Impact of Management Theories on Modern Organizations

This essay provides an overview of key management theories, focusing on the contributions of Fred Taylor, Henry Fayol, and Max Weber. It begins with an executive summary that highlights the importance of management in achieving organizational goals through planning, organizing, and controlling activities. The introduction sets the stage by mentioning the various theories and their impact on organizational success. Fred Taylor's Scientific Management theory, with its emphasis on improving efficiency through scientific techniques and workforce training, is discussed. Henry Fayol's Administrative Management theory, which classifies management into definite principles and emphasizes the importance of formalized administrative structures, is also examined. Max Weber's Bureaucratic Theory of Management, characterized by structured rules and clear hierarchies, is analyzed for its relevance in large organizations. The essay concludes by emphasizing the continued relevance of these early management theories in the modern management framework, highlighting their role in improving organizational productivity and achieving set objectives. Desklib provides additional resources and solved assignments for students.

Management Theories 1
MANAGEMENT THEORIES
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Management Theories 2
Table of Contents
Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................5
Theory of Scientific Management by Fred Taylor.......................................................................................7
Principles of Scientific Management Theory...........................................................................................7
Henry Fayol’s Administrative Management Theory....................................................................................9
Bureaucratic Theory of Management by Max Weber................................................................................10
Summary and Conclusion..........................................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................................14

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Executive Summary
Management is a critical activity in every business organization that facilitates the
achievement of an organization’s stated goals and objectives through other people, including
those who might have been absent during the formulation of such targets. Management is
responsible to determine whether an organization will achieve its goals and even the timeframe
that is likely to be taken in the actualization of such stated goals. Managers take over the
management function in every organization. They have the authority to plan in advance,
supervise other workers and individual activities as they take place in the organization, control
activities and workers through effective monitoring and directing actions of the workers in an
organization, staffing through selective recruitment of workers as well as leading in the overall
activities carried out in the organization. When managers plan well, the overall impacts are
reflected in the productivity of the organization. Similarly, poor planning of activities in an
organization is reflected in the final output of the organization. Improved performance and
increased productivity in an organization is a reflection of the quality services offered by the
managers in such organizations.
Additionally, the actualization of organizations stated goals calls for the proper
organization of activities in an organization. Managers should be able to organize the various
activities taking place in the organization in their order of importance as well as urgency. When
less important activities are put first in the priority lists, they end up using both the time and
resources that could have been used to perform more important and critical roles and functions in
the company. The level of importance in various organizational activities is measured on the
basis of their total contribution in the general realization of the organization’s objectives, as well

Management Theories 4
as their level of urgency. More urgent activities that require faster attendance and performance
can be classified as more important during the time of their urgency. Similarly, those activities
that might not be urgent might be defined to be less important even though their total
contribution to the realization of a company’s goals is bigger. The manager’s ability to critically
judge and classify the activities in an organization in the order of their necessity is a major
determinant of the success of an organization.
Management theories focus on the way managers and supervisors of organizations
directly relate and engage with their organizations in terms of knowledge and skills about the
organization’s targets, the analysis and implementation of well-founded methods that would
effectively lead to the achievement of such stated targets, and monitors the way managers and
other senior staff are actively engaged in motivating and inspiring their subordinate workers to
carry out the various tasks allocated to them with maximum engagement. Managers who are well
informed about the different management methods are always able to execute their
organizational roles more effectively. They are therefore more likely to lead their organizations
in such ways that the organizations meet their targeted outcomes through increased productivity
which directly relates to productivity (Schön, 2017). Similarly, organizations with managers who
are less informed about the management theories and who do not mix the Knowledge of the
management theories in their daily functioning have been subject to tremendous failure and are
even more unlikely to meet any of their objectives in the future. This essay puts more emphasis
on the application of management theories and their related impacts on organizations.

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Introduction
Different management theorists came up with various management theories all with the
aim of discussing the various factors they thought to be more effective in ensuring that
organization succeed in the achievement of their goals. A combination of the different theories
makes managers more efficient in facilitating success and even more in improving their
organizations’ productivity. Among the major and most common theorists include Fred Taylor,
Henry Fayol and Max Weber. To start with, Fred Taylor raised management arguments and
came up with the theory of scientific management. To come with this theory, he carried out a
number of practices such as pig iron experiment and standardized shovels (Durai, 2015). Fred
Taylor carried out these different experiments while he was trying to figure out a way through
which employees’ efficiency could be improved and consequently lead to the organization’s
success. Taylor recognized the great role played by the employees and overall workforce in an
organization. Human capital is an important asset to any organization. It is the human capital that
gets all the other functions in an organization working. It is the major determinant to the success
of any organization. Taylor, in his experiments, puts up scientific techniques in the places of
work. Taylor wanted to observe the reaction of the employees towards the application of the
various techniques he applied.
On the other hand, Henry Fayol’s administrative management theory classified
management into definite principles that seek to design the composition of an effective
organization as a whole. In his theory, Henry Fayol requires business organizations to have
formalized and highly specialized administrative structures that can clearly be able to divide
labour effectively among their employees and power can be easily delegated from the senior staff

