Management as a subject did not begin with textbooks. It grew from people trying to answer a practical question: how should work be organised so that it gets done well? Over about a century, thinkers gave different answers. Some looked at the job, some at the organisation, and some at the people.
Together they form the theories of management that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) syllabus asks you to know.
Examiners like this topic because each theory has a name, a main idea, a list and a criticism, and a question can ask for any of them. Learn each thinker with the one idea they are known for, and be ready to compare them.
In 30 seconds
The classical writers studied how work and organisations should be structured. Taylor made work scientific, Fayol and Urwick set out principles of management, and Weber described the ideal bureaucracy. Mayo and the human relations school showed that people respond to attention, belonging and recognition, not only to pay. Later writers such as Kanter and Mintzberg questioned whether one set of rules fits every organisation.
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y link a manager’s beliefs about people to the style of management used.
Classical and scientific theories
The early theories dealt with what managers do and how they might do it better. They concentrated on managing work more than on managing people at work. The classical group is linked with Taylor, Fayol and Weber.
F. W. Taylor and scientific management
Frederick Taylor was an American engineer, regarded as the founder of scientific management: applying analysis and experiment to raise the efficiency of work. He broke each job into small tasks, timed them, tested better ways of doing them and had people specialise. He is called the originator of time and motion study.
His best-known experiments were on shovelling coal at a steelworks, where he varied the size and handle length of shovels and the load per shovelful, and brought in specialisation.
| Taylor’s four principles | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A science of work | Study methods and times to find the most efficient way, set a fair standard, and pay more to workers who beat it |
| Careful selection and training | Choose people suited to the work and train them to do it efficiently |
| Bringing the two together | Combine trained workers with the scientific method for the best result |
| Shared work between management and workers | Managers take over the work they are better placed to do, and both sides work closely together |
A pay example. The standard output is 50 units a day at ₦10 a unit. A worker who makes 60 units earns 50 × 10 plus 10 × 12 at a higher rate of ₦12 a unit, which is ₦620, against ₦600 on a flat rate. The extra pay rewards efficiency, as Taylor intended.
| Criticisms | Why the theory still matters |
|---|---|
| Seen as favouring owners over workers | It gave rise to management science and to the theories that followed |
| Unions feared it would undermine collective bargaining | Taylor did call for co-operation between workers and management |
| Mechanical: workers treated as tools, with no attention to monotony, status or insecurity | It solved real problems of growing organisations during the Industrial Revolution |
| Managers resented the extra burden of his principles | It helped many firms deal with worker issues, and spread across the world |
| Workers became dependent on orders, with no room for their own initiative | |
| Functional foremanship, with many supervisors, was seen as unworkable | |
| Following rules alone can depersonalise workers and breed dislike of the job |
Henri Fayol: tasks and principles of management
Fayol saw managers as people with formal authority inside a structure. He described five tasks of management: planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling. He also set out fourteen principles.
| Principle | Idea |
|---|---|
| Division of work | Specialised staff produce more |
| Authority | Managers need the right to give orders and the power to see they are obeyed |
| Discipline | Rules must be respected, and applied fairly |
| Unity of command | Each employee takes orders from one boss |
| Unity of direction | Teams with the same aim work to one plan under one head |
| Subordination of individual interest | The group’s interest comes before one person’s |
| Remuneration | Pay should be fair and satisfy staff and the firm |
| Centralisation | How much decision-making is held at the centre |
| Scalar chain | A clear line of authority from top to bottom, so people know where they stand |
| Order | People and materials should be in the right place |
| Equity | Managers treat staff with fairness and kindness |
| Stability of tenure | Keep turnover low |
| Initiative | Let staff use their own ideas within limits |
| Esprit de corps | Build team spirit |
Lyndall Urwick: ten principles of organisation
| Principle | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Objective | Every part of the organisation must serve the organisation’s purpose |
| Specialisation | Each person’s work should be limited to one function |
| Co-ordination | The point of organising is to coordinate effort |
| Authority | Supreme authority rests somewhere, and there is a clear line from it to every person |
| Responsibility | A superior is responsible for the acts of subordinates |
| Definition | The content of each post should be clearly defined |
| Correspondence | Authority and responsibility in a post should match |
| Span of control | No one should directly supervise more than five or six people whose work interlocks |
| Balance | The units of the organisation should be kept in balance |
| Continuity | Reorganisation is a continuing process |
Max Weber and bureaucracy
Weber distinguished authority, getting things done by orders that are accepted as legitimate, from power, getting things done by force or threat. He named three kinds of legitimate authority.
