Are scientific management and human relations approaches still applicable to organisations of the 21st century?

Scientific Management, or Taylorism, is a theory of management by F. W. Taylor that analysed how the highest economic efficiency, especially labour productivity, can be achieved, hence the greatest prosperity for both employers and employees. The four principles that he brought forward are the replacement of the ‘rule of thumb’ work method with a scientific way to study work, matching and training the most suitable person to do each particular job scientifically instead of leaving the workers to choose their own work and teach themselves, the provision of detailed instructions and standard operating procedures by the managers to workers to ensure “all of the work being done in accordance with the principles of the science” and the division of work between workers and managers, which managers are responsible for planning and supervising while workers are to complete the tasks they are assigned to.

Let’s begin by analyzing F. W. Taylor. Taylor’s scientific method can be summed up as a systematic study of relationships between people and tasks to increase efficiency (Jones and George 2015). There are four principles involved in this method: (1) Study the way workers perform their tasks, gather all the informal job knowledge that workers possess, and experiment with ways of improving the ways that tasks are performed. This step has the similar attributes of the organizing and controlling tasks discussed earlier in that the controlling task also involves evaluating the division of labor. (2) Codify the new methods of performing tasks into written rules and standard operating procedures. This step is very much about the organizing task. Although there are written rules, this aspect diverges from the leading

When Taylor published The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911, he was the first theorist to study organizational behaviour in depth. When working as a shop superintendent at the Midvale Steel Company he noticed that workers used different and mostly inefficient work methods when completing tasks along the assembly line (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2017).  Taylor (1911) argued that the primary objective of a firm’s administration should be to achieve maximum prosperity for both employers and employees. From this, he

F. W. Taylor & Scientific Management Scientific management, also called Taylorism, was a theory of management that analyses and synthesizes workflow. Its main objective is the improvement of economic efficiency, especially labour productivity. It was one of the first attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and management.

Frederick Taylor (1917) developed scientific management theory (often called "Taylorism") at the beginning of this century. His theory had four basic principles: 1) find the one "best way" to perform each task, 2) carefully match each worker to each task, 3) closely supervise workers, and use reward and punishment as motivators, and 4) the task of management is planning and control.

The study of organizational behavior became of utmost importance to business leaders during the Industrial Revolution. These business leaders wanted do what they could to maximize profits. There were three people who greatly advanced the study of organizational behavior at this time. They were Frederick W. Taylor,

Scientific Management is also known as Taylorism. Fredrick Winslow Taylor wanted to divide the work process into small, simple and separate steps (Division of Labor). Division of Labor meant every worker only had one or two steps, this was created to boost productivity. Taylor also believed in Hierarchy, he wanted a clear chain of command that separated the managers from workers. He did this so managers would design work process and enforced how the work was performed and employees would simply follow directions. Taylor wanted to select and train high performing workers or first-class employees and match them to a job that best suited them. Taylor believed the most productive workers should be paid more. Employees who could not meet the new higher standard were fired.

Scientific management (also called Taylorism, the Taylor system, or the Classical Perspective) is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflow processes, improving labor productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his monographs, Shop Management (1905) and The Principles of Scientific Management (1911).[1] Taylor believed that decisions based upon tradition and rules of thumb should be replaced by precise procedures developed after careful study of an individual at work.

Frederick Winslow Taylor, a mechanical engineer born in Philadelphia, was responsible for putting together the system called Scientific Management. Taylor’s introduction of new ideas and methods in industrial engineering, distinctly in time and motion study, proved to be fruitful in improving productivity. Taylor outlined the methods and techniques of Scientific management in his book which was published in 1911. Taylor was not an admirer of the ‘rule of thumb’ principle. The rule of thumb concept means that management would implement methods within the enterprise, based on their past experiences. Hence, Taylor found this to be flawed, as specific outcomes were not guaranteed. Taylor’s main objective was to ensure that wastage and inefficiency

The four main principles that Taylor identified in his book are as follows: 1. Develop a science for each operation to replace opinion and rule of thumb. 2. Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the workman. 3. Accept that management itself is governed by the science developed for each operation and surrender its arbitrary power over worker, that is, cooperate with them.

Whereas Taylor was concerned with managers laying down rules and procedures, so as to simplify the expertise and discretion of workers, the Gilbreths were developing the practice of motion study. As Frank Gilbreth put it in his 1909 manual on bricklaying “To be pre-eminently successful: (a) a mechanic must know his trade; (b) he must be quick motioned; and (c) he must use the fewest possible motions to accomplish the desired result”. (Burnes, 2009, p.

Scientific management is a management theory developed by Frederick W Taylor. Its main purpose is to improve an organization’s efficiency in production through analyzing workflow systematically using quantitative analysis to improve task completion efficiency. Reducing waste, increasing methods of production and create a just distribution of goods are goals of the scientific management theory. On the other hand, human relations theory attributed by Elton Mayo counteracts with scientific management theory that ignored human issues of behavior. In human relations theory, a worker is treated as an individual and what motivates and cultivates them in their achievement is analyzed. Both scientific management and human relation theory aims to improve efficiency in the workplace and it still applies to the workforce in the modern days despite the opposing ideas of both theories.

There are a number of management theories that have changed the management business environment in the twentieth century. The theories have assisted managers to come up with better ways of management and organization of people. Managers have been able to increase profits, reduce costs and maximize efficiency. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the contributions of scientific management and the human relations movement to the modern management. This essay will use Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theory on scientific management and Elton Mayo’s human relations theory. These two movements have been proven to increase productivity in the workplace (Mullins, 2005).

Frederick Taylor was the founder of Scientific management also known as Taylorism. He was the first who settled a reasonable approach, a coherent manner in which the factories should be organised. The best way for a worker to do their jobs according to Taylor

Organizational design is defined as a guided process that integrates people, information and technology of an organization (Carpenter et al., 2014). In an era where organizations are constantly competing to be the best, decisions on organizational design are vital to achieve overall performance. This is evident from the studies by