Theories in

Administrati
on
Empirical
School
The main features of this school are:

i. Management is the study of

managerial experiences.
ii. The managerial experiences can
be passed over to the practitioners
and students.
iii. The techniques used in
successful cases can be used by
future managers.
iv. Theoretical researches can be
combined with practical
experiences.
Limitations of the Empirical School:
This school depends heavily on the
historical methods of study. It goes mainly
by precedents. It does not realize that a
manager has to work under dynamic
conditions and that history does not exactly
repeats itself. The situations in the past
may not have been exactly the same as of
the present.
Human
Relations
The main features of this school are:
i. The school draws its concept from psychology,
sociology, human relations, inter-personal
relationships, satisfaction of workers needs etc.
ii. Since management is getting things done
through people, the managers must have a
basic understanding of human behaviour and
human relations in all its aspects, particularly in
the context of work groups and organisations.
iii. Management must study inter-personnel
relations among people.
iv. Greater production and higher motivation
can be achieved only through good human
relations.
v. Motivation, leadership, communication,
participative management and group dynamics
are the core of this school of thought.
Various limitations of this School of Thought
are:
i. This approach talks about organisation
and organisational behaviour in vague
terms.
ii. If the study of management were to be
confined to human behaviour or human
relations, it would be unduly restricting the
scope of technical aspects of job etc., which
are equally important.
Social System
The main features of this school of thought are:
i. Management is a social system, a system of
Cultural relationships.
ii. Formal organisations represent cultural
relationships of the social groups working within
the organisation.
People working together in groups have their
own norms and values which have a bearing on
the contribution that they are likely to make
towards the goals of the organisation.
iii. Cooperation and team spirit among the
group members is necessary for the
achievement of organisational objectives.
iv. Management has to direct its efforts
towards establishing harmony between the
goals of the organisation and those of the
working groups.
Uses and Limitations:
This school of thought is very useful for the
practising managers. All the managers operate
in a social system and the organisation is likely
to prosper most if the social demands of the
society in which it operates are fully recognised.
This school attaches maximum importance to
the study of sociology and thus tends to
overlook many management concepts,
principles and techniques which are also
important to practising managers.
Decision
Theory
Main features of this theory are:
i. Management is essentially decision-
making.
ii. The members of any organisation are
essentially decision-makers and problem
solvers. Hence management is the study of
the process of decision making and the
personalities and behaviour of decision-
makers.
iii. The quality of decisions is a prime
factor for increasing the efficiency of the
organisation.
iv. Management information system and
the process and technique of decision
making form the subject matter of the
study of management.
The uses and limitations of this school
are:
This school though contributes a lot
towards the sharpening of managerial
tools especially for making suitable
decisions in the organisation, the
question still remains to be answered is
whether the decision theory school can
do justice to the various aspects
Mathematical
Model
The essential features of this model are:
i. Management is concerned with problem
solving and it must make use of mathematical
tools and techniques for the purpose.
ii. The different factors involved in management
can be quantified and expressed in the form of
models i.e., in the form of equations which can
be solved with the help of mathematical
techniques.
iii. Management problems can be described
in mathematical models.
iv. Operations Research, Mathematical tools,
simulation and model building are the basic
methodologies developed by this school of
thought.
Limitations:
i. The mathematical models cannot be
considered as a substitute for sound
judgment.
ii. There are certain phases of the
management process which cannot be
expressed in mathematical symbols and
formulae.
 Systems
Approach
The main features of this approach are:
i. A system has a number of sub-systems,
parts and subparts.
ii. All the subsystems, parts and subparts
are mutually related to each other. This
relationship is in the context of the whole
and is very complex. A change in one part
will effect changes in others.
iii. The systems approach emphasises the
study of the various parts in their inter-
relationships rather than in isolation from
each other.
iv. The system approach to management
brings out the complexity of a real life
management problem much more sharply
than any of the other approaches.
Limitations:
The problem with the systems approach is
its utter complexity particularly when it
comes to a study of large and complex
organisations.
Contingency
Approach
The main features of this approach are:
i. Managerial decisions and actions initiatives
are known to be matters of pragmatism and not
of principles.
ii. The environment of organizations and
managers is very complex, uncertain, ever
changing and diverse.
iii. It is the basic function of managers to
analyse and understand the environments in
which they function before adopting their
techniques, processes and practices.