| Type | Basis | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional | Custom and inheritance | A chief, a royal family, the head of a household |
| Rational-legal | An impartial system of rules, exercised through the office held | A manager in a bureaucracy |
| Charismatic | The personal qualities of the leader. It depends on the person, so it is unstable and short-lived | A magnetic founder |
An ideal bureaucracy has a hierarchy of authority with information going up and instructions down, impersonal and impartial operation with clear duties and standard procedures, written rules of conduct, promotion on achievement, division of labour and specialisation, and efficiency as the result. Weber expected bureaucracies to grow because they coordinate large activities rationally, but he saw that they depersonalise work.
Bureaucracy is blamed for red tape, yet many large bodies, especially government, are bureaucratic because they need clear and impartial rules.
Rosemary Stewart sums up bureaucracy in four features: specialisation of the job (so the job continues when the person leaves), a hierarchy of authority, a system of rules, and impersonality. She gives four reasons for its growth: the growing size of organisations, the greater complexity of work, scientific management, and the demand for equal treatment.
The human relations school
Elton Mayo is regarded as the founder of the human relations movement. His team ran experiments at the Hawthorne Works of Western Electric in the United States between 1927 and 1932. They changed lighting, rest breaks, hours and pay for six workers to see the effect on output. The surprise was that output kept rising even when conditions were put back or made worse.
Mayo explained it by motivation and by relationships. The six had become a team with social bonds, they felt that they were taking part freely, and their self-esteem rose because they had been chosen. He concluded that work has a social value, that satisfaction comes from recognition, security and belonging more than from money, and that productivity depends on how managers and workers relate.
Managers need people skills, and earlier theories had neglected human relationships. Mayo was the first theorist to stress the social side of work.
Later and modern writers
| Writer | Main idea |
|---|---|
| Peter Drucker | Managers have five jobs: setting objectives, organising work, motivating and communicating, measuring performance, and developing people |
| Rosabeth Moss Kanter | Traditional bureaucracies had become too slow, with long chains of command delaying information and decisions. In Teaching Elephants to Dance she argued that large firms must learn to move as nimbly as small ones |
| Henry Mintzberg | Studied what managers actually do. Their work is disjointed, includes routine duties, relies on informal talk more than written messages, and rests on judgement and intuition. He grouped managerial roles as interpersonal, informational and decision-making (see Management and leadership) |
| Douglas McGregor | Theory X and Theory Y, below |
| Frank and Lillian Gilbreth | Studied the movements of workers to remove wasted motion. Cutting fatigue and streamlining work raises productivity |
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
| Theory X | Theory Y | |
|---|---|---|
| View of people | Dislike work, avoid it if they can, prefer to be directed, avoid responsibility and want security | Find effort as natural as play, direct and control themselves towards goals they accept, and seek responsibility |
| Management style | Authoritarian: instructs and threatens | Participative: involves staff in decisions |
| Works best when | Work is routine and people are unmotivated | Staff are positively motivated and emotionally mature, and the job gives some choice in how it is done. Often suits managers and professionals |
The schools compared
| School | Focus | View of workers | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific (Taylor) | Efficient methods of work | Motivated mainly by pay | Mechanical and ignores social needs |
| Administrative (Fayol, Urwick) | Principles for the whole organisation | Part of a structure | Assumes one set of rules fits all |
| Bureaucratic (Weber) | Rules and hierarchy | Office-holders | Red tape and depersonalisation |
| Human relations (Mayo) | Social needs and attention | Social beings | Gives less attention to structure and efficiency |
Worked example: which theory fits?
