How Taylorism is Still Relevant

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Recommended: Discuss the contribution of Frederick Taylor

Frederick Taylor was the son of successful lawyer in Philadelphia where he attended the Phillips Exeter Academy with the hopes of attending Harvard, but was denied the opportunity due to an eye issue caused by night studying. Instead of going to college, Taylor entered an industry as an apprentice machinist at the Enterprise Hydraulic Works in Philadelphia. He also continued the activities typical of his upper class status, such as playing tennis and cricket. Frederick Taylor was known for always being different. He annoyed his playmates by insisting on elaborate and strict rules for each game they played. In anything Taylor pursued, he exhibited a frenzy for order, discipline, and optimization (Nath 4). His idea of Taylorism which is the production efficiency method that breaks every action, job, or task into small and simple segments which can be easily examined and taught came from his experience from working as an unskilled laborer, his theory is still used in today but the thought of whether it is helpful or not is an opinion everyone has a different view on.

Taylor joined Midvale Steel Corporation as an unskilled laborer, eventually rising to a management position. He also earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology. At Midvale he has a range of jobs that allowed him to progressively develop and apply his theory of scientific organization of human work to achieve major processes. Taylor was the determined son of pretentious Quaker upbringing, and the man who used his studiously sophisticated vocabulary of salty language to bully the men into following his new standards of efficiency. Taylor’s career as an unskilled worker brought him into contact with slow output restrictions by the...

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...Homework Help - ENotes.com." Enotes.com. Enotes.com, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

Nath, Siddharth. “Taylorism & Neo-Taylorism.” Web log post. SlideShare. Linkedin Corporatio, 04 Feb. 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

Partnoy, Frank. "Unlocking Yourself from the Clock; Even Professionals are Getting Paid by the Hour these Days--Making Us Stressed Out and Less Productive." Wall Street Journal Online. 22 June 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

Pruijt, Hans. Teams between Neo-Taylorism and Anti-Taylorism. Vol. 24. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2003. Print.

Rollings, Mike. "Employers Ask for Facebook Passwords but Not Social Skills." Gartner. Gartner Inc., 9 Apr. 2012. Web. 2 February 2014.

Vlachopoulioti, Anathalia and Dimitrios Nikolaou Koumparoulis. One Hundred Years of Taylorism: Is It Still Relevant Today. Vol. 3. Lodhran: Academic Research International, 2012. Print.

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