The classical approach, also known as the traditional approach, is a perspective in psychology that emphasizes the importance of the individual's conscious experience and the role of reason in understanding and predicting human behavior. This approach originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and was influenced by the ideas of philosophers such as René Descartes and John Locke.
One of the key tenets of the classical approach is the belief that the mind and body are separate entities, with the mind being responsible for thought and consciousness and the body responsible for physical actions and sensations. According to this perspective, the mind is seen as an active, rational entity that is capable of making choices and decisions based on reason and logical thought.
Another important aspect of the classical approach is the emphasis on the scientific method as a means of understanding and explaining psychological phenomena. This involves formulating hypotheses, collecting data through observation and experimentation, and analyzing the results in order to draw conclusions.
One of the pioneers of the classical approach was Sigmund Freud, who developed the theory of psychoanalysis. Freud believed that the unconscious mind played a significant role in shaping an individual's behavior, and he used techniques such as dream analysis and free association to explore the unconscious mind and uncover the underlying motivations for an individual's thoughts and actions.
Despite its influential role in the history of psychology, the classical approach has been largely replaced by more modern approaches that take into account a wider range of factors, such as the impact of culture, genetics, and the environment on behavior. However, many of the ideas and concepts developed within the classical approach continue to be relevant and influential in contemporary psychology.
Classical Approach to Management Thought (F.W. Taylor and Henri Fayol)
For example, present day managers cannot depend entirely on formal authority and must use persuasion to get work done. The classical theory admonishes the slightest intervention of government exhibiting free market trade and economic growth, and market competition. Scientific management requires that training should be imparted only through modern techniques as it increases the efficiency of the workers. They placed emphasis on work planning, the technical requirements, principles of management, formal structure, and the assumption of rational and logical behaviour. Linear programming, Critical Path Method, Programme Evaluation Review Technique, Breakeven analysis, Games Theory and Queueing Theory have gained popularity for solving managerial problems these days. Employees are grouped according to their skills and motivated through incentives to drive efficiency.
Two major theories comprise the classical approach: scientific management and general administrative. The systems theory lays emphasis on the interdependency and interrelationships between the various parts of a system. Gantt had also observed that those supervisors should also be paid bonus who succeeds in getting work up to the desired level out of their workers. Other contributors like Frank and Lilian Gilbreth, Henry Gantt Emerson also suggested the effective use of human beings in industrial organisation. On the other hand, the principles laid down by Fayol have turned out to be really relevant to the modem scenario. Freedom to trade and compete motivates private entities to act on self-interest, resulting in efficient resource allocation, increased investments, profit generation, and benefit to society. We can understand how managers take decisions through the decision-making approach.
The Classical Approach to Management: Theory, Features, Limitations and Principles
The movie camera is used to conduct this study. The neo-classical approach gained importance after World War I. Every department of the organisation is considered as a sub-system. Quantitative approach explores the linkage between man and machine with a focus on fine-tuning the principles of management. What is Classical Christian Education? What are the major branches of the classical management perspective? A system is composed of related and interdependent elements forming a unitary whole. He observes that planning is the most important function and a failure to plan properly leads to inefficiency in the organization.
The managerial activities include planning, organising, coordinating, commanding and controlling. . Meaning of Scientific Management : The literary meaning of scientific management is performing the work of management in a scientific manner. Where the problems are of repetitive nature, this approach proves very useful. Here, the focus is on centralized authority and skill specialization. Cooke, Harrington Emerson, and Lillian Gilbreth. He noted that these principles are flexible and not absolute, and must be usable regardless of changing and special conditions.
Classical Approach to Organizational Communication
But this practice has limited use and only applicable in a limited way at shop floor. The value of goods and services also depends on factors like who produced them, who uses them, and how it is used. Unity of directions is different from unity of command. On the contrary, disorder would lead to confusion, inefficiency and failure to achieve the set objectives. Subsequently, however, the rigid applications of these functions by managers come under criticism. A chain of hierarchy represents which employee has to connect with which manager or superior for work-related issues and challenges. In conclusion, it can be said that bureaucratic management can be introduced in those organizations which are not affected by changes or where the changes are slowly introduced or where the changes can be anticipated.
Classical Approach — Seattle Classical Christian School
Every man in the organization should be properly placed i. Classical theory reviews the whole organization, finds errors and takes corrective and necessary preventive action to avoid errors again. Taylor was such a personality who started his career as a labourer. She worked for the State of Tennessee for 19 years, the latter six of which were spent as a supervisor. They have the official relationship. It advocates the development of a free economy with minimal government intervention to trigger economic growth.
Chester Barnard and H. A few examples of such efforts are—maintaining the working conditions at the work place, giving appropriate wages, providing proper facilities to workers to rest in case of fatigue, rotating the work among different workers in order to retain their interest, using the simplest possible techniques of work, providing proper training to workers from time to time, etc. A worker should be selected according to the requirement of work. Scientific study and analysis of each element of a job to replace the rule of thumb; b. It is important to note that the contingency approach focuses on the need for managers to examine the relationship between the internal and external environment of an organization. In bureaucracy, rules and procedures serve as guidelines for initiating various actions. Every manager has to apply the various approaches of management according to the demands of the situation.
Unless it is necessary, dual sub-ordination should not be preferred. This provides necessary context for learning scientific information. Taylor has propounded the functional organisation. The approach one should adopt depends on characteristics or requirements of the situation in which a problem crops up. According to this approach, there is no single way or best way to address a given problem situation. Managers must make choices about how to group people together to perform their work.
This technique of management believes in balanced development of all the sections of society. According to Taylor, instead of fighting over division of profits, both the parties should make efforts for increasing the profits. Operation researchers and analysts primarily belong to this group. Fayol suggested 14 management principles and their universal application. Management problems can be described in mathematical symbols. Neo-classical Approach The neo-classical approach came into existence due to inability of the classical approach to achieve the desired level of efficiency.
The theory focuses on producing goods and services, expanding the market, free trade, and competition to overall economic growth. But this is not applicable in practice as the worker cannot carry out instructions from eight foremen. Under this plan, wages according to time is guaranteed. The main objectives of the study are — i to get the estimated figure of labour costs, ii to determine the number of required workers and iii to decide about the suitable incentive plan. This is the main reason why labour unions oppose scientific management. Discipline in this situation implies that both parties must fulfil their promise without any prejudgment towards one another. Classical approach signifies from the following features: i Classical theory concentrate on anatomy of formal organisation through division of labour, specialization, structure, scalar, functional processes and span of control.
