Taylorism and scientific management

Scientific Management or Taylorism is a theory associated with Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 –1915), who was considered to be the father of scientific management. His work laid the foundation of modern management theories. Taylor’s work was at its peak during the late 19^th century and the early 20^th century in the United States when he sought to increase the productivity of the factories by increasing their efficiency. He was one of the most influential and the most disparaged organizational theorist. By the time of his death in 1915, he was considered the “enemy of the workers”.

Taylorism is a set of ideas, developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, aimed to increase productivity by breaking down each task into smaller tasks, observing them, timing them, and redesigning the work that is better coordinated by creating the best way to accomplish the given task. Taylor called it scientific management and this process of rationalization and formalization of the work process came to be known as Taylorism.

Taylorism – Identification of the problem

At the age of 28, Taylor became the chief engineer at the Midvale Steel Company. He quickly realized that to manage workers effectively, he needed to know the technical aspect of the work and the psychological motivations of the workers. He believed the existing way of organizing work schedules was full of idleness and inefficient toil. Taylor observed that knowledge, rules, and procedures governing an organization were relatively unsystematic. He also observed that management allowed each worker to perform the task differently based on previous practices and individual methods of work. Neither the management nor the workers knew the best method to reduce bodily strains and maximize efficiency. He further observed that workers had more knowledge of tools, methods, and materials compared to the management. He believed this was the key, as workers used this knowledge to control the pace of their work.

Taylor’s – Assumptions

He also believed that workers were lazy and tried to avoid work. He argued that there is natural soldiering and systematic soldiering. Natural soldiering is the inborn human behavior to avoid work or the inclination toward laziness. Systematic soldiering, he believed, was the result of an ill-designed workplace that allowed workers to conceive their jobs and hence control their own pace of work. Besides, he observed that small workgroups also used peer-pressure to control work pace leading to the restriction of output. Workers, on the other hand, adopted such practices because they feared that if they start working too hard, managers will require them to work at that rate all the time (benchmarking – the process of identifying and learning from the best business practices in the company, an industry, or the world), without any substantial rise in pay, also referred to as rate-cutting.

Taylor was determined to get rid of the restriction of output and remove worker resistance to management control and pace of work. His key insight was that if a worker works alone, the problem of discipline is only that of self-discipline. But when workers work in groups, the problem of discipline becomes a problem of control. That is, ensuring others do what you want them to do. Additionally, since workers had more knowledge of the work process they controlled the pace of the work.

Taylor’s – Strategy

Taylor’s first goal was to gain control of the knowledge of the work process and hence the ability to control the pace of the work. His second goal was to associate a worker’s work pace with rewards and punishment. That is, when there was no incentive for workers to work at a faster pace or no punishment for working at a slower rate, management had very little control over the work pace. His third goal was making sure workers have individual responsibility. With these goals in mind, he started conducting “scientific” experiments to determine the most efficient ways to perform a task that increases output. He meticulously monitored each task, watched, timed, and recorded (figure below).

He analyzed and measure workers’ movement and their tasks to determine how the task can be broken down into simpler parts to increase efficiency.

Subdivision of task — An illustration of the minuteness of this subdivision of task (Taylor, 1903. p. 86)

He then developed the best way to accomplish each task. He developed detailed rules and enforcement methods. He proposed a distinctive system of incentive management that included financial and non-financial rewards. He argued that these incentives should not be provided to all the workers uniformly. Rather they should be based on work contributions and skill development. That way management can “condition the employee” and resolve soldiering. He called it the principles of scientific management.

Principles of scientific management

Management will develop the science of each element of work (to identify and introduce the best way of accomplishing a task)
Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the workers.
Cooperation between workers and management to ensure work is done per the method developed.
Division of labor and responsibility where management is responsible for planning and workers are responsible for the implementation of the work plan.

Scientific management resulted in the establishment of many rules, laws, and formulae that replaced the judgment of individual workers. These rules and laws could be effectively used only after having been systematically recorded and indexed. Practical use of these management techniques called for book and record-keeping and a desk for the planner to work at (Taylor, 1911, p. 38). In short, all the responsibility of the work organization was shifted to the manager. Managers should do all the thinking relating to the planning and design of the work. Workers should only be responsible for implementation. So, the work is planned in advance for the full day for each worker by the management, describing what is to be done, how it is to be done, and the precise time allowed for doing it.

Handling resistance

Taylor anticipated that workers might not agree with these methods of work. So, he suggested dividing the workforce and bargaining with workers individually. Additionally, he suggested, management can monitor workers’ performance and tie it up with a reward/punishment system. He saw this as the solution to restricted output by avoiding negative group influence where the worker would have an incentive to break the peer pressure of performing at a low level and exceed the output target. He called this, ‘a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work’.

Taylor believed that higher productivity will allow managers to pay high wages while lowering production costs. He believed that by adopting scientific management principles, workers will work “smarter” and not “harder”. Taylor’s work inspired the international efficiency movement. Henry Ford extended Taylor’s model by adopting it for assembly line manufacturing.

Taylor’s Legacy

Several scholars throughout the 20^th century have called Taylorism morally indefensible. Many believed Taylor’s principles to be subservient, dangerous, and lead to the erosion of trust between management and workers. His work is seen as mechanizing and dehumanizing work performance and entertaining a rather dark, mechanistic image of human nature. Workers’ discontent with scientific management led to many strikes as for the most part scientific management was used for speeding-up production and cutting wages. This led to the US Congress (1912) asking Taylor to testify about his program of scientific management. Despite a lot of criticism of Taylorism, it has become the bedrock of the modern capitalist economy as it sedimented deep inside organizations. Management concepts like management by objective (MBO), total quality management (TQM), business process re-engineering (BPR), or just-in-time (JIT) management are all in line with Taylor’s ideas. Today quantifying worker’s inputs and outputs for evaluation and control can be seen everywhere. Numerous manufacturing firms, retail organizations, and offices have adopted Taylorist work principles, where the work is often organized and managed to the minutest details.

Taylorism on ABC World Report

Bibliography

Handel, M. J. (2003). The sociology of organizations: Classic, contemporary, and critical readings. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Morgan, G. (2006). Images of organization (Updated ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Taylor, F. W. (1903). Shop management. New York, London,: Harper & Brothers.

Taylor, F. W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. New York, London,: Harper & Brothers.

Taylor, F. W. (1947). Scientific management, comprising shop management: The principles of scientific management [and] Testimony before the special House committee. New York,: Harper.

Taylor, F. W., Taylor, F. W., & Taylor, F. W. (2003). The early sociology of management and organizations: Volume I. New York: Taylor & Francis.