Nowadays people when mentioning any expression or word, few of us stop to ask, where does it originate ?, Who invented it ?, How did it arise ?, among many other questions and doubts that come to mind.
How many people have not said the expression, "manage your time", or "you do not know how to manage your money"? There are different phrases to which we use the word administer or administration, but do we really know the meaning of the word? Do we know its origin and why or why did it arise?
The questions that were previously expressed will be tried to answer through this research article, where it will be explained from where the administration arises to the theories and where it is currently.
Since man existed on Earth, through effective activities to try to survive, using for this the administration. The author Lourdes Münch (Lourdes Münch & José G. García Martínez, 2012) in her book Fundamentals of Administration, divides evolution into different stages, which will be broken down below.
In the early days, hunting, fishing and gathering activities were carried out. In the tribes the family heads made the most important decisions, where it was they who took the authority. At this time the division of work groups was already established, where it was segmented by the capacity of the sexes and ages of the members of the tribe, to carry out the activities. It is here where the first definition of administration is born, being an association of efforts to achieve a certain end that requires the participation of several people.
Another of the times defined in the evolution of the administration was the agricultural period, within which agriculture was practiced as well as sedentary life began. The division of labor by segmentation continued, as hunting, fishing, and gathering activities moved to a term of secondary importance. One of the causes that forced man to improve the coordination of efforts in the social group was population growth, that is, improving the administration's application.
The State gave rise to the beginning of civilization, giving preamble to science, literature, religion, political organization, writing and urban planning. Social classes emerge, mainly in Mesopotamia and Egypt. A more complex administration begins, where it begins the control of collective work and payment of taxes in kind.
Within this period the founders of the modern administration emerged, who were in charge of applying the tax policies of the State and of controlling numerous groups of men in the activity of construction of great architectural works.
The Hammurabi Code is created, by the king of Babylon, created in ancient Mesopotamia. Within it he explains the development of commerce and aspects of administration. What this code includes are a set of laws and regulations that establish various rules of daily life, which in particular regulated the hierarchy of society, the fees and salaries of those who exercised their profession, the responsibilities that professionals had when exercising his activity, taking as an example if an architect who builds a house and collapses on its inhabitants and consequently has caused them death, he will be sentenced to death; other of the norms that regularized was the judicial operation, as well as the scale of penalties according to the crimes.
In Greco-Latin antiquity, slavery appears. The administration at that time evolves and is characterized by its orientation towards supervising work and corporal punishment in a disciplinary manner, where the slave lacked rights, and was given any production activity.
An era that also shaped this evolution was the feudal era, where social relations were characterized by a regime of servitude. The lower administration of the fief was subject to the discretion of the feudal lord, who exercised control over the production of the servant.
At the end of this time, most of the servants became independent, organizing themselves in the artisan workshops, with new structures of authority in the administration. This development that caused the family economy, would become a city economy. Corporations or unions appear that regulated fees, salaries and different working conditions, with which the now unions originate.
The industrial revolution characterized by the appearance of various inventions and discoveries, mainly the steam engine, these inventions gave rise to industrial development and with it also great changes in social organization. With the disappearance of the artisan workshops, the factory system originates, where production is centralized. In this factory system, the businessman owned the means of production and the worker in turn sold his labor power.
Despite the evolution of the administration, it still lacked functional bases, this type of administration was characterized by the exploitation of the worker, actions such as excessive hours, an unhealthy work environment, dangerous activities, among others.
Specialists are necessary due to the complexity of the work being carried out, people who directly deal with the factory's problems.
With the aforementioned factors, they provoke social thoughts in defense of the interests of the workers and with this, investigations began that would later place the administration as a social science and a maturity of administrative disciplines.
The magazine published by the Harvard Business School mentions, through a timeline, the authors who over time made contributions to different administration issues:
- Scientific administration: (1922-1931) or W. Taylor or H. Fayol or M. Parker or Follelt and Lillian
- (JMCSFUI
- Lawrence and Lorsch or Kenneth Andrews
Continuing with the evolution of the administration, it is in the XX1 century that it was characterized by a technological and industrial development, making the administration consolidate in a better way, taking into account the different authors who dedicated themselves to the studies of it.
Starting from the opening of quality trends and information technologies, the administration is handled in an indispensable way in any type of company, achieving with it, efficiency, optimization of resources and simplification of work.
But we can ask ourselves, what was happening with the administration specifically in Latin America? During pre-Columbian times (America before Christopher Columbus), there were three civilizations: that of the Mexican highlands, that of the Mayan area and of the Inca region.
The Inca civilization developed a system based on the exchange of products from different regions. For their part, the Aztecs created an empire based on the conquest of other peoples, originating different techniques to administer the tributes.
