Scientific Managment
The fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line. Scientifically, it is a proven fact. Mathematically, it is the shortest distance, therefore takes the less time. The travel of a straight line is an absolute model of efficiency at its purest. Frederick Winslow Taylor could not have agreed more. Taylor was a firm believer in using science and raw data to determine the most efficient course of action. Guessing was not allowed. Through research and meticulous analysis, only then could a process be established, fully grounded in scientific fact. It is these principles that allowed Taylor to establish scientific management, a management theory used to improve productivity.
Frederick Taylor, known as the father of modern management, was born into an affluent Philadelphia family, and studied engineering at Steven’s Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Taylor began his career as an apprentice foreman and common laborer. He would quickly advance to chief engineer. His direct observations of men at work led him to develop what we would call "motivation" theory, although this is a psychology term that would not be imported into the management vocabulary until later.
Taylor called it scientific management. Taylor 's own point of view, although benign towards workers, saw human labor very much analogous to machine work--- something to be "engineered" to achieve efficiency. His theories on management are promoted worldwide (and maybe took stronger root in Japan than in the U.S. or Europe) and would be controversial at home. (mgmtguru.com)
In order to understand how Taylor’s scientific management revolutionized industry and helped shape modern organization, one needs to understand what came before him. The industrial revolution had been underway for nearly 100 years before Taylor took his first job as an engineer at Philadelphia’s Midvale Steel Company in the Fall of 1878. (Nelson, p. 29)
Most histories of the industrial revolution focus on
Frederick Taylor, known as the father of modern management, was born into an affluent Philadelphia family, and studied engineering at Steven’s Institute of Technology in New Jersey. Taylor began his career as an apprentice foreman and common laborer. He would quickly advance to chief engineer. His direct observations of men at work led him to develop what we would call "motivation" theory, although this is a psychology term that would not be imported into the management vocabulary until later.
Taylor called it scientific management. Taylor 's own point of view, although benign towards workers, saw human labor very much analogous to machine work--- something to be "engineered" to achieve efficiency. His theories on management are promoted worldwide (and maybe took stronger root in Japan than in the U.S. or Europe) and would be controversial at home. (mgmtguru.com)
In order to understand how Taylor’s scientific management revolutionized industry and helped shape modern organization, one needs to understand what came before him. The industrial revolution had been underway for nearly 100 years before Taylor took his first job as an engineer at Philadelphia’s Midvale Steel Company in the Fall of 1878. (Nelson, p. 29)
Most histories of the industrial revolution focus on
Cited: Kanigel, Robert. The One Best Way, Viking: New York, 1997. McKenna, Christopher D. (2006) The World’s Newest Profession—Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press Nelson, Daniel (1980) Frederick W Nixon, Frank (1962) Quality Achievements in Japan, The Statistician, Volume 12, Number 2 Schwartz-Cowan, Ruth (1997) A Social History of American Technology, New York, Oxford University Press Tsutsui, William M. (1998) Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth Century Japan, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. Tsutsui, William M. (2001) The Way of Efficiency: Ueno Yoichi and Scientific Management in Twentieth Century Japan, Modern Asian Studies, Volume 35 Number 2 Wrege, Charles D., Frederick W Wren, Daniel A. (1980) Scientific Management in the U.S.S.R., with Particular Reference to the Contribution of Walter N. Polakov, Academy of Management Review Volume 5 Number 1, January, 1980