Henri Fayol developed the beginning of a theory of administration. Review the major concepts from his theory. What are the relationships among the concepts?

Theories and Concepts as Lenses

Scientists have long recognized that theories from different scientific disciplines give different views of problems, issues, and questions. Different theoretical  perspectives help scientists derive multiple answers to a single question. Similarly, using theories and concepts lets you bring different views to the same  organizational issue, problem, or question.

Scientists use theories and concepts in much the same way that photographers  use zoom lenses or lenses of different focal lengths. A normal lens has an angle  of view about the same as human vision. A wide-angle lens gives a broad view  of a scene. A telephoto lens lets a photographer isolate the part of a scene on  which he wants to concentrate. Photographers often start with an overview of  a scene. They then move in and out with a zoom lens or lenses of different focal  lengths depending on what they want to emphasize. You can do the same with  theories and concepts.

Figure 1.2 shows the relationship between theories and concepts and how they  can act as camera lenses. Let us assume that you are interested in understanding  why someone is not doing a job as well as he could. As later chapters explain,  motivation is an important element in job performance (the broad view of the  scene). Two theories of motivation are expectancy theory and equity theory.  You might choose either theory to help you understand the performance problem.

Expectancy theory can help narrow the view of the scene with its concepts  of expectancy and valence. Expectancy is a person’s belief that performance  leads to an expected outcome. Valence is the preference people have among  outcomes. These concepts act as telephoto lenses. Applying each concept to  the performance problem focuses your attention on limited parts of the problem.  Expectancy focuses on a person’s performance–outcome belief, and valence  focuses on a person’s preference among outcomes.

Just as a skilled photographer switches lenses or uses a zoom lens to view a  scene from several perspectives, you will learn to use concepts to view behavioral  phenomena in organizations from many perspectives. A skilled manager knows  the concepts and moves quickly from one to another to analyze and solve  problems in an organization.

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Expectancy theory Theories and concepts Motivation theories Expectancy Valence Inputs Equity theory Outputs Figure 1.2: Theories and Concepts as Lenses Comparison to other Lenses Wide-angle lens Broad, overall view Telephoto lens More refined and limited view