Scientific School of Thought and the Behaviorist School of Thought

Compare and Contrast Between the Scientific School of Thought and the Behaviorist School of Thought. What Major Lessons can be drawn in Studying these Theories and Concepts?

The term Management is often used in several different ways. It is a process of conducting a set of functions to get the work done in an efficient and effective manner.

Mary Parker Follet has defined management as "the art of getting things done through people".

Henri Fayol has defined management as: "to manage is to forecast, to plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control."

Management has no fixed definitions but different people have different views on it.

The Schools of Management Thought are theoretical frameworks for the study of management. Each school is based on somewhat different assumptions about human beings and the organizations for which they work.

There are mainly 2 Schools of Management Thought: The Classical/Scientific School of Thought and The Behavioral School of Thought. The Classical School of Thought comprises of scientific management of F.W. Taylor, administrative management of Henri Fayol and bureaucratic management of Max Weber. The Behavioral School of Thought comprises of the human relations movement of Elton Mayo along with other pioneers like Mary Parker Follet, Chester Barnard, Abraham Maslow and Kurt Lewin and the behavioral science comprising of Douglas McGregor, Frederick Herzberg and Renais Likert.

The main aim of this essay is to bring out the differences between the classical school of thought and the behavioral school of thought.

The Classical School of Thought is the oldest school of management thought. It was developed during the industrial revolution when new problems relating to factory systems started appearing such as employee dissatisfaction. As a result, the classical school of thought was formed to find the "one best way" to perform and manage tasks/work. It is generally concerned with managing work and organizations more effectively.

The Behavioral School of Thought developed from the Hawthorne Studies. It lays more emphasis on the human aspect of the business organizations. This approach to management lays greater emphasis on the work group and need for better communication between supervisors and workers.

F.W. Taylor, who is also known as the father of scientific management, believed that organizations should study tasks and develop precise procedures. for example: in 1898, Taylor calculated how much iron could the Bethlehem Steel plant workers be unloading from rail cars if they were using the correct movements, tools and steps. The result was an amazing 47.5 tons instead of the mere 12.5 tons each worker had been averaging.

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