The Key Elements of Frederick Taylor's Approach to Scientific Management - Coursework Example

Scientific Management Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Scientific management, also known as taylorism, is a concept of management that was developed and furthered by Fredrick Winslow Taylor, popularly known as the father of scientific management. He believed in a purely scientific approach in any decision making process of any managerial position (Taylor, 1998). He basically was in contrast with all the unscientific approaches based their decisions on traditional management practices. The essence of a scientific approach is to base decisions on facts that are fully proven, for instance, through research and experimenting. He did not believe in the rules of thumb, tradition, personal opinions or precedents. Neither did he believe that hearsay nor can guesswork do in management (Ritzer, 2008). The elements of his philosophies in the management process have been widely accepted and adopted in the contemporary management in modern organisations. Taylor’s major techniques and principles are still applied even in the 21st century. It is not hard for one to find various applications of scientific management in manufacturing or even industrial firms such as computer manufacturing plants or even in some of the restaurants where we take our food. Fredrick Taylor emphasized on obtaining maximum productivity form the individual workers which could be achieved only when the organisation is structured technically (Taylor, 1998). Providing monetary incentives would also motivate the workers to give the best output. He believed that there was the best working method that the workers could use to achieve maximum results, just like there exists the best machine for each available job. In doing this, the jobs are to be broken down in parts, and each component rearranged into the method of working that is most efficient (Ritzer, 2008). He also believed that motivation was a rationale of the economic needs of the organisation as well as that of the workers. According to him, workers are best motivated by high wages which will definitely result in high productivity. Thus, the key elements in Taylor’s approach to scientific management include: i. Developing a true science for the work of every person- according to him, science can be described as an organised knowledge. Therefore, the work of every man could be organised in arranged bits of knowledge thus reducing it to a science. This element necessitates the need for every organisation to know both the interests of the worker and that of the management body (Sheldrake, 2002). The essence is that the worker avoids unnecessary criticism from the employers while giving the management his/her maximum output. For instance in a hospital setting in the contemporary organisations, the nurses and doctors will treat the patients in the best ways possible if they are only able to work under minimal criticism from the employers. This motivates them both by providing a peaceful working environment as well as encouragement. This element, according to Fredrick Taylor, also constitutes what can be termed as a fair day’s work. It also requires scientific investigations where in circumstances that a large daily task is required to be achieved by the workers under optimum conditions. Such an investigation may be carried out by way of collecting necessary information and then using the data to determine the results which will be classified, tabulated or reduced into rules and regulations which will give the most appropriate and effective working methods or simply, “the best way of carrying out the job”. An organisation such as a hospital with such scientific developments is normally able to produce more, pay the workers higher and at the same time maximising on the profits of the company (Taylor, 1998). ii. A second element in Fredrick Taylors approach is the scientific selection of the workmen, followed by the subsequent training and the development of the workers at large. The selection must target only the workers who have the relevant physical and professional skills and the also possess the required intellectual qualities (Wankel, 2008). Lack of such scientific method of selection will lead to a body of quack workers in an organisation which will then have detrimental results on the performance of the services. For instance, a hospital with unqualified, ineffective and incompetent nurses and doctors will lead to poor treatment of the patients which will in turn lead to the deaths of many of the patients. As a principle of scientific management, the selection of a qualified group of the workers needs a deep and deliberate study of their nature, their aptitude and the levels of performance of the individual workers. This filtering out is very fundamental in helping the managers to find out which one of the workers is future possibilities of good performance at work and the limitations that may also accrue in the process of delivering their services. According to Taylor, each and every worker in any organisation has the future potential for positive development (Taylor, 1998). Thus every worker ought to be effectively and thoroughly trained in a systematic way so that these future possibilities of positive performance may surface. This being the case, an organization such as a hospital must train employees and in a way that they are to accept new technologies, methods and new working conditions willingly. iii. Thirdly, there is the element of bringing the workers together for cooperation so as to ensure that the work is carried out in the prescribed manner. This way, the accumulated science of each worker is pooled together in combined efforts in order to ensure maximum and quality output. Literally, any worker who