Approaches towards Management

In the early days of the Union Pacific Railroad there really wasn’t really a manageable approach. The means of delivery were mostly by train and Union Pacific was one who provided services. There really wasn’t much of a manageable approach back then, when all you had was a small fleet of trains going across the country delivering goods. Managing wasn’t really something organization thought of, they were in it for the money. If you were an employee of UP such as an engineer you basically got a set of directions from your boss and were off until you arrived at your final destination. Over time these approaches have changed. Approaches such as the classical, human resource and quantitative have all helped UP get from an average company to an excellent company. By using these approaches UP changed into a goal setting organization.

Throughout the Industrial revolution different theories of management were brought up, one being the classical approach. The classical approach was a theory which strived to improve the productivity of operative personnel. With the help of guys like Taylor, the Gilbreths, Fayol, and Weber efficiency increased. During this early time many organizations were very inefficient, where activities were unplanned and unorganized. There were also no real plans, managers really didn’t know what to do besides run the business. UP Railroad was a company who was there to do was to perform services to their customers and that was it. There were no real goals managers could try to strive to, because they had no goals. In and around this time when UP was just established many were doing the same job over and over for very low wages, while certainly not knowing what they were getting into.

So for years many managers of UP and other organizations didn’t have an efficient plan, while continuing to live by a low standard of living. This is until guys like Taylor and Gilbreth can along. Taylor spent months trying to figure out one way an organization could use one best way to do a specific job instead of everyone doing the same job at once. At UP being more efficient would lower prices and increase wages. As Taylor found a way to be more efficient, Gilbreth also was finding his own ways to being efficient. Best known for his bricklaying technique, Gilbreth also helped revolutionalize efficient work. With their help, organizations like UP could be more efficient, while helping there employees raise the standard of living.