Management Theories 6
to their subordinates so as to instil management skills and knowledge to such lower-ranked
workers. Today, administrative management theory is still highly applicable especially in bigger
organizations that exhibit well distinctive business levels and departments (Fayol, 2016). The
major elements of effective management as explained by Henry in his theory assist managers
today to solve the various problems that persist in their organizations more creatively and
tactically, thus making the whole problem-solving process easier and highly effective. Planning,
as defined by Henry Fayol, involves forecasting and making predictions about the future and
therefore making the necessary arrangements that enable such an organization to curb the
possible problems even before their actual occurrence. The organization, on the other hand, helps
to collect together the various human and non-human existing assets and resources together for
their easy application in the organization to help the organization to achieve its defined key goals
and objectives. Other aspects addressed by Fayol include coordination of the various divisions as
they might exist in an organization as well as integrating and directing their efforts into solely
solving a company’s needs.
In Max Weber’s bureaucratic theory of management, the three key frameworks addressed
include the traditional authority, charismatic and rational authority. Like Fayol, Weber also came
up with basic bureaucratic principles that focus on improving the management of different
organizations and subsequently improve the productivity of such business companies and assist
them to achieve their set objectives. Weber defined bureaucracy as an organizational structure
characterized by numerous and well-structured rules and regulations, procedures and
requirements. The structure also included clear hierarchies and least human interactions among
the employees of an organization. This theory is highly applied today by those organizations that

Management Theories 7
exhibit large organizational structures as well as higher numbers of employees. These structures
are therefore characterized by high formality and official duties, where the top management
possesses the overall authority to set and implement rules, as well as impose punishments to the
breakers of such set rules. Below is an in-depth analysis of the three early management theories
that are still relevant to the modern day general management framework.
Theory of Scientific Management by Fred Taylor
Fredrick Taylor was an American engineer who in his management, extensively applied
his acquired engineering and scientific skills and knowledge, and consequently came up with a
management theory by the name Taylor’s Scientific Management theory (Durai, 2015). Today,
this theory is explicitly used by organizations in their various production levels such as planning
levels and a number of production control levels such as quality and cost control. This theory
embraces the use of quantitative analysis in the overall improvement of production efficiency
(Shafritz, Ott & Jang, 2015).
Principles of Scientific Management Theory
Generally, this theory incorporates the industrial engineering principles into organization
management that aims at ensuring that the waste resulting from the production activity is
minimized, the overall methods applied in the production process are improved and the goods
produced are fairly distributed as required by the organization. This theory aims to suit the
interests of all the stakeholders of an organization including its employers and owners, the
workers employed in such an organization and the overall external society at large. This theory is
normally broken down into distinctive categories namely development of scientific approaches
to work, scientific selection and recruitment of an organization’s workforce, scientific training

Management Theories 8
and development of the workforce and creation of an intimately cohesive and cooperative
environment between both the employees and their employers (Simon, 2013). Tylor, in his
theory, discarded the ancient management style and replaced it with a timed observation leading.
He further encouraged systematic and organized training of an organization’s human resource so
as to equip them with the necessary skills they require to carry out their daily responsibilities
effectively. The division of labour and workload among all the workers in an organization helps
to make tasks simpler and thus easier to solve.
Taylor, in his theory, believes that scientific skills and instructions assists workers to
carry their allocated work effectively. He encourages organization management teams to break
loads and tasks into smaller bits of tasks that can be easily performed by employees with much
more productivity. The scientific theory has been employed by the managers of organizations to
offer monetary rewards to their workers as well incorporating scientific training of employees in
attempts to improve their productivity. The application of scientific management theory in the
handling of pig iron helped to ensure that both organization managers and workers strictly
followed rules and regulations while carrying out the duties assigned to them. For instance, there
were distinctive times when workers were instructed to and not to pick the pig iron, and they
were therefore supposed to take rests when not taking the pig iron and vice versa. The resulting
effect was that productivity in terms of output was greatly improved. Other aspects considered
by Taylor included ensuring that workers were trained the ways in which they could handle the
pig iron and subsequently enjoy a pay increase.

