Management is a special kind of activity that makes an unorganized crowd a focused, efficient and productive team. It also acts as a stimulus for social change and significant change. Management practice has existed since ancient times, for which there is evidence (the construction of Egyptian pyramids, political organizations in Rome and Macedonia), so we can conclude that the history of managerial thought is deeply rooted in the past.
Until the 19th century, no one thought about governance as a separate science and its systematic nature; everyone was interested in money and power. Only at the beginning of the century, Robert Owen began to deal with the achievement of the goals of the enterprise with the help of workers. He improved their working conditions, provided good housing, and stimulated them with additional payment for high-quality work, thereby developing material interest. These innovative ideas were a unique breakthrough in human consciousness and the role of leader. Thus, the history of managerial thought took one step forward.
Later,
Frederick Taylor published a book on the principles of scientific management, which is considered the beginning of recognition, and its allocation to a separate area of management research. Since then, the history of the development of managerial thought has come closer to the fact that management can significantly affect the development and success of enterprises. His success depended in many respects on successes in other areas, such as
psychology, mathematics, sociology, etc. The acquired knowledge helped to understand by what criteria to evaluate
management approaches.At that time, the history of managerial thought had several approaches that significantly influenced its further development in theory and practice. The approaches of various schools of management contained four different aspects: the
school of scientific management, in terms of human relationships and behavioral sciences, the administrative approach, and also quantitative methods.
Aware of the influence of external forces on the activities of organizations, researchers developed other approaches. The history of managerial thought, moving forward, is reflected
first in the
process approach, which considers it as an interconnected series of managerial functions. Then, in a
systematic approach that draws the attention of managers to the fact that an organization is a set of interconnected elements (people, tasks, technologies, etc.) that move towards different goals and are subject to changing environmental conditions. And in a
situational approach, which focuses on the fact that management methods should be determined based on the situation.
At present, the development of managerial thought has reached clear trends, strategies and strengths. Management is a process and a product of the environment, and the concept of management has shifted its attention to the human factor, organizational and methodological methods for resolving issues.