Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Many current management concepts and practices can be traced to early 20th century management theories. Some of the main approaches to management were the scientific management approach, the general administrative approach and the human relations approach. Some of the exponents of the early theories were Frederick Taylor, Max Weber, Elton Mayo, Chester Barnard, Mary Parker Follett and Henri Fayol. Taylor was one of the proponents of scientific management, which is defined as the use of scientific methods of research to determine the “one best way” to get a job done. While working at Midvale Steel Company in Pennsylvania, Taylor was often shocked by workers’ inefficiencies, which motivated his interest in improving productivity by finding the “best method” to get jobs done. His work at Midvale led him to define four scientific guidelines for maximizing efficiency: i. Develop one best way to do each job ii. Scientifically select the best individual for the job iii. Close co-operation between management and workers and implementation of incentives to ensure that the job was being carried out in the prescribed method iv. Division of work equally between managers and workers so that activities such as planning, orga