The Principles Of Scientific Management

Frederick Taylor’s fundamental thoughts on scientific management dated back to early 1880s when he was employed at Midvale Steel Company and observed his coworkers “soldiering” at work. In the following two decades, he moved around different companies while developing his management theory

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.

Scientific management is directly associated with organisational theory and is linked with improving labor productivity and the economic efficiency of businesses. Scientific management focuses on how to improve work procedures and practices. The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee (Taylor 2003, p.123). The purpose of this essay is to explain the main conclusions that can be drawn from Taylor’s theory of

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.

If Scientific Management is as outdated and inhuman as many organizational theorists believe, why is it so prevalent in contemporary organizations?

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.

Scientific management theories proposed in this reading do apply to contemporary management functions. Although many of these theories could be argued as common knowledge today, when Fredrick Taylor established them they were prehistoric terms. He wanted to find out ‘one best way’ for everything in the workplace. Taylor’s most well known experiment was the pig-iron experiment (Locke, 1982 ). The experiment involved workers loading ‘pigs’ of iron on to rail cars. He knew their current daily output, but believed more was possible using scientific management. This was done due to many things. First of all putting the right person on the job with the right tools and equipment. In today’s management people hire the best person they can for the job. Secondly he had the worker follow his instructions exactly. This is also normal in today’s management functions, because people do things the way the employer wants them to. Taylor also motivated successful and productive workers with higher pay (Locke, 1982). This is also very common in today, with higher salary packages for good workers and pay increases for productivity fairly common. This improves employer and employee relationships by making the employee feel valued.

Good management can be defined as the optimal use of available resources to increase an organisation 's efficiency and effectiveness in meeting its objectives (Garg, 2013). Scientific management has been the dominant model for many years, but its usefulness for meeting modern organisational challenges may be limited. This paper examines the principles of scientific management, the degree to which it is applied in contemporary organisations, its utility for addressing modern challenges, and alternative perspectives on management.

This report aimed to find the concept of the Taylorism is still effective in these days. It would seem that, Taylorism is “out-dated” theory of the Scientific Management however this theory is foundation of the organization management. Theory is all about how to be increase effectiveness of work place and how to encourage worker’s productivity.

It is necessary to understand where the organization of work is headed. Through specialization, subordinate can upgrade their abilities or professions and there was a concerted effort to identify key aspects of work and organization which could be used to achieve efficiency through immutable principles. Taylor thinks management should merge with science to enhance the effectiveness.

Scientific management gives managers control and this can be seen in many of our call centres whether its directory enquires or calling the bank ‘thank you for calling and how may I direct your call?’ these scripts show us 21st Century management control. Management see these scripts as necessary to keep workers efficient and consistent but it is just modern day Taylorism which assumes that workers are dim and lazy.

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).

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

This study aims to analyze and discuss both industrial benefits and social implications of Frederick Taylor’s scientific management approach. A brief biography of the “Father of Efficiency” will be outlined, followed by an overview of Frederick Taylor’s framework for Scientific Management. Discussions within will focus on positive effects of production with the aid of scientific management and the negative social

Along with the development of organizations and corporations over the past 200 years, organizational behaviour and the associated concepts have undergone revolutionary changes. From Adam Smith (1776) to Peter Ferdinand Drucker in the 21st Century, numerous experts have proposed and advocated various concepts and ideas on organisational behaviour and associated practices. For example, in the pre-history era, Adam Smith（1776） has noted that the division of labour, this method and idea has been accepted and adopted in different kinds of organization. And the same era, the Principles of Scientific Management was proposed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in 1911, which has focused on how to work to maximize the benefits to staff, mangers and society, moreover, it also developed some methods of supervision, uniform and work standard. Actually, no matter the scientific management by Taylor or Weber’s management of Bureaucracy, these theories are provide the foundation for Modernism. Gradually, it can be distinguished by three different types of organization theories in different areas, including Modernism, symbolic-Interpretive and Postmodernism. These three theoretical perspectives can be analyzed and discussed by several parts, such as environment, social structure, technology and organizational culture. In the Modernist perspective, there have three main organization theories, including general system theory, social-technical systems theory and contingency theory. However,