Organization and Management Theory
Domain 1 tests whether you can connect each management school to its assumptions, key figures, and practical implications. Expect questions that contrast classical, behavioral, systems, and contingency views, and that ask which perspective best explains a described situation.
Classical foundations
- Scientific management (Taylor): use time-and-motion study, standardized methods, selection and training, and piece-rate pay. It treats workers as economically motivated and separates planning from doing.
- Administrative management (Fayol): identified five functions - planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, controlling - and principles such as division of labor, unity of command, scalar chain, and esprit de corps.
- Bureaucracy (Weber): rational-legal authority, clear hierarchy, written rules, impersonal application, and merit-based careers. Weber saw it as technically superior but also an "iron cage" threatening individual freedom.
Behavioral and modern perspectives
- The Hawthorne studies (Mayo, Roethlisberger) found that attention and informal group norms affected output; productivity rose in both test and control groups. The Hawthorne effect is behavior change caused by being observed.
- McGregor: Theory X assumes workers dislike work and need close control; Theory Y assumes work is natural and people seek responsibility. Theory Y supports participative management.
- Systems theory views the organization as an open system: inputs → transformation → outputs, with feedback and interdependent subsystems.
- Contingency theory holds there is no one best way; structure must fit environment, technology, and size. Burns and Stalker contrast mechanistic structures (stable environments) with organic structures (changing environments).
Managerial roles and skills
Mintzberg's ten roles fall into interpersonal (figurehead, leader, liaison), informational (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson), and decisional (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator). Katz's skills are technical, human, and conceptual; conceptual skill matters most at top levels, technical at lower levels.
Worked example
A plant manager introduces individual piece-rate pay. Output rises for two months, then quality problems and turnover increase. Using Taylor, the manager assumed pay was the main motivator. A better diagnosis draws on Hawthorne (informal group norms and attention), Theory Y (participation and autonomy), and contingency (the pay plan may fit a stable, simple technology but not an interdependent one). The fix is not simply more pay; it is redesigning work and involving employees.
Traps that cost marks
Don't attribute the five functions to Taylor or time study to Fayol. Don't say Hawthorne proved that brighter light raises output - the key finding was the confounding effect of attention and social factors. Don't treat Weber as a cheerleader for bureaucracy; he described its rationality and its costs. Contingency is not "anything goes"; it names specific fit variables.