Management Innovations - New Principles and Practices

 

Scientific Management

It takes fortitude and perseverance, as well as imagination, to solve big problems. These qualities are most abundant when a problem is not only important but also inspiring. Frederick Winslow Taylor, one of  the  important management innovators of the twentieth century, and also a pioneer,  is usually portrayed as an engineer, intent on mechanizing work and pushing employees to work at the maximum speed humanly possible and healthy. But Taylor’s single-minded devotion to efficiency stemmed from his conviction that it was iniquitous to waste an hour of human labor when a task could be redesigned to be performed in less time with less effort.

This passion for multiplying the impact of human endeavor shines through in Taylor’s introduction to his 1911 treatise, The Principles of Scientific Management: “We can see and feel the waste of material things. Awkward, inefficient, or ill-directed movements of men, however, leave nothing visible or tangible behind them. Their appreciation calls for an act of memory, an effort of the imagination. And for this reason, even though our daily loss from this source is greater than from our waste of material things, the one has stirred us deeply, while the other has moved us but little.”

In Taylor's time, the contribution os human labor is much more than the contribution of machines to output of the societies. Hence Taylor said, the waste of material things is less, waste of human effort and time is more.

To maximize the chances of a management breakthrough, you need to start with a problem that is both consequential and soul stirring. 

Here are three leading questions that will stimulate your imagination to find important problems.

First, what are the tough trade-offs that your company never seems to get right? Management innovation is often driven by the desire to transcend such trade-offs, which can appear to be irreconcilable. Open source development, for example, encompasses two antithetical ideas: radical decentralization and disciplined, large-scale project management. 

Perhaps you feel that the obsessive pursuit of short-term earnings undermines your company’s willingness to invest in new ideas. Maybe you believe that your organization has become less and less agile as it has pursued the advantages of size and scale. Your challenge is to find an opportunity to turn an “either/or” into an “and.”

Second, what are big organizations bad at? This question should produce a long list of incompetencies. Big companies aren’t very good at changing before they have to or responding to nimble upstarts. Most fail miserably when it comes to unleashing the imagination of first-line employees, creating an inspiring work environment, or ensuring that the blanket of bureaucracy doesn’t smother the flames of innovation. Push yourself to imagine a company can’t-do that you and your colleagues could turn into a can-do.

Third, what are the emerging challenges the future has in store for your company? Try to imagine them: An ever-accelerating pace of change. Rapidly escalating customer power. Near instant commoditization of products and services. Ultra-low-cost competitors. A new generation of consumers that is hype resistant and deeply cynical about big business. These discontinuities will demand management innovation as well as business model innovation. If you scan the horizon, you’re sure to see a tomorrow problem that your company should start tackling today.

Search for new principles.

Any problem that is pervasive, persistent, or unprecedented is unlikely to be solved with hand-me-down principles. The pursuit of human liberty required America’s founders to embrace a new principle: representational democracy. More recently, scientists eager to understand the subatomic world have been forced to abandon the certainties of Newtonian physics for the more ambiguous principles of quantum mechanics. It’s no different with management innovation: Novel problems demand novel principles.

The Why, What, and How of Management Innovation

by Gary Hamel

From the  HBR Magazine (February 2006)

https://hbr.org/2006/02/the-why-what-and-how-of-management-innovation

Ud. 7.7.2025

Pub. 31.1.2025

Resource Based View Definition of Management - Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.

 

Management is doing things acquiring and using resources.  -  Prof. Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.  - 18.10.2024

A manager or an entrepreneur visualizes doing a thing, for example in business, it would be exchanging goods or services. He may produce the goods or services or he may procure them and offer to customers. To put the visualized idea into practice he requires resources. He has to acquire them and then use them to do business and pay for the services of each factor or resource used in the business. Theoretically, the entrepreneur only needs the idea which is acceptable to the resource providers. 

The manager makes resource requirement plan. Initially it is an unconstrained resource requirement plan. He will list all the ideal resources. But as he tries to acquire resources constraints become visible and the manager has to modify the resource requirements to use available resources or resources that he could acquire.