has to do his job effectively without slipping back to the previous methods of working must have some source of inspiration (Wankel, 2008). According to Fredrick Taylor, the responsibility of inspiring the workers solely lay on the part of the management. He believed that workers are ever willing to cooperate with the management in the normal working conditions but opposition normally arises when the management does not provide any form of motivation (Ritzer, 2008). iv. The fourth principle in Fredrick Taylors approach in the process of scientific management is the work and responsibility subdivision. After all the above stages, the work is supposed to be subdivided equally or rather fairly among the workers. While the traditional management approach was of the view that the work ought to be born entirely by the worker while the management was to bear fewer responsibilities, Taylor asserted that both the workers and the management are supposed to bear equal responsibilities. The manager is required to take part in the work just as equally as the worker. This is a concept of fairness and equality. This helps in creating an environment that has a mutual understanding between the two parties (Sheldrake, 2002). As such, good cooperation and intimate relationships are maintained between the management and the workers under them. Consequently, the chances of strikes or conflicts are totally eliminated. In effect, the contemporary organisations still widely apply the principle of scientific management in their day to day activities (Sheldrake, 2002). For example in a hospital, when the roles are equally divided between the nurses, the doctors and the management, then the operation of the whole organisation will be a smooth flow. The nurses and the doctors are able to give the best service that the patients deserve while maintaining a healthy relationship with the management. In comment to its applicability in the modern contemporary organizations, Fredrick Taylor’s concepts of scientific management have been widely adopted and applied in the modern day management. Nearly, all the organizations today function due to the efficient application of the elements of scientific management mentioned above. Their working has become so common place and this is because of their convenience and successfulness in the working places (Ritzer, 2008). Since its development in the 20th century, it has largely been applied in various management aspects such as decision making process and planning as well. The full implementation of the concept, as has been observed, is applied for instance where the equipment workmen use the appropriate and correct scientific design for doing the task at hand, which ensures that the workers are neither overworked or underworked. Moreover, many works in today’s organizations are scientifically selected which is an advantage to the organisations since the workers end up being assigned tasks that fit their biological coping and also those that match with the skills that they are trained in. Additionally, most managers and employers in any modern organisation have found out that good labour is better done and maximum results achieved when the work and the responsibilities are subdivided equally and fairly between the workers and the management. The purpose of subdividing the work is to simply break it into smaller and simpler tasks by specifying the particular areas that are to be done and how they are to be carried into completion. In appraising the work of Fredrick Taylor years later, Ritzer (2008) observed that Mc Donald, a famous restaurant, had instructed its operators as to the necessity of precise cooking times for all the products, and setting the necessary temperatures for all the equipment. Furthermore, the workers were to specifically cut French fries at nine-thirty seconds thick. The grill men were further instructed to place the hamburgers down in the grill moving from left to right and creating six rows of six patties each (Wankel, 2008). This implies a scientific method of management applied in the contemporary organizations. Significantly, even the firms that apply the scientific method of management are referred to as the world’s most “meticulously organised organisations”. The concepts also provide a company with opportunities to achieve what is referred to as the economies of scale. However, the process is not perfectly effective despite is worldwide acceptance. It has received numerous criticisms from many other subsequent scholars. It has been criticised as producing workers which are highly specialized in that they sometimes have difficulties in adapting to arising situations (Sheldrake, 2002). It is therefore not completely visible in the modern day organisations. Nevertheless, it can be ascertained that the concept of scientific management adopted by Fredrick Taylor is indeed very much a part of the families of organizations in the 21st century. Its principles, which create very good work functions, are being employed widely in almost all industries and organizations. It gives a new outlook to the overall management process hence very applicable. References Dam, N. V., & Marcus, J. (2007). Organisation and management: an international approach. Groningen [etc.], Wolters-Noordhoff. p 33-35 Ritzer, G., & Ritzer, G. (2008). The McDonaldization of society 5. Los Angles, Calif, Pine Forge Press. Pg 238 Sheldrake, J. (2003). Management theory. Australia, Thomson. Pg 12-17 Taylor, F. W. (1998). The principles of scientific management. New York, Norton. (Re-published) pg23-27 Wankel, C. (2008). 21st century management a reference handbook. Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications. Available from http://0 galenet.galegroup.com.helin.uri.edu/servlet//eBooks?ste=22&docNum=CX2660099999&q=rwu_main. Read More