Federic Taylors Scientific Management reflects an approach to managing that is no longer
appropriate for today managers.
Critically evaluate this statement with particular reference to an example from workspace
with which you are familiar.
Guidance: Many management textbooks claim that Taylors ideas are no longer appropriate,
but consider whether an organization can operate without clear rules, hierarchy and
division of labor. Many large and successful organizations, such as McDonalds hamburger
chain or call centers, appear to use a modern version of scientific management. It would
also be a good idea to consider whether these sort of generalizations can be applied in a
global manner, or whether they tend to reflect the dominance of the US experience in
management theory. If you cant think of examples from your own workplace, then do
some research (using fully referenced library or internet sources) about these issues in
different organizations.
Contents
Introduction
An overview of Scientific
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3
The appropriateness of Scientific Management for today managers
The benefits and drawbacks of Scientific Management
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Can an organization operate without clear rules, hierarchy and division of
labor? …………………. 6
The global outlook on the use of Scientific management in today
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Introduction
The scientific management theory had a huge impact on the commercial industry at the
beginning of the 20th century. Since the birth of this theory the management became a
separate body of knowledge, a science which can be learned, taught and applied in
different organizations [1]. This theory inspired the executives, consultants and others to
expand and look into different ways of creating the effective productivity-increasing
techniques.
The pioneer of the scientific management is Frederic Winslow Taylor. While working as an
engineer for the steel company (Midvale Steel) Taylor noticed that most of the workers
used inefficient working techniques and did not work at the speed which would be a
satisfactory. He started to research different ways to achieve higher productivity, reduce
costs and to optimize the way in which jobs were performed. His aim was to simplify the
task to the point where each worker could be trained to perform this task in the
“one-best-way”“.
Before the scientific management work was performed by skilled craftsmen who learned
their trade by the apprenticeship. Craftsmen were responsible for their own time
management and how work was completed. The scientific management took all decision
making away from the workers and transferred this responsibility to the managers and
supervisors [2].
While working in a steal industry and observing workers Taylor noticed that most of them
deliberately worked below their capacity and the work of those how actually did their best
was far from efficient. Taylor highlighted three main reasons to this phenomenon:
1. Workers believed that the material increase in the output of each man or each machine
in the trade would result in the reduced need for a number of man required within this
trade. For example shoemakers thought that by producing more shoes and working at their
best speed they would influence the loss of jobs for other shoemakers.
2. The ineffective relationship between employers and employees is very common in every
organization and as a result each worker or soldier makes it necessary to work slowly so
they can protect their own interests. Taylor points out that brining a number of workers
together to do a similar job at a standard pay per day just increases the trend to work
slower.
3. The inefficient rule-of-thumb method is a cause for slow work and waste in workmen
efforts. Workers learned the details of their trade by observing the experienced workers
therefore everybody had their own method to complete the same task. Taylor believes that
management methods should be based on a scientific calculated approach and not just on a
trade experience. [3]
Using these three reasons Taylor developed the four principles of the scientific
management [4]:
” Develop a science for each element of a man work and replace the “rule-of-thumb”“
method.
” Scientifically select, train and develop workers instead of allowing them to choose their
own tasks, decide the best way to complete the job and carry out their own training.
” Provide “Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that
workers discrete task” [5].
” Split the work in the same proportions between the management and workers. Managers
will use the scientific methods to plan and organize the work and workers will actually
perform the tasks.
The productivity under Taylor method dramatically increased and costs of the
manufactured goods were reduced by 1/10 to 1/20 of the previous manufactured cost.
These changes allowed more people to purchase the goods [6]. It looks like the scientific
management theory was the perfect solutions to the problems in organizations in the 20th
century. But is scientific management appropriate in a modern world? The next section
will look at pros and cons of this theory and the use of scientific management in today
organizations.
The appropriateness of Scientific Management for today managers
Taylor functions of management highlighted the importance of carefully practicing
efficient planning, organizing, commanding, coordination etc. Scientific management
brought with it techniques like quality control, personnel study, production control, work
measurement. We can recognize a lot of places where the scientific management remains
the main management technique to organize work: Production lines, car manufactures, fast
food restaurants and call centers. [7]
The benefits of Scientific Management
McDonalds is one of the successful examples of the scientific management approach.
There are 30,000 local restaurants around serving 52 million people in more than 100
countries each day [8]. Each task, motion and service within this restaurant chain is
