Major Schools Of Management Thought And Their Evolution

Importance Of Theory

This lesson mainly traces the history behind the development of management theory. The theories and history ofmanagement are important to managers for various reasons.History helps managers understand current development and avoid mistakes of the past.History and theory together foster an understanding and appreciation of current situations and developments and facilitate the prediction of future conditions.

Theory helps managers organize information and therefore approach problems  systematically. Without theories all managers would have are, intuition, hunches and hopes which may not be useful in todays very complex and dynamic organizations. However there is not yet any verified and generally accepted theory of management that managers can apply in all situations. Therefore managers must familiarise themselves with the major theories that exist.

Ancient Management

As a scientific discipline management is only a few decades old. However indications of management in use go back thousands of years into ancient civilizations. For example one of the earliest recorded uses of management is the Egyptians construction of the pyramids. It is also recorded that the Chinese used management in government from as early as 1500 B.C.

The Greeks also used management in government from as early as 1000 B.C.

Babylonians have also been recorded to have used management in government from as early as 2700 B.C.The management of the Great-Roman empire could not have succeeded without use of management. It is recorded that from about 800 B.C the Romans were practising organizing principles. A lot of bureaucracy for instance was in practice in the ancient Roman Army. The works of people like Socrates (400 B.C) and Plato (350B.C.) all indicate some elements of management. However despite this widespread practice of management there was little interest in management as a scientific discipline until a century ago. It was not until the late nineteenth century that large businesses requiring systematic administration started to emerge. Also before the late 19th century governments and military organizations were not interested in the profits so they paid little attention to efficiency and effectiveness. Our study of the theory of management will focus on the three well established schools of management theory.

•    The Classical School
•    The Behavioural School
•    The Management Science School