Business Management Approaches. The three management theories, of classical, behavioural and contingency each add something of value for todays manager.

Authors Avatar

Business Essay

Throughout the concept of business management, research has formulated three variations of management approaches. These management approaches differ from each other in concepts such as managing people, making decisions, organizing workplaces and solving problems. The three management theories, of classical, behavioural and contingency each add something of value for today’s manager. Throughout the information below, each management approach will be effectively explained and analysed.

The classical approach of management incorporates a hierarchical pyramid structure that aims at planning, organising and controlling the operations of workers and the business in order to obtain optimal productivity. This is implemented through planning, organising and controlling. Planning determines where the business is going and how it should get there. A number of questions are asked in order to obtain the best alternatives for the business. Organising incorporates the planning ideas with the means of accomplishing through the use of human and material resources, in order to reach the goals of the business. Controlling refers to reflecting on the businesses actual performance compared to the desired performance, as planned. Alterations are made in order to reach the objectives of a business, whether it is changes to production, management or workers.  The hierarchical pyramid structure has a high concentration at the top, being the CEO. The manager usually works under an autocratic approach that sees little responsibility given to workers; rather they are told what to do. This usually minimalizes their productivity and external motivation is needed to increase this. The chain of command usually starts with the CEO, followed by middle managers and then supervisors who look over the workers. This structure limits the efficiency of information to be passed on quickly. The span of control is small as managers will have a minimal amount of workers to control and division of labor stays constant as one worker is set to the same task, who then develops a competence for completing the task. This approach heavily relies on planning, organising and controlling to improve the function of a business.

Join now!

A behavioural approach of management refers to the application of psychological research to the relationship between employers and employees in businesses. It is found that Good management focuses on motivating, leading and directing, as well as understanding how groups influences communications, interpersonal relations and the concept of authority. Managers who follow this approach involve employees in the development of a business’s policies and procedures as the levels of middle management are eliminated, thus creating vast communication between workers and management. This increases output as workers feel part of a team and feel that their social welfare is being looked after. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay