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Frederick Taylor's scientific management theories
Frederick Taylor's scientific management theories
The Taylor's scientific management cases
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This essay will discuss the relevance of Taylor’s principles of scientific management to organizations today with reference to an example business, which will be McDonalds. McDonalds are renowned for their fast paced working environments and high standard of management putting them among some of the best businesses in the world that have the best leadership (Allen, 2011).
Frederick Taylor was born in 1856 and was the founder of scientific management, it was suggested that he was the first person to look at management in business in regards to employees and come up with a theory on it, which was his scientific management theory (Stewart, 2016). Looking at the fundamentals of scientific management Taylor said ‘The principle object of management
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80). Stewart recognized what Taylors theory had done and how it had adapted the whole management of organizations with his scientific management theory.
Someone else who also recognised Taylor’s theory was George Ritzer who came up with the ‘McDonalization’ theory which was a standardized version of Taylors theory based on fast food chains in todays world. Ritzer argued that ‘the model of rationalization, at least in contemporary America, is no longer Bureaucracy, but might be better though of as the fast-food restaurant. As a result our concern here is with what might be termed as ‘McDonalization of society’ (Ritzer, 1993, p372). Ritzer’s theory of McDonalization was based around how the way fast food restaurants work is having an influence on how many different types of sectors are starting to do their business and conduct management (Ritzer,
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However one key thing to mention is that some say that human relations are an extension of Taylorism. Braverman said ‘Work itself is organised according to Taylorian principles, while personnel departments and academics have busied themselves with the selection, training, manipulation, pacification and adjustment of ‘manpower’ to suit the work processes so organised Taylorism dominates the world of production; the practitioners of human relations and industrial psychology are the maintenance crew for the human machinery.’ (Braverman,
Episode 143: Fredrick Winslow Taylor’s Scientific Management 2013, YouTube, Alanis Business Academy, 19 Nov, retrieved April 4 2014,
Taylor, F. W. (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. In F. W. Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management. New York: Harper & Row.
The major change came through the work of Fredrick Winslow Taylor and his theory of scientific management system. It was not that Taylor was unique or completely new; only time and motion study could be put in that category. The trend was already moving towards systematic management such as formal management methods or by cost ...
“Management is a process of planning, organisation, command, coordination, and control” (Morgan 2006, p.18). Rational organisation design is a bureaucratic method of management which emphasizes efficiency to achieve the end goal and the management of multiple companies have taken upon this system. Figures such as Frederick Taylor and Henry Ford have both shown and laid a path way for Rational Organisation which has become known as Taylorism and Fordism. The design has received criticism and both Taylor and Ford have been portrayed as villains with Taylor being called “enemy of the working man” (Morgan 2006, p.23) as the system dehumanised workers by taking all of the thought and skill from them and giving it to the managers this is because the tasks given were simple and repetitive. As staff needed little training they became an easily replaceable asset and thus more machine than human.
Fordism and Scientific Management are terms used to describe management that had application to practical situations with extremely dramatic effects. Fordism takes its name from the mass production units of Henry Ford, and is identified by an involved technical division of labour within companies and their production units. Other characteristics of Fordism include strong hierarchical control, with workers in a production line often restricted to the one single task, usually specialised and unskilled. Scientific management, on the other hand, "originated" through Fredrick Winslow Taylor in 1911, and in very basic terms described the one best way work could be done and that the best way to improve output was to improve the techniques or methods used by the workers. (Robbins p.38)
Wren. (2005). The History of Management Thought (5th ed.). Danvers, MA: Wiley & Sons. (Original work published 1976)
Frederick Taylor and Henri Fayol are both considered classical contributors to management theory. Both were developing and expression their viewpoints at similar time period with the aim of “raising standard of management in industry” (Brodie,1967, p7) in a period were very few publications and theories on management. While both theories were developed with the same influencing factors such as war, social struggles and industrial revolution (Urwick. 1951, p7) each developed quite different management theories. Frederick Taylor is considered the Father of Scientific management and he developed scientific principles of management, focusing on the individual,...
The founding father of scientific management theory is Fredrick Winslow Taylor. He was an American mechanical engineer and an inventor. Modern management theorist Edward Deming credited Taylor for his contributions while Joseph Juran criticized his work for extracting more work from workers. However a careful reading of Taylor’s work will disclose that he placed workers interest as high as the employer’s in his studies. Before the principles of management are discussed it is very important to understand the causes which led Taylor to derive the four principles of management. The three causes are as follows:
There are several theories that examine an organization and it’s approach to managing work in an effort to develop efficiency and increase production. Two classical approaches to management are Taylor’s scientific management theory and Weber's bureaucratic management theory. Both men are considered pioneers of in the study of management.
The concept of scientific management is based on the idea that work could be studied to increase efficiency, and specialization. Economist Adam Smith changed the way the world looked at the economy and organization. In his essay, “Of the Division of Labour,” Smith emphasizes the importance of specialization, and how division of labor leads to specialization. He states that this would allow a worker to be more productive and efficient (Shafritz, Ott, & Jang, 2011, p. 41-45). Frederick Taylor introduced the principles of scientific management, which stated that management is a science, workers should be scientifically selected and trained scientifically, and both management and workers should work together.
Scientific Management theory arose from the need to increase productivity in the U.S.A. especially, where skilled labor was in short supply at the beginning of the twentieth century. The only way to expand productivity was to raise the efficiency of workers.
In the past, managers considered workers as machinery that could be bought and sold easily. To increase production, workers were subjected to long hours, miserable wages and undesirable working conditions. The welfare of the workers and their need were disregarded. The early twentieth century brought about a change in management and scientific management was introduced. This sort of management, started by Frederick Winslow Taylor, emphasised that the best way to increase the volume of output was to have workers specializing in specific tasks just like how a certain machine would perform a particular function. His implementation of this theory brought about tremendous criticism by the masses arguing that the fundamentals of Scientific Management were to exploit employees rather than to benefit them (Mullins, 2005)
Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management. Its development began with Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s within the manufacturing industries. Its peak of influence came in the 1910s; by the 1920s, it was still influential but had begun an era of competition and syncretism with opposing or complementary ideas. Although scientific management as a distinct theory or school of thought was obsolete by the 1930s, most of its themes are still important parts of industrial engineering and management today.
This paper describes on one of the famous management theorist Frederick Winslow Taylor, who introduced to society about the scientific management theories. This method was established a hundred years ago in 1911 early stage by Taylor in his work place. This article critically discusses about Taylor’s early stage, background, education, and his contribution to management theory, practice and society.
Functionalism requires one to fulfil some social gaps and to establish and maintain social order of society and how all its parts are interrelated together. As human resource staff play the part that maintains social order, sociological theories would be necessary to take into consideration and should be applied into the everyday functions, this is necessary to ensure there is order, equality, productivity, harmony by ensuring both organisation and employees are heading towards the same direction.