Taylorism and Fordism

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.

Scientific management or "Taylorism" is an approach to job design, developed by Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) during the Second World War. With the industrial revolution came a fast growing pool of people, seeking jobs, that required a new approach of management. Scientific management was the first management theory, applied internationally. It believes in the rational use of resources for utmost output, hence motivating workers to earn more money. Taylor believed that the incompetence of managers was the major obstacle on the way of productivity increase of human labour. Consequently, this idea led to the need of change of management principles. On the base of research, involving analysing controlled experiments under various working

McDonald’s has been in business since 1955. Through many years of great strategic and financial planning, it has become one of the most successful food chains in the world. In order to continue its great success, McDonald’s must continue to adapt to change. In this paper we will discuss the strategic and financial planning that would be necessary to keep McDonald’s on top of the food chain.

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.

During the start of the McDonald’s company, the McDonald’s Brothers had revolutionized the restaurant business through the idea of self-service. “Imagine — No Carhops — No Waitresses — No Dishwashers — No Bus Boys…,” they’d say (Schlosser 20). As a result of the new Speedee Service System, McDonald’s had never been in better shape. Ray Kroc, amazed by this, expanded the model all across the United States, increasing McDonald’s popularity. Apart from that, the creation of institutions like Hamburger University also solidify the service standards each restaurant should maintain. Hamburger University trained thousands of workers yearly, passing along “a common McDonald’s language” and “a common McDonald’s culture (Schlosser 31).” Through this, Ray Kroc created a single standard in which their service should be executed. This could make up for the lack of employee involvement in the new self-service model. McDonald’s was slowly becoming a beloved family name. The service prompted many families to stop by frequently, which boosted the idea of selling the brand to kids, perfecting McDonald’s marketing tool, and raising overall sales. Ray Kroc was closer to achieving his perfect business

As the Ford and Taylorism theory was developed many years ago still we can use the theory in some part of the world. It could be beneficial for some organization even if not for all of them. Depending on the workplace. But, the idea of dividing the workload is still practiced in today’s world. Rewarding the employees according to the hard work has proven to boost productivity and motivate other staff as well.

McDonaldization has become the new face of employment, with this phase employees are being deskilled, dehumanized and exploited. Computerized system such as self-service aisle is being used to replace employees. Due to McDonaldization customers are used to do the job of employee’s example is cleaning up after eating in a restaurant, another is pumping your gas at the gas station. As time goes by, more and more jobs are becoming less interactive because McDonaldization is wiping away human customer service due pace the present generation is moving. Ritzier stated in his book the kind of principles used to run this kind of employments is efficiency, uniformity, predictability and control. The above mentioned principles have been used

There are ways in which McDonaldization is evident in a number of specific settings, including shopping malls, grocery stores and university campuses. The idea of efficiency is specific to the interests of the industry or business, but is typically advertised as a benefit to the customer. Some examples include: the drive-through window, salad bars, fill your own cup, self-serve gasoline and ATM’s. The whole idea of meal hall on campus adheres to the aspect of efficiency; it is easy for people to just show up, even if they are dressed in their pyjamas. The food is organized in a “serve yourself” buffet style which is efficient, but requires the customer to do more work. McDonaldization has ideas of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control which have affected the university system. University examinations have changed from the professors or their student assistants grading multiple choice tests by hand, to the point where most exams are machine graded. This would be an example of efficiency in the university system. Predictability is another result of McDonaldization in the post-secondary education system. One can expect to find the same courses being taught, teacher methods would be similar from one another, the same textbooks would be

During peak periods, the batch process at McDonald’s relies on employees working effectively in a team. Efficiency is a key determinant in customer satisfaction. Workers are motivated to help each to keep operations running smoothly. The

The year 1911 saw Frederick Winslow Taylor publish a book titled ‘The principles of scientific management’ in which he aimed to prove that the scientific method could be used in producing profits for an organization through the improvement of an employee’s efficiency. During that decade, management practice was focused on initiative and incentives which gave autonomy to the workman. He thus argued that one half of the problem was up to management, and both the worker and manager needed to cooperate in order to produce the greatest prosperity.

McDonald’s is one of the biggest companies in the world with restaurants in 119 countries and it has accomplished this extraordinary global presence through its effective management practices. McDonald’s uses a combination of Fredrik Taylor’s scientific management, Max Weber’s hierarchical structure, and Henri Fayol’s administrative principles to run its restaurants. McDonald’s has become a mechanistic organization by making its restaurant environment predictable. McDonald’s has developed set management structure and a predetermined set of procedures for running its restaurants. As a result, McDonald’s has come to resemble a machine where employees are like components of the big McDonald’s machine.

McDonald’s uses the buying power of ordering supplies for their massive network of nearly 37,000 locations to keep supply chain management low. Furthermore, by hiring minimum wage workers and implementing new technologies as they arise, McDonald’s is able to lower distribution and operations costs as well. The second strategy of broad differentiation is accomplished by offering multiple options at its restaurants. Instead of settling for a limited consumer base of people that want a fast hamburger, with a nine item menu, McDonald’s

In management literature today, the greatest use of the concept of Taylorism is as a contrast to a new, improved way of doing business. In political and

To briefly summarize the theoretical contributions, we must first look at Frederick W. Taylor’s theory of Scientific Management which started in the early 20th century. Taylor’s most significant example of the Scientific Management theory was exercised by Henry Ford with the introduction of mass car production which revolutionized the car industry in America. Ford not only used Taylor’s idea of systematization but expanded on his theory to use machines that would decrease the input of the workers by minimizing discretion with the creation of a conveyor belt allowing cars to come to the worker. Ford’s rationale for this was based on enhancing the efficiency with

Organizational structure and design also has a direct impact on a company’s success, no one does this better than McDonalds. “4 key forces shaping today 's organizations—buyer power, variety, change, and speed—and shows how to design a state-of-the-art organization that responds effectively and rapidly to customer demands”. (Galbraith, J. R. (1995). McDonalds has buying power due to its sheer size. Variety is definitely a tool used by McDonalds as there are many menu items to choose from. Meeting customers’ demands, is also something that McDonald’s adapts to easily, when something sales they provide when it does not they remove the item from the menu item, the speed in which they do this would not allow you to believe that this was a mechanistic company structure.