Scenario. A garment factory has falling output. Managers measure the time for each sewing step and set standards. Staff report dull, repeated work and feel ignored. A consultant says output rose in another plant when managers began to talk to the workers and set up small teams.
- Name the current approach. Timing steps and setting standards is Taylor’s scientific management.
- Explain the problem. Dull, repeated work and a feeling of being ignored are the criticisms of scientific management: it treats workers as tools and ignores social needs.
- Link the remedy. Talking to workers and building teams is the human relations school. Mayo found that attention, belonging and recognition raised output.
- Recommend. Keep the useful part of Taylor, clear standards and training, and add Mayo’s people skills. A Theory Y style that involves staff in decisions fits workers who respond to recognition.
The theories in more detail
Taylor: why it raised output, and why people resented it
Taylor believed that most workers used rule-of-thumb methods and that careful study could find the one best way of doing each task. He timed each small task, tested different tools and methods, then set a fair standard and paid more to those who beat it. Output rose because methods were better, workers were chosen and trained for the work, and pay rewarded effort.
He also proposed functional foremanship, in which a worker would take instructions from several specialist foremen. Workers and critics resented the pressure of constant timing, the loss of skill and judgement in the job, and the idea that a worker was only a producer motivated by pay.
Fayol: the principles with an example
| Principle | Example |
|---|---|
| Division of work | Cashiers handle payments while stock clerks handle inventory |
| Authority and responsibility | A supervisor who must meet a delivery deadline is given the power to reassign staff |
| Unity of command | A clerk takes orders from one supervisor, so no conflicting instructions |
| Unity of direction | All the sales teams work to one marketing plan |
| Scalar chain | An instruction passes from director to manager to supervisor, with a direct link allowed for speed in emergencies |
| Equity | All staff receive fair treatment in discipline and promotion |
| Esprit de corps | Team events and open communication build a team spirit |
Weber and Stewart: bureaucracy judged
Strengths: clear rules and hierarchy give predictability, fairness and accountability; specialisation builds expertise; promotion by merit and written procedures give continuity when people leave. Weaknesses: rigidity and red tape slow decisions and discourage initiative; rules can become ends in themselves; staff may feel depersonalised; and bureaucracies adapt slowly to change, which is Kanter’s criticism. Public bodies still favour it because impartial rules protect citizens from favouritism.
Mayo: what the Hawthorne studies showed
When researchers changed lighting, rest breaks and hours for a small group of workers, output rose, and kept rising even when conditions were put back to their original state. The explanation was not the physical conditions. The workers had been singled out, felt valued, became a close team and had a more open relationship with management.
The lesson is that recognition, belonging and good communication can matter as much as pay and conditions, which is why managers need people skills as well as technical methods.
Matching theory to situation
| Situation | Theory that helps |
|---|---|
| Routine factory work needing efficient methods and fair standards | Taylor |
| A growing firm that needs clear lines of authority and rules | Fayol, Urwick, Weber |
| Low morale and poor team spirit despite good pay | Mayo and the human relations school |
| A rigid organisation too slow for its market | Kanter |
| A manager who assumes staff dislike work | McGregor’s Theory X, and the case for Theory Y |
Exam focus: Drucker’s management responsibilities and Kanter on bureaucracy
Drucker: five areas of management responsibility
- Setting objectives. Set organisational objectives and targets and communicate them.
- Organising work. Divide work into activities and jobs, build them into a formal structure, and select and appoint people.
- Motivating and communicating. Motivate staff and communicate so they can do their work.
- Measuring. Measure performance against a target or benchmark, assess it, and report to superiors and subordinates.
- Developing people. Develop employees and themselves. Drucker said a manager either brings out what is in people or stifles them.
Drucker disagreed with Fayol that general principles apply to managers in every kind of organisation. He argued that a business manager carries a key responsibility for economic performance, and justifies the post only by producing the expected economic results.
Drucker: three aspects of a business manager’s responsibility
- Managing the business. Innovation and marketing. Drucker was among the first to argue for putting the customer first.
- Managing managers. Give managers targets and monitor their performance. He was the first to use the term management by objectives.
- Managing workers and their work. Set team objectives, divide work into manageable activities, motivate and communicate, measure and review performance, and develop people.
