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Recommended: applicability of scientific management theory

Introduction
As one of the founding fathers of Scientific Management Theory, Frederick Winslow Taylor’s concepts have seen a tremendous evolution of branching into minor concepts that have been developed over time by theorists and are even used today in many large management practices. In the first part of this essay, I will explore how the underlying theories and objectives have changed over time, whilst in the subsequent part, I will provide examples to present day global corporations who make use of Taylorist applications in their day to day production and management system to explain influence on contemporary organizational behaviour. Finally, the essay will come to a conclusion; as to whether these changes have been a force for good and whether they are directly down to the introduction of Taylorism at all.

Development of Taylorism in Organisational Management
Taylor’s Objectives in Industrial Practices
Frederick Winslow Taylor firmly believed that to increase production, industrial practices needed to excel in 3 main areas: the efficiency of workers, the standardization of tasks and the maintenance of hierarchal authority (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2013, p. 466). By improving the efficiency of the workers, Taylor ensured that the average worker used time management effectively and was maximising their level of output, ensuring full potential per worker. Workers were selected according to the skills they possessed which could be offered to the practice, rather than the amount of experience gained. For example, exceptionally talented workers were favoured over highly qualified workers who were trained by workers in the practice (Peaucelle, 2000, p. 455). Secondly, through predictability, tasks were divided into sub...

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...improving efficiency and productivity gains, rather than finding new methods. Hence, it may be discerned that these ‘developments’ could arguably only be further enhancements to Taylorist objectives rather than his actual theories.
Through the observation of contemporary workplace practices, it can be observed that Taylorism has influenced the practice in terms of its production system. Although some of these systems may appear rather as a direct branch of lean production, it must be remembered that lean production is an indirect development from Taylorism. Ultimately, Taylorism has branched into various segments that each relate to the individual objectives – each industrial practice explored in this essay appears to focus directly on influencing the key concepts of standardizing work, dividing work into sub tasks and ensuring a strong manager-worker relationship.

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