Scientific Management & Frederick Taylor

Scientific Management

• Scientific management emerged in the early 20th century thanks to Frederick W. Taylor.
• Its main focus is on streamlining tasks, applying scientific methods to administrative issues to boost industrial efficiency.

Taylor's Impact

• Taylor is seen as the father of modern management theory.
• Modern management theory had many followers, sparking a revolution in the industry, reducing waste, and increasing productivity through engineering techniques.

Taylor's Early Work

• Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) was born in Philadelphia, USA.
• He came from a Quaker family.
• He was raised with strict discipline and dedication to work and savings.
• Taylor began at Midvale Steel Co., quickly becoming a foreman and then a shop manager.
• He completed the Stevens Institute and stayed there.
• Piece-rate wages were common at this time.
• Employers maximized task prices to profit, while laborers slowed to match wages.
• Taylor is prompted to research production to find a mutually acceptable solution for labor relations.

First Phase

• Taylor's early work is marked by his book "Shop Management" (1903), focused on streamlining work through time and motion studies.
• Taylor worked with laborers, analyzed tasks to improve processes.
• According to Taylor, the average employee doesn't produce to their full potential with existing equipment.
• Taylor concluded that higher-producing workers will conform with their lower producing colleagues, which decreases production rates.
• Taylor suggests that high producers should obtain high salaries to incentivize good work.

Shop Management Principles

• One objective of management is to cut per-unit production costs and increase salaries.
• Management invests in scientific research and experimentation to fulfill objectives.

Standardized Operations

• Principles are formulated and processes are standardized.

Scientific Employee Selection

• Employees are chosen scientifically and placed appropriately.

Scientific Training

• Employees get training to hone skills and do routine tasks.

Cooperation

• Collaboration between laborers and management is essential.

Cartesian Method

• Taylor used technology to improve manual labor, in manual operations, Taylor uses production planning like when constructing machines during the 1800s.
• Taylor breaks down each job to optimize movements.
• The manual labor always considered natural receives attention.

Second Phase

• Taylor releases his book "Principles of Scientific Management" (1911) concluding that worker rationalization needs to be coupled with a general structure that integrates company principles.
• Taylor develops management as "scientific management".

Company Issues

• According to Taylor, 3 issues plagued businesses at the time:
  • Systematic laziness lowered output to 1/3 of normal to prevent pay cuts.
  • Management's ignorance of procedures and timelines.
  • Uniformity lacks in tactics and methods.

Scientific Management Solutions

• Scientific management is an alternative to worker laziness.
• 75% of elements are analysis and 25% are common sense.
• Taylor says deployment should span 4-5 years to avoid employee discontent.
• Scientific management blends science with harmony, teamwork, maximal output, and individual development.

Efficiency

• Taylor noticed that employees were lazy or negligent, an education system was developed to intensify work and reduce inefficiencies.
• Taylor took an idea to maximize Thermo N. Carnot efficiency which was elemental tasks can increase production.

Scientific Approach

• Taylor says organization and administration must be treated scientifically, supplanting improvisation and science for empiricism.
• Taylor contributed a systematic method of studying organization.
• Taylor was the first to assess labor thoroughly, setting performance standards, train workers, and establishing a planning section, espousing a systematic method of evaluating and organizing the fundamental unit of labor.
• Taylor wanted to apply scientific management to production by standardizing equipment, processes, and incentives.
• Taylor's followers focused more on procedures and not his philosophy that includes requiring mental upheaval from director and laborers.
• Administration's primary goals involve assuring maximal company prosperity as well as workers.
• The prosperity of both employers and workers is a key management tenet.
• A correlation in interest between employees and employers is essential.

Rational Organization of Work

• Taylor realized laborers watch colleagues do tasks to try to do it themselves.
• Workers may use varied instruments and strategies to do the very same tasks.
• Some strategies and equipments are quicker.
• Scientific assessments and careful study of movement can enhance approaches and equipment.
• Scientific procedures were suggested in place of labor's judgment.

