Preview

scientific management

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1145 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
scientific management
Scientific Management a theory of management of the early 20th century that analyzed workflows in order to improve efficiency
We can trace formal management ideas to the 1700s. But the most significant developments in management theory emerged in the 20th century. One of the earliest of these theorists was Frederick Winslow Taylor. He started the Scientific Management theory. They studied how work was performed, and they looked at how this affected worker productivity. Taylor's philosophy focused on the belief that making people work as hard as they could was not as efficient as optimizing the way the work was done. he proposed that by optimizing and simplifying jobs, productivity would increase. He also advanced the idea that workers and managers needed to cooperate with one another. This was very different from the way work was typically done in businesses beforehand. A factory manager at that time had very little contact with the workers, and he left them on their own to produce the necessary product. There was no standardization, and a worker's main motivation was often continued employment, so there was no incentive to work as quickly or as efficiently as possible. he proposed that by optimizing and simplifying jobs, productivity would increase. He also advanced the idea that workers and managers needed to cooperate with one another. This was very different from the way work was typically done in businesses beforehand. A factory manager at that time had very little contact with the workers, and he left them on their own to produce the necessary product. There was no standardization, and a worker's main motivation was often continued employment, so there was no incentive to work as quickly or as efficiently as possible.

Taylors 4 principles of scientific management

Taylor's four principles are as follows:
1. Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Taylor started this paper by quoting then President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. Stating that "The conservation of our national resources is only preliminary to the larger question of national efficiency." Taylor pointed out that while a large movement had started to conserve material resources, the less visible and less tangible effects of the wasted human effort was only vaguely appreciated. He argues the necessity of focusing on training rather than finding the “right man,” stating “In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first,” and the first goal of all good systems should be developing first-class men. He listed three goals for the work:…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1. Develop a science for each element of an individual’s work to replace the old rule-of-thumb method.…

    • 1823 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Management has been discovered since 3000 BC in city of Ur (Iraq) where written records as a means of recording business transactions was found (Wolfgang, et al. 1995). Management was essential for every company to run their business efficiently. Without a management, businesses can’t control their workers effectively, there will be a lot of wasted motion and the outcome of the products is not very satisfying. The beginning of the twentieth century businesses were expanding and capital was available. However, labour was in short supply (Ryan, 2008). Management began looking at methods to improve efficiency. Frederick W. Taylor of the Midvale Steel Company recognized the need for scientific methods to management in order to increase productivity. He concerned to find a perfect management that can produce more products in less time and effort, and then he came up with an idea that called scientific management or often called Taylorism.…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Personal Ethics

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) was the founder of the scientific management theory during the time of the Industrial Revolution. The management theory developed to organize and teach work process in a scientific manner increased productivity and profit. Taylor believed that using a scientific method for each element or task of an individual’s work would increase productivity. A worker’s job could be measured with scientific accuracy by using time and motion studies and the expertise of experienced workers (managers). A scientific system was established to hire, train, and promote workers based on their competence and abilities and match them to the most appropriate job. Productivity would be improved through scientific selection and progressive development of the worker. The relationship between the managers and workers needed to be cooperative and interdependent. The manager was to plan, prepare and supervise. The workers were to do the work. Financial incentives were used as a reward and workers were reimbursed according to their level of production (Marquis & Huston, 2009).…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frederick Taylor

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Taylor believed that it was the manager’s duty to understand workers and their jobs. He wanted to come up with a way to ensure that workers complete their tasks with maximum production and minimum costs (Madeheim, Mazze, Stein 1963). In order to achieve that he came up with a concept known as scientific management to try and improve industrial efficiency.…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Compare and contrast the theories of Scientific Management with that of the Human Relations management approach…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In todays modern era of business, with its exploding technological advances, easier access to materials and a much more skilled and specialized labor force the ideology behind using scientific management is fast becoming as dated a method as the industries that still heavily rely upon its principles to function efficiently. Considering that the fundamental principles of scientific management consist of breaking down manufacturing into its constituent parts allowing unskilled, simple minded, untrained workers to do any one of the multiple tasks that produce a product. This method functions in a manner that maximizes laborers potential and thus company profits by using an assembly line type system. Under this system only management however is considered capable enough of making the big decisions, planning things out and managing the labor force. However with todays manufacturing technology and high tech products being produced, a whole new type of labor force is needed, one that is capable, educated and can make decisions for themselves along the lines of the overall plan or business objective.…

    • 1509 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Scientific Management

    • 1815 Words
    • 8 Pages

    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?…

    • 1815 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scientific Management

