-
Scientific Management School
In the early 1900's the main focus of communication in organization was efficency, heirarchy and structure. Communication was to function in order to assign tasks, and was not concerned with interpersonal relationship building. -
Scientific Managment
Time motion study of bricklayers
Frederick Taylor is credited with developing Scientific Management. His methods focused on effiecency. He believed employees were given precise instructions on how tasks should be completed. -
Principals of Management
Henri Fayol developed the Prinipals of Management. The focus of this pricipal is chain of command. He wrote that there should be a clear leader and messages should flow through the chain of command without bypassing a link in the chain. When messages needed to forgo using the proper channels one could use Foyle's Bridge which allowed for vertical communication. -
Human Behavior School
Beginning around the 1920's theorists began to shift from being concerned with organizational structure. This perspective focuses more on relationships, motivation, and satisfaction than the scientific management school did. -
Principals of Bureaucracy
Max Weber developed principals of bureaucracy. His believed there people should be assigned to positions based on their skill set and competence. Each person in the organization would be responsible for certain duties within the organization. Communication was to be formal and impersonal. -
Principals of Coordination
Mary Parker Follett believed organizations should be focus on what motivated the members of the organization. While she was known as a scientific management theorist her work marked the beginning of a shift from focusing on tasks over people. -
Hawthorne Effect
Elton Mayo conducted a study in 1927 in which he used lighting to alter working conditions. The results showed that making lights brighter or dimmer had the same affect on worker productivity. The mere fact that the workers were being paid attention to caused output to improve. This research uncovered the importance on human interaction in the workplace. -
Integrated and Cultural Perspectives
Many people believed both scientific management and human behavior theories ignored the fact that organizations were part of a larger environment which influenced the way people operate. Theorists taking a cultural approach sought to explain how culture within and outside the organization influenced the organization. -
Sociotechnical Integration
Sociotechnical Integration is a concept developed by Eric Trist and his student Kenneth Bamforth as a way to create a balance between the needs of the organization and the needs of the people within the organization. Allowing groups to create goals could give them a reason to achieve those goals in a way that outside instruction could not. -
Decision Making Approach
Bounded RationalityHerbert Simon believed organizations had processes of decision making that influenced the entire organization. In order to shed light on this he came up with the concept of bounded rationality. This is a way to understand how information is processed and decisions are made. -
Theory X and Theory Y
X and Y Theory Developed by George McGregor in order to distingush between managers subscribing to the scientific management school of thought and those who followed the human perspectives school. Theory X managers believe employess are not self motivated and need to be led with close supervision. Theory Y managers believe employees prefer self direction and need less supervision. -
Participative Management
Participative Management Rensis Lickert developed the concept of participative management. He believed that organizations were more successful when input was encouraged from all levels of the organization. -
Contingency Theory
Joan Woodward developed contingency theory in order to explain that can not be a one size fits all approach to organizations. Differeing goals and environments influence organizations which means they cannot all operate in the same manner. -
Postmodern and Critical Perspectives
The past perspectives have focused on organizations, structure, and relationships in organizations. Postmodern theory looks at organizations as being flexible and in need of workers with a diverse skill set. Critical theory looks at issues including power and abuses of power. While feminist theory focuses on gender assumptions and how organization play a role in supporting a male centered view of the world. -
Organizational Culture Formation
Edgar Schien (1985) gives us a model of culture with three levels, artifacts, values, and basic assumptions. Artifacts are those things within an organization that can be seen such as dress code, and office layout. Values are the preferences individuals and groups have about things within the organization and basic assumptions is what individuals believe to be true about their surrondings.
