This document provides a brief outline of the historical development of management thoughts. It discusses two ways of defining "management thought" - as coherent theories or systems of management, or more broadly as thinking and ideas about the meaning, purpose, and tasks of management. The main problem is defining where to start, as management ideas have existed since ancient times but the most influential work was Frederick Taylor's "The Principles of Scientific Management" in 1911. To understand why Scientific Management emerged, one needs to look back further to the late 19th century and the first calls for improved management methods stemming from the Industrial Revolution. The document questions where exactly to start - with thinkers like Charles Babbage, Robert Owen, Adam Smith, or even further back

1. A HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
THE MANAGEMENT THOUGHTS
A BRIEF OUTLINE
“A sense of the past … is essential to anyone
who is trying to understand the here-and-now
of industrial organisation. What is happening
now is part of a continuing development”
- Tom Burns
‘The art of administration is as old as the
human race’
- Edward D Jones

2. MANAGEMENT THOUGHT
 TWO WAYS OF DEFINING “MANAGEMENT
THOUGHT”:
1. “Coherent (logically connected) Theories or Systems
of Management”,
or
2. More Broadly :
• ‘THINKING ABOUT MANAGEMENT’,
• “IDEAS ABOUT THE MEANING, PURPOSE,
FUNCTION and TASKS OF MANAGEMENT’,
• which are IMPORTANT & RELEVANT,
But, DO NOT necessarily amount to a Coherent
Overall Theory

3. BUT THE MAIN PROBLEM IS
“DEFINING THE BOUNDARY LINES”
 REASONS:
i. Year 2011 - 100th anniversary of the publication of
arguably THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WORK OF
MANAGEMENT THINKING OF ALL TIME :
Frederick Winslow Taylor’s “THE PRINCIPLES OF
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT”
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT - One of the First Major
Systems of Thinking About Management to be
developed
BUT, it emerged at A TIME which was VERY RICH IN
THINKING about management, in general.

4. Scientific Management – the most
durable theory of Management
ii. Taylor’s contemporaries included
people such as:
 Harrington Emerson,
 Henri Fayol,
 Lyndall Urwick and others
 These people developed Their Own Concepts of
Management
 But it was only Taylor’s Scientific
Management Theory that proved Most
Durable

5. A Vital Question – THE FIST CALLS
Now, if we take the first definition of the Management Thought,
that is,
“Coherent Theories or Systems of Management”,
Then,
 Our Study should commence with Scientific Management – 100
years ago - and move forward in time from there
But the Vital Question - How and Why did Scientific
Management emerge?
 To answer This Question, we need to go back to the late
nineteenth century (1890s) and to look at the FIRST CALLS:
For Improvement in Management Methods
Plus, what led to those calls for improvement and
change?

6. THE FIRST CALLS FOR IMPROVEMENT
IN MANAGEMENT METHODS
The Answer leads us to:
The Heart of “Industrial Revolution”
But again the question:
“who to start from ?”, such as:
 Charles Babbage, who defined :
 “Need For Knowledge In Management” and called for a “More Scientific and
Rigorous Approach to Management”
 Or, Robert Owen, who developed ideas on
 “How to Manage People Effectively and Humanely”,
Or, Adam Smith, who redefined
 “Division of Labour”
Or, French Physiocrats (political economists who advocated for
laissez-faire economy) who
 Also wrote on the division of labour and developed the “First Ideas on
Entrepreneurship”
Or, back to Ancient China, where at least one key physiocratic
idea, the “Notion of Laissez-Faire”, has its roots