Over the course of the nineteenth century, unskilled workers and then machines had begun to replace skilled craftsmen. Yet because of their specialized knowledge, the more skilled workers continued to exert considerable control over the pace of work, the methods used, and the levels of output. Taylor, whilst working as a foreman in the Midvale Steel Company noticed that few employees ever worked at the pace they were capable of. This was deemed as systematic soldiering, which was attributed to: the myth that increased productivity would result in redundancies, task allocation was entirely decided by each worker resulting in a large waste of their efforts and time. Finally all employees were paid the same amount, the hard working employees didn’t see the sense in working hard if they got the same amount of payment as the slowest workers amongst them, thus productivity decreased. Taylor proposed that industrial practices in most work environments were inefficient in their execution because employees were given too much autonomy. He concluded that to increase production, managers must take control of the process, starting by doing time studies of each factory job. This involved observing workers meticulously, analysing each step in terms of time spent and energy utilised, and using the results to determine the best method for each task. This standard method would be required of every worker, with scaled piecework rates providing incentives for higher output. His methods are shown in more detail in his book of scientific management.
The Principles of Scientific Management was published six years before Taylor’s death. Within it he put forward his ideas of ‘scientific management’ which differed from initiative and incentive methods of management. Taylor’s aim was to replace ‘rule-of-thumb’ with scientifically based work methods. The four main principles of scientific management are as follows:
Each motion of an individuals work is analysed scientifically and the most efficient way for undertaking the job is devised, to determine the ‘one best way’ of working. This consists of a range of variables being measured such as; the implements used to carry out the work, the stature of the worker and the type of material worked on. The maximum amount of work a first class labourer can do in a day is measured and used as a bench mark for other employees to aspire to.
Scientifically select the most suitable person to undertake the job. The individual is taught to complete the job in the exact way devised. Taylor declared that everyone has the ability to be ‘first-class’ at some job, it is management’s role to find out which job suits each employee. This person is then trained until they become ‘first-class’.
Management and workers must co-operate to ensure the tasks are performed scientifically.
There is a clear division of work and responsibility between management and workers. Managers concern themselves with the planning and supervision of the work whilst employees carry it out.
Taylor summed up the difference between his principles of management and more traditional methods with this quote; “under the management of initiative and incentive, practically the whole problem is left up to the workman, while under the scientific management fully one half of the problem is up to the management… The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee.”
Maximum prosperity for the employer, in its broad sense meant not only large dividends for the company or owner, but the development of every subsidiary component of the business to its highest potential, so that the prosperity may be permanent.
In the same way maximum prosperity for each employee meant not only higher wages than would be usually received by a man of his class, but, it also meant the development of each man to achieve his own maximum efficiency, so that he may be able to do the highest grade of work for which his natural abilities will let him.
Generally speaking the fundamental interests of employees and employers are antagonistic Scientific management, on the contrary, has the firm conviction that the true interests of the two are intertwined; that prosperity for the employer cannot exist in the long term unless it is accompanied by prosperity for the employee, and vice versa. It is possible to give the workman what he wants most, high wages and the employer what he wants, a low labour cost. Taylor assumed that employees were motivated by money and would be content in doing any job if they were paid well for it. Taylor removed the ‘them’ and ‘us’ feeling from the workforce by showing the workers that management and workforce shared the same goals and to achieve these goals they had to work together. This creates a feeling of importance amongst the staff and thus motivates them to achieve this objective.
Taylor showed the world that the methodical and scientific study of work could lead to improved efficiency. This was proven in 1898 when Taylor was hired by Bethlehem Iron Company to improve work methods. Traditionally seventy five pig iron handlers loaded on average twelve and a half tonnes per man per day. Taylor estimated that a first class worker ought to be able to handle around forty-eight tonnes per day. Once Taylor redesigned the job with a reduced number of motions as well as effort and the risk of error, productivity rose by a factor of four and workers wages increased by sixty per cent. The cost of handling pig iron significantly dropped and all the work was achieved by a smaller workforce. This led to savings for the firm of between $75,000 and $80,000 per annum at 1911 prices.
There is no doubt that Taylor achieved results, after attacking the incompetence of managers for their inefficiencies in running the railroads and factories, Taylor used time and motion studies to achieve productivity increases of up to two hundred per cent. However Taylor’s motivation skills left something to be desired. In Bethlehem Steel Works he declared that no more than four men were to work together at any given time. He sought to isolate workers from one another, his opinions of unions was certainly derogatory as he was convinced that their main objective was to limit the output of the men. He focused on individuals, believing that where groups were formed, peer pressure would be used to ensure that each worker would not work to his full capacity. Taylor’s view was wrong as proven later by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow demonstrated that isolating workers from one another led to demotivation as the social needs cannot be fulfilled.
