Classical Management Approach 1911-1947
 
Before the beginning of 20th century there were no formal studies for management, scientists started with what can be called management revolution by introducing initial theories in both two approaches, scientific management and general administration, both approaches search for organization human resources efficiency considering it as the major factor for production, they want to improve the production by more developed procedures and controls through different chain of commands, the form of organizations was functional with tasks distributed to workers according to their specialization, they impersonalize workers, and look for standardization of productions, employees were nothing more machine partners in doing the job, we knew that machines can be controlled and adjusted to reach standardization, but human is a unity of feeling and behavior which need different management approach. 
Following discussion about the two classical management theories:
1.     Scientific  management,
The two most important contributors to scientific management theory were Frederick W. Taylor and the husband-wife team of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, the main approach for this theory is using the scientific method for analyzing and controlling workers jobs and direct them to the best way for doing the job.
Taylor “father of scientific management“ believed from his experience that workers are not efficient and their outcome does not exceed one-third of their capability, there were no work standards and there were mismatching between workers qualifications and the job they are doing, He declared four guidelines to improve production efficiency which are:
  1. Develop a scientific measurement for each element of an individual’s work to replace the old rule-of-thumb method which has limitation for trial and error or even measures the accuracy of work
  2. Select workers scientifically and train them accordingly
  3. Work with workers and ensure they are implementing their job scientifically according to developed principals 
  4. Distribute work between management and workers according to their qualifications
Taylor implements the guidelines and shows an interesting success in the Pig Iron experiment, after analyzing the current methodology he set the”one best way” to do the work, the output increase from 12.5 tons as daily average to 48 tons, he succeeded by applying a scientific combination of procedures, techniques, and tools. And so he increased the productivity.
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth “pioneers of motion study”, this started when Frank impressed from Taylor and he with his wife think how to optimize hand-and-body motions, they invented the microchronometer to record the worker hand and body motions and measure the time for these movements searching for wast moves. They invested this invention in the bricklaying experiment when they to reduce the number of motions from 18 to 2 in the exterior laying of the brick, which increases the productivity of laying the bricks. They also label 17 basic hand motions which they called thebligs to help them analyze the worker’s exact hand movement.
2.     The General Administration Theory
The two most important contributors to general Administration theory were Henri Fayoland Max Weber the main approach for this theory is that it focuses on managers as they are responsible for the success of work by implementing good management practices.
Henri Fayol identifies the main functions for a manager which are: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling, He looks to the managementvfrom the other side of functions job accoding to his/her position and put 14 principals of management, these principals where the common ground for the manageres and organizations performation as work should be in divisions with one manager for each  according to specialization so employees efficiency will incease, accordingly managers can give orders and employees should respect and obay, organizating is first important in all interest and in having one unified action plan, workers are involved, workers are paid for their job and treated equily, there are clear chain of command with organized roles and authories.
The experience of Fayol implemented in a French coal-mining firm, he started as junior engineer then became the general manager of Comambault company, he was looking for applicable solution for business management he started, the company expanded in many branches, the company was in dire financial straits and failed to pay dividends for four years, he worked hard to make the company viable by working closely to managers and the turn the company around by closing inefficient units and investing in research and technology.
Max Weber developed bureaucracy theory where an organization characterized by division of labor with a clearly defined hierarchy, detailed rules and regulations with impersonal relationships. He wants to formulate an ideal type of organization which still active up to now. He agreed on Taylor principals by isolating the personality of human and deal with him as anonymous for doing the job, Waber emphasized rationality, predictability, impersonality, technical competences and authoritarianism, the characteristics of his theory were division broken down according to defined tasks and authority giving according to position in the hierarchy, people are selected according to their qualifications, he proposed institutionalizing the organization by putting owner away from management positions, and unify rules for all employee with equal treatment.
Neoclassical Management Approach, Late 1700s-1950s
While classical approach deal with human as a production unit work like a machine to perform a specific measured task the neoclassical theory attempt to incorporate behavioral science, the shift in this theory is that the role of management to motivate people not to just control them, this theory does not drop the importance of production, structure and other elements but it focuses on the human factor, and their need to add value for working in an organization, they need interaction between each other, they need social environment which will avail a healthy environment to work in.
Neoclassical theory looks to the informal structure of an organization (workers, feels, relationships, values ... etc.), this theory does ignore the formal structure (management, processes, etc.) but pushes for integration between formal and informal structures, which will result in higher productivity by implementing this organizational Behavior approach.   The most important contribution to the organizational behavior came out from Hawthorne studies, the theory developed through experiments on human attitudes and how it can affect productivity, the studies/experiments conducted at the Western Electric companies, they want to analyze the effect of lighting on employee’s productivity, the experiments show that maximum productivity achieved when light reduced to that of moonlight, but engineers concluded that the light is not the major factor but there was something else. Later experiments pay attention to group productivity, they concluded that the social norms were the key determinant of individual behavior, simply they work in a principle of all for one and one for all, It is not only about people interaction but also the workplace could be a social environment with informal groups. This approach results in focusing on employee’s satisfaction by motivating them and focusing on collaborations between workers and management.
In this theory, managers would have skills they will enable them to deal with workers in a way to create harmony, satisfaction and motivation which will lead to higher productivity. İn this era other contributors arose and have a tangible effect in developing different motivations theories like Fredrick, Herzberg and Abraham Maslow.
Contingency Approach (situational approach) the Late 1970s
Management approach that recognizes organizations as different, which means they face different situations (contingencies) and require different ways of managing, variability of situations require manager to implement different management techniques according to the situation and current circumstances, there is no standard management method can be used for all situations, different factors can describe a specific situations like, the required product/services, the employees and their experience, the workplace, the size of company, the environment and the competition
The organization structure differs from organization to other according to the size and organization geographical distribution, the used technology will affect the management style as it affects communication and control system for different tasks, The uncertain environment especially the external one will affect management processes and models, and finally the individual differences which arise in having different experience, talent, passion, loyalty and other, which make some employees act with their job in a different way.
 
Comparison between Classical and Neoclassical theory

Item

Classical

Neoclassical

Structure of organization system

impersonal

Social

Main focus of work

Workers

Small groups

Rationality

Order and rationality

Personal and social requirements, feelings

Organization behavior

Product of rules and regulations

Products of feeling

Authorities

Elaborated rules

Democratic, involvement of employees

Rationality

Order and rationality

Personal and social requirements, feeling

Employees satisfaction

Less

More

Employees motivation

Less as wages only

More, employees incentives and consideration

Adoption

Easley adopted

Show some objection

Managers Skills

Scientific

Scientific and  personal skills