    • 2105 Words
    • 9 Pages

    For thousands of years, managers faced the same issues and problems confronting executives today. Around 1100 B.C., the Chinese practiced the four management functions—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Between 400 B.C. and 350 B.C., the Greeks recognized management as a separate art and advocated a scientific approach to work. The Romans decentralized the management of their vast empire before the birth of Christ. During the Medieval Period, the Venetians standardized production through building warehouses and using an inventory system to monitor the contents.…

    • 2105 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Scientific Management approach was initially described and theorized by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In his book “Principles of Scientific Management”, first published in 1911, Frederick Taylor formulated a view on management that was highly inspired by engineering principles.. Frederick Taylor developed Scientific Management out of the belief that tasks could be optimized scientifically, and that Scientific Management could design the best rational way of performing any task, which would lead to enhanced productivity and profitability. Enhanced productivity would not only lead to greater profits for the employers, but also for the workers, who would be given the tools and training to perform at optimum performance.(Wu, 2009) This theory was intended at studying the liaison between thephysical nature of the work and physiological nature of the workmen.It also stresses the importance of technical competency which will improve the organizations efficiency (Wu, 2009). Taylor’s four universal principles include: constructing a science for each element of the workers tasks; scientifically select, train, teach and develop the workers managers need to fully cooperate with the workers and the work shall be shared equally between managers and workers (Wu, 2009). According to Bell and Martin (2012), “it is important for managers to use Taylor’s scientific methods of determine the component tasks identified with a specific job and how long it takes to perform each component in order to know if the work load is balanced between all of the workers, or if the work needs to be reapportioned” ( p. 111).…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Scientific management also known as Taylorism (Mitchan 2005) is a set of rules that govern job design in manufacturing department. Taylor(1911), the pioneer of scientific management first came up with the theory in the late nineteenth century after viewing widespread inefficient work or soldiering among workers. Taylor’s promotion of time and motion study, production-control methods and incentive pay” (Burrell and Morgan 1979,Littler 1982 cited in Green 1986) has made great contributions to the boom of production since they were applied in practice. With the emergence of knowledge and information society which is science, technology and innovation intensified (Fagerberg, landstorm,Martin 2012 ),whether scientific management is still appropriate and effective in the modern society is uncertain. This article will explore suitability of scientific management in the new era. Firstly, principles of scientific management and influence of these principles in practical management will be reviewed followed by critiques of scientific management pointed out in the human relations movement. Then analysis of appropriateness and inappropriateness of scientific management in modern organizations will be illustrated in detail. Finally, conclusions will be made upon how to apply scientific management in the modern organization with modification of its demerits and giving full play to its merits to satisfy the demand of modern society.…

    • 1687 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Scientific management began in the1880s ~ 1910s. While an American engineer, Frederick Taylor (1856 ~ 1947) was working in manufacturing industry, he observed that there was a natural difference in productivity and output between workers. Although some workers were smarter and more talented than the others, they were often unmotivated and chosen to work at the slowest pace. Taylor believed that there was a best way to do a task which could be achieved by carefully studying an individual’s work (the time and motion studies). By the method of process standardization, the best practice of performing a task can then be applied to other workers. Taylor’s objective was improving efficiency, increasing productivity and output and lowering cost1, 2. His idea and theory were published in “Shop Management” (1903) and “The principle of Scientific Management” (1911). His theory was called Taylorism and he was considered to be the father of scientific management3. At the similar period, another American, Henry Ford (1863 ~ 1947) and his team applied the principles of scientific management at his…

    • 3192 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Argument Against Taylorism

    • 1970 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Frederick Winslow Taylor is the person who discovered scientific management, also known as ‘Taylorism’. It is a theory about management that analyses and synthesize the workflow of a work place but the main objective is to improve the efficiency of the economy, especially in labour productivity based on five principles as described by Buchanan(2010, pg 423).The first principle of Taylorism is to have ‘A clear division…

    • 1970 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “The principle object of management should be to secure maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for the employee…” (Taylor, 1911, p.9)…

    • 1743 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ----------------------- |English Language and Foundation Studies Centre | | |CALLAGHAN Room MCLG49, McMullin Building |[pic] | |OURIMBAH Room HO 161, Humanities Building | | Foundation Studies ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET |Program (please tick): | |Open Foundation |[pic] |Yapug | | |Course Code: Epmanic |Course Name: Empanic120 | |Lecturer/Tutor: | | |Student No: |Telephone: | |Family Name: |Mobile: | |Given Name: |Email: @uon.edu.au | |Assignment No: |Assignment Title: | |Assignment Due Date: |Date Handed in: | Extens: |Extension Granted by: |Until: | |N.B. Marks may be deducted for unauthorized late submission.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays