In a world of finite resources, the distribution of goods and human labor must follow a logic in which to plan for the future. In a fictitious scenario where the available resources were infinite, administration would be unnecessary because the availability of each of the resources would be immediate. However, the natural order of things dictates that all organisms including humans are subject to the principle of scarcity.
Evolutionary competition has shown that species that better manage their resources tend to stay longer in their ecosystems. These resources not only refer to food or living conditions, they also refer to their own physical characteristics and mental capacities.
The administration of each and every one of the elements present is key to survival. Extrapolating these conditions to modern markets, it can be seen that the survival of an organization in competition is fundamentally linked to its management capacity.
The administration of resources is found naturally in the environment that surrounds us. Not only is man aware of the limitation of resources in the environment, but he shares this characteristic with the rest of the organisms that inhabit the planet. However, the human being through his understanding of the environment, the development of the economy and technological evolution stands out as the dominant species because his actions have significance for his fellow beings even after his death.
The definition of administration and the discussion about its nature as science, technique or art has been present since the beginning of scientific administration. However, in order to understand the evolution of the administration, it is necessary to give it a meaning, even if it transforms over time.
The dictionary of the Spanish language defines the word "Administration" (Royal Academy
Española, 2016) as a “Group of organisms destined for the management and operation of a certain part of social life.” However, (Chiavenato,
2004) the etymology of the word comes from the Latin "ad" (Direction) and "minister" (Subordination) which together means "He who performs a function under the command of the other".
Despite the concepts presented to define the word, the concept of administration goes further and responds to different meanings over time. The concept of administration has existed long before the term was coined. Administration has evolved according to the advancement of human societies and their needs. The modern administration that is focused on the State and production units has a historical precedent prior to the current capitalist society.
Primitive communism
The human being develops the administration in a primitive form in the first instance as a way of survival to later adapt it to the production process. When the human being is integrated into the social process and the production of goods and services, it becomes a fundamental part of the industry. Therefore, the human being has been linked to the administration since he put his first foot out of his cave and started the long road to modernity.
At some point in prehistory, human beings become aware of their own existence and exhibit behaviors alien to those observed in the rest of the living organisms on the planet. Reflecting on its own existence, on the forces that govern the world, and inventing agriculture, one abandons a nomadic state that had lasted for thousands of years and lays the foundations of civilization.
This step on the ladder of social organization is executed when man abandons his natural power in order for a greater force to grant him security for himself and his own. Hobbes (1961) defines that human beings are governed according to a social contract. Before the social contract there was a state of anarchy where production relations were impossible and society was unthinkable.
At some point in history the first social pact that shapes the birth of society is carried out. In which the human being is now part of a larger organism in which his actions will be performed for the benefit of the organism. The first civilizations based their work systems on simple cooperation, on rudimentary instruments of production and on the egalitarian distribution of products.
As Laso mentions (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2016)
For Marx, this primitive type of collective or cooperative production was, naturally, the result of the helplessness in which the isolated individual found himself, and not of the socialization of the means of production. As a consequence, primitive man did not conceive the possibility of a property deprived of the instruments of production.
Initially, social production systems were based on communities of individuals with few resources. The distribution of work was limited to individual capacities. However, with the development of technology, language and human relations, gender roles, ranges and specific tasks are created.
One of the main characteristics of the objectives of the administration in primitive communism was the survival of individuals within society, there was no market system in which it was necessary to produce at the demand of millions of people. The administration was not divided between the State and private companies, but the power center of those societies was in charge of directing the efforts to obtain and transform resources.
One of the first samples of administrative techniques we can observe in the Sumerians whose civilization had an advanced tax system in which it was necessary to carry a kind of control.
As Castro (2012) mentions:
In some of the oldest documents in the world, we find in the Sumerian civilization of 5000 years ago, there is evidence of administrative control practices. Sumerian temple priests through a vast tax system collected and administered considerable amounts of material goods including herds, herds, rents, and property. Being human, such priests were held accountable for suggestion to their superior which was a practice of administrative control.
Over the course of thousands of years, primitive societies have formed political regions due to population growth, the birth of culture and the implementation of means to modify nature. Initially, the rulers of these political regions administered in such a way that the benefits of production would be concentrated in the highest strata of society.
Absolute monarchies
The evolution of the administration before the industrial revolution largely depends on the ruling State of the time. Prior to industry and capitalist logic, the administration was carried out entirely within the State, which coordinates economic activities and government affairs. Therefore, to understand the evolution of the administration, the evolution of the State and human organizations must be analyzed.
The development of totalitarian monarchical governments also marks the logic of production and administration. A long-lived and enduring kingdom, it was a kingdom with proper administration. Dynasties were present in China, which operated under a monarchical government since 1994 BC with the Xia dynasty. until the year 1912 with the Manchu dynasty being this period ending when the Republic of China is formed. (UNAM, 2008). The Chinese administrative system supports the norms of how the State must respond to the needs of the population.