We can mention that nowadays people practice without realizing the administration, as simple as organizing a birthday party, or attending an appointment.
The author Chiavenato (Idalberto Chiavenato, 2011), compared to Lourdes Münch, marks three fundamental stages within the 20th century in which the organizations were having a remarkable change.
One of them covers from the year 1900 to 1950, called the era of classical industrialization, this begins with the industrial revolution, having specific characteristics, in this era the organizational structure was pyramidal and centralized, with a bureaucratic model, centralizing ideas in the high direction. The culture of the organizations was based on the preservation of traditions and values, bearing in mind rules that allowed the behavior of the members of the organization to be regularized. In these organizations people were considered as part of production, that is, they were taken in the same way as a machine, supplies; This type of administration was called industrial relations.
The second era was of neoclassical industrialization, in a period from 1950 to 1990, it begins at the end of the Second World War, commercial transactions with openness begin, local to regional, regional to international, due to these changes that were being In doing so, organizations had to adapt to new situations, thus creating matrix organization, just as culture began to focus on the present, leaving past traditions, thus treating people as living resources and not factors of production.
And finally, the information age, starting in 1990, where technology was the cause of globalization of the economy, intensifying the competitiveness of organizations, thus continually transforming itself, both in positions and functions being constantly redefined, where At that time they began to work with multifunctional teams, having specific functions and defined objectives.
The administration has undergone constant modifications, however, we realize that since man appeared on earth, carrying out different activities and dividing jobs in different ways. Also that over time, organizations as well as people need to have an evolution due to the changes that exist in the environment.
Management Concept
As mentioned above, it was until the stage of the industrial revolution that authors who spoke about administration began to emerge, each and every one giving a different concept.
The author Wilburg Jiménez Castro, defines the administration as “a social science composed of principles, techniques and practices and whose application to human groups allows the establishment of rational systems of cooperative effort, through which common purposes can be achieved that individually are not feasible to achieve. ”
In comparison to Brook Adams, who defines it as "the ability to skillfully many social energies with conflicting frequencies in a single organism, so that they can operate as a single unit."
Another of the authors who speak of the administration, are Koontz and Odonnell, who consider it the direction of a social organism, and its effective way to achieve its objectives, which is founded on the ability to lead its members.
Citing Chiavenato again, the administration focuses it on organizations, which is why it defines it as the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the use of resources to achieve organizational objectives.
Brook Adams defines it as the ability to skillfully coordinate many social energies with collective frequencies, in a single organism, so that they can operate as a single unit.
Joseph L. Massie mentions that for him administration is a method, by which a cooperative group directs its actions towards common goals.
All the concepts previously mentioned by various authors have different aspects in common, such as organization, objective, coordination and process. We can conclude that the administration is the coordination of the effort of a group to obtain an objective, with efficiency.
Münch (Lourdes Münch & José G. García Martínez, 2012), mentions that the administration has certain characteristics that differentiate it from the other sciences; One of them is universality, that is, it exists in any social group and is applicable to any type of company; that it has instrumental value, that is, it is a means for him to achieve the objectives; it must be a temporary unit, the administration is characterized by developing in various phases and stages, since this is a process; Another characteristic is the breadth of exercise, it is applied at all levels or systems of the organization; as well as being interdisciplinary, that is, that all sciences are involved in turn and finally be flexible, the principles of administration must be adapted to the basic needs of an organization.
Administrative schools
Throughout the evolution of the administration as mentioned above, contributions were made by different authors, these contributions called administrative schools or administrative theories.
Empirical school
When speaking of the empirical school, it is related to putting into practice. This school focuses on experience. Professional administrators mention that this school is necessary since no problem is solved in the same way, that is why experience is an important part of administration in organizations. The principles are written as a guide to guide the expected results. Although experience is important, it is necessary to carry out an equivalent or have the support of scientific knowledge.
Scientific school
It begins at the end of the 19th century, was born in industrial companies and it is the engineers who are interested in better management, mainly in the production area. It is here that the trend begins to emphasize not only experience but more administrative principles.
The founder of this school the engineer Frederick W. Taylor, who in his book "Principles of Scientific Administration" lays the first technical foundations for modern administration. Its main objective was to increase productivity and improve employee performance, achieving greater efficiency.
Classical school
Oriented to the identification of administrative functions, also known as, traditional, operational or administrative process.
Henri Fayol founder of this school, who considers that the administration has always existed, but with the changes that have been seen it is necessary to exercise it in a more technical way, which proposes a method to accumulate knowledge, through observation, collection, classification and interpretation of the facts, and according to the results, rules are established that are integrated into the structure of administrative discipline, this described in his book "Industrial and General Administration" published in France in 1916.
