SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Questions asked so far on NPM and Classical Theory of Management 2. "Public Administration today Stands at the crossroads of public choice theory, pluralism, corporatism and elitism." Discuss. 1989 2. Compare the relative merits of the classical theory of organisation and the systems approach.1990 1. (a) 'Taylor's Scientific Management had a major influence on the growing reform and economy movements in Public Administration 1993

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each: 1. (a) Most of the propositions that make up the body of administrative theory today share, unfortunately, this defect of proverbs. 1994 11. (c) Taylors Scientific Management already offered a humanistic theory of motivation, with its democratic and participatory emphases, that was hardly improved on by Elton Mayo and others. 1994 1.(b) "Taylor's scientific management ignored social and psychological factors." Comment. 2007

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

1. c) Taylors contribution was not a set of general principles for organizing work efficiency , nut a set of operating procedures that could be employed in each concrete situation to secure their application. 2009 2.(b) New public management is dead; long live digital era of governance. Comment. 2010

SCIENTIFIC THEORY OF MANAGEMENT

Notes can be found in Test 12

1.What is the Scientific Management Theory?

Theory developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) , It is the first systematic theory of organization and was developed in the beginning of the 20th century.

Taylor is called the Father of Scientific Management .

He advocated the adoption of scientific methods in the field of industrial work processes and management, to promote industrial efficiency and economy.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

2.What made Taylor develop the Scientific management Theory?
Taylor was upset by the greed of the Industrialists They did not hesitate to employ even children in the factories. Working conditions were very bad and people had to work 18 hours a day in dingy factories. Saw that that there was practically neither industrial planning nor efficiency. There was no standardization in work methods, tools and procedures. Often workers had to bring their own tools and do their own planning.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Though the term scientific Management was first coined by Louis D Brandies, it was really expanded by Frederick Winslow Taylor in his widely known book, Principles and Methods of Scientific Management. Taylor argued that management rests upon clearly formulated laws and principles and these could be universally applied. Indeed management was a Science. Taylor's principles of management were "scientific" to the extent that they were based on first hand experimentation in, and observation of, work procedures and conditions in industrial enterprises. Taylor held that Systematic application of the methods of science, to managerial problems and work procedures was best way of doing a job and condemned the trial and error methods.

 3. Taylors concept of Functional Foremanship Taylor saw that the worker brought his own tools and planned his own work. There was a Gang Supervisor or the Gang Boss who constantly looked at the way the work was done. This used to cause a lot of resentment. He suggested a separation of planning from execution of the work. Taylor evolved the concept of functional foremanship based on specialization of functions.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

The concept of Functional Foremanship: instead of single foreman, in his system, eight persons were involved in directing the activities of workers. Out of these, four persons should be concerned with planning; (i) routine clerk (ii) instruction card clerk, (iii) time and cost clerk, (iv) disciplinarian. The remaining four persons should be engaged in directing work These were: (i) speed boss, (ii) inspector, (iii) maintenance foreman, and (iv) disciplinarian. Deach supervisor specialized in one task. But all of them give directions to workers on different aspects of work. Taylor thus violates the principle of Unity of command.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

4. Taylors concept of Time motion - fatigue studies.
He was a very pragmatic person and placed emphasis on efficiency at the level of the worker. This was a narrow focus. Taylor pointed out the best way of doing a job was to reduce movements, time and cost. For this he took up time-motion-fatigue studies. Determine the minimum time necessary for dong a job. Eliminate wasteful movements involved in the work. If this is done, it will reduce the time taken in performing a work and also reduces fatigue for workers. Determine when the worker feels fatigue and allow him some rest.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

5.What is Taylors first principle of Scientific management? Taylor believed that there should be Standardization of Work Methods. Scientifically investigate the total quantum of work to be undertaken in any enterprise in a given period; and then fix daily task assignments so that the workers may work in a planned way.

