Organizational Behavior Theories
Since the Industrial Revolution in the early 20th century, humans have been starting to think about how to improve the productivity and efficiency of an organization. At first, people thought that the organization that consists of the best people will make the best organization. Nevertheless, it is not. No one can ever guess what other people think, do, or plan in any given situation. The four most remarkable organizational theories have been developed until now: Scientific Management Theory, Administration Theory, Bureaucracy, and Organizational Structure, and lastly The Administrative Behavior.
Scientific Management Theory by Frederick W. Taylor
In this theory, Taylor put all the focus objectively into the objectives and goals of the organization and how to fulfill those. Taylor believed that humans can work as efficiently as possible if they get tasks that match their capabilities even though they have minimum input of energy and resources (Laegard, 2021).
The four principles devised from Taylor approach in behavior theory are:
- Development of a scientific approach for each element of work
- Development of worker’s selection, training, and teaching methods
- Cooperation with workers to ensure the job matches plans and principles
- Worker’s supervision, motivation, and task performance are the focus of management.
Administration Theory by Henri Fayol
After Taylor, Henri Fayol tried to rationalize the administrative process rather than the technical process. He unified Taylor’s scientific approach and the organization’s administration. Thus, the six separate working groups: Technical, Commercial, Financial, Accounting, and Managerial, are developed. The coordination that happened in this theory is a hierarchical pyramid in which the employees are accountable for 1 superior only and the routine works must be performed by subordinates. The distribution of activities in each working group is determined based on: purpose, process, market size (number of customers), and geography. (Laegard, 2021).
Bureaucracy and Organizational Structure by Max Weber
Bureaucracy is defined by Max Weber as “A specific administrative structure which is based on a legal and rule-oriented authority” (Scott, 1998). In Bureaucracy and Organizational Structure theory, Weber states that the rules and job responsibilities are written down and also clearly stated. The bureaucratic theory involved establishing a hierarchy to describe the division of labor in a company and recognizing the importance of specialization. According to Weber’s thoughts about organizational structure, the organizational structure can be classified into 5 groups: Simple structure, hierarchical system, functional organization, product organization, and matrix organization.
In simple structure, there is no level between the top executive and employees while in hierarchical systems, the authority holds responsibility for their own department “chain of command” can be traced from the line that represents the connection between superiors and subordinates.
In a functional organization, different functional groups distinguish themselves, even so the top executives have a direct connection to each functional group/department. The product organization model is suitable for the organization whose products and services are separated because each functional group has divided responsibility based on the product they are developing whereas, in the matrix organization model, there is dual or multiple managerial accountability and responsibility available.
There are usually two chains of command, one along functional lines and the other along with the project, product, or client lines. Other chains of command such as geographic location are also possible. (Stuckenbruck, L. C.,1979).
The Administrative Behavior by Herbert Simon
In Administrative Behavior, Herbert Simon proposed a science of administration where organizational decisions represent the primary units of analysis. In constructing a conceptual framework to guide that science, Simon drew heavily on insights from cognitive psychology. In this theory, Herbert Simon showed how organizations can be understood in terms of their decision processes. (Mintrom M., 2015). The Administrative model was successfully developed by Herbert Simon in this theory. In contrast to The Economic Man model developed by Taylor, this model is more realistic considering that humans have limited rational action due to unclear objectives, limited knowledge, and sometimes they act not to reach objectives but to satisfy their needs whereas, in the economic man model, it is considered that humans have rational action.
The Most Influential Theories from Both Historical and Managerial Perspectives
According to the previous analysis conducted, The Administrative Behavior by Herbert Simon might be the best theory to implement from the managerial perspective due to its approach. This theory analyzes the humans’ decision-making process comprehensively and realistically compared to other 3 theories: Scientific Management Theory by Frederick W. Taylor, Administration Theory by Henri Fayol, Bureaucracy and Organizational Structure by Max Weber. In this theory, the organization behavior is defined based on the human’s decision-making nature. In the real world, humans are unpredictable by nature and humans can’t be modeled as perfectly as the “Economic Man” model said. In the Administrative Man model, humans are depicted as creatures that have limited rational action and do not always make decision-making based on rational action due to limited knowledge, lack ability to prioritize, and only try to satisfy their need and not to try to reach the objectives itself.
References:
Herbert A. Simon, administrative behavior: A study of decision-making processes in administrative organization. (2016). ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341371173_Herbert_A_Simon_Administrative_Behavior_A_Study_of_Decision-Making_Processes_in_Administrative_Organization
Stuckenbruck, L. C. (1979). The matrix organization. Project Management Quarterly, 10(3), 21–33.
Management, A. (2021, 4). Organisational behaviour theories and its role in management. Aptitude Management PTY LTD. https://aptitudemanagement.com.au/organisational-behaviour-theories-and-its-role-in-management/
Organizational behavior theories. (2021, August 12). Leverage Edu. https://leverageedu.com/blog/organizational-behavior-theories/
Note:
This article is written based on University of The People Organizational Behavior (BUS 5113) written assignment by Fristy Tania in September 2021
