The ‘Reality’ of Work and How This Is Similar to or Differs from the Conventional Image Portrayed in Management Texts
The ‘reality’ of work and how this is similar to or differs from the conventional image portrayed in management texts
The core of management texts are concerned with efficiency, both bureaucratic and post bureaucratic organisations. The limitation is that it concerns itself with how, and not why the organising is done in a particular way. I will introduce some of the early theorists, looking at how they apply to organisations today and reflecting on employees work experience through weblogs. Seminar discussion points will be portrayed in this paper to further emphasise reality. As time progresses, peoples attitudes to work changes and I will show how people now strive for motivation, responsibility, and quality of life rather than having money as their only objective in their job.
The idea of making the production process as efficient as possible was first publicised by Frederick Taylor in the late 19th and early 20th century with his time-motion study. It involved stream lining the process to remove all unnecessary movements, along with the standardisation of tools and processes. The results were astonishing, with the employees producing much more than ever before. The organisation benefitted with increased profits, some of which was passed on to the employees as a reward. This kept morale and productivity high at all times. Later, ‘Taylor was hired by a large number of firms to rationalise work and employ his methods to their workforce’ (Ritzer, 2000). This is known as scientific management and is regarded as a dehumanising system in which humans are considered as expendable. This theory is still evident nowadays in call centres and fast food outlets such as McDonalds. The problem is that rational systems serve to deny human reason; and are often unreasonable. For example, in order to grow uniform potatoes from which predictable French Fries can be cut, the use of nitrates and chemicals are used in production which have lead to the underground water supply being
The core of management texts are concerned with efficiency, both bureaucratic and post bureaucratic organisations. The limitation is that it concerns itself with how, and not why the organising is done in a particular way. I will introduce some of the early theorists, looking at how they apply to organisations today and reflecting on employees work experience through weblogs. Seminar discussion points will be portrayed in this paper to further emphasise reality. As time progresses, peoples attitudes to work changes and I will show how people now strive for motivation, responsibility, and quality of life rather than having money as their only objective in their job.
The idea of making the production process as efficient as possible was first publicised by Frederick Taylor in the late 19th and early 20th century with his time-motion study. It involved stream lining the process to remove all unnecessary movements, along with the standardisation of tools and processes. The results were astonishing, with the employees producing much more than ever before. The organisation benefitted with increased profits, some of which was passed on to the employees as a reward. This kept morale and productivity high at all times. Later, ‘Taylor was hired by a large number of firms to rationalise work and employ his methods to their workforce’ (Ritzer, 2000). This is known as scientific management and is regarded as a dehumanising system in which humans are considered as expendable. This theory is still evident nowadays in call centres and fast food outlets such as McDonalds. The problem is that rational systems serve to deny human reason; and are often unreasonable. For example, in order to grow uniform potatoes from which predictable French Fries can be cut, the use of nitrates and chemicals are used in production which have lead to the underground water supply being
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