Kanter on bureaucracy
Rosabeth Moss Kanter is best known for her work on the inefficiency of modern bureaucracy. She argued that long chains of command had made traditional organisations slow, so information moved slowly and decisions took a long time. Competition, faster change and new computing and communications technology had made the old ways inefficient. Her 1989 book Teaching Elephants to Dance argued that large “corporate elephants” must learn to dance.
Common mistakes in the exam
- Mixing up the thinkers. Taylor is the scientific school, Fayol and Urwick the principles, Weber the bureaucracy and Mayo the human relations school.
- Confusing Fayol’s five tasks, which are functions, with Mintzberg’s ten roles.
- Listing the principles without explaining them.
- Describing bureaucracy only as red tape. Name its features and its reasons for growth.
- Forgetting that Taylor stressed co-operation between managers and workers.
- Presenting Theory X and Theory Y as two types of worker. They are two sets of beliefs held by managers.
Quick revision
- Taylor: scientific management, four principles, time and motion, criticised as mechanical.
- Fayol: five tasks and fourteen principles. Urwick: ten principles, span of five or six.
- Weber: three types of authority and the ideal bureaucracy. Stewart: four features and four reasons for growth.
- Mayo: Hawthorne experiments, social needs, recognition and belonging.
- Drucker: five managerial jobs. Kanter: slow bureaucracies. Mintzberg: what managers really do. Gilbreths: motion study.
- Theory X: authoritarian. Theory Y: participative.
Practice questions
These are original questions written in the style of the ICAN exam. Try each one before you open the answer.
Section A style: multiple choice
Question 1. The founder of scientific management is:
- Henri Fayol
- Frederick Taylor
- Elton Mayo
- Max Weber
Show the answer
B. Taylor applied analysis and experiment to raise the efficiency of work.
Question 2. Authority based on the personal qualities of an individual, which is unstable and short-lived, is called:
- Traditional authority
- Rational-legal authority
- Charismatic authority
- Legal power
Show the answer
C. Weber said charismatic authority depends on the individual for its existence.
Question 3. Who identified the importance of human relations through the Hawthorne experiments?
- Elton Mayo
- Frederick Taylor
- Lyndall Urwick
- Rosemary Stewart
Show the answer
A. Mayo is regarded as the founder of the human relations movement.
Question 4. Which of the following is one of Fayol’s principles?
- Unity of command
- Functional foremanship
- Time and motion study
- Theory X
Show the answer
A. Under unity of command each employee takes orders from one boss.
Question 5. A manager who believes people dislike work and must be directed and threatened holds:
- Theory X
- Theory Y
- Theory Z
- Scientific management only
Show the answer
A. Theory X is the authoritarian view of people at work.
Question 6. Which of the following is a reason for the growth of bureaucracy, according to Rosemary Stewart?
- Smaller organisations
- Simpler work
- The demand for equality of treatment
- A fall in the use of scientific management
Show the answer
C. The others are the reverse of her reasons, which are larger organisations, more complex work, scientific management and equal treatment.
Question 7. Who proposed time and motion study?
- Elton Mayo
- Frederick Taylor
- Max Weber
- Peter Drucker
Show the answer
B. Taylor timed and studied tasks to find the best method.
Question 8. ‘Unity of command’ means that an employee should:
- Have several bosses
- Take orders from one superior
- Command others
- Work alone
Show the answer
B. It avoids conflicting instructions.
Question 9. The Hawthorne studies showed that productivity can be raised by:
- Pay alone
- Attention, belonging and recognition
- Longer hours
- Stricter rules
Show the answer
B. Social factors affected output.
Question 10. A criticism of bureaucracy made by Kanter is that it is:
- Too fast
- Too slow to adapt
- Too informal
- Too cheap
Show the answer
B. Long chains of command delay information and decisions.
Section B style: written questions
Question 11 (10 marks). State and explain five categories of management’s responsibility suggested by Peter Drucker.
Show the marking guide
Award 2 marks for each: 1 for stating it and 1 for explaining it. Setting objectives; organising work; motivating and communicating; measuring performance; developing people.