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Henry Fayol’s Administrative Management Theory
Fayol worked in a mining company where he was employed to raise and implement a
management theory. In his theory Administrative Management Theory, Fayol emphasizes the
roles of management in an organization. He believes that there are five key roles the improve the
management of any organization. Among these roles include forecasting and planning,
organizing and controlling (Geisler & Wickramasinghe, 2015). Other key roles that Fayol
addressed include coordinating and commanding. Fayol developed a number of principles that
compliment the key roles identified, such as proper division of labour among employees. In his
theory, Fayol argues that the organization workload is supposed to be shared and distributed
among the available employees on the basis of their passion and expertise. He further believes
that division and specialization of labour improve the total productivity among organizations.
Additionally, the theorist defined authority as the right to give orders and make other people
obey (Koontz, 2010). Organizations bestow managers with the authority and managers are
therefore responsible for giving orders and getting things done. Discipline interprets to improved
profitability.
The principle of unity of command gives a senior officer to issue orders to other junior
officers while the principle of direction ensures that there is a common source of orders and
authority. Teamwork and cooperation among the workers in a common organization help to
boost production as well as fostering employee relations. Managers in modern organizations
employ Fayol’s roles and principles to boost productivity and relations among the workers in
their organizations and consequently boost the overall company’s output. Organizations enable
managers to give orders to their subordinates. They are given the authority to sack those

Management Theories 10
employees who do not obey the organization's rules and also promote those workers that exhibit
distinctive leading and performance skills. However, the principles of unity of command and
unity of direction are not observed in many organizations. The increased complexity in
organizational structures has led to the creation of more posts and workers now receive orders
from more than one managers. The Fayol’s theory has helped to foster the relationships between
managers and the personnel, which helps to improve interactions within the organization.
Moreover, workers are more engaged and produce better output in terms of quality and quantity
when they are more engaged than when they are not.
Bureaucratic Theory of Management by Max Weber
In his theory, Weber was concerned with inspecting the effect of authority towards the
achievement of an organization’s goals. He identified that organizations were more effective and
productive when authority was bestowed on those people who were more qualified, competent
and efficient. This counteracted the impacts that issuing authority to those people that one knew
brought to the organizations. Weber developed various characteristics of bureaucracy, which he
believed would result in increased efficiency in organizations if properly employed. The
bureaucratic structure facilitated the senior positions to execute authority over the lower
positions (Niskanen, 2017). Such positions continuously and consistently supervised the
activities as carried out in the lower positions. The principle of the pain of command ensured that
there was total control in the organization’s activities and also made sure that law and order were
maintained at every time in the organization. Maintenance of law and order made sure that
workers in an organization mutually respected each other and thus there was a peaceful
coexistence between different personnel in the company (Weber, 2015).

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Duties and activities in a bureaucratic system were highly divided and specialized on the
basis of workers qualification and passion. Duties are only allocated to the most competent and
qualified personnel in terms of skills and passion. Workers are assigned those duties that they are
passionate about so as to boost their engagement in the workplace (Niskanen, 2017). Moreover,
division and specialization of labour help to build positive mental attitude among workers which
in turn improves their overall performance. The set standards, rules and regulations in
bureaucratic systems ensure that employees do not go beyond the set limits and discipline is
highly maintained at all levels of the organization. Managers to whom power is bestowed are
supposed to hire people without discrimination, only hiring the most qualified and competent
workers to fill the organization’s vacancies. Promotions are also supposed to be given fairly
basing on the employee’s level of competence where the most competent workers are supposed
to be promoted (Weber, 2013).
Organization’s in the modern world have improved systems as explained in the
bureaucratic theory. Managers are able to organize, supervise and control employees and all the
activities taking place in the places of work. Managers who have effectively incorporated
bureaucratic systems have been able to get better results than those who haven’t. This has been
mainly contributed by the fact that workers are able to coordinate and work together as a team
and more technical and complex tasks can be solved efficiently (Williams, 2015). In addition, the
increased employee engagement has resulted in improved perf0mances and higher productivity
levels. Managers maintaining law and order facilitate improved employee relations and as a
result, employees are able to work together as a teamwork to achieve the organization’s set goals
and targets. Most of the organizations that have not embraced this system seem to have followed

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the various critics as subjected to the system. Among the critics include the lack of flexibility
which affects the delivery of organization services, especially owing to the fact that tasks and
duties are fully specialized and therefore employees only stick to those tasks in which they are
assigned (Hatch, 2018).
Summary and Conclusion
Conclusively, early management theories still hold critical relevance to the modern
management practices. early theorists such as Henry Fayol, Max Weber and Fred Taylor have
continued to make great impacts especially in the management practices where their theoretical
concepts are applied by managers in modern organizations to promote production in their
organizations. Some of the management concepts that are highly adored in the modern
management activities such as division of labour and specialization of labour, cooperation and
teamwork among employees and other aspects such as enforcement of law and order at places of
work had been developed by the named early theorists. Application of these concepts has
currently seen the growth and development of many modern organizations. Managers who are
well equipped with knowledge from the early management theories are now able to effectively
lead and manage their organizations, often driving them into success and enabling them to
achieve their goals and objectives.
Similarly, modern managers who are unable to incorporate such knowledge as found in
these early management theories have often found trouble in running their organizations
smoothly, which has often resulted to failure and inability of such organizations from attaining
their targets. The knowledge about teamwork and the need for cooperation helps to keep all the
workers in business organizations to remain united, and in turn well interactive at the places of