Introduction

Scientific management (also called Taylorism or the Taylor system) is a theory of

management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows, with the objective of
improving labor productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by
Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his
monographs, Shop Management (1905) and The Principles of Scientific
Management (1911). He began trying to discover a way for workers to increase
their efficiency when he was the foreperson at the Midvale Steele Company in
1875. Taylor believed that decisions based upon tradition and rules of thumb
should be replaced by precise procedures developed after careful study of an
individual at work. Its application is contingent on a high level of managerial control
over employee work practices.

Objectives of Scientific Management

The four objectives of management under scientific

management were as follows:

1. Study Each part of the task scientifically and develop a best method to perform it.

2. Carefully select workers and train them to perform a task usingthe scientifically
developed methode.

3. Co-operate fully with workers to ensure they use the proper methode.
4. Divide work and responsibility so management is responsible for planning work
methods using scientific principles and workers are responsible for executing the work
accordingly.

Summary of Frederick W Taylor’s Scientific

Management Theory
• Increasing specialisation and division of labour will make a process more
efficient.

• Systematically analyze the relationship between the worker and task and
redesign processes to ensure maximum efficiency e.g. use a bigger shovel so
more grain can be lifted with each action.

• Have written procedures for each task and ensure they are followed by
supervision and quality control.

• Get maximum prosperity for employer and employee alike by linking pay and
other rewards directly to work output.

• Select workers with the right skills and abilities for the specific task and
thoroughly train them to follow the procedures.

• Management and workers equally responsible for achievement of goals.

Contributions Of Scientific management

His framework for organization was:

* clear delineation of authority

* responsibility
* separation of planning from operations
* incentive schemes for workers
* management by exception
* task specialization
* Scientific approach to business management and process improvement
* Importance of compensation for performance
* Began the careful study of tasks and jobs
* Importance of selection criteria by management

Strengths of Scientific Management. Benefits

*One of the first formal divisions between workers and managers.
*Ontribution to efficient production methods, leading to a major global increase
of living standards
*Focus on the individual task and worker level. Compare: Business Process
Reengineering (process level)
*Direct reward mechanisms for workers rather than pointless end-of-year profit
sharing schemes.
*Systematic. Early proponent of quality standards.
*Suggestion schemes for workers, who should be rewarded by cash premiums.
*Emphasis on measuring. Measurement enables improvement.
*Pragmatic and useful in times and circumstances as described above.

Limitations of Scientific Management. Disadvantages

*Taylorism can easily be abused to exploit human beings. Conflicts with labor
unions.
*Not useful to deal with groups or teams.
*Leaves no room for individual preferences or initiative.
*Overemphasis on measuring. No attention for soft factors.
*Mechanistic. Treating people as machines.
*Separation of planning function and doing.
*Loss of skill level and autonomy at worker level. Not very useful in current
knowledge worker environments (except as an antithesis).