Classic Management Theories Are Still Relevant.

Before the classical management theory was invented; many organizations had an informal organizational structure that was not very effective in producing optimal output.

Good management is good management: it doesn’t matter if someone figured out the good idea 100 years ago or last week.

Are “Classic Management Theories Still Relevant?

It did make me wonder about the staying power of management models, processes, skills, and conventional wisdom…

There are way too many people in our field that are not true professionals – they don’t do their homework, and rely too much on their own personal experience. They’re the ones who tend to jump from one fad to the next, enthusiastically promoting each one with an almost religious passion.

However, there’s also a danger of not keeping up with the times and sticking with models or skills that really have outlived their usefulness. At best, you run the risk of coming across as a dinosaur when you explain a management model that was developed in the 1920’s to a group of Millennials. Even worse, you may be relying on models that really don’t apply in today’s world.

Classic management ideas are definitely very valuable today. It is amazing how little use of long known good leadership lessons actually takes place in organizations. You don’t need to discover secrets to improve, just adopt ideas others ignore since they are not new (or whatever justification they use for ignoring them).

One of the main things I have been trying to do with my web sites is to get people to use the already well documented successful management practices.

Bad management ideas are bad: Regardless if they were good ideas 40 years ago, or not. I find bad management practices most often never were good practices so worrying about outdated good practices is not something that merits much time. Just avoid bad practices, don’t worry about when the practices were adopted.

And if you have to focus on one, focus on the classics. Most of what is new isn’t worthwhile so you will likely spend a lot of time reading about fads that die before you can even try to adopt the ideas into your organizational system.

Criticism of the classic management theory.

• It follows an assembly line approach where the social and self-actualization needs of the employees are not taken into consideration. And employees are often not treated well with managers playing favorites and indulging in mind games to favor a select set of employees. Incentives and rewards are also cornered by this coterie and the others are often left alone to crib. Such highly authoritarian structures are prone to destruction as they do not democratize decession making and deliberately promote a ‘yes-boss’ culture.
• What this theory recommends is a scientific study of tasks allocated to each employee and defining the job description precisely for each of them. The performance of each employee is measured against the targets and parameters defined at the outset.
• Even schools, colleges, universities, and non-profits have discarded this model but factories where typically routine work happens still use the classical management theory to full effect in order to accomplish the goals and objectives of the organizations.

CONCLUSION :

Given its exemplary benefits, the classical management theory seems perfect for companies in the manufacturing, mining or production sector. Since this theory assumes that workers do not have social or self-actualization needs, it does not help the top management get a 360-degree view of the enterprise.

A significant aspect of the classical management theory involves training the middle and senior level leadership for change. So that they can train the people below them and turn the organization into a future-ready enterprise. Good managerial training helps in resolving inter-departmental conflict, and people problems. Doing so will also help resolve the problems of slow growth, revenue visibility and all other problems which besiege an organization during recessionary times.