Since the early twentieth century, a wide variety of management theories have been offered to solve the principal-agent problem so that important objectives of business managers can be achieved. Such theories are important to a wide variety of complex business enterprises.
Management is hierarchical by definition.
One of the earliest management theories was developed by Frederick Winslow
Taylor was an engineer, and his theories tended to treat workers as if they were machines. Taylor’s scientific management seemed to have some success, and it was very popular in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Still, its effectiveness declined over time, as workers and some researchers found processes based on Taylor’s theory dehumanizing.
The management theories of W. Edwards Deming, shown in 1987, were followed by the Japanese.
A variety of researchers conducted studies that indicated that eventually the time-and-motion studies led to worker demoralization and increased inefficiency rather than efficiency in industrial processes. Mary Parker
By the middle of the twentieth century, Abraham
Although the work of McGregor and Maslow improved efficiency by improving the workplace conditions and attitudes of the workers, it became clear that a greater level of compliance with managerial directives was required. One of the management theorists who sought to advance beyond the work of McGregor and Maslow was Peter F.
Another management theorist, W. Edwards
Baker, George P., and George David Smith. The New Financial Capitalists. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Management theory is applied to leveraged buyouts and other financial manipulations. Deming, W. Edwards. The New Economics: For Industry, Government, and Education. 2d ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000. Issued after Deming’s death, this book represents the culmination of his management theory. Drucker, Peter F. The New Realities. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 2003. This is the last book in a long list of books of managerial theory published by Drucker. Follett, Mary Parker. “The Giving of Orders.” In Scientific Foundations of Business Administration, edited by H. Metcalf. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1926. This article was one of the first challenges to Taylor’s scientific management. McKenna, Christopher. The World’s Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. This book examines the role played by management consultants in developing new management theory. Miner, John B. Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Addresses topics of motivation, leadership, and decision making in organizations and offers introductory material on the origins and history of management theory. Taylor, Frederick W. Scientific Management. New York: Harper & Row, 1947. This book is a later version of the time-and-motion study principles that Taylor developed early in the twentieth century.
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