ABSTRACT
The National Health Service has copied the management structures found in private enterprises, for services in the public sector have no tradition of this form of arrangement. Management has been practised throughout human history, but it is only recently that it has emerged as a separate academic discipline. Much of the classical theory has endured and it has continued to provide the impetus for the study of management. One strand, called scientific management, is mainly interested in industrial management and concentrates upon the 'shop-floor' and the behaviour of workers. A second strand, called administrative management, concentrates upon management's role throughout the organization and aims to identify principles of effective management that could be taught. A third strand of the classical theory, modelled upon the military's command structure and named bureaucracy, states that hierarchy, authority and bureaucracy lie at the heart of all formal organizations. The human relations theory considers the people within an organization -their social needs, motivation and behaviour.
