F.W. Taylor and the scientific management
F. W. Taylor was born in 1856 and died
in 1917. His influence over the twentieth-century world has been massive. Much
business practice in America, Europe, Japan and the former government countries
is still rooted in his writing.
A recent biography of Taylor is titled ‘the one best way’. This sum up neatly Taylor’s approach to decide exactly how every task should be completed, then to devise the tools needed to enable the worker to achieve the task as efficiently as possible. The method is evident today for every McDonald’s in the world.
Taylor believed that people work for only one reason and that is money. He saw it as the task of the manager to devise a system that would maximise efficiency. This would generate the profit to enable worker to be paid a higher wage. Taylor’s view of human nature was that of ‘economic man’. In other words people were motivated only by the economic motive of self-interest. Therefore a manager could best motivate a worker by offering an incentive (a ‘carrot’) or a threat (the ‘stick’). Taylor can be seen as a manipulator, or even a bully, but he believed his methods were the best interest of the employee themselves.
Taylor's influence stemmed less from his theories than his activities. He was trained engineer who acted as a very early management consultant. His methods were as follows:
A recent biography of Taylor is titled ‘the one best way’. This sum up neatly Taylor’s approach to decide exactly how every task should be completed, then to devise the tools needed to enable the worker to achieve the task as efficiently as possible. The method is evident today for every McDonald’s in the world.
Taylor believed that people work for only one reason and that is money. He saw it as the task of the manager to devise a system that would maximise efficiency. This would generate the profit to enable worker to be paid a higher wage. Taylor’s view of human nature was that of ‘economic man’. In other words people were motivated only by the economic motive of self-interest. Therefore a manager could best motivate a worker by offering an incentive (a ‘carrot’) or a threat (the ‘stick’). Taylor can be seen as a manipulator, or even a bully, but he believed his methods were the best interest of the employee themselves.
Taylor's influence stemmed less from his theories than his activities. He was trained engineer who acted as a very early management consultant. His methods were as follows:
- Observe workers at work, recording and timing what they do, when they do it and how long they take over it (this became known as time and motion study).
- Identify the most efficient workers and see how they achieve greater efficiency.
- Break the task down into smaller component parts that can be done quickly and repeatedly.
- Devise equipment specifically to speed up tasks.
- Set out exactly how the work should be done in future.
- Devise a pay scheme to reward those who complete or beat tough targets, but penalise those who canno0t or will not achieve the productivity. Taylor believed was possible; this pay scheme was called piece rate-no work, no pay.