements of an operator or a machine involved in a task with a view to eliminate superfluous or useless motions and to improve the others. Motion study helps to find the best method of doing the work. By developing the ideal sequence of motions it helps to increase efficiency, reduce human fatigue and lower cost of operations.
(b) Time Study:
It implies the study of time taken to perform each operation of a job in order to find out the proper time that should be taken in doing the job. The aim of the study is to fix time standards for each operation. In a time study programme, the job is divided into its constituent elements. Each element is studied with the help of stop watch to find out the time taken in its performance. Then adjustments are made in actual timings for the rest of the job as a whole is determined.
(c) Method Study:
The aim of method study is to maximize efficiency in the use of materials, machinery, manpower and capital by improving work methods. Method study involves the critical examination of plant layout, product design, materials handling and work processes minimize the time, distance and cost involved in the transportation and storage of materials.
(d) Fatigue Study:
It seeks to find out how long a person can perform he standard task without any adverse effect on his health and efficiency. Excessive specialisation and poor working conditions may also cause monotony and boredom among workers which may result in more accidents, spoilage, absenteeism and labour physical exhaustion and mental tiredness can be reduced by improving working conditions, reducing noise and hours of work, etc.
2. Scientific Task Planning:
It is a technique of forecasting and picturing ahead every step in a long series of separate operations, each step to be taken in the right place, of the right degree, and at the right time so that work can be done with maximum possible efficiency. Scientific task is the amount of work which an average worker working under proper working conditions can perform during a working day.
The following steps are involved in scientific task planning:
(a) Routing:
It implies laying down the route or path to be followed by each piece of raw material for its conversion into the finished product. The route and its details are usually shown in a route sheet for the guidance of workers.
(b) Scheduling:
At this stage, a time table of operations is prepared to ensure the completion of each piece of work at the right time. Scheduling determines the order or priority for each operation and the time to be taken for its completion. A master schedule is prepared to ensure the full utilization of available resources. From the master schedule, each department or section can prepare its own detailed schedule.
(c) Dispatching:
Once route and schedule are laid down, orders and instructions are issued for the start of work. Dispatching also involves assembling of necessary resources, assignment of jobs, supervision of work, enforcing discipline and coordinating activities of different individuals.
(d) Follow Up:
It involves checking of work and taking corrective action to ensure that each piece of work is completed at the right time, in the right amount and at the right cost. The progress of materials and parts is regulated to maximise efficiency of performance.
3. Standardization:
It is the process of fixing well thought out and tested standards or norms, with a view to maximise efficiency of work. Standards may be established for products, materials, equipments, work methods and working conditions. Standardization of product can be achieved only if the type and quality of materials and the method of handling materials are standardized.
Similarly, the tools, machinery, speed of work, method of work and working conditions should be standardized. Such standardization helps to reduce spoilage and wastage of resources, improve the quality of work, reduce cost of production, reduce human fatigue etc.
4. Selection and Training:
Proper selection and training on the basis of an objective criterion is necessary to match the job and the job holder. After the employees are selected, they should be placed on the right jobs. A systematic programme is required for continuous training and development of workers. Sound procedures should be developed for the selection and training of workers.
5. Differential Piece Wage System:
Taylor suggested the use of a differential piece rate system in order to motivate workers to produce the maximum quantity. Under the system of wage payment, wages are paid on the basis of the work done. Two piece rates are used, one higher rate for those workers who produce the standard output or more and the other lower rate for those who produce less than the standard quantity. Standard output is fixed through time and motion studies.
6. Functional Foremanship:
In order to apply specialisation at the supervisory level, Taylor developed the system of functional foremanship. Under this system, planning and execution are separated from each other and the job of planning is entrusted to a specialised planning department.
A single supervisor cannot be expected to be an expert in all aspects of work and therefore Taylor suggested that every worker should be supervised by different experts in different phases of his job. He advocated the appointment of eight foremen, four of them in the office, being responsible for planning the work and the other four in the shop, concerned with the execution of work.
The eight foreman and their respective duties are as follows:
(a) Route Clerk:
The route clerk lays down the sequence or path that each operation is to follow in the completion at a particular job. He decides the exact order in which work is to be done. Workers are expected to do their work strictly according to the route specified by the route clerk.
(b) Instruction Card Clerk:
The job of the instruction card clerk is to prepare detailed instructions according to which workers are to perform their jobs. These instructions relate to matters like the speed of work, the tools and fixtures to be used, technical specifications of the work, etc.
(c) Time and Cost Clerk:
The time and cost clerk frames the time table for doing various jobs and maintains the records for the cost of work.
(d) Shop Disciplinarian:
The main function of the disciplinarian is to enforce and maintain discipline among workers. He deals with cases of unauthorized absence from duty, insubordination, violation of established rules and regulations etc.
(e) Gang Boss:
The gang boss is concerned with all preliminary work before the actual operation. He has to assemble the necessary tools and equipments and arrange the facilities in the plant. He is also expected to explain to workers how to set the work in the machine in the most accurate and quickest manner.
(f) Speed Boss:
The speed boss is responsible for ensuring that the work is done well in time. In order to get the work completed in the specified time, he should see that the workers operate at the right speed and in accordance with the specifications laid down in advance.
