Summary of Ancient and Modern Management Theories

Author: Yang Jingguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Mooney's Organizational Efficiency Principle
James D. Mooney (1884—1957) was a senior executive and management scholar in the United States, regarded by Ernest Dale as one of the "great organizers." Mooney was a representative figure of the management process school, and his most famous work was Industry, Forward: Organizational Principles and Their Significance for Modern Industry, co-authored with Allen Reiley and published in 1931. The primary goals of this book were twofold: first, to determine "principles" applicable to various forms of organization, and second, to validate these principles using historical materials from the Catholic Church, the military, government, and business structures.
Mooney believed that "organization is the form of every human association aimed at achieving a common goal." Organization is both necessary and universal for humanity. When human goals and objectives become too vast or diverse to be achieved by a single individual, organization arises. "In a formal sense, organization means order." Organization is a "pure process"—doing something. For humans, this means who is doing the task and what the goal or purpose of the task is. To study this situation means to study the internal structure of the organization.
Organization is the institution of management, i.e., the process of management. It is the structure of any group with a common goal, while also being related to the entire group and all its functional aspects. Organization is subordinate to management and serves as the means through which management is carried out. However, on the other hand, before daily management work can begin, organization must first exist. Organization must include a careful and appropriate division of responsibilities so that management can effectively coordinate various efforts and fulfill its duties.
The principle of "profit through service" in industrial goals can be satisfied by Mooney's three principles of organizational efficiency: the coordination principle, the hierarchy principle, and the functional principle.
Coordination Principle: The foundation of organization is the commonality of interests or goals. Coordination refers to people acting in unison to pursue a common purpose. The coordination principle is a highly important primary principle because it pertains to the entirety of the organization. To achieve coordination, some form of centralized authority is required. This centralized authority can be autocratic or democratic. Autocratic centralized authority is held by an individual, while democratic centralized authority is held by a group. Authority must be distinguished from leadership, and both must be distinguished from capability. Authority is a right—the right to give commands—and leadership must exercise authority and can only exist within an organization. Coordination cannot exist without discipline, which has two forms: discipline imposed by an authoritative authority on the majority, and self-discipline of the authority holder.
Hierarchy Principle: The hierarchy principle refers to the division of members in an organization into different levels based on varying degrees of authority and responsibility, with each level bearing corresponding responsibilities. The principle determines the functional specificity, prescribes, clarifies, and arranges the actual work of each person. This hierarchical division is universally applicable to organizations of all forms and scales. The main point of the hierarchy principle is that managers and subordinates...