In the history of management thinking, there are many ways to manage an organization, such as scientific management and administrative management. This essay will discuss the notion that scientific management was a ‘good’ idea in the history of management thinking, by looking at the historical backgrounds and political beliefs of economist, also how the develop management theory by conducting experiments, and how their theories made it into the managing business does and how do they work. First of all, what is management itself? Management as explained in the Organizational Behaviour book, is a set of activities such as planning, decision making, organizing, leading and controlling the organization’s resources including human, financial, physical, and information. In order for high performance result, achieving organizational goals efficiently and effectively. (Wood et al, 2006. pp12-13)
This essay would focus on the scientific management theories; it is where the concept of job specialization and division of labour are born, during that time it was the days of industrial era. The business was expanding, yet the productivity was labour intensive since technology was not much help at that time. Thus managers must find a way to improve the performance of individual workers, and that; the scientific management theory was created.
The history of scientific management closely related with Fredrick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915), known as the father of scientific management. Other than Taylor, there are other four renowned economist; Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and Henry Ford. Each manager has their own way of scientific managing, Taylor who is considered to be the father of scientific management, as explained in the book prepared by...
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...rove output production and efficiency of an organization.
We could see this specialization everywhere in a workplace, the easiest way to create an example of this in department store; everyone has their own task, the cashier work on the cashier machine, the customer service work on helping visitors and pointing out information. Also in the restaurant, in the kitchen itself, there different task done by different people, the high chef manage the other workers and guiding them with the cooking recipe, then they have other workers who would just do one task such as boiling, frying, cutting, and then the waitress deliver the food. Those are few examples of specialization in the line of work we see today. With that fact, it is clear that scientific management was a good idea in the history of management, providing ways in organizations to achieve more productivity.
Compare and contrast the management theories of Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, Elton Mayo and Douglas McGregor. In what sense(s) are these theories similar and/or compatible? In what sense(s) are these theories dissimilar and/or incompatible? How would a contingency theorist reconcile the points of dissimilarity and/or incompatibility between these approaches?
Taylor, Frederick Winslow (1911), The Principles of Scientific Management, New York, NY, USA and London, UK: Harper & Brothers
Fordism and Scientific Management are terms used to describe management that had application to practical situations with extremely dramatic effects. Fordism takes its name from the mass production units of Henry Ford, and is identified by an involved technical division of labour within companies and their production units. Other characteristics of Fordism include strong hierarchical control, with workers in a production line often restricted to the one single task, usually specialised and unskilled. Scientific management, on the other hand, "originated" through Fredrick Winslow Taylor in 1911, and in very basic terms described the one best way work could be done and that the best way to improve output was to improve the techniques or methods used by the workers. (Robbins p.38)
The development of a true science of management, so that the best method for performing each task could be determined.
Today’s era of business world adapts to everything new but these modern concepts are an indirect tribute to the theories produced by Taylor, Fayol, Mayo and Weber. Taylor’s Scientific management theory is one such example which has become such an important aspects of modern management that it feels unbelievable that his concepts were a part of the history. It is falsely assumed that as the society progresses, the older theories tend to lose their importance. The thing to be noted here is that these theories are based on basic human needs which do not change with time; the thing that changes is the method to fulfil those needs. Investigating earlier management theories is important because these theories are less complex and provide immediate solution to the problems. These theories basically help us to go to the root of the problem and understand its complexity. The better understanding we have about the problem, the easier it is to accomplish the objectives of the company. The following essay states the importance of the Taylor’s Scientific management theory and how it is implemented even today in the business world.
Scientific management is a way that an organisation regulates its staff within a workplace. The theory behind this is accomplished by selecting the ‘best person for the best role’, who will undertake the training to train each worker to do a ‘specific role the right way’ (Frederick Taylor). This extracts the responsibility from the employee whilst handing over executive decisions to the employer to make strategic decisions. Frederick Taylor required the managers to set the tasks for the employees in advance and that each task was to be detailed to each employee, to be done in a certain way and completed in an exact time no less. Management, D. Boddy, pg. 44.
In the article entitled “The Human Side of Enterprise” by Douglas Murray McGregor , McGregor stated that industry has fundamental know how to utilize physical and technology science. The conventional view of management consisted of three propositions which are called Theory X (Shafritz & Hyde,2012).
The major change came through the work of Fredrick Winslow Taylor and his theory of scientific management system. It was not that Taylor was unique or completely new; only time and motion study could be put in that category. The trend was already moving towards systematic management such as formal management methods or by cost ...
The evolution of management though the decades can be divided into two major sections. One of the sections is the classical approach. Under the classical approach efficiency and productivity became a critical concern of the managers at the turn of the 20th century. One of the approaches from the classical time period were systematic management which placed more emphasis on internal operations because managers were concerned with meeting the growth in demand brought on by the Industrial revolution. As a result managers became more concerned with physical things than towards the people therefore systematic management failed to lead to production efficiency. This became apparent to an engineer named Frederick Taylor who was the father of Scientific Management. Scientific Management was identified by four principles for which management should develop the best way to do a job, determine the optimum work pace, train people to do the job properly, and reward successful performance by using an incentive pay system. Scientifi...
There are several theories that examine an organization and it’s approach to managing work in an effort to develop efficiency and increase production. Two classical approaches to management are Taylor’s scientific management theory and Weber's bureaucratic management theory. Both men are considered pioneers of in the study of management.
The second approach of the Top-Down is identified as Job Enlargement. First used in the 1940s as a complaint of work done through the usage of the Scientific Management. This approach involves adding variety to the different jobs by combining specialized tasks with a hint of difficulty. Job Enlargement should work as an addition to other motivational methods, because by itself it has no positive effect on job performance.
In the past, managers considered workers as machinery that could be bought and sold easily. To increase production, workers were subjected to long hours, miserable wages and undesirable working conditions. The welfare of the workers and their need were disregarded. The early twentieth century brought about a change in management and scientific management was introduced. This sort of management, started by Frederick Winslow Taylor, emphasised that the best way to increase the volume of output was to have workers specializing in specific tasks just like how a certain machine would perform a particular function. His implementation of this theory brought about tremendous criticism by the masses arguing that the fundamentals of Scientific Management were to exploit employees rather than to benefit them (Mullins, 2005)
Taylor, Frederick Winslow (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. New York, NY, US and London, UK: Harper & Brothers. Print. 8 Feb. 2014.
Scientific Management theory arose from the need to increase productivity in the U.S.A. especially, where skilled labor was in short supply at the beginning of the twentieth century. The only way to expand productivity was to raise the efficiency of workers.
Frederick Taylor and Henri Fayol are both considered classical contributors to management theory. Both were developing and expression their viewpoints at similar time period with the aim of “raising standard of management in industry” (Brodie,1967, p7) in a period were very few publications and theories on management. While both theories were developed with the same influencing factors such as war, social struggles and industrial revolution (Urwick. 1951, p7) each developed quite different management theories. Frederick Taylor is considered the Father of Scientific management and he developed scientific principles of management, focusing on the individual,...