Organisation and Management Theory

Classical Approach

It could be said that classical school theory fails to see outside the box, when organisations are focused more on processes than employees. The theory believes that there is always a single best way to manage and organise a business (Vasu, 1998). Unfortunately, this can result in a workplace which seems insensitive to the employees, making them feel like machines.
Companies that follow the classical system must establish a set of clear rules and boundaries, as well as specific descriptions of worker responsibilities. The simpler and more logical an employee’s routine, the better.

Tesco is the biggest private sector employer in the whole of the UK, with over 360,000 employees nationally (The Times Newspaper Ltd, 2010). To work efficiently, all job roles are very specific, and each require specific skills. For example, if you work on the checkout, that will be your only specialisation. If you worked in the pharmacy, you would need to have specific skills and qualifications first. Tesco brag that they put customer satisfaction first, which is typical of the classical approach.


Contingency approach

The contingency approach means that decisions and actions should be dependent on external changes (Montana, 2008). The ideal of there being one best way of getting a job done, as we see in classical school theory, is flawed by this approach. This acknowledges that in order to manage and organise a business or organisation in the best way, there are three important variables which must be taken into account. These variables are: external environment (market, economy, employment rates, etc); technology (internet, new inventions, out of date software, etc); and the size, or changing size of the organisation.

The NHS is would have to have a contingency approach, because it is constantly exposed to a changing external environment. Employees such as nurses and doctors will need to have qualifications that prepare them for almost any circumstance, as they will need multiple specific skills, as well as need to make their own judgements with emergency situations (Kerry, 2010). The service has to constantly adapt, often at short notice, when there is a rise or fall in patients and changing needs. This would usually be caused by an epidemic, for example, swine flu. Improvements in the technological world have made these adaptions easier to cope with, as they can now process needs and carry out procedures more efficiently.


Both Tesco and the NHS have found a system that works for them. Tesco’s choice to follow a one best way approach is ideal for its organisation. It’s systematic, practical, and specialist system is applicable regardless of variables. For example, less custom would mean cuts in turnover and employment, but there would be no need for the system of work to change.
For the NHS things are a little less straight forward. They have to adopt a contingency approach, because they cannot easily predict change. Therefore, they must be prepared for any event and have a flexible system.


Scientific Management

Scientific management is an ideal that there is always going to be one best way of getting a job done. The theory was thought up by Frederick Taylor. It encourages efficiency and the benefits are usually money orientated. There are many examples of pros and cons to scientific management.


Pros:

1. The approach to production is very efficient. The roles were divided, so a workers role would be specialised.

2. As each worker has only one specific job to do, workers need less skills, and are therefore quicker, cheaper and easier to train.

3. The improvements in efficiency show in companies staggering rises in productivity.

4. Organisations may be able to increase wages, as profits become higher due to increased production output.

5. When scientific management was first introduced, it helped to build the labour industries, so that more people had jobs and homes. This reduced poverty (Parmelee, 2005).


Cons:

1. The ethic of scientific management assumes that it is human nature to be motivated by money, and people are otherwise lazy (Bratton, 1999).

2. Despite high turnovers, product quality is often poor, as workers have lost interest in what they are doing.

3. Workers would feel degraded, due to a lack of power with their role. As well as boredom of their job, they may also feel alienated from other departments and workers with different roles, as there would be little reason to meet others in the organisation.

4. For cost effective purposes, machines have been specifically built to carry out many of the roles we see in factories today. Since the industrial revolution, advances in technology have meant that machinery and robotics are operating more and more independently. So less people are needed to run the machines, leading to fears of job loss and redundancy.

5. A lack of power for workers can cause frustration and conflict between workers and management. When they have a problem, employees may feel more inclined to unionise and rebel than take their problems directly to management. This is because they may have reason to assume they won’t be listened to unless they mass together.


Conclusion

Organisation and management theories appear to offer very little compromise between focus on profit, and a care for the welfare of the people within an organisation. When money is the main focus, it can often come at a cost, and employee satisfaction is often sacrificed. The knock on effect of this may be that although output and efficiency are higher, quality of the products may be lower, as workers care little about what they are doing.
On the other hand, when employee needs are put first, it may be that there is less output, as they may be distracted by a more comfortable social environment. However, more care may have been taken over the resulting product, perhaps meaning better quality.


References:

Bratton, J (1999) Human resource management: theory and practice. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd

Kerry, A (2010) Case studies. [online]. Available from: http://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/casestudies/Anna-Kerry.aspx [Accessed 15 April 2010]

Montana, P. J. (2008) Management. 4th ed. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.

Parmelee, M (2005) Farwell to poverty. 2nd ed. Camden: The Haddon Craftsmen, Inc.

The Times Newspaper Ltd (2010) Case study summary. [online]. Available from: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/studies/view-summary--recruitment-selection--132-323.php [Accessed 15 April 2010]

Vasu, M. L. (1998) Organizational behaviour and public management. 3rd ed. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.