The Concepts of Classical Management Theories

Chain Of Command

The classical-scientific management structure is an organisational hierarchy with three levels of management.

Top-level management is occupied much of the time with organising and controlling. The level of management is a board of directors, and it is the board that will develop long term strategic plans to meet the objectives of the business.

Middle management co-ordinates the activities of supervisors. It formulates department policies and plans in accordance with the strategic plan and objectives in the overall budget.

At the lowest level of the hierarchy are the supervisors who are responsible for getting jobs done. These supervisors oversee day-to-day activities and follow the directives of management. Because of the relatively small span of control, managers have few workers to control.

Division of Labour

The idea of division of labour is to take a complex task and break it down into a number of simpler tasks, which can be performed by workers. Because the tasks are simple or repetitive, workers are not required to have a great deal of education. McDonalds divides the complete operation into a number of tasks such as supervising cooking operations, or operating a deep fryer, and assigns people to carry out these tasks.

Autocratic Leadership Style

Classical-scientific approach towards management is a highly autocratic leadership style. This means management makes all decisions; direction and commands come only from the manager. This style of leadership is derived from the belief that managers are the source of all knowledge and that the only way of achieving production efficiency is to treat employees like machines that need constant direction and guidance.

Summary

• Classical and scientific theories emerged in the 19th century
• The theories of Fayol view management as a process of planning organising and controlling
• The theories of Taylor were directed at improving labour productivity through the division of labour
• The classical and scientific theories are based on a pyramid, hierarchical structure and autocratic management, clear chain of command and short spans of control