CLASSICAL THEORIES AND MODELS OF ORGANISATIONS Theories and Conceptual Frameworks are important in understanding Organisations as well as discerning how in turn they shape Organisations Organisational Theories are seen as a necessity and a sign of societal progress Organisational Theories have a mixed parentage They are used as an explanatory tool and as means of controlling workers

BACKGROUND Three phases of Industrialisation Phase I: Increase in use of simple machines to increase productivity, range of products Creation of Factory System Greater control of the worker and the processes of work Formalisation of gendered division of labor

BACKGROUND CONT. Phase II: Expansion of Factory System Increasing complexity of tasks requires better educated male work-force = introduction of mass education Increased need for bureaucracy, i.e. Control, routine, specialisation Growth in numbers of administrators and managers

BACKGROUND CONT. Improvements in Transport and Communication Notion of Free Trade developed further Greater variety of consumer goods Growth of governmental control Creation of new and larger middle class of managers, clerical workers, professionals

BACKGROUND CONT. Phase III: Development of techniques to increase consumption Advertising, Market Research, etc Search for new markets and sources of raw materials Shift from industrialism to post-industrialism Management led to significant changes in division of labour and work processes rather than technology

SELECTION OF CLASSICAL THEORIES Adam Smith: Development of theory of the efficiency of the division of labour Breakdown of work process, minute specialisation and de-skilling of workers Introduction of mass production and managerial control

CLASSICAL THEORIES CONT. Karl Marx: Collective work is the foundation of humanity and a good society Antagonism between Labour and Capital Alienation of worker from the product, the work process, fellow workers and species being

CLASSICAL THEORIES CONT. Emile Durkheim: Focus on macro level and societal value consensus Social division of labour necessary and beneficial because it leads to interdependence of parts of the social system Advocates the use of the “scientific method” in the study of organisations

CLASSICAL THEORIES CONT. Frederick Taylor: Invents the notion of “Scientific Management”, focus on rationality Piece-rate pay, increased efficiency, greater control by management of all aspects of work Legitimises the role of managers as control agents

CLASSICAL THEORIES CONT. Henri Fayol: Issues of span of control, exceptions, departmentation, unity of command, Responsibilities of managers: planning, organising, command, coordination, control

CLASSICAL THEORIES CONT. Max Weber: Focus on rational virtues of bureaucracy such as formal authority based on precise, generalised rules and procedures == legal-rational authority Bureaucracy seen as necessary in complex societies but are also becoming “iron cage” which imprisons humanity and reduces people to cogs in an ever-moving machine

CLASSICAL THEORIES CONT. Elton Mayo: Australian Social Scientist who taught at the Harvard Business School Major figure in the “Hawthorne Studies” known as the “Human Relations Approach” Focus on social influences on workers and on productivity Aim of the study == to increase productivity and decrease costs

MODELS AND METAPHORS Machine Metaphor: Organisations == machines designed to operate efficiently and effectively Managers == organisational engineers Machine like behaviour == routine, predictable and reliable Metaphor of the computer—updated machine metaphor

MODELS AND METAPHORS CONT. Organic Metaphor: Biological living organisms depend on environment for resources to support existence Requires adaptation and organisational processes for survival Focus on environmental dependence, technological transformation and structural adaptation

MODELS AND METAPHORS CONT. Cultural Metaphor: A new source of organisational understanding Focus on customs, traditions, stories and myths, artifacts and symbols of organisations Manager is the symbol of the organisation, a storyteller and bearer of tradition