Ch.3 Classical Management Approaches and Division of Labor

I am so upset....I just got done writing my blog which was well close to 200 words and I go to publish it and my laptop decides to lose Internet connection. So here I go again although this attempt might be a little more watered down because I don't think I can recall exactly what I wrote blahhh!!!!!!

After reading chapter three I felt that I could really relate to the section on Classical Management Approaches. Basically the book states that classical management approaches are represented by a collection of theories that share the metaphor that organizations are modeled after efficient machines.

Both Karl Marx and Adam Smith praised the divisions of labor. They believed the division of labor was necessary to organize corporations. I work for the Department of Veterans Affairs and they like many other classic bureaucratic organizations favor a top-down or management centered approach. This approach is very unfriendly to lower employees because it stifles any upward communication. The Department of Veterans Affairs depends on high ranked supervisors and managers to pass down information to lower division employees, however it is very difficult to get the communication to work upward. There are just too many people to go through. The VA is very much based off giving orders and emphasizing downward transmission.

I though the chart on pg. 67 of the principles of of classical management theory and bureaucratic organization was interesting. I have actually seen charts similar to this example at my work on out intranet. The chart at my work divided everyone one up by services and positions and than charted them in importance and superiority.