The term "management" over the past twenty years has firmly entered our daily lives. However, few Russians know that it has a long and interesting history, within the framework of which several large schools have formed, most of which are still operating today. These directions symbolize different approaches to enterprise management , behind which there are differences in understanding a person’s place in management.
One of the first schools of scientific management appeared. Its origin and further development is largely connected with the names of such famous personalities as F. Taylor, G. Gantt, wife Gilbert. All of them in their works relied on the fact that with a scientific approach to production, using methods such as analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, one can achieve high perfection. It was the division of all production processes into simple operations with their subsequent careful regulation that laid the foundation for what we today call the "school of scientific management."
F. Taylor and his followers identified three main points, which, in their opinion, should significantly increase labor productivity and production efficiency. The first such component was rationalization, which, among other things, involved the search for each participant in the process of the most optimal workplace with training in this new, more rational methods of labor.
The second link was the scientifically based formal structure of the enterprise. The School of Scientific Management laid the foundations for what is commonly called “personnel management”. This is an activity that includes a competent approach to the selection of personnel, as well as the skillful use of the best qualities and abilities of employees to achieve the goal.
Finally, the third cornerstone on which the school of scientific management is based is the complete rejection of the combination of managerial and executive functions. According to Taylor, in any enterprise, a clear structure should be visible, from which it becomes clear why this or that manager or a simple worker is responsible. Moreover, if there is a combination of functions in one hand, then almost always it ends with a decrease in the basic indicators of the enterprise.
Along with the Taylor school, the administrative school of management left a noticeable mark in the history of management , in which one can note the work of such luminaries as G. Emerson, L. Urvik, A. Fayol, M. Weber. These scientists strove to develop universal principles that can be applied to any organization, regardless of scale and scope. Among the main such principles, one can note the requirement to clearly formulate the main goal, approach production, first of all, from the standpoint of common sense, the need to possess special knowledge and strict adherence to all the rules of the internal labor schedule.
Among the more modern trends, one can single out the direction in management, which was called the "School of Management Science". Its main theorists are R. Akoff, S. Beer, L. Klein. These scientists became famous for being the first to single out the so-called “social aspect” in management, as well as to widely use information technologies.