Fayol mentions six groups of activities that will be carried out in industrial companies:
- Technical functions: related to production Commercial functions: purchase and sale operations Financial functions: activities to obtain financial resources, application and investment Security functions: protection of goods and people Accounting functions: activities that involve the realization inventories, balance sheets, income statements, among others. Administrative functions: Provide, organize, command, coordinate and control.
This author mentions a list of fourteen principles mentioned below:
- Division of labour. Means by which the maximum benefit is obtained from people, specializing in a certain activity. Right to command and with the power to demand obedience, thus obtaining responsibilities. Its essence is obedience and respect for the established norms; thus maintained from correct leadership. Unity of command. Each worker must respond to only one boss. Management unit. In the case of the execution of a plan, or a group of activities to be carried out with the same objective, there can only be one boss. Subordination of the private interest to the general interest. There must be constant subordination of the interests of individuals or small groups to the interests of the organization. Staff remuneration.Established through an economic remuneration system that reflects being fair and satisfactory for the staff and the organization. Centralization. Finding the optimal relationship to centralize or decentralize authority. Hierarchy They are made up of the series of bosses, from the highest to the lowest position, forming a sufficiently clear chain of authority and communication, stimulating horizontal communication in a beneficial way to achieve speed in actions., points out two concepts:of authority and communication sufficiently clear, stimulating horizontal communication in a beneficial way to achieve speed in the actions. In this sense, it points out two concepts:of authority and sufficiently clear communication, stimulating horizontal communication in a beneficial way to achieve speed in the actions. In this sense, it points out two concepts:
- material order: a place for everything and everything in its place; social order: a place for each person and each person in his place.
Relational human school
Mainly focused on humane treatment of the organization's staff, highlighting their performance within it. The representative of this school the psychologist Elton Mayo. Who carried out four studies about this theory, which states that:
- Workers often meet in informal social groups for the satisfaction of social need. Informal groups tend to exercise greater motivation in the conduct of staff than money and authority. It mentions that managers should encourage and approach informal groups to show the necessary interest. workers Training managers in human relationships with subordinates Developing better communication between managers and their subordinates
Structuralist school
Its founder, the sociologist Max Weber, does not conceive of an organization as an isolated entity, but as part of a social system, which maintains relationships by exercising and / or receiving influences from the surrounding social environment.
Among the studies carried out on the structuralist school are the functions that executives exercise, the importance of communication in organizations, the creation and influence of informal groups, motivational incentives, as well as the conception of the organization.
Human-behavioral school
Also known as a school of human behavior, presenting itself with a new approach to the school of human relations. Having as creators of this school Kurt Lewin and Douglas McGregor.
Lewin through his studies highlighted the advantages of participation and interaction between work members, through his technique known as group dynamics.
On the other hand, Douglas presents two different approaches. The first is traditionalist, called theory X, based on administrative ideas and practices that are implicit in works about administration. The second theory Y, based on discoveries of modern psychology, proposing administrators to make a change in their way of thinking and acting.
Decisional theory
Also called operations research, it considers that the most important thing in a social organism is decision making. Since administrative decisions are taken as a central focus, study topics, the analysis of the decision process, the search for alternatives, information processing, environmental restrictions, the person or the group that makes the decisions must be considered..
This process has three main phases: first, it is necessary to define the problem and then search and analyze the alternatives, and finally, to choose the best alternative solution.
Systems theory
To understand this theory, we can define that it is a system, this is a set of elements that when related to each other, form a whole, constituting something more complex.
This theory arises due to the social system approach. Pareto in 1916 when he published his book Treatise on General Sociology, conceives of society as a social system.
This theory allows the administrator to understand the contributions and points of view of the different specialists and thus be able to conceptualize the company as a system made up of subsystems. This thanks to its disciplinary approach.
Over time, more episodes of human evolution have been added to the history of the administration through great changes, as well as, the concepts are becoming more complex in information and with a breakdown explaining each of the points that this carries.
We can observe how unconsciously men from a long time ago, did not imagine that activities that they carried out, such as the division of labor or a simple team organization for mammoth hunting, would be vital today in the life of the economy through organizations.
Thus, we observe that we carry out administrative activities on a daily basis and occupy some of the aforementioned schools.
Management schools are just a foundation that lead us to life in organizations, taking into account that each one is different.
Taking points of view from different authors, such as engineers and psychologists, who agree that not only the principles of administration are necessary, but also the study of the environment in which the organism is found.
References
Idalberto Chiavenato. (2011). Human Resources Administration (9th ed.). Mc Graw Hill.
Lourdes Münch, & José G. García Marínez. (2012). Management fundamentals. Mexico: Trillas.
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