Traditional Management Th eory Th rust Forward 99
management and organization are bundled back together, as they are in the em-
pirical world, and theories of their relationship are presented.
Th e following discussion describes theories of public management in four
categories. First, and most important, is traditional public management theory,
thrust forward. Second is the current popularity of leadership as public manage-
ment. Th ird is the theory derived from the longer-standing practice of conducting
public management by contract. Fourth are theories of governance that explain
important features of public management.
Traditional Management Th eory Th rust Forward
Traditional management theory has its origins with Frederick W. Taylor and his
infl uential Th e Principles of Scientifi c Management, which was published orig-
inally in 1911 and is still in print (2010). His subject was business, particularly
the shop. His purpose was to move from rules of thumb, customs and traditions,
and ad hoc approaches to business management toward a body of scientifi c prin-
ciples. His principles were based on precise measurements of work processes, as
well as outcomes; on the scientifi c selection of workers; on the optimal placement
of workers in describable work roles; on the division and sequencing of work pro-
cesses to enhance productivity; and on the cooperation of workers in achieving
the organizational objective. Th e application of these principles, Taylor believed,
would lead managers and workers to the one best way.
As business innovations oft en do, these concepts soon colonized govern-
ment. Th ey became a central part of the Progressive Era and the movement to
reform government, and they were highly infl uential in the development of civil
service systems in government at all levels. Th e widespread use of tests for hiring
and promotion, position descriptions, and employee evaluations are all refl ec-
tions of scientifi c management. Indeed, one could argue that modern-day testing
generally—for progress in school, for admission to universities and graduate
schools, and for professional standing in law, medicine, accounting, teaching,
and so forth—are also contemporary manifestations of the logic of scientifi c
management. Th e desire for certitude, to measure precisely and thus order and
categorize the world properly and thereby make sense of it, is doubtless as strong
today as it was at the nadir of scientifi c management.
Luther Gulick (1937), one of the founders of modern public administration,
embraced the orthodoxy of scientifi c management, applied it to government, and
introduced the most famous mnemonic in the fi eld—POSDCORB, which rep-
resents his theory of the seven major functions of management:
- Planning
- Organizing
- Staffi ng
- Directing