History of Management Thought

Lecture slides tracing the evolution of management thought from practice as old as civilisation itself, since every human group requires management, to the study of managers achieving results, which is predominantly a twentieth-century development. Covers the classical approach and scientific management, with the principle that efficiency can be improved by investigation, analysis and measurement and its extension by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Henry Gantt and others, its objectives of productivity, cost reduction, the right person for the right job and the elimination of wastage. Then administrative management through Henry Fayol, the French mining engineer, with his fourteen principles explained one by one, including unity of direction requiring one head and one plan for a group of activities with the same objective and the confusion that follows its absence, and the treatment of employees with kindness, fairness and justice to secure loyalty and devotion without discrimination.