Evolution of Management Practices

Evolution of Management Practices Management practices date back several thousand years'years but the development of management as a knowledge discipline is very recent. Several management theories emerged following the industrial revolution with the proliferation of factories. In his work The Evolution of Management Thought, Daniel Wren traces the history of management back to five millennia BC, to the Sumerians, who produced records to facilitate government and commercial activities. Management played an important role in the construction of the pyramids of Egypt, in the emergence of the Roman Empire and in the commercial success of Venice in the 14th century. With the industrial revolution in the 18th century, social upheavals led to great leaps forward in the manufacturing of basic products and consumer goods. Adam Smith's principles of mass production through task specialization and division of labor further accelerated industrial change. At the turn of the 20th century, Henry Ford and other industrialists made mass production one of the pillars of the modern economy. Since then, management sciences and practices have undergone rapid and sustained development. We can schematize the complex history of management as follows: Preclassical approaches In order to enable more efficient management of factories, it is It has proven necessary to coordinate the different contributions and innovative means of several people. The latter, known as pre classical contributors to management, tried techniques to solve specific problems. Classic approaches sought to develop universal principles that will apply to various management situations. Human resource-based approaches focused on human needs, wark groups and the role of social factors in the workplace. Modern approaches:are consistent with the design of organizational systems and the contingency approach (adaptation to circumstances) of complex and dynamic environments. PRE CLASSICAL APPROACHES We distinguish three major contributors from the middle to'in late 1800: Robert Owen, Charles Babbage and Henry Town. Robert Owen, an English entrepreneur (1771-1858), recognized the'importance of human resources. He also defined the working conditions: - L'prohibition of child labor below the age of'age of 10 years. - Reduction of working hours from 13.5 to 10.5 hours - Prohibition of child labor during the night. Adam Smith sewed the first theories of organizations. In his bookinquiry Into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations-1776, Smith included a chapter on the division of labor. What contributed to the introduction of this system to work chain. processes. In this context, Smith addressed the'example of a factory manufacturing pine trees which adopted the process of dividing labor into several branches. This led to the separation of pin manufacturing into 18 operations. This allowed workers to focus on a single task. Which resulted in the increase of the quantity of pins manufactured per day. Smith also put the'emphasis on'importance of adequate machinery to facilitate the work. Charles Babbage (1792 1871), an English mathematician, made the first practical mechanical calculator and a prototype of the modern computer. He dealt with the specialization of labor and profit sharing. Henry Town (1844-1924), mechanical engineer, spoke about the importance of management as a science and insisted on the development of management in work. CLASSIC APPROACHES They concern the first authors who, at the beginning of the century, laid the foundations of management science. This in fact corresponds to the new requirements generated by the emergence of industrial society. Indeed, managing a production company requires a very different qualification from running a simple workshop. The only truly hierarchical organizations were, in the 19th century, the army and the church. Although inspired by these models, the conduct of productive organizations must find its own path and adapted to the requirements of a company in a completely new context Succession of innovations and their industrial application which induces an increasing mechanization of work. Increase in the size of companies, and therefore in capital, equipment and staff to manage. Increasingly widespread urbanization of society, resulting in an increase in demand for standardized basic necessities. The rural exodus pushes towards the cities a workforce with little or no qualification but which is ready to accept difficult working conditions in exchange for a subsistence wage and the hope of climbing the social ladder. Intellectual context favorable to the development of exact sciences (they will save the world) and to believe in the absolute effectiveness of rationalist models and technical progress.