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Organizational Theory Timeline
At the turn of the 20th century, the first theories of management, Classical Organizational Theory, came about. Since this time, many schools of thought have been presented throughout the years by practitioners/businessmen and academicians who have shown interest in the subject of management. As a result, numerous approaches or what are called schools of thought have developed. Theorists have added to the body of thought and even contradicted what was previously presented. You will see below that there are many thoughts about management and in the 21st century management has continued to change. Theories of the 21st century have not been presented here but you are able to explore these thoughts further within your class.
Below, the schools of thought are highlighted in blue. In bolded black, a brief overview of each school of thought is presented. Theorists who wrote and presented their ideas are identified under each of the schools of thought. Bulleted highlights for each theorist are provided. You will see that some theorist fall within more than one school of thought, an indication that management has evolved over the years.
School of Thought: Classical Organizational Theory
(PreWorld War II). First theory of management and is the first building block that all other management theories making it important to gain knowledge of this school of thought. The structuralist who focused on structure or design and production processes
Theorists:
Adam Smith
Laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory
Best known for two classic works; the theory of moral sentiments and an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations
Believed economic prosperity would result from rational self-interest and competition
Henry Towne
One of the first engineers to recognize the importance of management in engineering
Developed the Towne-Halsey plan
Recording the quickest time to complete a job and fixing it as a standard
Workers are compensated for working faster than the standard
Concept similar to piece work
Henry Fayol
Fayolism
First general theory of management
Known as the Father of Management
Concept of administration
Book – Administration Industrielle et Generale
Proposed five functions of management
Laid down the 14 principles of management
Frederick Taylor
Applied engineering principles to factory work
Leader of the intellectual movement
Penned the book, “The Principles of Scientific Management”
Through time and motion studies developed the one best way to complete a task
Speed and feed calculating slide rules
Max Weber
One of the founders of sociology
Best known for his thesis on economic sociology
Observed the advantages of bureaucracy in organizations as resulting in proficiency
Suggested capitalism was born out of a set of religious ideas – based on protestant ideology
Methodological antipositivism
School of Thought: Neoclassical Organizational Theory
(Post World War II through 1950s). Considered transitional and/or reactionary to classical organizational theorist. Challenged some of the basic tenets and raised issues and created theories that became the basis for future schools of organizational theory.
Theorists:
Chester Bernard
Management theory and organizational studies
The functions of the executive
Formulated two theories; authority and incentives
Robert Merton
Unintended consequences
Role model
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Published 50 papers in social science
Deviance typology
Herbert Simon
American Political Scientist
Artificial intelligence
Information processing
Decision making
Bounded rationality
Satisficing
Problem solving
Philip Seznick
Noted author in sociology of law and public administration
Individuals as independent agents
Cooptation theory
Theories of mass society
Richard Cyert & James March
Behavioral theory of the firm
The firm as a coalition of groups
Satisficing behavior
Process of decision making
Organizational slack
Critical evaluation
School of Thought: Human Resource Theory
(1957 to present) Concerned with behavior of people in organizations. Belief is that human capital is as important or more important than the organization. Assumes organizational creativity, flexibility and prosperity emanates from employee growth and development.
Theorists:
Mary Parker Follett
Social worker turned management theorist
Authored “The New State”
Pioneered the understanding of lateral processes which led to the formation of the matrix organization
Elton Mayo
Laid the foundation for the human relations movement
Authored “The Human Problems of an Industrialized Civilization
Hawthorne Studies
Fritz Roethlisberger
Authored “Management and the Worker
Published the first comprehensive findings of the Hawthorne Studies
Abraham Maslow
Created the Hierarchy of Needs
Humanistic theories of self-actualization
Douglas McGregor
Theory X and Theory Y
Authored “The Human Side of Enterprise”
Irving Janis
Group think
Authored “Psychological Stress,” “Victims of Groupthink,” “Decision Making,” “Groupthink,” and “Crucial Decisions”
Frank Gilbreth & Lillian Gilbreth
Pioneered motion studies for use in motion pictures
Broke work down into fundamental elements called therbligs
One best way to complete household tasks
Developed improvements in bricklaying
Frederick Herzberg
Job enrichment
Motivator-hygiene theory
Authored “One More Time, How Do you Motivate Employees?”
School of Thought: Modern Structural Organizational Theory
(Second half of the 20th century). Organizational efficiency is the essence of organizational rationality. The goal of rationality is to increase production of wealth in terms of goods and services. Influenced by human resource and sociotechnology approach.
Theorists:
Kurt Lewin
Studied group dynamics and organizational development
Force field analysis
Leadership climates
Lewin’s equation
Group dynamics
Tom Burns & G. M. Stalker
Contingency theory
Peter Blau & Richard Scott
Co- Authored “Formal Organizations: A Comparative Approach”
Exchange theory - Blau
Macrostructural theory – Blau
Writing and research concentrated on the relationship between organizations and their institutional environments - Scott
Arthur Walter & Jay Lorsch
Organizational Choice: Product vs. Function
Henry Mintzberg
Rebalancing society
Organizational configurations framework
Emergent strategy
Elliot Jaques
Developed the notion of requisite organization
Richard Burton & Borge Obel
Authored “Strategic Organizational Diagnosis and Design: Developing Theory for Application”
Co-founders of organizational consulting company…EcoMerc
Fred Fiedler
Helped move the field from research on traits and characteristics of leaders to leadership styles and behaviors
Fiedler Contingency Model
School of Thought: Organizational Economics Theory
(Second half of the 20th century). Explains the emergence and expansion of organizations (hierarchies, information asymmetries, bounded rationality, cognitive barriers and costs associated with uncertainties). Include concepts such as agency theory, behavioral theory, teams theory, transaction cost economics, and game theory.
