History Of Management

I. History of Management

a) Prehistory

The Administration, as a practice, was established in pre historic time because mankind had to get together in groups to cooperate with each other. The activities the prehistoric man practiced had the objectives which had to do with its needs, all of them related with surviving.

Since they were nomads they had to survive efficiently and effectively. They had to work towards an objective acting and using all the resources they found in each place they stayed.

b) Ancient

The team work has always existed. When organizations were created, administration started to be used in an empirical way. This means that there were none principles to it, nor specific ideas about it. People didn’t even know they were using a science to work together and in order.

However we can find administrative ways of thinking in ancient civilizations, especially in government and social organizations’ laws, legal dispositions, customs and relations between the organizations mentioned.

c) Medieval

During this era and following the weakening of the Roman Empire, the organizational system evolved so the authority passed from the Emperor to the landowners who acquired the power of charging taxes and being the police to protect the peasants.

By medieval times we appreciate the lineal organization as the core of every organization. The hierarchy or level control used the authority unity principle in which each subordinate can only have one superior, one boss. Koontz and O-Donnell, two Management books writers said that by this time the most effective and efficient enterprise was the Catholic Church.

The Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century changed. Adam Smith one of the beginners of the Administration theories established “Division of Labor” This is used at the moment in “maquiladoras” or assembly plants where clothing is done. If one person makes a complete shirt at the end of a day maybe 2 shirts will have been done. If 10 people make shirts sewing different parts at a time they should be doing at least 200 per day.

d) Modern

This era starts by changing the idea of Administration. The concept of the Administration is a systematized group of rules to achieve the maximum efficiency of the ways of structuring and operating a social organism. This is a definition done by Agustin Reyes Ponce, one of the modern experts in administration.

In the beginning of the 20th century Friederich W. Taylor established scientific procedures for Administration. For this reason he was known as the Father of Administration. His ideas started the Functional Administration.

Henry Fayol, another pioneer of administration

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