What Is Taylors Scientific Management Theories Still Relevant Today? Essay

Today, employees resent being managed in a way where their performance is driven by constant pressure. Taylor’s (1911) third duty stated that management should cooperate ‘heartily’ with workers to insure performance according to his scientific approach. He stated that the men should be under ‘close observation’. In contrast, according to Stewart (2010), Douglas McGregor came up with two other management theories, Theory X and Theory Y. He stated that Theory Y is now commonly accepted by the most successful businesses. Unlike Taylor’s view, these businesses don’t watch their employees like hawks or time their work. Managers in Apple, for example, would not time their employees to see how many iPhones they could stock in a day. Stewart (2010) also states however, that managers in today’s world do not encourage the practices of Theory X whereby both managers and workers collaborate for their own personal fulfilment. Stewart (2010) states that while Taylor wasn’t driven by Theory X principles, initial implementation of his ideas led to a hierarchical system of managers with no hands-on responsibilities and some unfortunate consequences. Weisbord (2011) stated that, over time, we have seen how Taylor intended to improve productivity by giving workers well-paid jobs to encourage their highest

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

The aim of this essay is to describe and evaluate the application of Taylors Scientific Management approach by the chosen manager in his organization and in the 21st century and to discuss about the relevancy of this management approach with the manager. Taylor’s Scientific Management method marked the beginning of modern management in 1911. Taylor came up with this management approach to reduce the inefficiency in the workplace. Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory involves the implementation of scientific methods to illustrate the “one best way” of doing a specific job. According to Nawaz (2011), “Frederick Taylor thought that there was one and only one method of work that maximized the competence or efficiency” (p. 5542). Many managers

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

Scientific management was introduced by Fredrick Winslow Taylor in 1898. The basic attributes of this perspective were giving incentives to employees, training them in a standard method and developing a standard procedure of performing a task. These procedures were established by numerous studies and observations (Samson et al., 2012).

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.

What are the main features of Taylor’s approach to ‘Scientific Management” and what criticisms have been made of it? Do firms use scientific management today?

Frederick Winslow Taylor, a mechanical engineer born in Philadelphia, was responsible for putting together the system called Scientific Management. Taylor’s introduction of new ideas and methods in industrial engineering, distinctly in time and motion study, proved to be fruitful in improving productivity. Taylor outlined the methods and techniques of Scientific management in his book which was published in 1911. Taylor was not an admirer of the ‘rule of thumb’ principle. The rule of thumb concept means that management would implement methods within the enterprise, based on their past experiences. Hence, Taylor found this to be flawed, as specific outcomes were not guaranteed. Taylor’s main objective was to ensure that wastage and inefficiency

The central theme of this essay will deal with the role of Taylorism or scientific management in a specific organization. The primary focus will be to critically discuss how the various methods of scientific management are applicable to the chosen organization, which in this case will be Ford Motors. The essay will describe F.W. Taylor's early work life and techniques of scientific management and its success. It will then go on to discuss the production methods at Ford Motors prior and post the application of the management principles along with their benefits and criticisms.

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.

When I am appointed as a consultant by the Government to research and suggest improvements for the organization, I would put forward the following points that are mandatory to be changed and as mentioned in the question, I shall find and suggest measures to improve the company policy and rules as it is being criticized for “Taylorism”, which in it’s own way has pros and cons.

All of these examples and many others function and are produced at a higher rate of efficiently due to Scientific Management. Frederick W. Taylor born on March 20, 1865 considered “the father of Scientific Management”. He strongly campaigned for less human interaction and more machine driven production, even going on to say “In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first” (Worthy, 1959, p. 73). One of the driving factors for Taylor’s scientific management was that he believed the industrial management of his day was run by individuals that had no professional amplitude Deming suggested that “management could be formulated as an academic discipline, and that the best results would come from the partnership between a trained and qualified management and a cooperative and innovative workforce” (Weisbord, 1987, p. 9). "Taylorism" became the first big management fad. Taylor 's scientific management consisted of four principles (Weisbord, 1987):

Despite many criticisms, and a wealth of newer theories on the topic of managing people, Taylorism (i.e. Scientific Management) is alive and well in the 21st century.

With those evocative words, Frederick W. Taylor had begun his highly influential book; “The Principles of Scientific Management” indicating his view regarding management practices. As one of the most influential management theorists, Taylor is widely acclaimed as the ‘father of scientific management’. Taylor had sought “the ‘one best way’ for a job to be done” (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 2003, p.39). Northcraft and Neale (1990, p.41) state that “Scientific management took its

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.