Frederick Winslow Taylor's Observations on Industrial Efficiency

Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management

• Frederick Taylor, a mechanical engineer, worked at Midvale and Bethlehem Steel Companies in Pennsylvania and was appalled by workers' inefficiencies.
• He believed that worker output was only about one-third of what was possible due to the lack of work standards and mismatch between workers' abilities and tasks.
• Taylor developed four principles of management to improve production efficiency:
  • Develop a science for each element of an individual's work to replace the old rule-of-thumb method.
  • Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the worker.
  • Heartily cooperate with the workers to ensure all work is done according to the developed science.
  • Divide work and responsibility almost equally between management and workers.

The Role of Intuition

• Intuitive decision making involves making decisions based on experience, feelings, and accumulated judgment.
• Types of intuitive decision making include:
  • Experience-based decisions
  • Affect-initiated decisions (based on feelings or emotions)
  • Cognitive-based decisions (based on skills, knowledge, and training)
  • Values or ethics-based decisions (based on ethical values or culture)
  • Subconscious mental processing (using data from the subconscious mind)

The Role of Evidence-Based Management

• Evidence-based management involves the systematic use of the best available evidence to improve management practice.
• Four essential elements of EBMgt are:
  • Decision maker's expertise and judgment
  • External evidence that's been evaluated by the decision maker
  • Opinions, preferences, and values of those who have a stake in the decision
  • Relevant organizational (internal) factors

Dimensions of Decision-Making Styles

• Ways of thinking: decision makers may use different thinking styles, such as analytical or intuitive.
• Tolerance for ambiguity: decision makers may have different levels of comfort with uncertainty and ambiguity.

Types of Decision Makers

• Directive: use minimal information and consider few alternatives.
• Analytic: make careful decisions in unique situations.
• Conceptual: maintain a broad outlook and consider many alternatives in making long-term decisions.
• Behavioral: avoid conflict by working well with others and being receptive to suggestions.

Effective Decision Making

• Decision making is a crucial aspect of business, often involving risk and incomplete information.
• Guidelines for effective decision making include:
  • Provides direction
  • Reduces uncertainty
  • Minimizes waste and redundancy
  • Sets the standards for controlling

Planning and Performance

• Formal planning is associated with higher performance.
• The quality of planning and implementation affects performance more than the extent of planning.
• The external environment can reduce the impact of planning on performance.

Elements of Planning

• Goals (Objectives): desired outcomes for individuals, groups, or entire organizations.
• Plans: documents that outline how goals are to be accomplished.

Types of Goals

• Financial Goals: related to the expected internal financial performance of the organization.
• Strategic Goals: related to the performance of the firm relative to factors in its external environment.
• Stated Goals versus Real Goals: official statements of the organization may not reflect its real goals.

Characteristics of Well-Designed Goals

• Written in terms of outcomes, not actions.
• Focuses on the ends, not the means.
• Measurable and quantifiable.
• Specifically defines how the outcome is to be measured and how much is expected.
• Clear as to time frame.
• Challenging but attainable.
• Written down.
• Communicated to all.

Steps in Goal Setting

• Inventory control: an important part of a production process.
• Two important types of inventory: perpetual inventory and vendor-managed inventory.
• Just-in-time systems: allow managers to reduce the amount of inventory on hand.
• Materials Requirement Planning: aids in managing the purchase and planning of materials required for production.
• Controlling the Production Process:
  • Production planning determines the amount of resources needed.
  • Routing determines the sequence of work.
  • Timetables specify how long each operation takes.
  • Dispatching and follow-up are steps in the production control process.

Gantt Chart and PERT Diagram

• Gantt Charts: track projected and actual work.
• PERT Diagrams: outline a critical path to identify the sequence of operations with the longest time for completion.

Importance of Quality

• Quality is the goal of a good production process.
• Lack of quality can cost a company revenue.
• All companies must measure and control quality.
• Six Sigma: a concept to reduce the number of defective products.
• ISO Standards: a set of global quality standards that promote the development of standardized products.

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Taylor's observations on workers' inefficiencies and lack of standardization in industrial settings, leading to the development of scientific management principles.