Question 12 (20 marks).
(a) Explain Taylor’s four principles of scientific management. (8 marks)
(b) State four features of bureaucracy given by Rosemary Stewart and three reasons for its growth. (7 marks)
(c) Explain how the Hawthorne experiments changed ideas about management. (5 marks)
Show the marking guide
(a) 8 marks, 2 each. A science of work; careful selection and training; bringing trained workers and the science of work together; shared work between managers and workers.
(b) 7 marks. Four features, 1 mark each: specialisation, hierarchy of authority, a system of rules, impersonality. Three reasons, 1 mark each: growing size, greater complexity, scientific management, demand for equal treatment.
(c) 5 marks. Output rose when conditions were changed back (1). The explanation was team feeling and motivation (1). Work has social value (1). Satisfaction comes from recognition and belonging (1). Managers need people skills (1).
A further written question
Question 13 (10 marks). Explain any five of Fayol’s principles of management.
Model answers
Show the model answer to Question 11
Drucker’s five categories. Setting objectives: managers set the organisation’s objectives and the targets for them and communicate them. Organising work: they divide it into activities and jobs, build a formal structure and select people to do the jobs. Motivating and communicating: they motivate employees and communicate so that people can do their work. Measuring performance: they compare performance with targets, analyse it and report to superiors and subordinates.
Developing people: they develop their employees and themselves, bringing out what is in them.
Show the model answer to Question 12
(a) Taylor’s four principles. A science of work: work methods and times should be analysed to find the most efficient way, with a fair standard and higher pay for those who beat it. Careful selection and training: workers should have skills suited to the work and be trained to do it efficiently.
Bringing the two together: the selected, trained workers and the science of work should be combined for best results. Shared work: work and responsibility should be divided between managers and workers, with managers taking the work they are better placed to do, and both working closely together.
(b) Stewart. Four features of bureaucracy:
- specialisation of the job, not the person, giving continuity
- a hierarchy of authority
- a system of rules
- impersonality, with authority and rewards based on rules
Three reasons for its growth: the growing size of organisations; the greater complexity of work, needing specialists; and scientific management, which favours formal procedures; also the demand for equal treatment.
(c) Hawthorne. Experiments intended to study the effect of working conditions found that output rose even when conditions were made worse. Mayo concluded that the workers had become a team and felt valued, so social factors, recognition and belonging influenced output. It showed that work has social value, that motivation depends on the relationship between managers and workers, and that managers need people skills. It shifted attention from methods and structure to human relations.
Show the model answer to Question 13
Any five of the following. Division of work: specialisation increases output. Authority: managers need the right to give orders and the power to be obeyed, with matching responsibility. Discipline: rules and agreements must be respected and applied fairly. Unity of command: each employee should receive orders from one superior only. Unity of direction: activities with the same aim should be directed by one head under one plan.
Subordination of individual interest to the general interest: the interest of the organisation comes before that of one person. Remuneration: pay should be fair to both employee and firm. Scalar chain: a clear line of authority from top to bottom. Equity: managers should treat staff fairly and kindly. Esprit de corps: managers should foster team spirit.
Pathfinder on management theories
These are the ICAN Pathfinder questions that test this topic. ICAN owns the questions and the suggested solutions, so we point you to them and do not copy them. Open your Pathfinder, attempt each question under exam conditions, then check your answer against the notes above.
From the earlier Business, Management and Finance paper. Asks for Drucker’s five categories of management’s responsibility, Rosemary Stewart’s four features of bureaucracy and her reasons for its growth.
Revise first: Later and modern writers
From the earlier Business, Management and Finance paper. Part (a) asks for the features of bureaucracy and the reasons for its growth. Revise Weber and Stewart.
Revise first: Max Weber and bureaucracy
Multiple-choice questions can test who proposed each theory and the principles of Fayol and Urwick. Check Section A of every diet you practise for items on these points.
Revise first: Classical and scientific theories
Source: ICAN Pathfinder, Business Environment. Diets covered: May Diet, 2021 to May Diet, 2026. November Diet, 2024 is not yet mapped.
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