Taylorism and McDonaldization

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.

In the late 19th century, when a period of social activism and economic reform, historically known as the Progressive Era (Maligned), coincided with the capitalistic expansion at an unprecedented rate, a series of ideas on eradicating systematic soldiering and increasing the overall productivity quiet sprouted at steel industry, later growing into the theories of scientific management in the next two decades. Scientific management, also known as Taylorism, was one of the earliest attempts to apply scientific methods to optimize of management and achieve economic efficiency. Its founder, Frederick Winslow Taylor, was also the prominent figure in the Efficiency Movement in the U.S. The principles of scientific management have shaped American industry and on management science in three major ways since the 1880s. On the corporate level, scientific management had streamlined manufacturing process; on the individual level, it instilled many fundamental management ideas into the American industry; as the leading thought during the Progressive Era, it laid the foundation for various disciplines, many of which serve as guidelines even for modern-day industries.

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.

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 Taylor developed scientific management theory was developed in 1917, and was often referred to as “Taylorism". Taylors theory had four basic principles. They were to find the 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.

Managers throughout history have been interested in studying ways to increase productivity. For example, Frederick Taylor began the movement of scientific management in the 1880’s. Scientific management looked to improve productivity through means of scientific analysis of worker’s tasks and work processes rather than the old “rule of thumb” (Taylor, 1914). Taylor believed that he could maximize worker efficiency and productivity through focusing on workers specific hand motions and patterns. After this period, beginning in about the 1930’s, managers looked to take productivity to yet another level by studying worker physiology and motivation. This new movement came to be known as the human relations movement.

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1865 - 1915) define Scientific Management or Taylorism with 4 principles as explained in appendix A.

Scientific management or Taylorism refers to a school of thought on how organizations should be run, created in the early 20th century by Frederick Taylor. Taylor created Taylorism in an attempt to increase and improve efficiency in firms. There were five keys components in his theory:

‘Taylorism’ or ‘Scientific Management’ has been a prevalent idea in business theory since Frederick Winslow Taylor produced his “Principles of Scientific Management’ in 1911. The book was written in response to then President Theodore Roosevelt’s challenge to the American people to introduce new methods to create greater efficiency in the American workplace. Taylor’s idea was to ‘secure maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with maximum prosperity for the employee’1. Meaning companies could not gain high levels of production without an initiative for the work force,

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).

Scientific management or Taylorism advocated by Fred W. Taylor, states that the Production efficiency can be maximised by working closely with the workers. It involves fragmenting each task into individual motions, analyse each motion and eliminate the unnecessary motions. With this best possible way to do the task created the workers with proper tool, training and incentives can follow a closely supervised routine, translating into being extremely productive.

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.

The scientific management movement led the industrial revolution to change our way of life, our perception of work and our understanding for what an organization is. This paradigm shifted to the Human relations movement (led by the so called "Mayoists") as a result of the Hawthorne studies, which took into consideration the physical, social and psychological needs of employees unlike the previous paradigm. Taylorists considered the employee as good as a productive machine can be. In return, the Mayoists brought change to the environment of employee and employer. Not just that, but a whole fundamental change into the development of management thought.

There is no doubt, that Taylor’s scientific management was a tremendous success from economic standpoint. His methods brought huge improvements in productivity. As an example Taylor’s shovel work at Bethlehem Steel Works reduced the number of workers needed to shovel from 500 to 140 [7]. Today all organizations are based on theories of Taylor, Mayo, Weber and Fayol, and it is hard to imagine our world without that concepts.