As organizations grew and became more complex, there arouse a need for systematic

understanding of how to manage the overall process of getting things done through other people.
To define management in the words of Harold Koontz and Heinz Weihrich management is the
process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in
groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims. Management is not as rigid as science nor is it a
form of art; it is an inexact science and an applied art. It is a goal oriented process that is
pervasive and multi-dimensional.

Management has a vast spectrum of theories .management is divided into two major divisions,
the classical school of thoughts and the Neo classical school of thoughts. The classical school
encompasses Scientific Management of Taylor, Administrative Management of Fayol, and
Bureaucratic Organization of Weber. The Neo-Classical Theory includes the Human Relations
Movement of Mayo along with Dickson and a few others. And the Behavioral Schools of
Maslow, McGregor, and Herzberg etc. The aim of this essay is to bring out the differences and
similarities between the theories of the Scientific School of thoughts and the Behavioral school
of thoughts. The basis of contrast and comparison will be 'the worker' and the views of these
schools of thought on handling and controlling the workforce as well as the workplace and the
different ways in which they 'get things done through people'.

Fredrick Winslow Taylor, a trained engineer known as the father of scientific management or
Taylorism noticed the differences in the labor productivity which were driven by various causes
such as talent, skills, intelligence or motive. He believed that there was only one best way of
performing any task. Scientific management called for simplification but specialization of work
tasks. Taylor held out that even the most basic, mindless task could be planned in such a way that
would drastically increase productivity and that scientifically managing the workers was more
effective than the 'initiative and incentive' method of motivating workers. He carried out various
studies such as the time study, motion study and studied the various movements of the workers
and in order to reduce wastage. F.W.Taylor introduced the piece rate system, under which every
worker was paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced.

Henri Fayol was French mining engineer and a management theorist who has incalculably
contributed to the modern concepts of management. He proposed six primary functions and 14
principles of management; they were highly influential in the classical school of management
and are prime examples of the tenets of the classical approach to management. But the primary
functions as well as the 14 principles were more task oriented rather than people oriented.

Max Weber was a German sociologist and political economist, who profoundly influenced social
theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself. Bureaucracy arose by sub-dividing
the functions that the owner-managers originally did themselves such as supervision, personnel
selection, accounting and financial management, record keeping, job design, and planning.

Elton Mayo was an Australian psychologist, sociologist and organization theorist, the founder of
Human Relations Movement and is known for his research including the Hawthorne Studies. The
Hawthorne Studies of the 1930s showed the importance of groups in affecting the behavior of
individuals at work. This study enabled him to drive at conclusions about how a manager should
behave. He carried out numerous experiments on how to increase and improve productivity. He
found out that when workers work in informal groups their work satisfaction varied to large
extent. The human relations movement deemed that humans are motivated by social needs and
work well when they are put in a group or as a team that is socially bound; the primary concern
of any organization must be the satisfaction of social needs, only when an individual is socially
satisfied will he be able to work effectively hence organizations are regarded as the co-operative
social systems in which informal groups have a substantial effect on productivity.

Abraham Maslow a professor of psychology at Brandeis University founded humanistic

psychology and created Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At the bottom of the pyramid is the Basic
needs or Physiological needs, the next level is safety needs. The third level of need is the need of
being loved. The fourth level is achieved only when individuals are happy with what they have
accomplished and are comfortable with it known as the Esteem level. The top of the pyramid is
the need for self actualization.

Douglas McGregor was the creator and developer of Theory X and Theory Y that are known as
the theories of human motivation. They describe two very different attitudes towards workforce
motivation. McGregor felt that companies followed either one of these approaches. He also
thought that the key to connecting self-actualization with work is determined by the managerial
trust of subordinates.

The similarity between scientific school and behavioral school was that they both wanted to
increase productivity by increasing the efficiency of the workers. On the course of Taylor's
pragmatic studies, he came across concepts that were not in common use in those days. One of it
was the rest intervals; workers were taught to take rest intervals quite often which as a result
increased production ironically. One of the variables Mayo and his colleagues studied after
conducting the Hawthorne studies were the impact of rest intervals. These rest intervals
increased the productivity of the workers.

One of the key principles introduced by Taylor was Co-operation, not Individualism, which
emphasized on team work rather than individuals performing tasks all alone. After conducting
the Hawthorne studies Mayo concluded that the individuals whom he studied worked better
when they were put in a group hence, opted for team work.

Behavioral school holds that there must be a fusion between human needs and organizational
goals. Every worker must understand that when an organizational goal is achieved it leads to
fulfillment of their personal needs. The same idea is reflected in one of the principles conferred
by Fayol.The principle 'subordination of individual needs to general needs' explains that efforts
must be made to reconcile individual interests with common interests. Thought it explains that
employee's interest must not prevail over the organization as a whole. Both the school of
thoughts concludes that people's interest is secondary to organizational goals.

One of the principles contributed by Henri Fayol is 'esprit de corps' which means team work. The
management should never use the policy of 'divide and rule 'rather it should use the concept team
work which in return increases production and satisfaction of workers. In the 1930s,after
conducting the Hawthorne studies, Mayo and his colleagues concluded that people worked in a
more effective and efficient manner when put in groups together. Team work promotes co-
operation between the workers and as a team together they could work for the accomplishment
of organizational goals.

The main criticism of scientific approach is that it avoids the human element in production and is
devoid of human touch. It treats workers as machines, factors of production rather than human
beings. On the contrary behavioral approach was more concerned about human behavior and
stated performance itself was not a product of working conditions but a bundle of feelings,
attitudes and sentiments. Special attention and opportunity to express their feelings causes them
to work in a more effective manner.

Scientific management is based on the assumption that humans are rational and are mainly
motivated by money. They strongly believed that people were motivated by physical and
economic needs and disregarded social needs. On the other hand behavioral school stood at
people are motivated only by social needs and not by money.

Behavioral school considers one as a manager if he has human skills. It overlooks the other
factor that builds the managerial qualification in a person. Whereas, scientific school strongly
believes that a manager should have the following qualities. They are physical health, mental
ability, moral, general education, special knowledge and experience.

Behavioral school opts for social environment in the workplace particularly informal work
group, interpersonal and in-group relations between employees and managers influences the
workers behavior and performance in a positive way. Scientific management suggested a
superior-subordinate relationship i.e. a formal organization Taylor's motive was to increase
productivity; his perspective was egronomical but not psychological, however being in contrast
with Taylor, Mayo did not exterminate the informal organization, instead he tried to create
stability amid the official and informal organization.

After studying the scientific school and behavioral school of thoughts, the theories contributed
by Henri Fayol stands to be my favorite theories and principles. He analyzed managerial jobs in
a series of functions which were to be performed by all managers in all organizations. The
functions that constitute the managerial functions are: Planning, Organizing, Directing, Staffing
and Controlling. In addition to the managerial functions, he introduced 14 general principles of
management that helped the managers to effectively manage the work environment. All his
principles are universally accepted. All organizations face the problem of making optimum
utilization of scarce resources. Therefore, these functions and principles are applicable to all
sorts of organizations. Fayol believed that on the job experience method of learning is not
adequate. Therefore, he suggested formal management training.

Though both the schools of thoughts had two different approaches their aim was to maximize
production in a more efficient way. Both the schools undertook very different ways to
accomplish their goals. Thus, it can be concluded that an organization can apply the theories that
belong to one school or both in order to excel production through increased efficiency. Scientific
management and human relations go hand in hand and one is not less superior to the other.