(C)  2024 Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.  

Earlier Explanation by me.

Definition of Management: Its Nature and Purpose

Management of an organization is the process of establishing objectives and goals of the organization periodically, designing the work system and the organization structure, and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, accomplish their aims and objectives and goals of the organization effectively and efficiently (Narayana Rao). (3rd December 2008, Version 1 of this article)

Management of an organization is the process of establishing objectives and goals of the organization periodically, designing the work system and the organization structure, and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups in combination with capital equipment and current assets (working capital), accomplish their aims and objectives and goals of the organization effectively and efficiently (Narayana Rao). (24 January 2016).

The above definition was a modification of the definition given by Koontz and O'Donnell.

The definition implies the following.

(i) Management is a process.
(ii) Management applies to every kind of organization, government, profit making, or nonprofit making.

(iii) It applies to managers at all levels in the organization.

(iv) Management is concerned with effectiveness and efficiency.  Effectiveness is producing the product or service the customer wants in business context with the required functional benefits and product attributes at the price he is willing to pay. Efficiency is minimization of resources to produce the saleable output.

Weirich and Koontz

Weihrich and Koontz defined Management and explained it as follows in the tenth edition of their book Management: A Global Perspective (p.4).

"Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims." This definition needs to be expanded:

1. As managers, people carry out the managerial functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.
2. Management applies to any kind of organization.
3. It applies to managers at all organizational levels.
4. The aim of all managers is the same: to create a surplus.
5. Managing is concerned with productivity; this implies effectiveness and efficiency.

Functions of Management

The process of management can be better understood by breaking it down into the five basic functions of a manager – planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. All the management concepts, principles, theories and techniques can be grouped under these five functions.

Professor Narayana Rao suggests planning, organizing, resourcing, executing and controlling as the appropriate steps for operational approach.

The resource point of view is emphasized in the RBV Definition of Management.

No doubt planning is required to establish the feasibility of the idea and to make a list of resources required. After resources are acquired execution of processes has to be there and control has to be there to modify plans based on achieved results to reach the expected final result for a period.

Management - Definition and Process

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2012/03/management-definition-and-process.html

Top 25 Management Theory Articles - Online

Marketing Communication: Channels and Promotion Tools
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-communication-channels-and.html

Organizational Buying Processes and Buying Behavior
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/organizational-buying-processes-and.html

Principles of Management – Koontz and O’Donnell
https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/principles-o-principles-of-management.html

Marketing Strategy - Marketing Process - Kotler's Description
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-strategy-marketing-process.html

The Marketing Concept - Kotler
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-concept-kotler.html

Evolution of Management Thought and Theory - Review Notes
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/evolution-of-management-thought-and.html

Human Resource Management - Introduction

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/human-resource-management-introduction.html

Marketing Strategy - Differentiating and Positioning the Market Offering

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/11/marketing-strategy-differentiating-and.html

Organizational Behavior – Theoretical Frameworks
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/organizational-behavior-theoretical.html

Philip Kotler - Keller Definition and Explanation of Marketing Management for 21st Century - 14th Edition
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2015/01/philip-kotler-keller-definition-and.html

Marketing and New Product Development - Kotler and Keller's Book Chapter Summary
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/marketing-and-new-product-development.html

The Nature and Purpose of Planning - Review Notes
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/nature-and-purpose-of-planning-review.html

Communication: Importance and Definition

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/communication-importance-and-definition.html

Analyzing Competitors - Market Research and Analysis

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/analyzing-competitors.html

Concepts and Techniques for Crafting and Executing Strategy - Summary of Chapters - Strickland

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2013/05/crafting-and-executing-strategy.html

Management - Definition and Process

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2012/03/management-definition-and-process.html

Work Analysis and Design -Bernardin HRM Chapter - Review Notes

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/work-analysis-and-design-bernardin-hrm.html

Defining Marketing for the New Realities - Kotler - Keller 15 Edition - Summary

http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2016/03/ch1-defining-marketing-for-new.html

Market Segmentation and Selection of Target Segments

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/market-segmentation-and-selection-of.html

