THE CLASSICAL THEORY: A group of writers often known as the
Classical School of Thought, attempted to enquire whether there are any general
principles of management and administration whose application could remedy the
defects like inefficiency of the governmental organization and improve its
general functioning.
The chief exponents of this school F.W. Taylor, Henri Fayol, Gulick and Urwick and Max Weber originated between 1903 and 1911. This school started as a result researches of engineers. The main focus here is that the organization should be formally planned.
The simple idea behind this thought is that man can be controlled through reward for excellence of work and punished for laxities. When we modulate, increase or decrease punishment, we control crime. According to F.W. Taylor, workers should be rewarded proportionately to the degree of their success and like manner, be punished according to the degree of their laxity. This means that the more work performed, the greater the reward, and the lesser work performed, the lesser the reward. The classical theory opines that the workers must be given rewards and punishments to get work out of them.
This theory makes organization authoritative. This theory, Douglas Mc Gregor called X Theory in his book, The Human side of Enterprise. This theory state that workers do not want to work and they are not willing to accept responsibility. Moreover, Weber points out that hierarchy is an essential element of bureaucracy which means that every worker must have a boss. Classical thought is a traditional thought which is widely accepted world over. It is commonly accepted by practicing manager and administrators.
The chief exponents of this school F.W. Taylor, Henri Fayol, Gulick and Urwick and Max Weber originated between 1903 and 1911. This school started as a result researches of engineers. The main focus here is that the organization should be formally planned.
The simple idea behind this thought is that man can be controlled through reward for excellence of work and punished for laxities. When we modulate, increase or decrease punishment, we control crime. According to F.W. Taylor, workers should be rewarded proportionately to the degree of their success and like manner, be punished according to the degree of their laxity. This means that the more work performed, the greater the reward, and the lesser work performed, the lesser the reward. The classical theory opines that the workers must be given rewards and punishments to get work out of them.
This theory makes organization authoritative. This theory, Douglas Mc Gregor called X Theory in his book, The Human side of Enterprise. This theory state that workers do not want to work and they are not willing to accept responsibility. Moreover, Weber points out that hierarchy is an essential element of bureaucracy which means that every worker must have a boss. Classical thought is a traditional thought which is widely accepted world over. It is commonly accepted by practicing manager and administrators.
The classical approach recognized no
conflict between man and organization. It viewed the organization from highly
managerial’ standpoint. It assumed that what was good for management was good
for the workers. The classical school argued that hard work and efficient
labour will in the end pay off for both groups by increasing the effectiveness
of the organization.
Higher productivity leads to higher profits which in turn lead to higher pay and greater worker satisfaction. The classical administrative theory, presented in works by Gulick and Urwick, made the division of labour its central tenet. The classical approach rests firmly on the assumption that the more a particular job can be broken down into its simplest component parts, the more specialized and consequently the more skilled a worker can become in carrying out his part of the job. The more skilled the worker becomes in fulfilling his particular job, the more efficient the whole production system will be.
The division of labour, the classical approach pointed out has to be balanced by a unity of control. The tasks have to be broken up into components by a central authority in line with a central plan of action; the efforts of each work unit need to be supervised; and the various job efforts leading to the final product have to be co-ordinated. Since each supervisor has limited number of subordinates he can effectively control, it is necessary to appoint a number of supervisors. The number of subordinates controlled by one superior defines his span of control. What results is a pyramid of control leading up to one top executive.
In this way, the whole organization can be controlled from one centre of authority, without having any one supervisor controlling more than 5 to 10 subordinates.
Higher productivity leads to higher profits which in turn lead to higher pay and greater worker satisfaction. The classical administrative theory, presented in works by Gulick and Urwick, made the division of labour its central tenet. The classical approach rests firmly on the assumption that the more a particular job can be broken down into its simplest component parts, the more specialized and consequently the more skilled a worker can become in carrying out his part of the job. The more skilled the worker becomes in fulfilling his particular job, the more efficient the whole production system will be.
The division of labour, the classical approach pointed out has to be balanced by a unity of control. The tasks have to be broken up into components by a central authority in line with a central plan of action; the efforts of each work unit need to be supervised; and the various job efforts leading to the final product have to be co-ordinated. Since each supervisor has limited number of subordinates he can effectively control, it is necessary to appoint a number of supervisors. The number of subordinates controlled by one superior defines his span of control. What results is a pyramid of control leading up to one top executive.
In this way, the whole organization can be controlled from one centre of authority, without having any one supervisor controlling more than 5 to 10 subordinates.
Gulick and Urwick have given the following four basic principles with which the organization could achieve the optimal division of labour and authority.
The first principle stated that
specialization should be the purpose of the task. Workers who serve similar
goals or sub-goals in the organization should be attached to the same
organizational division. There should be as many divisions in the organization
as there are goals or sub-goals. The Nigerian armed forces, for instance, share
the general goal of protecting the country. But parts of the armed forces have
different sub-goals; The Navy is responsible for defence on the seas; The Air
force must guard against attack from the air; and the Army is responsible for
land defence.
The second principle of specialization suggests that all work based on a particular process should be grouped together. Since it must share a special fund of knowledge and requires the use of similar skills of procedures. For example, the three military branches all need intelligence information. The Central Intelligence Agency provides certain kinds of intelligence information that are used by all three branches. Law department is another example of an organization, organized according to process. It provides legal services to all other departments.
Thirdly, specialization according to type of clientele is still another basis for division. All work directed to serve specific group of clients is placed in one division. For example, teachers who instruct very young children are separated from teachers who instruct adolescents.
The fourth principle says that jobs performed in the same geographical area should be placed together. Here different types of jobs may fall into the same division as long as they are carried out in the same place.
(The following are the broad features and
assumptions of this school
- (i) The basic assumption is that both the workers and the organization are like machines Willingness to Work on the part of workers is lacking.
- (iii) The organization is formally planned or pre-designed It is treated as totally formal that is built before hand by experts, a system of behaviour pre-designed by specialists and commanded by people at the top. Any deviation from this, is regard as violation of the normal state to the detriment of efficiency.
- (iv) The organization itself is regarded as a closed system deprived of any connection with the external environment. The management of the organization is the sole business of the workers working in the organization.
- (v) Accepted set of functions: According to this school, there are accepted set of functions of management To these functions Luther for Gulick in 1937 gave an acronym POSDCORDB, which stands for planning, Organizing, Staffing, directing, co-ordinating, reporting and Budgeting