IMPACT OF CLASSICAL AND SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORIES ON KPS’ TQM INITIATIVE
Classical management theory is largely based on the idea propagated by Henry Fayol which suggests that managers perform five basic functions of planning, organising, co ordinating, commanding and controlling. The planning responsibility of managers entails drafting a plan/course of action leading to achieving certain goals and identifying the resources required to do so. Managers also organise by bringing together the necessary resources required to achieve the goals and co ordinate by ensuring that resources are brought together in the right way and activities are properly prioritised as well. According to Fayol, managers function through the hierarchical structure of an organisation; they have the power to eliminate the incompetent as well in order to achieve set goals. The last function of managers identified by Fayol is the function of controlling; managers ensure that everything goes according to plan (Fayol cited in University of Leicester 2011, pp. 61-62).
The classical management theory appears to support the idea of a rigidly structured, hierarchical and bureaucratic organisation where job roles are firmly defined and managers instruct and direct employees (University of Leicester 2011, p. 67).
Scientific management theory on the other hand, suggests four different principles to achieving organisational goals such as increasing productivity. Fredrick W. Taylor suggested that job roles