Supply Chain Management - Coordination

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/11/supply-chain-management-coordination.html

Selling Process - 10 Steps

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/11/selling-process-10-steps.html

Kotler and Keller - Marketing Management - Brief - All Chapters - Core Themes

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2015/02/kotler-14e-marketing-management-brief.html

Operations Strategy and Competitiveness - Review Notes

https://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2011/12/for-company-to-be-considered-world.html

Modern Business and Industrial Management - Taylor's Shop Management and Scientific Management Enriched by Many More Theories

Evolution of Modern Management through Taylorism: An Adjustment of Scientific Management Comprising Behavioral Science

December 2015 Procedia Computer Science 62:578-584

62:578-584

DOI:10.1016/j.procs.2015.08.537

From traditional approach to scientific approach and then Scientific Management to Modern phase; methodology, principles and approaches have reached its current stage. Taylor, the originator of scientific management brought a revolution in the twentieth century by introducing scientific aspects of formulating patterns and disciplines within project management. Scientific management emphasizes on profit maximization by utilizing the workers through planned work, training, monetary incentives under managers. It has been criticized for lack of sufficient focus behavioral aspects and an attempt to study  them  emerged and social factors have been included to address the challenges which Taylor’s theory lacked.  This paper through an extensive literature review showed that, the advancement of technology and globalization stimulated the modern management approach to adjust and complement the scientific management by supplementing the human factor and their contributions within an organization rather than substituting the traditional approach. Therefore together with well planned productive activities and completion of defined tasks, a successful modern day project management model highly values employee contribution and feedbacks at all level.

References 

1. Alchon, G. and Nelson, D. 1992, ‘Mary Van Kleeck and Scientific Management’, A Mental revolution: scientific management since Taylor, 

Ohio State University Press, Columbus, pp. 102-129 

2. Burgess, C. and Nelson, D. 1992, ‘Organized Production and Unorganized Labor: Management Strategy and Labor Activism at the Link-Belt 

Company’, A Mental revolution: scientific management since Taylor, Ohio State University Press, Columbus, pp. 175-204 

Understanding Japanese Management - Publications in English

 

First-generation writings on Japanese management:  various published articles, then books, notably Ezra Vogel’s Japan as Number One (1979), William Ouchi’s Theory Z (1981), and Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos’s The Art of Japanese Management (1981). 

1979

Book: Japan As Number 1: Lessons for America

Ezra Vogel

My first inclination was to examine how such Japanese virtues as hard work, patience, self-discipline, and sensitivity to others. contributed to their success. But the more I examined the Japanese approach to modern organization, the business community, and the bureaucracy; the more I became convinced that Japanese success had less to do with traditional character traits than with specific organizational structures, policy programs, and conscious planning. For several years I have been. wrestling with the problem of understanding Japan’s successes, and this book is the result of my intellectual labors.

William Ouchi’s Theory Z (1981)

Theory Z - Type Z Organizations

https://nraombakc.blogspot.com/2012/02/theory-z-type-z-organizations.html

Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos’s The Art of Japanese Management (1981)

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=fEFhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT133#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=7A3SBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA385#v=onepage&q&f=false

B. Keys, T. Miller, ‘The Japanese Management Theory Jungle’, 

Academy of Management Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1984, p. 342.

THE ART OF JAPANESE MANAGEMENT REVISITED,

DES DEARLOVE,

BUSINESS STRATEGY REVIEW ISSUE 3 – 2011

TOMASZ OLEJNICZAK

Japanese Management: 50 Years of Evolution of the Concept

ACTA ASIATICA, VARSOVIENSIA

No. 26, 2013

REFLECTING ON JAPAN’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO MANAGEMENT THEORY

D. Eleanor Westney

Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emerita, MIT Sloan School of Management

Westney, Eleanor. "Reflecting on Japan’s contributions to management theory." Asian Business & Management 19, 1 (July 2019): 8–24 © 2019 Springer Nature Limited

Psychology Evaluation of Scientific Management by Lilian Gilbreth - 1914

Lesson 28 of Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course - IE Concepts Module - Contribution of Taylor, Gilbreth, Emerson, Maynard, Barnes, Shigeo Shingo.

