The Theory Of Scientific Management Theory

The scope of this assignment is to critically compare and contrast the two approaches, reflecting on the relevance and value of each, to apply this to my organisation where possible and to offer recommendations where appropriate.

This report will be look into extent to which the Managerial Escalator, the Managerial Hybrid and Managerial Gap (Rees and Porter, 2008) fits in the experience of two managers. This report focus on two parts; firstly on giving the details on theories explained by Rees and Porter. Secondly this report will analyze and discuss the results from both managers with managerial responsibilities, their process to achieve current position, difficulties in the role of being manager, what motivate them to work and if they got support from their mentors etc. It was found that their working styles match the concept of managerial escalator.

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.

Management has experienced remarkable shifts in the way that organizations conduct business particularly in the last century, due to the evolving workplace as well as tremendous changes in the roles of leaders in organizations. Early managers often relied on authoritative tactics to get the job done, which we have learned from history does not work very well for many modern organizations. In this paper, I will be analyzing the management approach my organization takes and whether this is the best approach to meet organizational goals and whether or not my organization may benefit from adopting a different approach or combining multiple approaches.

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.

Scientific Management Theory by Frederick W. Taylor – Throughout the industrial world employees are the large part of the organisation and Fundamental interests of employees are necessarily aggressive. So as a manager it is necessary to arrange mutual relations with employees so their interests become identical. In case of any single individual the greatest prosperity can exist only when that individual has reached his highest state of efficiency and that is, when he is turning out his largest daily output (Frederick Winslow Taylor, 2007).

Scientific management is an organizational theory that was discovered by Frederick Taylor. He was concerned with scientifically developing the worker to become more efficient. Taylor wrote a book called, The Principle of Scientific Management (Rimer, Waring, Wrege, & Greenwood, 1993). In this book he highlights four major principles to his theory. The first is that there is one best way to do every job. This is determined through time and motion studies to determine what’s the most effective way. The second point is proper scientific selection of workers. Thirdly, is properly training the workers in what is deemed as the best practice. The last point is defining the inherent differences and relationships between manager and worker. Managers should be in charge of administrative tasks, as well as being the thinkers, and planners of the organization. Workers on

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

All the processes within an organization should be planned and carried out in a way that they would not only support the strategies but the business vision as well. In case that the processes aren't planned in a manner that they would support the goals of the firm they can not only reduce the productivity of the firm but can also face the risk of being terminated (Carr, 1996; Gouillart, 1995; Gareth, 2006).

This was the tendency of employees to work at the slowest pace possible and the

Taylorism is a scientific management system that was developed by Fredrick Taylor in the 1880s. Taylorism works in a method based on F. Taylor’s scientific study of accomplishing different tasks instead of empirical methods or methods inspired by past experience and knowledge. Taylorism also tends to scientifically train and help develop employees’ skills instead of letting them train themselves during their time in the workplace. Another principle of Taylorism is that it gives comprehensive and detailed guidelines and supervision for each worker to perform tasks. Furthermore, workload must be split equally among the workers, which also allows the manager to apply Taylorism in order to plan their work and perform actual tasks.

Adam is assigned the task of increasing productivity at Guitarras Dominguez while Salvador takes pride in the craftsmanship of 3the work. Adam is unsatisfied with the production rates of Guitarras Dominguez and shows Salvador his solutions to the issues of low production, which Salvador refuses to acknowledge and emphasizes that they would not lower their standards just to meet a quota (Daft, 2014). They do not see the full potential to their working alongside each other.

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.

Two theorists whose ideologies can be applied to change an organisational culture include Frederick W. Taylor and Edgar Schein. Firstly, Frederick W. Taylor, a management theorist, significantly contributed to establishing a scientific management approach to the workplace in the late 19th century. “Taylor’s most important contribution entails his principles of scientific management in which his theory aims to create efficiency in the workplace by scientifically testing different combinations of procedures, techniques and tools” (Mills, Helms – Mills, Bratton, & Forshaw, 2007 p. 25). Taylor felt that inefficiency in the workplace was due to three main factors which included attitudes of the workers, methods of work and the system of management control. Taylor concluded that these inefficiencies would be improved by a scientific approach to management. A summary of the issues that came from Taylor’s study of organisational behaviour includes issues of work attitudes, job design, structuring of organisations, recruitment and selection, motivation, reward systems and management control (Mills et al., 2007 p. 25). These issues are synonymous with key components

The main focus behind the development of management theory is the quest for good ways to make use of managerial means. Management theory evolves constantly with the continuous stream of new ideas that come from the attempts to transform theory into practice, and vice versa (Aguinaldo & Powell, 2002). Progression in management theory normal happen as key personnel discover great methods to accomplish the most important management responsibilities: planning, organiz-ing, leading, and controlling human and other managerial means. This paper will show how man-agement theory having to do with suitable management processes has emerge in modern times, and view the main aspects that have led to its prosperity.