Manager Responsibilities

• Taylor thinks employees don't have the skill to analyze and streamline work.
• Supervisors formerly stimulated initiative.
• Management now handles planning and direction.

Division Of Labor Analysis

• Time/motion studies were basic tools to assess laborers by breaking down process into simple steps.
• Elimination of surplus movements alongside rationalizing tools reduced time and effort.
• The procedure of splitting movements improved economics.

Time Study Advantages

• Eliminating wasted motions
• Streamlining personnel choices
• Improving labor training
• Distribution of workload
• Defining job methods
• Facilitating fairer wages

Frank B. Gilbreth

• Frank B. Gilbreth was interested in productivity, introducing administrative strategies.
• He concluded manual jobs are minimized to critical steps called "therblig".

Efficiency Definition

• Work analysis should identify the ideal way to complete tasks, defined as the proper use of resources, means, and production.
• Equation E=P/R describes the balance of output vs utilization.
• Optimal labor processes become criteria in rational workplace culture.

Human Fatigue Study

• Fatigue reduces efficiency.
• Gilbreth explored worker tiredness’ effects on output.
• Fatigue causes lower quality work, more time wasted, high staff turnover, sickness, while leading to accidents.
• To reduce labor fatigue, Gilbreth presented three motion economy ideas:
  • Human body concerns
  • Workplace layout
  • Equipment performance

Motion Rationalization

• Rationalizing movements eliminates fatigue, unrelated motions, and labor fatiguing operations.

Operations Analysis

• Study of times and operations restructures operations to eliminate unnecessary moves and save resources.
• The result is labor is split into productivity segments.
• Every worker specializes, conforming to methods.

Job and Task Design

• Scientific management seeks to define roles and tasks rationally.
• Early proponents of scientific management defined the 'Task' which is activities workers performed.
• Role is the whole of regularly undertaken cyclical assignments
• According to Role, positions are designed by naming processes to adopt.

Minimizing Complexity

• Creating easy and straightforward job descriptions enhances efficiency.
• The American engineer rationalized tasks to achieve specialization.
• Jobs and activities are developed to be automated.
• Supervisors also monitor it.

Advantages

• Reduced pay and criteria
• Reduced teaching costs
• Decreased defects
• Smooth oversight
• Improved efficiency

Incentives

• Taylor advocated performance-based pay.
• Taylor sought employees to cooperate within time limits. The strategy was centered on production pay and incentives.

Standard Time

• Workers who achieve standard pace earn pay each piece created. If above limit, incomes rise.

Economic Concept

• Taylor promoted incentive schemes to promote companies that can lower cost and increase production.

Man's nature

• A limited view of human nature perceived workers as sluggish and in need of regulation and standards.

Atmosphere

• Efficiency relies upon a comfortable ambiance to boost working habits:
  • Improved instruments
  • Layouts and traffic flow are critical.
  • Ventilation
  • Lighting

Standardizing Methods

• Workplace innovation seeks not just analysis of labor and its related factors, such as movements or fatigue, instead of concentrating on standardized processes.

Standard Measure

• It is the adoption measure and is embraced by society.
• Uniformity and price reduction via scientific administration.
• Exception handling which reduces variance.

Functional Supervision

• Worker expertise must be partnered by supervision from specialists.
• However, Taylor recommended various experts should have control and not centralization.
• To Taylor the most important managerial aspects to make is with an orderly method.

Management Hierarchy

• In functional control, management is allocated instead the leader distributes instruction, and delivers commands.

Task Productivity

• Management must be capable while maintaining a minimum of 7,000 produced each season, however the competitors maintain roughly 10,000 each season. What is necessary to make this happen?

Scientific Administration Principles

• Engineers seek to streamline and standardize.
• A guiding belief that such laws may pertain to any circumstance may arise.

