Scientific Management

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Scientific Management

This essay will critically evaluate the scientific management’s importance and its contribution in the current management context. In this era of rapid economic development and industrial expansion of different nations, scientific management has enabled every nation to be involved in this global market. Scientific management is the theory which serves as the ‘backbone’ to many current management theories. Scientific management will be briefly described initially. After that, the essay will identify why scientific management is an important contribution to management theory when Frederick Taylor proposed it. Finally, the essay will investigate why scientific management continues to be significant in this rapid changing business world.

According to Bartol, Tein, Matthews and Sharma (2008, p. 43), scientific management is one of the management approaches of classical viewpoint. Scientific management is an approach which emphasizes the scientific study of work methods to improve worker efficiency (Bartol et al, 2008, p. 43). Each process of the activities such as the manufacturing process is being sorted into smaller process and will be studied and research scientifically so that the process can be undergone efficiently in terms of saving time and reduce cost and wastage. Basically, scientific management is based on four main principles which are study of each task scientifically, selection of worker scientifically, cooperation with worker and division of work scientifically (Bartol et al, 2008, p. 43).

Each task is studied scientifically through various experiments and tests. The experiments are done to evaluate which ones are the best moves and solution so that the task can be done efficiently in the ...

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...ries, costs and time. Management methods being proposed by various theorists were mostly based on Taylor’s ideas. With the contribution of scientific management to the management theory, most of the countries being mentioned are still using Taylor’s management methods in various manufacturing and working performance.

References

Bartol, K., Tein, M., Matthews, G., Sharma, B. (2008), Management: a pacific-rim focus, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill, Australia

Caldari, K. (2007), ‘Alfred Marshall’s Critical Analysis of Scientific Management’, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 14(1), pp. 55-78

Witzel, M. (2005), ‘Where Scientific Management Went Awry’, European Business Forum, Spring2005, Iss. 21, pp. 89-91

Wren, D.A. (1994), ‘The Evolution of Management Thought’, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

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