The contribution of the dynasties on the administration of government lasts until today, however, the long duration of their system until the beginning of the 20th century does not allow us to analyze the birth of other forms of organization. It is the example of other cultures that develop the concept of administration in a more profound way.
In the case of Egypt (Atlantic International University, 2016) “The idea that prevailed was that there should be a severe coordination of the economic efforts of all populations, in order to guarantee each of the members of the community, and for itself ”So all human and material resources are focused on production from a coordinating State of the economy.
With the development of the notion of numbers, common language and writing, organizations obtain new elements with which they can go from applying a philosophy on work to actually having a system that makes work itself more efficient.
It is important to highlight the progress of communication techniques and preservation of information and its impact on civilizations. During primitive communism ideas were transmitted through limited sounds, while in the days of absolute monarchies information had the ability to be stored and transferred to other generations.
During this period, government and administration were a hardly separable group, it is in the future where it is possible to observe how the State loses weight on the freedom of economic activities and generates a division between the government and the private administration.
Democracy and its impact on the social order
Although the impact of the Asian and Egyptian empires on universal history is profound, it is in Rome where the logic of social organization begins to transform. For thousands of years, culture, religion and the human condition indicate that the ruler had the right of government over the rest of the region's inhabitants, however, with the birth of democracy, the first outlines of equality were established in State decision making.
It is to be mentioned that:
The spirit of administrative order that the Roman Empire had made it possible to achieve, along with the wars and conquests, the organization of the institutions in a satisfactory way. Among the major limitations that are pointed out to the Roman administrative systems are the era of enlargement that had the form of government of the city of the Empire, and also the meeting of executive tasks with the judicial ones, despite the fact that it is recognized that Conflicts of authority that arose due to mistaken conceptions between private rights and duties were isolated. (Atlantic International University, 2016)
Therefore, the administration still has a centralized character in the State, but this must take into account the citizens since they take part in the decisions of the nation. This moment is a watershed in history, since previously the power of the administration rested entirely on the main leader. Therefore, the character of public administration has the urgency to transform itself since it was not intended that resources will be focused on the upper echelons of society, but rather sought the development of all participants within democracy.
The administration was to become more complex due to the administration of taxes, defense spending, and the implementation of public works for Roman cities. Although the ideas of democracy can currently be appreciated in different ways in today's world, they had a slow adaptation in the European territory.
Administration in the feudal age
During the Middle Ages in Europe, the absolute monarchy was relatively weakened because its organization was based on fiefs in which the king delegated land and servants (people at the service of the feudal lord) and these had the power to administer the economic activities carried out. within the fief in exchange for fidelity and resources to the crown. During this time, centralized power is reduced and each fief has the possibility of managing its resources. During this time, a new social class called bourgeois was born, who developed a trade that allowed them to specialize in an activity and generate wealth based on it.
As mentioned in the compilation of the administrative history (2016) “In all its long history and until the beginning of the 20th century, the administration developed with impressive slowness. Only after this century did it go through stages of development of remarkable strength and innovation ”. So the production process and especially the ownership of the means of production is no longer in the hands of the feudal lords to transfer to the bourgeoisie.
This new social class which stands out not for its blood origins or its ecclesiastical titles but for the quality that they had the ability to negotiate their products and services to accumulate capital. With the birth of the bourgeoisie the administration separates into two paths, in the public administration which is in charge of the management, collection and spending of taxes, as well as the administration of justice and a new class of administration is born which focuses in the company and how to produce maximum profits with the highest possible efficiency.
It should be emphasized that “Politically, since the Middle Ages, the wealthy bourgeoisie had obtained the right to govern the cities, after rebelling against the lords. Their political representation was channeled through what, in France, was called the third state ”(Historia y Biografías, 2014). With the French revolution the bourgeoisie prevails against the absolutist monarchies and allows the bases for commercial freedom to be established and opens the doors to competition and the free market.
The industrial Revolution
According to Toffler (1981) in the history of humanity there have been 3 moments in which the course of history has been irretrievably changed, the first of which was the invention of agriculture which lays the foundations of civilization. The second of these is the industrial revolution that occurred in the second half of the 18th century, which begins with the introduction of complex machines into the production system. Due to this advance, a profound transformation begins in the working systems, consumption and living standards of humanity.
James Watt was a Scottish mechanical engineer and inventor who works and improves Edward Somerset's designs on the steam engine, perfecting himself so that it provides enough mechanical energy on other machines and means of transportation. (Lira, 2013) With the introduction of this machine and the scientific application of the production process, a profound social transformation takes place that affects the way the production system is managed.