Lilian Gilbreth evaluated scientific management from the view point of Psychology in the book "THE PSYCHOLOGY  OF MANAGEMENT."

Important points made in the book are presented below.


CHAPTER I
DESCRIPTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE PSYCHOLOGY  OF MANAGEMENT

Definition of Psychology of Management - Importance of the Subject - Purpose of this Book
Definition of Management. - Possible Psychological Studies of Management - Plan of Psychological Study Here Used -  Conclusions to be Reached

Definition of Psychology of Management.

The Psychology of Management, as here used, means, the effect of the mind that is directing work upon that work which is directed, and the effect of this undirected and directed work upon the mind of the worker.

Psychology, in the popular phrase, is " the study of the mind."

It was not recognized that every man going out into the world needs all the knowledge that he can get as to the working of the human mind in order not only to give but to receive information with the least waste and expenditure of energy, nor was it recognized that in the industrial, as well as the academic world, almost every man is a teacher.

With the advent of "Scientific Management," and its demonstration that the best management is founded on laws that have been determined, and can be taught, the study of management in the class room as well as on the work became possible and actual.

By Scientific Management, it has demonstrated that the emphasis in successful management lies on the man, not on the work; that efficiency is best secured by placing the emphasis on the man,and modifying the equipment, materials and methods to make the most of the man. It has, further, recognized that the man's mind is a controlling factor in his efficiency, and has, by teaching, enabled the man to make the most of his powers.  In order to understand this teaching element that is such a large part of management, a knowledge of psychology is imperative; and this study of psychology, as it applies to the work of the manager or the man aged, is exactly what the " psychology of management " is.

The psychology of, that is, the mind's place in management is only one part, element or variable of management; one of numerous, almost numberless, variables.

Purpose of This Book. It is scarcely necessary to mention that this book can hope to do little more than arouse an interest in the subject and point the way to the detailed books where such an interest can be more deeply aroused and more fully satisfied.

Definition of Management. 

To discuss this subject more in detail
First: What is " Management "?
" Management," as defined by the Century Dictionary, is " the art of managing by direction or
regulation."

Successful management of the old type was an art based on no measurement. Scientific Management

is an art based upon a science, upon laws deducted from measurement. Management continues to be what it has always been, the art of directing activity.

Psychological Interest of the Terms.

Psychology could ask no more interesting subject than a study of the mental processes that lie back of many of these terms. It is most unfortunate for the obtaining of clearness, that new terms were not invented for the new ideas. There is, however, an excellent reason for using the old terms. By their use it is emphasized that the new thought is a logical out growth of the old, and experience has proved that this close relationship to established ideas is a powerful argument for the new science; but such terms as "task," "foreman," "speed boss," "piece-rate" and " bonus," as used in the science of management, suffer from misunderstanding caused by old and now false associations. Furthermore, in order to compare old and new interpretations of the ideas of management, the older terms of management should have their traditional meanings only. The two sets of meanings are a source of endless confusion, unwarranted prejudice, and worse. This is well recognized by the authorities on Management.

Plan of Psychological Study Used Here.

It has, therefore, seemed best to base the discussion that is to follow upon arbitrary divisions of scientific management, that is
1. To enumerate the underlying principles on which scientific management rests.
2. To show in how far the other two types of management vary from Scientific Management.
3. To discuss the psychological aspect of each principle.

Underlying Ideas and Divisions of Scientific Management. 

These underlying ideas are grouped under nine divisions, as follows :
1. Individuality.
2. Functionalization.
3. Measurement.
4. Analysis and Synthesis.
5. Standardization.
6. Records and Programmes.
7. Teaching.
8. Incentives.
9. Welfare.

