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Classical School of Management

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“Classical approach of management professes the body of management thought based on the belief that employees have only economical and physical needs that the social needs and need for job satisfaction either does not exist or are unimportant. Accordingly, it advocates high specialization of labor, centralized decision making and profit maximization”. It is the oldest formal school of thought which began in the late 1800s and continued through the 1950s. its main focus is on “efficiency” and includes bureaucratic, scientific, and administrative management. "Henri Fayol, Mary Parker Follett, Henry Gantt, and Max Weber are theorists who believed in structured management approaches, and that money motivates employees" (Dunn 26). "Fayol, the author of General and Industrial Management (1916), is the founder of the classical school of management, which emphasizes “command and control” (Robinson 2005). “He identified five functions of management: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. He further categorized the features of management into 14 principles: “division of work/labor through specialization, authority and responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interests to the organization’s needs, employee compensation (Hoffman 2005, 107), centralization, scalar chain (line of authority), order, equity, personnel stability, initiative, and esprit de corps (shared devotion to a common cause)” (Dunn 27)
Henri Fayol’s “14 Principles of Management” have been a significant influence on modern management theory. His practical list of principles helped early 20th century managers learn how to organize and interact with their employees in a productive way. Although the 14 Principles aren’t widely used today, they can still offer guidance for today’s managers. Many of the principles are now considered to

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