management theory background and the evolution that led to present practices, your greater understanding of management principles can help you manage employees more effectively. Management theories have evolved from an emphasis on authority and structure to a focus on employees. There are still competing theories regarding what motivates an employee, but knowing how the theories arrived at their conclusions can help you with your own employees.
Historic of management theories
Management theory originated with "scientific" and "bureaucratic" management that used measurement, procedures and routines as the basis for operations. Organizations developed hierarchies to apply standardized rules to the workplace and punished workers for not following them. With the "human relations" movement, companies started emphasizing individual workers. Contemporary management theories, including system theory, contingency theory and chaos theory, focus on the whole organization, with employees as a key part of the system.