Sarahina Borgia
Iva Petkova
Organizing Inovation
January 20th, 2017
Frederick Winslow Taylor published his work, “The Principles of Scientific Management” in 1911, in it, Taylor described the application of the scientific method to the management of workers, and how it could improve productivity. Scientific management methods called for optimizing the way tasks were performed, and for simplifying the jobs so that workers could be trained to perform their specialized sequence of motions in the one “best” way.
After many years of experimentation to determine what the optimal work methods would be, In this section, Taylor explained his principles of scientific management. He starts by describing what he
considered the best system of management then in use, the system of "initiative and incentive". In this system, management gives incentives for better work, and workers give their best effort. The form of payment is practically the whole system, in contrast to scientific management. Taylor's scientific management consisted of four principles:
1. Replace guesswork methods with a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Select, train, and develop each worker rather than leaving them to train themselves.
3. Ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
4. Make sure the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks. (Taylor, p. 1)
These principles were implemented in many factories, often increasing productivity by a factor of three or more. Henry Ford applied Taylor’s principles in his automobile factories, and families even began to perform their household tasks based on the results of time and motion studies.
2. Select, train, and develop each worker rather than leaving them to train themselves.
3. Ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
4. Make sure the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks. (Taylor, p. 1)
These principles were implemented in many factories, often increasing productivity by a factor of three or more. Henry Ford applied Taylor’s principles in his automobile factories, and families even began to perform their household tasks based on the results of time and motion studies.
Taylor devotes most of the remainder of the work to providing case studies to support his case, including:
- Moving pig iron at the Bethlehem Steel Company, with the famous story of the "ox"-like worker Schmidt.
- Taylor's work at the Midvale Steel Company
- Shoveling at Bethlehem Steel
- Bricklaying, as studied by Frank B. Gilbreth
- The inspection of small polished steel balls for bicycle bearing machine shop.
Taylor did not view most workers as worthy of dignity or respect in the workplace, rather than (reflecting the time) commodities or resources to be manipulated for profit.[2]
| “ | This work is so crude and elementary in its nature that the writer firmly believes that it would be possible to train an intelligent gorilla so as to become a more efficient pig-iron handler than any man can be. | ” |
Taylor goes on to record a stylized exchange with an immigrant, possibly German, worker whose English he ridicules.
Drawbacks of Scientific Management
Scientific management principles indeed improved productivity and had a substantial impact on industry, BUT they also increased the monotony of work. The core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback all were missing from the picture of scientific management.
The new ways of working were accepted by many of the workers, in some cases they were not. Complaints that Taylorism was dehumanizing led to an investigation by the United States Congress. Despite its controversy, scientific management changed the way that work was done, and forms of it continue to be used today.
The best visual showing Taylorisim, was the Charlie Chaplin movie “Modern Times”, when a machine is brought into the assembly line to feed Charlie Chaplin while he works. Until today, I find this movie one of the best if not the best way to show the dehumanizing of the assembly line worker and his/her creativity by diminishing the person into a small screw in a machine.
Scientific management principles indeed improved productivity and had a substantial impact on industry, BUT they also increased the monotony of work. The core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback all were missing from the picture of scientific management.
The new ways of working were accepted by many of the workers, in some cases they were not. Complaints that Taylorism was dehumanizing led to an investigation by the United States Congress. Despite its controversy, scientific management changed the way that work was done, and forms of it continue to be used today.
The best visual showing Taylorisim, was the Charlie Chaplin movie “Modern Times”, when a machine is brought into the assembly line to feed Charlie Chaplin while he works. Until today, I find this movie one of the best if not the best way to show the dehumanizing of the assembly line worker and his/her creativity by diminishing the person into a small screw in a machine.
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