For workers on the shop floor, scientific management meant a loss in autonomy and skill. Taylor’s reductionist approach to work dehumanized the employee; he viewed them as machines solely motivated by monetary remuneration rather than humans with social needs. The allocation of work ‘specifying what is to be done but how it is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it’ left no scope for workers to excel or think for themselves. This led to employees revolting against Taylor. Workers at Midvale actually broke their machines just to prove that Taylor was overworking them. His assumption that workers were motivated solely by monetary incentives ignored the importance of other rewards that later research found important, such as recognition, job satisfaction and achievement. Social needs were also disregarded; workers were not allowed to develop relationships with one another. This caused Taylor to be criticised for his ‘inhumane’ approach to management, as well as a high labour turnover due to employees being miserable under his watch.
Despite Taylor’s ideas being viewed by some in a negative light many of his ideas were so valuable that they are still relevant today. Three ideas from The Principles of Scientific Management particularly stand out;
Rewards. Taylor quoted “The average workman must be able to measure what he has accomplished and clearly see his reward at the end of each day if he is to do his best.” Most companies offer rewards to employees if they meet deadlines by way of motivating them to achieve set targets. This idea principally came from scientific management.
Quality Standards. “In the case of a machine-shop which is managed under the modern system, detailed written instructions at to the best way of doing each piece of work are prepared in advance.” The use of written documentation for each part of a workers job is strikingly similar to IS0 9000 series of quality standards, used continuously in companies today.
Suggestion Schemes. Taylor proposed an incentive for employees to make suggestions on how to improve work methods. After analysis, if the suggestion was introduced into the workplace the employee would be given full credit for the improvement and a cash reward. Suggestion schemes are used in many firms as means of including all employees in company decisions.
Taylor’s concepts are also still used in modern businesses such as telecommunications who provide workers with scripts of what to say prewritten by managers and time calls in order to increase productivity.
Taylor was one of the first pioneers of management through his scientific approach and his thinking. This led to the achievements of other researchers such as Max Webster, Henry Ford and the Glbreths. The originality of Taylor’s insights and there importance are in little doubt. Scientific management ushered a revolution. Peter Drucker stated in The Practice of Management that “few people had ever looked at human work systematically until Frederick Taylor started to do so around 1885. Work was taken for granted and it is an axiom that one never sees what one takes for granted. Scientific management was thus one of the great liberating, pioneering insights.” Lyndall Urwick adds ‘at the time Taylor began his work, business management… was usually regarded as incidental to, and flowing from knowledge… of a particular branch of manufacturing, the technical know-how of making sausages, steel or shirts. The idea that a man needed any training or formal instruction to become a competent manager had not occurred to anyone.’
Frederick Taylor showed the industrialised world of the early 20th century how to manage the newly emerged mass workforces. He taught corporations to scientifically deal with employees and achieved results in doing so. He claimed that efficiency standards were a matter of science and human behaviour would have to adapt to them. Taylor played an important role in aiding our understanding of job allocation and how to achieve increased productivity. Although his methods were not without problems his work led to the achievements of many other researchers.
Word Count: 2349 words.
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Freedman, David H. "Is Management Still a Science?" Harvard Business Review 1992
Buchanan & Huczynski Organisational Behaviour An Introductory Text – Fifth Edition
Nelson, D. Frederick Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management 1980
Buchanan & Huczynski Organisational Behaviour An Introductory Text – Fifth Edition
Marvin R. Productive Workplaces 1987
Buchanan & Huczynski Organisational Behaviour An Introductory Text – Fifth Edition
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy
Buchanan & Huczynski Organisational Behaviour An Introductory Text – Fifth Edition
Buchanan & Huczynski Organisational Behaviour An Introductory Text – Fifth Edition
Buchanan & Huczynski Organisational Behaviour An Introductory Text – Fifth Edition
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy
Buchanan & Huczynski Organisational Behaviour An Introductory Text – Fifth Edition
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy
The Principles of Scientific Management – F.Taylor- 1911
The Principles of Scientific Management – F.Taylor- 1911
Business – The Ultimate Resource Goleman, Bono, Handy