For the first time in human history, the production of goods is no longer artisanal but has become an industrial process. Previously, each product was made individually and all had characteristics that made them differentiable, with the introduction of machines within the industry, the ability to produce similar goods within production lines.
The relationship between the different social groups is also affected, although the government still has an important participation in the economy, this is no longer the center of the administration as in the absolutist monarchies, but is a protector of the markets nationals.
For the first time in history, the market becomes competitive, since multiple owners of capital located in different parts of the world could produce similar goods, so price competition, demand and resource efficiency take on relevant importance within of the administration.
It should be mentioned that:
A true "Scientific Revolution" began and between the years 1890 and 1914 the theories of man began to flow in all fields of knowledge. Since then, the science of our century has brought us new surprises as a result of great discoveries. Not only solving mysteries of the Universe and its structure, but also deciphering the origin of life. In the 20th century, another "Scientific Revolution" is making great strides in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Sociology, Psychology, and Technology that are taking place daily. (Atlantic International University, 2016)
This revolution formalizes the need for administrative methods that allow maximum efficiency to be achieved. In an age of sudden clarity and scientific development, the thinking of the time also reflects that human activities could also be quantified, predicted, and standardized. With the birth of the industry, scientific administration also emerged.
The Birth of Scientific Management
Administration as a modern discipline is born from the theorists of economics. With the publication of the wealth of nations by Adam Smith in 1776 it is considered the first modern book of economics. Under the vision of the classical school, the economic theories of the division of the market, currency, the price of merchandise, wages and the accumulation of capital are developed and compiled. (Kaplan, 2014)
Within the work of Smith, the existence of individual interest, the common good, and the satisfaction of needs through free enterprise, free competition, and free trade are analyzed. Under the precepts and ideas of Smith and other classics of economics, the foundations of administrative methods are founded, whose philosophy is the maximization of utility and price competition.
The foundation of economic liberalism, industrial development, and the transformation of thought under the Protestant ethic are the foundations of classical administrative techniques. “Smith and Mill's work lays the foundation for Whitney, Watt and Boulton to generate the tools of standardization, quality control, analytical accounting and the approach to work” (Kaplan, 2014).
For the year 1900, many entrepreneurs incorporated a scientific base into their activities. The main exponent of the administration was an American mechanical engineer named Frederick Taylor (Barba, 2010) who founded a method of industrial organization, increasing productivity and avoiding loss of time in the production process.
Taylorism establishes that human processes and relationships can be analyzed as the processes of matter and scientific analysis are analyzed. From Taylor's theory it is observed how the control that the worker can have over the production of the good is reduced. By performing the division of labor within production, movements and downtime are eliminated, thus reducing production time and thereby increasing profits.
The problem with Taylorism is that the human being is far from being a machine, so the Taylorist philosophy itself is generally rejected by the workers. Thanks to Taylor, the craftsman's time was coming to an end as the pace of work and the control of time were subject to the market.
However, society required a reinterpretation of Taylorism that suited the American lifestyle of the post-war period of the First World War. Fordism and chain production (Thompson, 2005) is a response to the growing rise of communist countries in Europe, to the vision of Keynesianism and technological development that now allowed the middle classes to enjoy technological innovations. Thus Fordism is the precedent for mass consumption societies and the American lifestyle of the early 20th century.
It is after the second world war where the world is divided into three realities. The consumer capitalist production system, the socialist nations in Europe and the underdeveloped third world countries without their own economic identity. Therefore, the administration's history takes two divergent directions again. On the one hand, the capitalist system in North America and the United Kingdom, on the other, the socialism of the USSR.
Administration in the 20th century
With the birth of the scientific administration, the postwar economy has a great increase in the United States, which is why a new business culture, a consumer society and an increase in global demand are born. The challenges facing the 20th century is a world with a changing, competitive economy and a high degree of international trade.
The industries that during the 19th century had the possibility of exploiting their workers at inhuman rhythms are limited by the establishment of laws and the union conquests which allow the worker to have a decent life. Therefore, the American and English industries that previously had an advantage thanks to the abundant workforce must focus on specialization through the development of technology.
During the 20th century, administrative science and techniques boomed due to population growth, technology, and consumer demand. More and more people belonging to the middle class. With the effects of post-World War II reconstruction, the American worker was one of the most specialized and with one of the greatest purchasing powers around the world.
In this context, Henry Fayol in 1916 (Kaplan, 2014) develops the general and industrial administration, which establishes the 14 principles of administration, which include unity of command, centralization of authority and division of labor. Fayol establishes that the particular interests of workers must be subject and subordinate to the interests of the company, a thought that would find various antitheses throughout the century.
