The Role Of Scientific Background On Managerial Work

Asforthe word ‘management’, there has been long debate about its meaning. For our purpose, we take the perspective of the functions that managers

Frederik Winslow Taylor, one of the most famous pioneers of management gave the theory of Scientific management or what is now referred to as Taylorism. Scientific management or Taylorism refers to “a form of job design which stresses short, repetitive work cycles; detailed, prescribed task sequences; a separation of task conception from task execution; and motivation based on economic rewards.” (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2013). The applicability of Scientific management to this day is a controversial topic as there is still debate whether scientific management is beneficial to apply to organizations for smooth functioning or not. This paper discusses his theory of scientific management. While it highlights the strengths and weaknesses of this theory, it mainly expands on the criticisms of this theory and the reasons as to why the theory is not highly relevant now. This paper does this by using theorists like Abraham Maslow, Elton Mayo & Douglas Mcgregor and by stating modern day examples of companies with different principles of management as compared to Taylorism.

Management, management today is one of the subjects with the most widely branched areas. Management is an area under discussion and criticised since many years before till today by many contributors and authors. There have been developed many ideas and notions regarding the right way to manage and been successful manager. Some of the most important contributors are Henri Fayol and Henry Mintzberg with two different views but, in the same time very similar. Henri Fayol came first with his revolutionary principles and elements to change and establish a new model of ideas regarding how a manager can manage effectively, he also writes a book which can be used as a guide for new inexperienced

Classical management theory or scientific management came to prominence in the early 1900 hundreds and Fredrick Taylor’s work was pioneering in this area of management theory (Taneja, 2011). One definition of scientific management that Taylor endorsed was that it is “a system devised by industrial engineers for the purpose of serving the common interests of employers, workmen and society at large through the elimination of avoidable wastes, the general improvement of the processes and methods of production, and the just and scientific distribution of the product” (Hoxie, 1915:140). Delving deeper into classical management theory, this paper looks at two more recent proponents of management theory, namely Henri Fayol and Henry Mintzberg. Both had their theories on classical management theories which will be critically analysed. It will also be shown how these theories apply to modern day organisations.

Since Fayol left his general manager office, separated management from business operation and studied it, management has become an independent subject. A number of academics and entrepreneurs are desirous to find what management is and how to be a successful manager. Therefore, through varied approaches, many different views about management has been appearing such as Fayol’s function theory (1949) which based on his owe managing experience and Mintzberg’s 10 roles theory (1973) which came from observing five chief-executive officers. Furthermore, Mintzberg regarded Fayol’s theory as “folklore”. It seems that Fayol’s theory has been made redundant by Mintzberg’s study. The purpose of this paper, however, is to present that

'Federic Taylor 's Scientific Management reflects an approach to managing that is no longer appropriate for today’s managers '.

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

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

By the time Henri Fayol had finished his theory, General Industrial Management, in 1916, which was based on his reminiscence as a successful turnaround of a major mining company from depths of failure; he set out to illustrate management as being a separate entity to other jobs within an organisation as he would say although “technical” and “commercial” “function” were “clearly defined”, “administrative” education was lacking. In his theory he introduced his five duties a manager had to follow to be called effective: plan, organise coordinate, command, and control and added to this fourteen principles he felt managers should use as reference to conduct the five duties. However Fayol was very much an idealist his theory was based on what a complete manager should be like and gave the view of managers taking control from behind a desk, yet critics, most influential being the academic Henry Mintzberg, who released his work in 1973, were more realists and saw a manager life as chaotic, involved and interactive, arguing what Fayol was portraying is not possible, and outdated.

Although published over a century ago, Frederick Winslow Taylor’s renowned work The Principles of Scientific Management set forth a theory that to this day is subjected to a similar degree of critique and debate to that in the early 20th century. While Taylor’s ideas were evidently influenced by the works of earlier researchers, it is he who is credited as the “father” of the scientific management movement (Jeacle, 2004, p. 1164). As such, scientific management itself is synonymous with Taylor to the extent that it is commonly referred to as “Taylorism.” Nevertheless, this view can be misleading – key principles of the theory are generally perceived as applicable only in the manufacturing sector where Taylor’s research was directed, whereas in reality they can be applied quite effectively to the service sector. While the model is plagued by flaws in both industries, it can nevertheless still be regarded as a valuable framework for managing organisations and their human resources.

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.

The purpose of this essay is to research, analyse and assess the theory of scientific management, which was revolutionised by Frederick Winslow Taylor in 1887 (A.Huczynski, 2010) and to critically evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of his theory. This theory Taylor developed is known as Taylorism and has been used commonly in various structures of organisation. Comparisons shall be drawn to other theories and advancements of this theory, such as Fordism and Toyotism, which was extremely popular in Japan (Cheng, 2009). Using these variations of Taylorism, we can therefore further and deepen the evaluation of his original theory. This essay aims to show that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages due to changes in culture and worker’s mentality.

Early management theories adopted by such proponents as Henri Fayol, Mary Parker Follett and Max Weber are relevant in todays’ world. In this essay I am going to discuss about all three theorists and how their theories are still relevant for managers in the 21st century in meeting the challenges. In the classical approach to management there are three branches under it. They are, scientific management, administrative principles and bureaucratic organisation. Henry Fayol and Mary Parker Follett developed theories for administrative principles and Max Weber developed a theory for bureaucratic organisation (Schermerhorn et al. 2014, p.36). First we will be going through Henri Fayol and then Mary Parker Follett as they both made theories

The paper will explore different theories of Management, include Henri Fayol and Henry Mintzberg. This section of this paper provides an overview of functions, roles and skills required of a manager. What is Management? Management can define as the process of reaching organisational goals by working with and through people and other organisational resources. (Management Innovation, 2008).

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).