Conclusions to be Reached. These conclusions will include the following:

Psychology Evaluation of Scientific Management by Lilian Gilbreth - 1914

1. "Scientific Management" is a science.
2. It alone, of the Three Types of Management, is a science.
3. Contrary to a widespread belief that Scientific Management kills individuality, it is built on the basic principle of recognition of the individual, not only as an economic unit but also as a personality, with all the idiosyncrasies that distinguish a person.
4. Scientific Management fosters individuality by functionalizing work.
5. Measurement, in Scientific Management, is of ultimate units of subdivision.
7. Standardization under Scientific Management applies to all elements.
8. The accurate records of Scientific Management make accurate programmes possible of fulfillment.
9. Through the teaching of Scientific Management, the management is unified and made self-perpetuating.
10. The method of teaching of Scientific Management is a distinct and valuable contribution to Education.
11. Incentives under Scientific Management not only stimulate but benefit the worker.
12. It is for the ultimate as well as immediate welfare of the worker to work under Scientific Management.
13. Scientific Management is applicable to all fields of activity, and to mental as well as physical
work.
14. Scientific Management is applicable to self-management as well as to managing others.
15. It teaches men to cooperate with the management as well as to manage.
16. It is a device capable of use by all.
17. The psychological element of Scientific Management is the most important element.
18. Because Scientific Management is psychologically right it is the ultimate form of management.
19. This psychological study of Scientific Management emphasizes especially the teaching features.
20. Scientific Management simultaneously
a. increases output and wages and lowers costs.
b. eliminates waste.
c. turns unskilled labor into skilled.
d. provides a system of self-perpetuating welfare.
e. reduces the cost of living.
f. bridges the gap between the college trained and the apprenticeship trained worker.
g. forces capital and labor to cooperate and to promote industrial peace.

5. Standardization.

What is a standard?

Three phrases or dictionary meanings,  the standard is a " unit of reference," "is a basis of comparison," and "it is  a model"  describe its usage in management, and are particularly emphasized by the use of the standard in Scientific Management.  

I personally highlight first that it is a model. A standard is a model way of working presented.

Updated on 25 June 2021

13 June 2020, 6 October 2019

1922 - Ten Years of Progress in Management from 1912

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015023119749&view=1up&seq=1273


No. 1876 TEN YEARS' PROGRESS IN MANAGEMENT By L. P. Alford, New York, N. Y.

TEN YEARS have passed since the Committee report on The Present State of the Art of Industrial Management was presented to The American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

This  review has to base it upon the report of 1912, which was well received and in large measure approved.  At the outset, we should recall and pay generous tribute to three of our late great leaders who aided in preparing that report and took part in its discussion: Frederick W. Taylor, the pioneer in management; Henry L. Gantt, who humanized the movement; James M. Dodge, the earnest, constructive supporter.

To obtain information on the worth-while changes which have taken place, letters were written to management and industrial engineers, to executives of plants in various lines of industry, and to educators familiar with industrial developments. Many interviews were held with men having industrial and managerial


Presented during Management Week, Oct. 16-21, 1922 and at the Annual Meeting, New York, December 4 to 7, 1922, of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 1243

Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, v.44,  1922.
pp.1243- 

SCIENTIFIC METHOD - SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

Came across a PhD thesis

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN THE MANAGEMENT OF
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES of of University of Ottawa in 1944 Orville Eadie
https://ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/21190

The contents are:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. Introduction 3
II. Frederick W. Taylor, Pioneer 5
Part A. Management and Methods
III. Plant Layout and Work Routing 19
IV. Job Analysis, Time and Motion Study, Job Specifications 33
V. Business Forms 57
VI. Special Considerations in the Application of Scientific Methods to Office Management .. . 65
Part B. Management and Men
VII. Employment Procedure 96
VIII. The Use of Tests in Employee Selection and Assignment 107
IX. Employee Training Methods 131
X. Labor Relations as a Problem of Management . . 142
XI. Remuneration of Employees 151
XII. Fatigue 163
XIII. Industrial Health 171
Part C. Present Achievements and the Future
XIV. A Summary of the Contributions Made to Im proved Business Management by the Application
of Scientific Method 183
XV. The Trend of Future Development 190

It is an interesting beginning of the subject in 1944. I have to write on the topic as I recently read a book onMarketing by Cherington, a former Harvard Business School faculty, who links some chapters to Scientific Management.