OER for a Post Graduate Programme in HRM

MHRM Module 1 : Principles of Management Module Content Map

Topic 2 : Management Theories Sections: The Classical Management School | The Behavioral Management School | The Human Resources Management School | The Management Science School | Key Points and Activity Back to Topic 1 : What is management? | Go to Topic 3: Planning

Please see the learning objectives of the topic Management Theories below: Objective To acquire basic understanding on the following schools of management theories: The Classical Management School The Behavioral Management School The Human Resources Management School The Management Science School Topic Overview The practice of management is as old as human civilization. The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome and Indus-vally had the history of good management practices. However, the study of management in a systematic way as a distinct body of knowledge is only of recent origin. That is why, management is often described as "oldest of the arts and youngest of sciences". The traditional management practices remained quite stable through the centuries until the birth of Industrial revolution in the mid 18th century. Industrial revolution had sown the seeds of modern management as the then industrialists faced many problems, which were completely unfamiliar to them, in managing the industry. Charles Babage, Robert Owen and James Montgomery are among the notable management thinkers of earlier days. All the earlier theories of management together constitute the Pre-scientific era of management. Disagreement exists as to the exact number of management schools. Different writers have identified as few as three and as many as twelve. Here we are listing four important schools, learners are welcome to find out management literature on other schools as well. This topic has following five sections. They are: The Classical Management School The Behavioral Management School The Human Resources Management School The Management Science School Key Points and Activity | Work in progress, expect frequent changes. Help and feedback is welcome. See discussion page.