Features of Scientific Management and How It Affects Business
BUSM 4176 Introduction to Management
Semester 1, 2013
Assessment Task 2: Critical Essay
Topic: What are the features of scientific management and how has it developed over the years? How has this affected the way businesses are run today?
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1915) was an American engineer who developed the scientific management theory in the early 20th century which was aimed at maximizing efficiency and production in work organizations, especially in regards to labour productivity (Boundless 2013). Although scientific management has been strongly criticized, it has undoubtedly brought upon a positive change to the way in which business were ran when the theory was first introduced, and also the way businesses are run today.
This essay will examine and explore Frederick Taylor’s ideas and approach to work organization which resulted in the implementation of more efficient and productive work processes, whilst also outlining the key features of scientific management, contributions which other key thinkers have made, its criticisms, and the influences it has made on the way certain businesses are run in modern day workplaces.
Frederick Taylor’s initiative to develop more efficient work organizations began while working as a superintendant at the Midvale Steel Company in Pennsylvania, USA (RMIT University 2012). Through the observation of workers, Taylor distinguished that many workers were unmotivated and were not intelligent enough to devise a one most optimal way of completing a task, leading to inefficiency in production. This prompted Taylor to develop the ‘one best way’ to perform tasks, as even the most basic, mindless tasks could be planned in a way that dramatically would increase productivity (NetMBA 2010). Therefore Taylor devised a way to determine the most efficient way certain tasks could be performed through experiments called ‘time studies’, in which a stopwatch was used to record the time taken by a worker to perform a sequence
Semester 1, 2013
Assessment Task 2: Critical Essay
Topic: What are the features of scientific management and how has it developed over the years? How has this affected the way businesses are run today?
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1915) was an American engineer who developed the scientific management theory in the early 20th century which was aimed at maximizing efficiency and production in work organizations, especially in regards to labour productivity (Boundless 2013). Although scientific management has been strongly criticized, it has undoubtedly brought upon a positive change to the way in which business were ran when the theory was first introduced, and also the way businesses are run today.
This essay will examine and explore Frederick Taylor’s ideas and approach to work organization which resulted in the implementation of more efficient and productive work processes, whilst also outlining the key features of scientific management, contributions which other key thinkers have made, its criticisms, and the influences it has made on the way certain businesses are run in modern day workplaces.
Frederick Taylor’s initiative to develop more efficient work organizations began while working as a superintendant at the Midvale Steel Company in Pennsylvania, USA (RMIT University 2012). Through the observation of workers, Taylor distinguished that many workers were unmotivated and were not intelligent enough to devise a one most optimal way of completing a task, leading to inefficiency in production. This prompted Taylor to develop the ‘one best way’ to perform tasks, as even the most basic, mindless tasks could be planned in a way that dramatically would increase productivity (NetMBA 2010). Therefore Taylor devised a way to determine the most efficient way certain tasks could be performed through experiments called ‘time studies’, in which a stopwatch was used to record the time taken by a worker to perform a sequence
References: 2012, Contingency Theories of Leadership, accessed 30th of May 2013, Accel-team.com, 2013, Douglas McGregor, accessed 30th of May 2013, Nation Master.com, 2005, Fordism in U.S, accessed 27th of May 2013 RMIT University, 2012, Introduction to Management, Palgrave Macmillan, South Melbourne, Australia Taylor, F., 1998, ‘Fundamentals of scientific management’ in The principles of scientific management, Dover Publications, Mineola, N.Y, pp. 1-8 ‘Pioneers in Improvement and our Modern Standard of Living’ IW/SI News, Issue 18, September 1968, pp. 37-38, accessed 27th of May 2013 from The Gilbreth Network.