Theorists:
Oliver Williamson
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for his analysis of economic governance
Information impactedness
Michael Jensen & William Meckling
Co-authored “Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
Social Contract
Richard Cyert & James March
Behavorial Theory of the firm
School of Thought: Power and Politics Organizational Theory
(1970’s to current times). Rejects assumptions under “modern” structural organizational theory that assume organizations are naïve and unrealistic. This particular school views organizations as complex systems of individuals and alliances, all with own interest in terms of values, beliefs, perspectives, and perceptions.
Theorists:
Jeffrey Pfeffer
Leadership BS
The Human Equation
The Knowing-Doing Gap
Hidden Value
Hard Facts
What Were They Thinking?
People Are the Name of the Game
John French & Bertram Raven
Five Forms of Power
The Bases of Social Power
James March
Theory of the Firm
Garbage Can Model
Henry Mintzberg
Rebalancing society
Organizational configurations framework
Emergent strategy
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Author “Commitment & Community: Communes and Utopias in Socialogical Perspective
Conducted study on tokenism
Study of Men and Women of Corporation
Authored “Creating the Future: The Massachusetts Comeback and its Promise for America
John Kotter
Leading Change
Outlines 8 Step Process for Leading Change
School of Thought: Theories of Organizational Culture and Change
(During the 1950s to 1960s, but did not gain notoriety in the 1980s). Belief that organizational culture is a social energy that leads to make certain decision and explains why people to act as they do, which links culture to behavior.
Theorists:
Edgar Schein
Developed Model of Organizational Culture
Career Anchors
Scott Cook & Dvora Yanow
Authored Culture and Organizational Learning
Karl Weick
Introduced concepts of sensemaking and loosely coupled systems
Organizational behavior
Proposed four organizational conditions for assumptions of rational theories to be valid.
Harrison Trice & Janice Beyer
Authored “The Cultures of Work Organizations
W. Edward Deming
Out of Crisis
System of Profound Knowledge
William H. Whyte Jr
Authored “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Street Life Project
The Organization Man
Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy
Cultural Model: Understanding Rites and Rituals in Corporate Culture
School of Thought: Reform through Changes in Organizational Culture
(1980s and 1990s). Came at a time when US companies lost competitive edge and had to think beyond changes in structure or functions to making changes in the organizational culture. US competition was threatened or failed due to inability to increase productivity. US found that it was not able to compete with other industrialized nations. This movement required organizations to make changes in organizational culture. What came about included total quality management (TQM), the learning organization, the balanced scorecard, and the quality of work life.
Theorists:
William Ouchi
Theory Z
Three approaches to control – market control, bureaucratic control and clan control
Peter Senge
The Fifth Discipline
Learning organization
Systems Thinking
David L. Cooperrider and Diana Whitney
Authored “Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change
Edgar Schein
Developed Model of Organizational Culture
Career Anchors
Joann Martin
Organization Culture: Mapping the Terrain (Foundations for Organizational Science)
School of Thought: Theories of Organizational and Environments
(Dominated Organizational Theory in 1966-67) Introduced Open Systems versus Closed Systems and Systems Thinking based on Von Bertalanffy’s general systems theory. Tools to accommodate systems theory include computers, models and teams.
Theorists:
Daniel Katz & Robert Kahn
Developed framework for open-systems theory that merged the classical, neoclassical, human relations, modern structural and systems perspective.
Co-Authored “The Social Psychology of Organizations”
James Thompson
Theory of Complex organizations – look at individual behavior to explain the nature of organizations.
Published “Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative Theory
Founder and Editor of Administrative Science Quarterly
John Meyer and Brian Rowen
Proposed the formal organization as a system or systems with coordinated and controlled activities that come about when work is embedded in complex networks of relations and boundary-spanning exchanges.
Co-Authored Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony
Jeffrey Pfeffer & Gerald Salancik
Known for work on organizational decision making
Proposed a resource dependent perspective on external controls of organizations in which organizations should viewed in terms of an interdependence with their environment.
Co-Authored “The External Control of Organizations”
Glenn Carroll & Michael Hannan
Move beyond a prototypical approach to one of a social and economic setting in which diversity of organizations was primary.
Co-Published: The Demography of Corporations and Industries
School of Thought: Contemporary Schools of Management Thought
(modern day approaches to management that offer more insight than theory). Publications are readily available in bookstores. Led managers to change the way they think of their jobs and the way they treat and utilize workers.
Theorists:
Peter Drucker
Founder of Modern Management
Management by Objectives and Self-Control
Knowledge Worker
Chris Argyris
Theories of action
Double-loop learning
Organizational learning and its impact on company growth, effectiveness and adaptability
Peter Senge
The Fifth Discipline
Learning organization
Systems thinking applied to organizational change and economics
Studied decentralization of leadership in organizations to increase productivity and to build more sustainable organizations.
Victor Harold Vroom
Expectancy Theory of Motivation
Job satisfaction
Authored ”Work and Motivation, Leadership and Decision Making
Authored “The New Leadership
Ken Blanchard
Wrote about a wide range of management topics including empowerment, positive relationships, leadership, performance teams, high power organizations, and the need for a leader to have a vision.
Authored “The New One Minute Manager”
Authored “Leadership and the One Minute Manager”
Blanchard-Mouton Management Grid
Tom Peters
Took management from the book to the classroom
Focused on the softer side of management.
Organizational change
Transformational leadership
Coauthored “In Search of Excellence”
