Management Science

Management science is relatively young. It became an independent branch of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century.

But management has been practised since ancient times. When the first organizations appeared, there were people who led them. In different periods and in various countries, the first leaders were emperors, kings, tsars, landlords, slave-holders, generals, officers, governors of provinces, supervisors, etc. They represented different levels of management and made people under them work, fight, sell or buy.

There were various kinds of organizations – state, political, religious, trade. Of course, ancient organizations were different from modern ones, but they had some common features.

Experts say that the Roman Empire, which existed for some centuries, had an effective organization structure. It was ruled by the emperor. The emperor had a strong army which invaded large territories in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. There was a rigid hierarchy in the army. The legions were commanded by generals and officers. The territories occupied by the army were ruled by governors.

The Roman Catholic Church is one of the oldest religious organizations in the world. It also has a rigid hierarchy: the pope, the cardinal, the archbishop, the bishop, and the priests.

Some historic events and people's activities contributed to the development of management studies. The English Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the rapid economic growth in many countries of the world, and the development of sciences in the 19th century gave impetus to the start of management studies.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Robert Owen, a British manufacturer, tried to run his factory better and introduced some reforms. He improved the working conditions, increased the workers' wages. Owen's factory in Scotland was profitable, but other manufacturers did not want to change the old system of management.

Management science was born in the United States. At the turn of the 20th century, it was a powerful country with rich natural resources, developed economic and business relations, and a huge labour market.

In 1911, in New York, Frederic W. Taylor published his famous book Principles of Scientific Management. After this publication management was considered an independent field of research and called a science.

This branch of knowledge is connected with economics, mathematics, engineering, psychology, sociology and anthropology. The objects of management are machines and people.

At present, different schools of management represent different approaches to research. There are four major approaches to management:

- the approach of scientific management,

- the process approach,

- the systems approach,

- the contingency approach.

The founders of the school of scientific management were F. W. Taylor and Frank and Lilian Gilbreth who used analytical, quantitative method in managing business organizations. They did operations research and tried to increase labour productivity. They also dealt with material incentives, personnel selection and training.

Henri Fayol is called the father of management. In his famous work General and Industrial Management, Fayol formulated 14 principles of management. Among them are the principles of division of labour, authority and responsibility, discipline, one-man management, personnel remuneration, initiative, corporate spirit, and others.

Experts believe that scientific management led American industry to greatness and reached its highest mark at the end of the 1970s. Today, the leaders have given up the old concepts about the nature of the world and the old "scientific" methodology. They are humanizing business organizations trying to balance rationality with intuition and creativity. They are paying their attention to corporate culture, values and communication. Today's scientific management is turning to the heart of business – the technology and the people's factors.

The proponents of the process approach suppose that management is a series of interconnected managerial functions. They are planning, organization, motivation and control.

According to the systems approach, management is the combination of such interrelated elements as people, structure, tasks and technology. The representatives of this school think that an organization is an open system consisting of some subsystems connected with one another. The organization gets resources from the environment, produces goods and returns them to the environment.

The supporters of the contingency approach believe that different managerial techniques are determined by many factors within the organization and in the environment. Certain conditions demand suitable techniques. These techniques are different in different situations. The contingency approach expanded the practical application of the general systems theory.

All the schools of management have made a great contribution to the development of this science. Nowadays management studies are rapidly developing.

 

Exercise 11. Find in the text the equivalents of these words and word combinations.

Самостоятельная область знаний; помещики, рабовладельцы, губернаторы провинций, надсмотрщики; представляли различные уровни управления; подчиненные им люди; иметь некоторые общие черты; быстрый экономический рост; способствовали развитию науки управления; на пороге ХХ века; огромный рынок труда; разные подходы к научному исследованию; повысить производительность труда; разделение труда; корпоративный дух; ценности; в соответствии с; сторонники; расширили практическое применение; сделали большой вклад.

 

Exercise 12. Answer the following questions in pairs.

1. Is management science old?

2. When was it recognized as an independent branch of knowledge?

3. How long has management been practised?

4. Who were the first managers?

5. What hierarchy did the Roman Empire have?

6. What contributed to the development of management science?

7. What was Robert Owen famous for?

8. What are the major approaches to management?

9. Who were the founders of the school of scientific management?

10. What is the difference between the old scientific methodology and today's scientific management?

11. What principles of management did Henry Fayol formulate?

12. What are the functions of management?

13. What kind of system is an organization, according to the systems approach?

14. What are managerial techniques determined by, according to the contingency approach?

 

Exercise 13. Read the article to get more information about scientific management.