Principals of Classical Organization Theory
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Organizational Theory Part One
Introduction
The changing trends in manager-employee relationship in the 21st century means a change must be effected in the way managers relate to those below them (McCrimmon, 2010). Managers no longer have to exercise absolute authority over the employees because the employees can now manage their own work. They require little or no supervision from their managers as used to be in the past. Management has to be an all-engaging process where everyone has a say in the decision making (McCrimmon, 2010).
Organization Theory
The theory that best describes the current shipping manager at Recycled Furnishings is the classical organizational theory. It is a combination of three theories, namely, scientific theory, bureaucratic theory and administrative theory (Walonick, 1993).
Fredrick Taylor developed the scientific theory in 1917. It is currently referred to as Taylorism (Walonick, 1993). The theory emphasizes more on production and people come second. It is argued that the principals of the theory work well in small companies, that is, simple industrialized companies (Walonick, 1993).
Weber (1947) expanded the scientific theory by stressing the need to reduce diversity and ambiguity in organizations. The theory emphasized authority and control. His theory is referred to as the bureaucratic theory and stresses on the need for hierarchical structure of power (Walonick, 1993).
The third theory under classical organizational theory known as the principles of management is the administrative theory, which was advanced by Mooney and Reiley (1931). The theory stressed the need to establish universal set of management principles applicable to all organizations (Walonick, 1993).
Under classical organization theory, the managers exercised control and authority over employees (McCrimmon, 2010). This management style was hierarchical in structure. In such a structure, roles are assigned to employees by the manager who has vested on him or her all powers (McCrimmon, 2010). In this regard, the manager rules over the employees and is the one who plans, organizes and controls the work they do (McCrimmon, 2010). The organization in this respect has clearly established lines of authority and control (Walonick, 1993). Therefore, the organization has a formal set of rules guiding its operations and the relationship between the employees and managers.
In such a scenario, employees cannot be trusted to manage their own work and have to work under strict supervision of the managers. The employees play little role, if any, in the decision making process. Their only motivation to work is the economic reward the job brings (Walonick, 1993). The opinion of the workers and their contribution in the planning process do not matter, since all the authority and control is vested in the hands of the manager. The employee in this case is only a recipient of orders on how work should be done.
Principals of Classical Organization Theory
The principles of classical organization theory beginning with Taylor (1917) are classified into four basic principles. First, find the best way to perform each task, two, carefully match each worker to each task, three, closely supervise workers and use reward and punishment as motivation and four, the task of management is planning and control (Walonick, 1993). The manager therefore controls what each worker does and as weber (1917) stipulates division of labor and specialization work well (Walonick, 1993).
Clear lines of authority and control are drawn according to the bureaucratic theory by Weber. The organization follows a hierarchical structure of operation. Bureaucratic theory also puts forward the idea that “organizational behavior is a network of human interactions, where behavior could be understood by looking at cause and effect” (Walonick, 1993).
These conclusions were arrived at taking into consideration that the Recycled Furnishings was a small company that existed for over thirty years prior to its acquisition by Thor enterprises. It was successful before the acquisition, but after the acquisition, there was need to change the management. Hence, the shipping manager was to retire to pave way for new management. This is with a view that the status quo in management may not work for the company. The reason for this is that the previous management practices could result in lowered production and quality. The workers may not find satisfaction in their work and may not feel the joy of identifying with their organization (Walonick, 1993).