Quantitative Techniques HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

Frederick Winslow Taylor is credited with the initial development of scientific management techniques. The scientific management principle developed by him during the early nineteen hundreds, laid the basis to the study of managerial problems. He developed his theory emphasizing the new philosophy of management responsibility for planning and supervision and formulating of rules, formulae, etc. in connection with labor and machine techniques, which would result in lower cost to the employer and a higher return to labor.

Taylor's chief contribution to the development of management theory was an application of scientific method to problems of management. His emphasis on the study of management from the point of view of shop management led to the overlooking of "the more general aspects of management, particularly in the United States and Great Britain."

In addition, several management science techniques were further developed during World War II.

World War II posed many military, strategic, logistic, and tactical problems. Operations research teams of engineers, mathematicians, and statisticians were developed to use the scientific method to find solutions for many of these problems. The usefulness of the Quantitative Technique was evidenced by a steep growth in the application of scientific management in decision-making in various fields of engineering and management. At present, in any organization, whether a manufacturing concern or service industry, Quantitative Techniques and analysis are used by managers in making decisions scientifically.

Quantitative Techniques Introduction

Scientific methods have been man’s outstanding asset to pursue an ample number of activities. It is analysed that whenever some national crisis, emerges due to the impact of political, social, economic or cultural factors the talents from all walks of life amalgamate together to overcome the situation and rectify the problem. In this chapter we will see how the quantitative techniques had facilitated the organization in solving complex problems on time with greater accuracy. The historical development will facilitate in managerial decision-making & resource allocation, The methodology helps us in studying the scientific methods with respect to phenomenon connected with human behaviour like formulating the problem, defining decision variable and constraints, developing a suitable model, acquiring the input data, solving the model, validating the model, implementing the results. The major advantage of mathematical model is that its facilitates in taking decision faster and more accurately.

Managerial activities have become complex and it is necessary to make right decisions to avoid heavy losses. Whether it is a manufacturing unit, or a service organization, the resources have to be utilized to its maximum in an efficient manner. The future is clouded with uncertainty and fast changing, and decision-making – a crucial activity – cannot be made on a trial-and-error basis or by using a thumb rule approach. In such situations, there is a greater need for applying scientific methods to decision-making to increase the probability of coming up with good decisions. Quantitative Technique is a scientific approach to managerial decision-making. The successful use of Quantitative Technique for management would help the organization in solving complex problems on time, with greater accuracy and in the most economical way. Today, several scientific management techniques are available to solve managerial problems and use of these techniques helps managers become explicit about their objectives and provides additional information to select an optimal decision. This study material is presented with variety of these techniques with real life problem areas.