classical in the case of management theory refers to the first significant period when management was studied and theories presented the earliest studies of management were arguably in the first quarter of the 20th century however to understand what these theories were and how they came about we will first need to explore the cottage industry and Industrial Revolution that came before hand in a classic cottage industry he farmed would sell the cotton linen or wool to many of the cottages who would then spin it into yarn he was a loom to create fabric out of the yarn then couldn't sew the fabric into clothing if they needed buttons etc they could buy them from another cottage that produced buttons little investment was required to start up and few people if any were employed the Industrial Revolution which started in Great Britain marked a major turning point in history and the demise of the cottage industry the period witnessed a number of technological innovations and the introduction of new manufacturing processes from hand production methods to machines from a business perspective a key introduction during this period was the factory to produce goods this was dependent upon labor for operation and the workers did not own a significant share or often any of the enterprise they were paid daily wages break in production down into stages and using machines factories were less reliant on skilled artisans utilizing unskilled labor instead workers and machines were brought together in a central factory complex specially designed to handle the machinery and flow of materials components were made to standard specifications factories produced products on a much larger scale enabling them to benefit from economies of scale and therefore reduce costs 18th century factories produce cotton silk and textiles iron brass cement glass paper and various chemicals etc developments during and after the Industrial Revolution presented a number of challenges for business owners in particular the new larger and more complex organizations would need managing they had to find ways to reduce costs have improved the efficiency of their business there's not only involved consideration of the use of technology and machinery but also people the workers there was a need to ensure they were productive like the positive scientists before them during the Classical period business owners practicing managers and business academics or social scientists search for principles that's laws of management and the best way to administer and run their organizations three permanent contributors to classical management theory were henri fayol Frederick Taylor and Max Weber despite writing around the same time each of the three men approached their understanding of Management from different perspectives Henri failed published his major work on management in 1916 he outlined key management activities he stated that to manage is to forecast and plan to organize to command to coordinating to control he also listed fourteen principles of management fail was arguably the first to achieve a genuine theory of management Frederick Taylor was also one of the early practical manager theorists from a similar period he focused on the problems of achieving greater efficiency on the shop floor experience both as a worker and as a manager had convinced him that few if any workers placed more than the minimal effort in their daily work Weber was an academic and sociologist not a practicing manager his interest in organizations was from the point of view of their authority structures it was in his publications that term bureaucracy was used to describe a rational form of organization bureaucracy is an organizational form with certain dominant characteristics such as hierarchy of authority a system of rules and the specialization of work Taylorism paved the way for Fordism the reorganization of the entire productive process by the moving assembly line Fordism is associated with the manufacture of standardized low-cost goods in huge volumes which could be afforded by customers as well as the workers who built them to summarize them classical management refers to a collection of management theories arising from the work of people like fail Taylor and Weber in the first quarter of the 20th century such theories were driven by challenges arising from the Industrial Revolution which brought new ways of working throughout the first half of the 20th century various scholars developed and added to this body of knowledge however it's important to recognize that the Classical School essentially pursued a set of management laws and warned best way to manage their focus was more directed at work and efficiency rather than the worker you