The objective of standardization are, (i) to reduce a given line of product to fixed types, sizes and characteristics; (II) to establish Interchangeability of manufactured parts and products; (iii) to establish standards of performance of men and machines.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Taylor viewed Organization mechanistically. His sole aim was improving productivity and efficiency at the lowest level. This amounted to a neglect of the human side of the enterprise and later on led to the development of the Human Relations Theory.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Good management would lead to higher productivity and lower unit cost. For this pay high wages. Reward when output is high Impose penalty when it is low Fix time and motion for each task All this requires scientific study.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

6. What is the Second Principle of Taylor? Select and train the workers scientifically Standardize production process Allot work according to the workers strength and intelligence Financial incentives can provide right motivation Adopt the piece rate system Pay according to performance and not position

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

7.What is the Third Principle of Taylor? The managers should the share responsibilities instead of placing all the burden on the workers. The management had to undertake the functions it should do. It should plan, organize and control the distribution of work. It should take care to provide the workers not only the necessary facilities but also the training required to make them more and more efficient.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

8. What is the Fourth Principle of Taylor?

Mutual Collaboration of Workers and Management

The last principle of Taylor was that there should be active cooperation and cordial relations between management and workers. There should be mutual faith and trust. Efficiency and productivity can be best promoted by creating a healthy and congenial environment in the organization which is the joint responsibility of both the workers and the management. If these is done both the workers and management would gain and there would be no employer- worker conflicts.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

9. What was the significance of the Scientific Management Movement of Taylor? Taylor helped to bring about a radical change in the Industrial revolution. His theory provided effective guidelines not only for increasing production but also ending worker employee conflicts. He developed the concept of time-motion-fatigue studies. He said that Management should calculate the time required for a job and how unnecessary activities should be discarded and when it was found that the worker suffered fatigue he should be given some rest. Taylor combined both reward for success as well penalty for failure

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

THEORY

We may observe five important postulates of management in Taylors theory: research, standards, planning, control, and mutual collaboration between labour and management. Successful management demands an adherence to these principles. Take for instance the way mails are sorted. Through a time and motion study, it was possible to measure efficiency. The concept of 'human engineering' in private industry slowly spread to the public sector and influenced the ways in which organizations were designed and managers were trained .

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Taylors theory influenced the organization of Public Administration into neat pyramids based on hierarchical control and span of control. But unfortunately not much notice was taken of the possible variations in individual aspirations and motivations. As a result Motivational Theories developed which held that mere scientific management is not enough.

His followers like Gantt, Frank and Lillian Gilberth had a profound impact in the USA. They introduced concepts like the Gantt Chart , Speed Work and Flow Chart.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

10.In 1910 President Taft of USA established the Commission of Economy and Efficiency. President Wilson tried to harmonize efficiency with democratic principles of government. Taylor's advocacy of the one best way to do each work-productive or managerial-was equally implemented in industrial and governmental business and management. He used the following concepts in developing his theory Slide rules, instruction card system, modern costing system and bonus system.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Indeed the scientific technology of Taylorism, besides the democratic principle, comprised the twin elements of American public administration. Taylor brought about a Mental Revolution in the Science of Management and said that Management is a science and not a method of trial and error or rule of thumb Lenin was influenced by this theory In 1920 he called upon the Soviets to apply the principles of scientific management for increasing production.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

11. Attempt a criticism of Taylors theory of scientific Management . It takes a too mechanistic view of management and does not pay much attention to the human resource, Mere training and payment of high wages is not enough. The Scientific Theory of Management is also called the Physiological Theory of Organization because it over simplified workers motivation and it concentrated only on production

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

To attain true efficiency it is necessary to respect the Trade Unions. Trade Unions were upset by his suggestion that Scientific management wouldmake Unions redundant. Prof Robert Hoxie argued that the basic ideals of scientific management and trade unionism were incompatible. Scientific management concerned itself mainly with production, efficiency and managerial problems, but ignored labour concerns like monotony of repetitive work and insecurity of job (hire and fire). It is not correct to say that a worker must be removed if he does not complete his work within the time allowed. One has to examine why he has failed to do so. The worker, according to Lewisohn, wants justice, status and opportunity above everything else, and hence simply a rise in wages would not automatically lead to added efficiency

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Managers were upset that instead of allowing them to use their judgement while on the job, they were required to follow set procedures.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

Miss M P Follett, a contemporary of Taylor and a well-known administrative thinker, also stressed the need to bridge the gap between the mechanistic approach of Taylor and the approach emphasizing human relations in organization.

As a result of the mechanistic approach of Taylor, the Human relations school emerged and conclusively demonstrated through the Hawthorne experiments (1927-32) the folly of Taylors approach.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY

12. In spite of all criticism Taylors theory contains a large measure of truth. Comment We cannot ignore the fact that the theory of scientific management contributed much to the growth of a science of management by emphasizing the need for application of scientific methods. Also Taylor by pointing out the need for efficient training and provision of facilities did pay some attention to the development of Human resource. This did produce good results.