Behavioral and administrative approaches

Behavioral management approach

The behavioral approach studies how people behave at work and how to motivate them to improve performance. It grew from the Hawthorne experiments (Elton Mayo) and was developed by Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor, Likert and others.

Key ideas:

1. Workers are motivated by social and psychological needs, not just money.
2. Informal groups and group norms affect productivity.
3. Good communication, participation and supportive leadership raise morale.
4. Job satisfaction improves output.
5. Managers must understand individual differences.

Contribution: better human relations, motivation theory and leadership understanding. Limitation: a happy worker is not always a productive worker, and it can ignore organizational structure.

Administrative management approach

The administrative approach studies the whole organization from a manager's viewpoint and identifies general management functions and principles. Major contributors: Henri Fayol, Max Weber (bureaucracy), Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick, Mary Parker Follett.

Key ideas:

1. Functions of management: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.
2. 14 principles of Fayol: division of work, authority, discipline, unity of command, scalar chain, order, initiative, esprit de corps, etc.
3. Weber's bureaucracy: formal rules, hierarchy, specialization, impersonal relations and merit-based promotion.
4. Management is a universal activity that can be learned.

Contribution: a framework for structure and administration used in government and large firms (such as Nepal's civil service hierarchy). Limitation: rigid, ignores human feelings and the environment.