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8/13/2019 Week 2 - Taylorism and Scientific Management(1)
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Taylorism and Scientific
Management
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The leading advocate and systematiser of
what he called scientific management wasF.W.Tyalor (1865-1915).
He was an American engineer and aconsultant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfFJXVAepE
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfFJXVAepEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfFJXVAepEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfFJXVAepEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slfFJXVAepE8/13/2019 Week 2 - Taylorism and Scientific Management(1)
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Taylor bequeathed a clockwork of tasks
timed to the hundredth of a minute, ofstandardi[s]ed factories, machines, womenand men (Kanigel, 1997:7 in Thompson,2009:28).
A trend towards systematic management wasalready visible as most of the US firms hadgrown in size with internal functioning was
becoming increasingly chaotic and wasteful
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Taylor was not just in the right place at the righttime; he played a crucial role in theorisingand
popularisingthe new ideas (Thompson, 2009:29).
Therefore, Taylorism can be considered as themost conscious part of systematisation ofmanagement and regulation and control ofproduction
Taylorism encouraged a view of the industrialworker as an economic animal who could beencouraged to act as a self-seeking hired hand andwho would allow managers to do their job-relatedthinking for them (Watson, 2012:35).
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The core object of management is to securemaximum prosperity for the employer which inturn will lead to improved prosperity for theemployee
Everything that takes place in the company must
be in pursuit of these twin goals
Every single act of every workman can be reduced toa scienceTaylor
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Taylor carried out his main work and experimentsat the Midvale Steel Works (owned by a friend ofthe family) starting from late nineteenth century
His work was associated with unskilled labourer tomachinist, clerk, gang boss, foreman, mastermechanic, chief draughtsman and chief engineer
Experiments also were carried out in small numberof other firms
Also by the First World War a small number ofFrench and other European countries includingBritain
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Increased productivity
Increased profitability
Increased wages
8A Virtuous Cycle?
1.
2.
3.
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Taylors ideas were concerned with thecontrol of labour process and developingone best way of organising work.
His ideas were directed at addressing theissue of workers controlling the output(soldiering) observed at steel works Natural soldiering tendency of wanting to take it
easy Systematic soldiering practices purposefully
aimed at maximising rewards and job security
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2. The Scientific selection & training of workers.
The person is taught to do the job in exactly the
way devised by management
Management must find out which job is suited to
each employee & train them until they are first-class
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3. Equal division of work and responsibility
between management and workers, each sidedoing what is best fitted for.
Managers concern themselves with planning &supervision of work & workers carry it out
Managers must demonstrate that they are
subject to the same discipline as workers
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4. Co-operation between management andworkers to ensure that the work is done
according to the science
Its this process that causes the mentalrevolutionin management & the main resistanceto it will come from management
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Taylor was critical about management byinitiative and incentive where workers were
compensated for using their skills andknowledge in the most economical way,without strict managerial determination oftasks.
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Scientific management started from the beliefthat management had to reverse existingpower relations in production: Themanagement assumes, for instance, theburden of gathering together all of thetraditional knowledge which in the past hasbeen possessed by the workmen and then ofclassifying, tabulating, and reducing thisknowledge to rules, laws and formulae(Taylor, 1947:36 in Thompson, 2009:30).
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Taylors work can be located within the process ofbureaucratisation of production
Braverman (1974) makes it clear that Taylors workcan also be seen as a control system based on themonopolisation of knowledge by management andits use to specify each step of the labour process
Separation of conception from execution
all possible brainwork should be removed from the
shopfloor and centred in the planning department (Taylor, quoted in Braverman,1974:113).
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Organisational Behaviour assumption thatTaylorism as the model of economic man islargely misleading (Thompson, 2009).
Taylor also believed workers were motivated by thepursuit of rational self-interest and incentivewages
But
The tendency to restrict output was seen as an unnecessaryproduct of not having scientific authority over workstandards
Incentives as a means to overcome traditional work controlsby workers
However, this strategy proved to be limited and was nevereliminated controls of output by workers
Taylor was more concerned with breaking the power ofgroups and, collective bargaining through individualisticpayment systems
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Scientific management provided atechnocratic rationale for authority in formal
organisations Criticism is such that it was surprising that a
science of management was based onknowledge and skills appropriated from
workers Therefore, some argue it never was a science
but a control system
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Taylors death in 1915 opened up avenues formany others to introduce further versions ofscientific management
In its early years, Scientific Management split offinto pieces and parts in its application and newdisciplines. Taylors disciples such as Gantt and
Gilberths extended his theory
Therefore, above factors and externalenvironmental changes are witness that the
scientific management did not evolve in pure form
Altogether, they have colonised progressivethinking (Thompson, 2009:32).
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In sociological and managerial literature the
two conceptions appear as sharing similartiesand are linked
Henry Ford is significant for his innovationsin technical controls in assembly lines which
is an extension of Taylorism Further Fordism was focused on level of
intensity of labour and speed up of work
High wages for high productivity
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Lack of uniformity in application
Resistance from various groups
Led to strikes and informal work disruptions
Workers were against de-skillingand dehumanisation
Supervisory and managerial resistance
Means of managerial control Over-emphasised the division of labour
One-dimensional view of human nature- people are greedyrobots
Led to alienation Loss in skill level & autonomy of worker
The organisation becomes a machine & the worker a machine
part
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Managers plan & direct the work of others Individuals are economically motivated
Workers are inherently lazy & will only work if
the incentives are right
Workers should not thinkabout the jobthey work as directed by managers
There is one best-way- its the managers jobto find it
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Little doubt that S.M. led to increases inproductivity which in turn..
led to wage increases which in turn
Gave rise to mass consumption which in turn Created mass marketing & all of this.
Gave skilled labour a strong bargaining position
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In most texts, Taylorism sits hand-in-hand with Fordism -
there were links e.g.
technical control of the assembly line
Job fragmentation & greater work intensity
five dollar dayhigh wage for high productivity
Ford used semi-skilled (rather than unskilled workers) & had
own regimes in terms of flexibility & mass production
Both shared a naturalhostility to organised labour
Fordism depended more on the loyalty of the worker andoffered no room for worker participation and involvement
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Division of labour Specialisation
Standardisation
Rationality
Predictability
Calculability
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