Analysis the impact of classical management approaches on the management practices

Abstract

Classical Approaches originated in the late of 19th Century and one of the oldest approaches; which represents traditional thoughts in management and based on the prototype industrial and military organization. The classical writers included Taylor, Fayol, Weber, Gullick, and Urwick, Mooney and Reiley and others and all they placed emphasis on work planning, the technical requirements, principles of management, formal structure, and the assumption of rational and logical behaviour, industrial management, including specialization, efficiency, higher quality, cost reduction and management-worker relationships. F.W. Taylor insisted on application of scientific methods to the problems of management. Henri Fayol suggested fourteen principles of management and their universal application. Max Weber introduced rationality in organisation, division of labour, specialization, structure, personnel competency, etc. Management is the study of managerial experiences. Classical treated organisation as a closed system. They ignored the element of human beings. Principles and functions of management have universal application. The study has been assessing the extent of applications of these theories in modern business scenario and analyzes relevance of these theories in organizations. The research paper is of descriptive in nature and assesses the impact of classical approaches on the current organizational practices. The study realized that organization must have to understand, accommodate, embrace and promote people dynamics to achieve production efficiency and effectively. Organizations should also review periodically their rules, regulations and manuals to ensure current trends in the business environment. Finally, that organization should allow for initiative, innovations and workers participation in decision making. The study evaluated current level of waste and labour turnover, layoff of workers, slow pace of growth and closure are caused by the application of the theories in management practice of the organizations.