Taolyr's Four Manager Principles

- The job must adhere to science-based concepts and individual experience.
- Scientifically recruit personnel based on aptitude.
- Manage staff efficiency.
- Implementation with accountability. 

Emerson's Efficiency

• Drawing a plan of action depending on goals are most helpful.
  • Commonsense
  • Disciplane
  • Fair agreements
  • Accurate record keeping
  • Equitable pay
  • Standardized workflow
• Emerson advocated targeting plans just as Peter Drucker in the 1960s presented.

Ford's Production

• Henry Ford's production was probably the most well-known production engineer in history
• He implemented mass manufacturing:
  • Faster manufacturing via use of materials to provide product quickly.
  • Minimizing stock in progress since payments to company were already covered.

Ford Core Principles

- Output must be increased with the same period.
- Raised employee output as a whole.

Work Breakdown

• Time and motion tests are used and remove pointless moves.
• Laborers have to prevent loss of electricity.
• Companies are designed with the aid of machines, however this neglects one primary trait.
• Some think the firm's structure and guidelines can become too complex.
• To identify whether a measure that deviates from normality, must find the correct answers.

Efficiency as a Goal

• Productivity and labor were based on the idea that familiarity, rather than manual ability that makes tasks efficient.
• The thought that output demands separation from organizing was essential to creation. A considerable growth is required in educated workers. Shifting work onto intellect instead of physique was central.

Management Critiques

• The narrowness of views from some professionals which will then devalue output, resulting often in staff burnout.
• The automation of processes was responsible automation rather than spontaneity.
• The process of simplifying work resulted productivity fatigue and fewer positions overall.
• A key aspect had been oversight. While oversight was required to help the system keep in check regarding expectations. The primary reason that administration was designed was on certain negative opinions. Many thought it would be best to follow with the idea.

Organization Theories

• Mechanistic.
• Narrow view.
• Microscopic to disregard individuals.
• Neglected validation of science.
• To simplify and become routine.
• Was closed off.

Mandates/Controllers

• Management performs under oversight the personnel.
• The processes and tasks should have one method only.
• To be secure rather to be safe workers obtain little incentive and the company remains on the side of security.

Standard Measure - Measure Productivity

• This led to increasing productivity by generating what may be achieved.

Model of a "good boss"

• Some consider this boss to create an environment, making productivity more human.

Classic Theory's Origins

• In 1916 the classic Management theory took hold in Europe which had roots in France:
  • If scientific management is based on what factory workers perform, the classic theory emphasizes its structure.
  • Both find corporate output very successful. For this to happen the workplace had to be set to what they provide.

Fayol's Workplace Functions

• Technical - creates products or services.
• Commercial – acquires sells.
• Financial – receives assets.
• Security - provides safegaurding.
• Accounting - keeps track.
• Managerial – incorporates

Basic Workplace Tasks

None of the original 5 duties managed the plan of action, instead the administration now manages the task’s function through organizing. The five include:

1. To consider
2. To arrange
3. To steer
4. To synchronize
5. To regulate

Tasks of the management staff may often be located on any place in the organization.

Functions Are Proportionate

• As opposed to being top heavy, Fayol said roles must be divided among all levels instead.

Fayol

Fayol established to manage the task through anticipating processes including:

• Prepare
• Order
• Direct
• Control

Principles

• Separate into activities
• All together people have the same authority to hold responsibility.
• Control measures is essential to the organization, its energy, and respect to create.
• Single control with control of all commands

Fayol's 14 Principles

5. One chief, one project may have a sole intention to adhere to this authority.
6. All the time the most excellent plans take priority over other priorities.
7. Staff payment which is fair to the person.
8. Control which is to have those with full power.
9. Ascend an employee has a right to go ahead.
10. To have a place to find everything it is.
11. Be friendly
12. Be firm
13. Have initiative
14. Work team

Criticisms of Class Theory

• Classical theory does not have room for innovation and creativity.
• The idea is that workers will only work so hard which made a system. The idea didn't evolve even when there were different opinions.