Principles of Scientific Management

Authors Avatar

Choosing any New Zealand based organisation discuss evidence of Scientific Management principles in their business operations:

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 - 1915), is said to be the 'father of scientific management'. Taylor's theories on efficient management emerged in a late 19th century/early 20th Century context when industries were experiencing rapid growth in both size and complexity. His concepts form the basis of modern management as we know it today. This essay will examine fundamental aspects of the Scientific Management movement, and will look at how these key ideas are implemented in the modern day context of a 21st Century organisation. The company I have chosen is Vodafone, a global firm with an operation in NZ. More specifically, I will be looking at the Vodafone Call Centre and its management practices. Key aspects I will cover include Taylor's scientific research, designed to discover the most efficient 'one best way' of working, and how this aligns with Vodafone's means of establishing the 'best practice' benchmark. I will discuss Taylor's scientific selection and training method and Vodafone's application of this approach. Other aspects such as the role of the manager, employee motivation and employee satisfaction within Vodafone will be covered, with close reference to the ideas of Taylorism. The conclusion will summarize my observations.    

 

Scientific research is the starting block of Taylor's Scientific Management theory. In order to achieve Taylor's principle objective of maximising prosperity for both the employer and employee (Allen, et al. 2002), extensive research must be carried out to discover the best method and most reasonable time the task should be allocated, the "one best way". The most efficient worker in the company was selected, and then examined on task. All of his unnecessary movements were eliminated until the fastest rate of task completion was achieved. This technique is called time/motion study and was developed by both Taylor and Gilbreth (Wren, 1998). Through this scientific research, the 'First Class Man' standard was established, to which all other workers were expected to meet on a daily basis (Allen, et al. 2003).  

At Vodafone, similar research is conducted by management to establish "Best Practice". Information is sourced from Vodafone international and also from external companies with comparative roles. Hired consultants also provide research services to Vodafone's call centre. From this information, customer statistics are derived, call cycles planned, and "best practice" (the Customer Service Representative [CSR] benchmark) is established. For example, multiple phone calls are timed and listened in on, and conclusions are then drawn by management as to which approaches and methods are most effective for the CSR's to use, relevant to different customer needs and personalities. One conclusion that has been drawn from this scientific research is that the time allowance of phone calls should be on average 4 min 10 sec.

Join now!

"Best practice" in the call centre is defined by four "Key Performance Indicators" (KPI's). 'First call resolution' means resolving a customer's issue in the first phone call, avoiding passing them around or having to call them back. The second KPI is 'Quality'. CSR's phone calls are randomly listened in on by the manager who assesses performance. 'Next Best Activity' refers to value adding. CSR's need to look up the customer's profile and sell to them depending on their cellphone habits (for example, whether the customer texts or makes calls). The last KPI is 'retention', where managers analyse how well ...

This is a preview of the whole essay