Three approaches to Management

	Compare, contrast, and comment on any three approaches to management.
	There are various schools of thought of management which represent different approaches to management as put forward by the founders of these schools. Some of the more common of these approaches are described below:
Scientific Manage-ment	The scientific theory of management treats the management process as a science, i.e. as a set of general rules which can be successfully followed by any practicing manager. This theory of management was founded by Frederick W. Taylor in 1911, who is also known as the father scientific management. The steps involved in the process of scientific management are as below;-
	a.         Identify the proposition, or objective. b.         Acquire information about the objective, through observation and other means. c.         Formulate a hypothesis to achieve the objective. d.         Investigate the hypothesis thoroughly by controlled experimentation. e.         Set priorities and organize the data obtained. f.          Formulate a tentative solution to the proposition. g.         Adjust and implement the solution.
	Frederick Taylor published a paper under the title of “Principles of Scientific Management” which summarizes the objectives of his theory, as below:
	a.         The rules of thumb in management should be replaced with scientific (organized) knowledge. b.         In group efforts, harmony should be achieved. c.         Instead of chaotic individualism, management should seek cooperation among workers.
	d.         The management should strive for the maximum, rather than restricted, output. e.         All workers should be developed to the maximum for their own and the company’s prosperity.
	In the scientific approach to management, the emphasis is on maximizing the firm’s productivity. However, many managers strive to maximize labor productivity without sufficiently motivating and rewarding the workers, which is against the essence of scientific management.
	Among the major followers of scientific management are Henry L. Gantt, Frank Gilbreth and Lillian Gilbreth.
Systems Approach	In this approach to management, every entity is regarded as an open system, which has a boundary and also interacts with its external environment. It treats not only physical aspects but also human beings and concepts as systems, and then studies the results of interactions between systems. For example, various departments of an organization (production, marketing, finance etc.) may be treated as systems. Similarly, the concepts of planning, organizing and controlling are also treated as systems. Each system may also be comprised of subsystems which may mutually interact with each other. The advantage of this theory is that it provides a neat and systematic approach to management. However, it cannot be applied to all types of circumstances.
Contin-gency Theory and Situational Approach	In this approach, a manager’s decisions and actions depend upon the particular set of circumstances and the environment, i.e. they will be different in different situations. This theory also realizes that management is both a science and an art, and the best way to perform managerial practice is to apply both science part and the art part. The science part is applied through our theoretical knowledge, whereas the art part is applied through intuition and experience.
	The contingency approach to management is, considered to be the most useful and successful of all management theories.
Compare contrast and comment	The first, i.e. systems approach to management is not very successful because of the reasons that each system is influenced by certain external variables upon which we have no control, e.g. an organization is influenced by laws, regulations, economic position, markets, social and cultural values. In such cases, it becomes difficult to apply systems approach successfully.
	In systems approach, human beings are also regarded as systems (or sub-systems), which interact with other systems. Now human behavior depends upon many factors which are beyond the control of manager, and is highly unpredictable. So any decision made on the basis of human behavior would not be reliable.
	Next we consider the scientific approach to management. This approach is seriously flawed because of the reasons that it does not take into account the psychological needs of human beings. It treats human beings more like machines than humans. Money is definitely not enough of a motivating force always. Humans differ from machines
	in that they also have emotional needs which need to be satisfied to motivate them. For example, self-esteem is an emotional need of human beings. Many people would refuse to work if their self-esteem is not saved, no matter how much they are paid.
	It treats management as a science, whereas the fact is that management is a science and an art. There is no single scientific theory, which can solve all problems in management.
	The contingency, or situational approach to management emphasizes that the managerial decisions and practice depend upon a given set of circumstances, i.e. they will be different for different situations. This theory also realizes that management is both a science and an art, and the best way to perform managerial practice is to apply both science part and the art part. The science part is applied through our theoretical knowledge, whereas the art part is applied through intuition and experience.