The introduction of psychology within the company causes Elton Mayo to develop the school of human relations in 1924 (Kaplan, 2014) due to the fact that Fayol's and Taylor's vision fail to increase the productivity of the workers. This school proposes that the individual increases his productivity if he considers that the company takes care of his well-being. Elton Mayo's experiments in lighting and temperature show that working conditions negatively affect productivity. Mayo also analyzes how social groups within the company are essential to increase efficiency.
By integrating the human sense into production systems Abraham Maslow lays the foundations for the 1968 behavioral school (Kaplan, 2014) in which the human being shows that human motivation goes beyond instant pleasure and that individuals seek goals to long-term and aspects of improvement within a society that fosters individuality.
Therefore, when a clash of elements is reached, Douglas McGregor describes that there are two ways of observing behavior within the company: Theory X and Theory Y in 1960 (Kaplan, 2014) In theory X, managers can only working with employees under threats while in theory AND managers must be based on the principle that people will be willing to work due to their own needs.
After 1980, with the reintegration of the global economy to the powers of Europe and the communist nations joining capitalism, Process Reengineering arises (Kaplan, 2014) in which fundamental questions are asked about the work process. Process reengineering seeks to reinvent work based on technological advances.
During the 1980s, the Japanese miracle took place, which amazed the world with its technological development and its emphasis on quality within the company. The theory of excellence (Kaplan, 2014) is based on the fact that companies in the Japanese economy focus on work and the coupling of personal life with professional life.
21st century administration: challenges and prospects
Throughout this essay, an analysis has been made of the historical information of the administration, appreciating that until several centuries ago, control of the economy was centralized within the State. With the French revolution and the creation of the bourgeois class the guidelines for free enterprise and a development of the administration never seen before are opened.
During the 20th century the appreciation of the human being within the productive systems has been constantly modified, going from being just one more gear within the factory to being an element that deserves much of the company's attention. With the development of humanism and the vision of belonging, we move further and further away from the concept of exploitation in first-world countries. However, this exploitation relationship is still observable in countries dedicated to the maquila, such as Mexico.
What challenges does administrative science face during this new century? In the first instance, the development of new information technologies makes work more flexible. Consumer societies are fully defined and at a global level an international work wave defines how companies carry out their processes more cheaply and efficiently.
The market tends to specialize services, so companies must face new flexibility processes, product design and an increasingly competitive market. In terms of work, fashion is to carry out assembly actions in countries with competitive labor and design in specialized countries. The State has a smaller participation in the economy, so new forms of business could appear.
The cooperative economy is changing the relationships between employers, employees and customers, the cost of services is increasingly reduced thanks to the ease of communication offered by technological advances. People must be as flexible as companies in the workplace.
In this new century, the administration will face constant economic crises and even a paradigm shift that could affect human relations as we know them. However, the capitalist system is a changing and adaptable system that endures and is based on individual desires. The economic growth of the communist Asian countries that in practice are market economies could be the new hegemonic center of power. Therefore, our eyes and our business relationships must point to the Far East.
References:
- Atlantic International University. (January 2016). Open Courses. Obtained from http://cursos.aiu.edu/administracion/pdf%20leccion%202/tema%202.pdfBarba, A. (2010). Frederick Winsloy Taylor and the scientific administration: Context, reality and myths. Management and strategy, 17-29. Obtained from http://web.archive.org/web/20120616212729/http://administracion.azc.uam.mx/descargas/r evistagye / rv38 / rev38art01.pdfCastro, I. (August 2012). Historical Background of the administration: Los Sumerios. Obtained from http://todoconta.com/antecedents-historicos-de-la-administracion-sumerios/Chiavenato, I. (2004). Introduction to the general theory of administration. Mexico: McGraw. History and Biographies. (OCTOBER 2014). The Bourgeois, Origin of the bourgeoisie and characteristics of their work activity. Obtained from http: // historiaybiografias.com / curiosities72 / Hobbes, T. (1961). Leviathan: or the matter, form and power of an ecclesiastical and civil republic. Mexico: Economic Culture Fund, Kaplan, A. (March 2014). Science Direct. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263237314000425Lira, C. (May 5, 2013). Biography of James Watt. Obtained from http://www.egr.msu.edu/~lira/supp/steam/wattbio.html Real Academia Española. (January 26, 2016). Royal Spanish Academy. Obtained from http://www.rae.es/Thompson, F. (2005). Fordism, post - Fordism and the flexible system of production. Retrieved from http://www.willamette.edu/~fthompso/MgmtCon/Fordism_&_Postfordism.html Toffler, A. (1981). The third Wave. Bogotá: Primer Colombiana.UNAM. (August 2008). Chinese history. Obtained from http: //www.economia.unam.mx / deschimex / cechimex / chmxExtras / seminars / CursoChinaE cPolSoc / historiachina.pdfUniversidad Complutence de Madrid. (January 26, 2016). Critical Dictionary of Social Sciences. Obtained from
