Mechanistic Approach Essay

The aim of this essay is to describe and evaluate the application of Taylors Scientific Management approach by the chosen manager in his organization and in the 21st century and to discuss about the relevancy of this management approach with the manager. Taylor’s Scientific Management method marked the beginning of modern management in 1911. Taylor came up with this management approach to reduce the inefficiency in the workplace. Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory involves the implementation of scientific methods to illustrate the “one best way” of doing a specific job. According to Nawaz (2011), “Frederick Taylor thought that there was one and only one method of work that maximized the competence or efficiency” (p. 5542). Many managers

Scientific management was introduced by Fredrick Winslow Taylor in 1898. The basic attributes of this perspective were giving incentives to employees, training them in a standard method and developing a standard procedure of performing a task. These procedures were established by numerous studies and observations (Samson et al., 2012).

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.

Frederick Winslow Talyor developed a theory called the Scientific Management. It is a theory of management that analyse and improve work process, aiming to increase labour productivity. Scientific management methods are used to optimize productivity and simplifying the jobs so that workers could be trained to perform their task in one “best” way.

Scientific management, which is also known as Taylorism, is based on the systematic study of work relations in contrast to reliance on preconceived notions and hunch. One of the underlying assumptions concerning this management approach is that the worker is a biological machine; the “typical economically motivated worker” (Frederick Winslow Taylor, Miller and Form, 1964). The four principles devised by Taylor were: 1. Using science for each element of work to replace old unwritten rules by setting up accurate time and motion study. 2. Managers should select and train workers based on controlled experiments. 3. Both managers and workers are adhering to a system based on scientific equality and using “wages and other rewards linked to achievement of „optimum goals. – measures of work performance and output; failure to achieve these would in contrast result in loss of earnings” (Modern Management Theories and Practices, 2004). 4. Job fragmentation is important because this approach aims for optimum efficiency which could be achieved by deskilling.

For centuries, scholars, philosophers, and lay-persons alike have been concerned about the issue of management. This includes management of processes, people, things, events, and societies all with the focus of the basic motivations that drive individuals to become most productive. Of course, outside of Maslow's Hierarchy, we know that compensation has historical been a great motivator, but in the modern age, there are more complex motivators that focus more on individual actualization. As long ago as Ancient Greece, philosopher Aristotle, in his Metaphysics, developed the thesis that reality is knowable through the senses and through reason. By rejecting mysticism, Aristotle became the father of the scientific method and established the intellectual foundation for the Renaissance and the Age of Reason. Eventually this spirit of scientific inquiry would form a basis for scientific management (Wren, 2005, p. 19)

When I am appointed as a consultant by the Government to research and suggest improvements for the organization, I would put forward the following points that are mandatory to be changed and as mentioned in the question, I shall find and suggest measures to improve the company policy and rules as it is being criticized for “Taylorism”, which in it’s own way has pros and cons.

With those evocative words, Frederick W. Taylor had begun his highly influential book; “The Principles of Scientific Management” indicating his view regarding management practices. As one of the most influential management theorists, Taylor is widely acclaimed as the ‘father of scientific management’. Taylor had sought “the ‘one best way’ for a job to be done” (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 2003, p.39). Northcraft and Neale (1990, p.41) state that “Scientific management took its

The manifestation of Frederick Taylor's theory of Scientific Management was a major breakthrough in traditional approaches in the twentieth century, it proposed in enhancing the business economic efficiency by simplifying and optimising organisational tasks with scientific methods which in turn would increase productivity (Taylor, 1911). Taylor’s methods of rigid control of workers to enhance productivity was met with widespread support by industrialists and economists in the USA and Britain. On the contrary Human Relations School of Thought was a movement which saw workers in a different light, instead of viewing them as merely one more cog in the company wheel as Taylor, it asserted that the organisation will prosper as it helps the employee to prosper. Over the course of time the onus has shifted from Taylor’s Scientific Management to Human Relations School of Thought as the dynamic nature of business has led to a change in the mind-set of people and they give more prominence to employee participation and well-being than just financial incentives.

Every good story requires its villains, heroes and heroines. The study of management is no different and a perusal of Organisational Textbooks, more often than not, depicts F. W. Taylor’s Scientific Management theory as the villain of the story and the Human Relations Movement as the hero or heroine. The Human Relations Movement is portrayed as the proverbial knight in shining white armour whose arrival, via

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.

When scientific management was created, it evolved during a time where mechanization and automation were unpopular. When companies started replacing people with machines, the scientific method had to be re-evaluated. This was due to America’s “craft work” (work with humans) being no longer existent. Scientific management later lead to business methods such as offshoring, industrial process control, and numerical control. Offshoring occurs when a company moves from one country to another due to production costs and availability of resources. Industrial process control and numerical control come into effect when a company’s machines and systems are no longer operating at full potential.

As the course suggests, there are various theories to lead by. The Scientific Management theory suggests that standard work flow and work conditions give the best outputs and that proper planning, effective training and careful recruitment are parts of scientific management. I agree whole-heartedly with F. W. Taylor in this theory and I plan on looking for ‘one best way’ to do any task so that quality can be assured in the coming future. Along with that, a clear but concise bureaucracy needs to exist so that elements such as chain of command, order, unity of direction, unity of command and lines of authority can be well defined.

The famous concept of Scientific Management was originated by Frederick W. Taylor few centuries ago. Scientific management is a way of organizing and administrating the industry with its own system involving rules, methods and policies (Thompson, 1916). His goal was to standardize and connect all the current improvements in industrial organization and to push it further according to his concept (Thompson, 1914). His work later gave inspiration to many researches from other fields (Wren, 2011). On the other hand, Elton Mayo research later on the Hawthorne Experiment has deviated the industrial psychology from what relates the worker’s relationship to his job instead to workers prioritizing work relations and attitude (Cubbon, 1969). Elton Mayo then develops the concept of Human Relations by studying the workers in groups instead of how Taylor did by studying workers as individual. Through this, he noticed workers prefer working in groups and it even increases the productivity of the work place. (Ionescu & Negrusa, 2013).

Apply the scientific principles to managers “managing”, and workers “working” (Frederick Taylor & Scientific Management, n.d).