4. Consider what you saw. Immediately after your observation session, look through this chapter on management history for connections to your observations. For example, do you see any signs of the

“Hawthorne effect”? Would Fredrick Taylor approve of the work process you observed, or might he have suggested improvements? What might Chester Barnard’s theory have to say about how the workers you observed responded to instructions from their “boss”? Write a one-page paper of bullet-point notes describing possible connections between your observations and the thinking of management pioneers such as Mary Parker Follett. The topic of management history may sound like old news, but many of the issues and problems addressed by Max Weber, Chester Barnard, and other management theorists still challenge managers today. How can we structure an organization for maximum effi ciency and just treatment of individuals? What is the basis for, and limits to, authority in organizations? It is rather amazing that these thinkers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries generated such a wealth of theory that still infl uences our discussion of management and leadership challenges in the 21st century. This exercise will give you the opportunity to draw upon some ideas that trace their roots back to the pioneers of management thinking.