Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, although complex building projects, such as the Great Wall of China and the fortress city of Machu Picchu in Peru, indicate the management of huge numbers of workers, it was not until the Industrial Revolution that a formalized work environment began to delineate a concept of management. Next, the paper reviews the management theories of Henri Fayol, Frederick W. Taylor, Mary Parker Follett, Elton Mayo, Abraham H. Maslow and Douglas McGregor. The paper concludes that, by the mid 20th century, management theories and practices started to place greater importance on the quality of work life and ways to improve worker satisfaction.

From the Paper:

"Critics of 'Taylorism' are quick to point out that what was achieved at that point was the dumbing down of the workforce and eliminating the pride of ownership in a task well done. However, there are some aspects of the concepts that Taylor introduced that are still being used, with a few new twists. "Standard times" for task completion are used in many factories to evaluate production schedules and consequently labor requirements are often made. 'Work break down structure' an important concept of project management can trace its roots to the fundamental principles of Taylor where all tasks were broken down into sections that were easily manageable by the workforce."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ahmed, Pervaiz K., and Mohammed Rafiq. "Internal Marketing Issues and Challenges." European Journal of Marketing 37.9 (2003): 1177-86.
• French, Wendell L., and Cecil Bell. Organization Development : Behavioral Science Interventions for Organization Improvement. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
• Maslow, Abraham H. Motivation and Personality. 1st ed. New York,: Harper, 1954.
• Mayo, Elton. The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization. Work, Its Rewards and Discontents. New York: Arno Press, 1977.
• Onepine.info. "People Whose Ideas Influence Organisational Work". 2009. April 18 2009.

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