Scientific Management

1.0 Background During industrialization in 1900s, there was a great breakthrough in management system, namely scientific management. Because the newsystem was more efficient, it soon replaced the old traditional managerial system (rule of thumb methods), which has been used for generations. At that time, every worker had her / his own traditional skill which has been passed down from generation to generation. The workers learned the skill instinctively by observation or were taught by other people. Because of this, there are many ways for getting one work done. Also, a worker needs a lot more time to finish work because she / he has to do all work alone. These all caused inefficiency in management system and the low of production.

2.0 History The first man who actually developed scientific management was actually Adam Smith (in 1800s). He divided the workers in a pin factory in many divisions. However, the one that was recognized as the father of scientific management was Frederick W. Taylor and referred his work as Taylorism. Taylordid his research when he was working at the Midvale Steel Company in the USA. At that time, he saw that the problem in the production was a waste of human labor.(Freedman, D.H.). The workers did not do their work efficiently and had the trend not to put in a full days work (natural soldering). He also saw that the worker were money-motivatedand considered them as too stupid for not having one best way to solve their problem. (Bratton, J, pg. 104). Taylor then published his book called The principles of scientific management in 1911 in which he set four objectives for increasing the works efficiency. The main idea of scientific management was the dividing the work tasks into simple division. Taylor was famous for using a stopwatch to measure the work time. In 1924, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth published Scientific Management in American Industry. Its a revision of Taylors scientific management.

3.0 Definition According to the businessdictionary.com, scientific management can be defined as The management that thought concerned primarily with the physical efficiency of an

individual worker. <Http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/scientificmanagement.html>.

3.1 The Research Taylor held his research at the Bethlehem Steel Company, the place where he worked. The first experiment is working with pig iron. Its chosen because this work is simple and doesnt need any heavy tools. At that time, Taylor felt that the work process was inefficient. In order to find a best way to do the work, Taylor performed so called time studies, where he used a stopwatch to time the workers movement. From the research, it could be seen that not all worker were well fit for moving the iron. The shape of the shovel also influenced the work process. Taylor then provided them with the right shovel and raised the worker wages. It can be seen that scientific management needs a suitable worker for each suitable job and also the science of handling a job. (Taylor, F.W.)

3.2 Principles of Management There are four objectives in this management. 4.1.1 Replacing the traditional management methods with a sciencebased methods. 4.1.2 For each work division; a suitable worker should be selected, trained and taught scientifically. 4.1.3 A good relationship between worker and management should be built, so that the work can be done based on the scientific instructions. 4.1.4 Managers and workers should be evenly divided. The managers apply management planning; the workers do the entire planned job. (Freeman, M). 3.3 Task Idea The most important thing in the scientific management is the task idea. Everything is scheduled and planned, every detail has been thought by the management at least one day ahead, each worker is given detailed directions about what kind of work she / he has to do, how the work should be done, and even with which tools is the work going to be done. This is must be done by both workers and management. Bonuses will be given if the work is done well and in a given time period. This task idea still can be used in modern society and suitable in almost any job. (Freeman, M)

3.4 Application 3.4.1 Henry Ford (Fordism) Famous Motor Company Ford was well known for using principles of Taylorism.Ford uses of technology and division of assembly lines. Taylorism influence the speed of work on the assembly line. In other word, a work efficiency is achieved by having a detailed time and motion. The result, Ford achieved a standardizing product and producing it by mass.( Bratton, J). 3.4.2 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Gilbreth has developed and revised Taylors scientific management further. Gilbreth held his research on bricklayers. He focused more in how to do efficient motion by redesigning the movements, unlike Taylor who focused his research on time. (Freeman,M).

4.0 Disadvantages of Scientific Management While it is said that scientific management can improve productivity and was a good idea on industry, it also has some disadvantages. 4.1 Conflicts with workers It couldnt deal with a group. For example, seven from eight workers at the Bethlehem Steel Company were fired just because they didnt suitable for the job. Because of this, almost all the workers resigned from the company even though their wages were raised. The use of stopwatches also often was an issue for the workers. (Taylor, F.W). 4.2 Deskilling Workers with skills, who used to the traditional management, were replaced with unskilled one. Another reason isthe workers only do one or very little work. Because of this, most of their skills were degraded. As consequences, in the 1980s, Japanese industry did better than American industry. (Ritzer,G). 5.0 Scientific management in the modern world

Even though we cant find any company, which admitsthat they use scientific management, by name, there are still many businesses that use it as their basic management system. One of the biggest users of this management system is a fast food restaurant. McDonalds, for example, use management system where their workers have their own tasks in order to avoid any useless motion. Here we can also see the use of Taylorism, such as simplified tasks, certain cooking time, programmed cashier and even the use of bonuses or incentives by choosing employee of the month. Of course behind their successful, there will be disadvantages, such as monotony/ repetitive work that lead to unmotivated work, or even deskilling, because the workers only do one kind of task. (Jones, O) Another example of scientific management being applied in business are supermarket, call centre and airport. 6.0 Conclusion In conclusion, whether you like it or not, scientific management still give a big influence and still used as fundamental system to some business. However I do believe that scientific management wont be applicable for a company that is very competitive and flexible to changes. There, the company wants their workers to use all their skills.

7.0 References 1. Bratton, J & Gold, J 1999, Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, 2nd ed., Macmillan Press Ltd, Houndmills, Basingtoke, Hampshire, London 2. Jones,O 2000, Scientific management, culture and control: A first-hand account of Tayloris..., Human Relations; May 2000; vol. 53,no. 5; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 631 3. Freeman, M 1996, Scientific management: 100 years old; poised for the next century, S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal; Spring, vol. 61, no. 2; ABI/INFORM Globalpg. 35 4. Ritzer, G 2004, The McDonaldization of Society. Revised New Century Edition, Pine Forge Pres, California 5. Taylor, F.W 2007, The Principles of Scientific Management, NuVision Publications, LLC ,Siioux Falls, SD USA