(g) Repair Boss:
His job is to ensure that each worker keeps his machine clean and free from rust and that he oils and treats the machine properly. In order to keep all machines and tools in perfect working order it is necessary that all standards established for the care and maintenance of the machine and their accessories are rigidly maintained.
(h) Inspector:
It is the responsibility of inspector to see that the work done conforms to the standards of quality laid down by the planning department.
7. Mental Revolution:
Scientific management seeks to bring about maximum prosperity for each worker. Therefore, it requires that the traditionally hostile attitude of the employer and employee towards each other must be replaced by a spirit of mutual understanding and partnership. Scientific management can be successful only when a fundamental change occurs in the attitude of both the parties. Taylor called this change in attitude as “mental revolution.”
The mental revolution in scientific management requires that both management and workers should do their duties faithfully. Moreover, they should not fight with each other on the division of the surplus of industry. Rather, they should work together to maximise the amount of surplus so that each one of them can get a larger surplus without reducing the share of the other part.
Term Paper # 6. Contribution of Henry Fayol to Management Science:
Perhaps the real father of modern management theory is the French industrialist Henry Fayol (1841-1925). Trained as a mining engineer, Fayol made his mark as an industrialist with the French coal and iron combine of Commentary Fourchambault, where he spent his entire working career. He joined the firm as a junior executive in 1860 and rose quickly through the ranks, retiring as director of a company in 1918. Fayol was of the opinion that his success was due not to his personal abilities as a manager but to the methods he used.
He always insisted that if scientific forecasting and proper methods were used, satisfactory results were bound to come. Fayol’s insistence that management was not a personal talent but a skill like any other was his major contribution to management thought. As against the general belief that “Managers were born, not made,” Fayol held that management could be taught, once its principles were understood and a general theory of management was formulated.
Fayol was a prolific writer on technical and scientific matters as also on management. Apart from his publications on mining, engineering and geology, he published so many books, papers on management. However, the most outstanding of his writing is his book titled, “Administration Industrielle et Generate,” written in French and published in 1916, which contains his principles of management.
Fayol divided the total activities of an industrial undertaking into the following six groups:
i. Technical (Production).
ii. Commercial (Buying, Selling and exchange).
iii. Financial (Search for the optimum use of capital).
iv. Security (Protection of property and person).
v. Accounting.
General Principles of Management:
Henry Fayol stated that the principles of management are not rigid. On the contrary, they must be capable of adaption to various enterprises and setting.
From his discussion of management theory, Fayol derived the following fourteen principles:
1. Division of Work:
Division of work means specialisation. Each job and work should be divided into small elements and each element should be assigned to the specialist of the element. Division of work promotes efficiency because it requires an organisational member/group to work in a limited area and thus, enabling the member/group concerned to develop specialisation due to repeated exercise in that limited area. Fayol wanted division of work not only at factory but at management levels also.
2. Authority and Responsibility:
Authority and responsibility should go together, Fayol stressed that right and power to give orders should be balanced with the responsibility for performing necessary functions.
3. Discipline:
Fayol saw discipline in terms of obedience, application, energy and respect to superiors, Fayol declared that discipline requires good superior at all levels.
4. Unity of Command:
A subordinate should receive orders from only one boss. Fayol claimed that if the unity of command is violated, authority is undermined, discipline in danger, order disturbed and stability threatened.
5. Unity of Direction:
Each group of activities having the same objective must have one head and one plan. It will create dedication to the purpose and loyalty.
6. Subordination of Individual Interest to General Interest:
The interest of the business enterprise ought to come before the interest of the individual worker.
7. Remuneration:
Remuneration should be fair and adequate. It should lead to the maximum satisfaction and include both types of incentives financial as well as non-financial.
8. Centralisation:
There should be one central point in the organisation which exercises overall direction and control of all the parts. But the degree of centralisation of authority should vary according to the needs of the situation.
9. Scalar Chain:
There should be a scalar chain of authority and communication ranging from highest to the lowest position. Each communication going up or coming down must flow through each position in the time of authority. It can be short-circuited only in special circumstances when its rigid following is in detrimental to the organisation.
10. Order:
The principle of order applies to both materials and men. An organisation ought to be based on an orderly and rationally thought out plan. “A plan for everyone and everyone in his place” was his slogan.
11. Equity:
Kindness and Justice should be exercised by management in dealing with its subordinates. This will create loyalty and devotion among the employees.
12. Stability:
Stability is linked with long texture of personnel in the organisation. Efficiency is promoted by a stable workforce.
13. Initiative:
The ability to think a fresh and in advance would act as a powerful motivator of human behaviour. Plans should be well formulated before they are executed.
14. Esprit de Corps:
Fayol said that in union there is strength. The whole organisation should work as a team and every team member should work to best accomplish organisational goals. He emphasised the importance of good communication in achieving team work.
Fayol said that even this list of principles of management is not conclusive. These principles are not rigid as they are flexible. They must be utilised by the management in the light of changing environment and social conditions. Management should develop continuously new ideas and new principles.
However, the flexibility of principles does not mean that they may be overhauled according to the whims and experience of even those who have not matured themselves in managing. If this is allowed, the principles will not withstand the test of time. The principles, if they are to serve as the foundation for efficient management, for future managers must be able to withstand the test of time.