Motivation

Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management
A summary of the work of Frederick Taylor, including the famous time and motion studies and Taylor's principles of scientific management.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
An introduction to Maslow's Hierarchy, its limitations, and implications for management.

ERG Theory
A discussion of Clayton Alderfer's ERG theory, including similarities and differences compared to Maslow's hierarchy.

Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Discusses Herzberg's two-factor theory, including his findings of the more important factors affecting employee attitudes.

McClelland's Theory of Needs
The acquired-needs theory as proposed by David McClelland, including the three needs of acheivement, affiliation, and power.

Theory X and Theory Y
A comparison of these two very different theories as proposed by Douglas McGregor.





Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management   Top

In 1911, Frederick Winslow Taylor published his work, The Principles of Scientific Management, in which he described how the application of the scientific method to the management of workers greatly could improve productivity. Scientific management methods called for optimizing the way that tasks were performed and simplifying the jobs enough so that workers could be trained to perform their specialized sequence of motions in the one "best" way.

Prior to scientific management, work was performed by skilled craftsmen who had learned their jobs in lengthy apprenticeships. They made their own decisions about how their job was to be performed.

Scientific management took away much of this autonomy and converted skilled crafts into a series of simplified jobs that could be performed by unskilled workers who easily could be trained for the tasks.


Taylor became interested in improving worker productivity early in his career when he observed gross inefficiencies during his contact with steel workers.



Soldiering
Working in the steel... [continues]

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