The other major contribution was made by a group of management theorists and
practitioners in North America and Europe who set the basis for what is now known as
"classical management theory" and "scientific management." In contrast with Weber,
they were firm advocates of bureaucratization and devoted their energies to identifying
detailed principles and methods through which this kind of organization could be
achieved. Whereas the classical management theorists focused on the design of the total
organization, the scientific managers focused on the design and management of
individual jobs. It is through the ideas of these theorists that so many mechanistic
principles of organization have become entrenched in our everyday thinking. It is thus
worth examining their work in some detail.
CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT THEORY: DESIGNING BUREAUCRATIC
ORGANIZATIONS
Typical of the classical theorists were the Frenchman Henri Fayol, the American F.
W. Mooney, and the Englishman Col. Lyndall Urwick. They were all interested in
problems of practical management and sought to codify their experience of successful
organization for others to follow. The basic thrust of their thinking is captured in the idea
that management is a process of planning, organization, command, coordination, and
control. Collectively, they set the basis for many modem management techniques, such as
management by objectives (MBO); planning, programming, budgeting systems (PPBS);
and other methods stressing rational planning and control. Each theorist codified his
insights, drawing on a combination of military and engineering principles. Exhibit 2.2
summarizes some of the general principles of classical management theory.
If we implement these principles, we arrive at the kind of organization represented in
the familiar organization chart (Exhibit 2.3): a pattern of precisely defined jobs organized
in a hierarchical manner through precisely defined lines of command or communication.
If we examine these principles closely, we find that the classical theorists were in effect
designing the organization exactly as if they were designing a machine.
When an engineer designs a machine the task is to define a network of interdependent
parts arranged in a specific sequence and anchored by precisely defined points of
resistance or rigidity. The classical theorists were attempting to achieve a similar design
in their approach to organization. We see this in the way the organization is conceived as
a network of parts: functional departments such as production, marketing, finance,
personnel, and research and development, which are further specified as networks of
precisely defined jobs. Job responsibilities interlock so that they complement each other
as perfectly as possible and are linked together through the scalar chain of command
expressed in the classical dictum "one man, one boss."
The motions of the organizational structure thus produced are made to operate as
precisely as possible through patterns of authority—for example, in terms of job
responsibilities and the right to give orders and to exact obedience. Patterns of authority
serve as points of resistance and coordinate activities by restricting activity in certain
directions while encouraging it in others. By giving detailed attention to patterns of
authority and to the general process of direction, discipline, and subordination of