The Traditional model owes its existence to three major streams of thought relevant to administration. First, an important component of the Traditional approach is drawn from the writings of nineteenth-century philosophers and classical economists. The philosophical doctrine prevalent at that time, Social Darwinism, argued that the fittest survive (and should survive), and that it was their duty to guide those of lesser ability. Combine this belief with the classical economist’s notion that leisure was man’s preferred state and work his required state, and one has the makings of a theory that organizations were populated with a multitude of basically inept individuals who had to be forced to work through monetary incentives.

Extending this view and applying it to actual work organizations, Frederick Taylor and other members of the Scientific Management movement sought to improve productive efficiency by minimizing the constraints posed by untrained and unmotivated workers. Taylor primary focus, documented in fact and in folklore, was task specialization. Armed with some newly developed methods (now referred to as time and motion study) and an unbounded zeal, Taylor and his contemporaries proceeded to make some very impressive strides in the improvement of work methods. Working mostly at the shop-floor level, Taylor succeeded in numerous cases to improve both productivity and workers’ wages through, essentially, separating the “planning” and “doing” of work. Many of the concepts and techniques of the Scientific Management School have survived to this day and can be found in human-factors engineering, methods analysis, and work scheduling.

A third and highly influential set of ideas that helped to develop the Traditional model was provided by Max Weber, a German sociologist. Although writing at about the same time as Taylor, Weber focus was on the middle and upper reaches of organizations, not on the shop floor. However, though his vantage point was different, his message was frequently similar: Organizational processes were sorely lacking in rationality and efficiency. Actually, Weber concern was with the evils being foisted on German society by the widespread nepotism and favoritism which existed in its public organizations, but his solution-bureaucracy-is today the dominant form by which the vast majority of organizations carry out their activities. Bureaucracy is a system of interlinked offices (bureaus), each designed around a specific task and each containing a specific body of expertise, authority, and rules. Arranged hierarchically to facilitate coordination and control, these bureaus provide a stable structure in which the organization can perform its tasks relatively undisturbed by the movement of individual officeholders who might be promoted or who leave the system entirely.

Putting these major streams of thought together, three concepts central to the Traditional approach emerge: rationality, stability, and authority based on the office or position. In the ideal Traditional system, the lack of employee expertise and motivation are mitigated by the careful design of jobs, a rational process of workflow through well-defined departments, and a deliberate separation of planning and direction from the actual performance of work. Given the state of administrative knowledge and expertise prior to the development of the Traditional model, these were major improvements in the way organizations were administered.

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Category: Business Management
Keywords: Business,investing,company,organizing,organization,administrator,manager,leader,Motivation,Attitudes