Frederick Taylor & Scientific Management
Frederick W. Taylor
Frederick W. Taylor is considered the father of Scientific Management.
Personal Perspectives on Taylor
As an experimenter, inventor, author, and broadcaster, Taylor conducted experiments, training, and challenged current thinking.
Characterization of Taylor
Taylor’s contributions include work analysis, standardization of tools, selection and training of workers, supervision and planning, and production payment.
Problems in Industry
Taylor identified issues such as systematic idleness of workers, ignorance, and a lack of uniformity in work techniques and methods among employees.
Objective of Scientific Management
The objective was to increase worker productivity through scientific analysis.
Principles of Scientific Management
- Develop a scientific method for each element of work.
- Establish a scientific process to select and train staff.
- Foster cooperation between management and workers.
- Divide labor so that workers are assigned roles based on their expertise.
The Meaning of “Principle”
A principle is a fundamental truth that provides understanding and guidance to thought and practice, explaining the relationship between knowledge and prediction.
Exception Principle: Everything that occurs in the normal area should not be a cause for concern.
Features of Scientific Management
- Science, rather than empiricism.
- Harmony, rather than discord.
- Cooperation, not individualism.
- Maximum production and ease of production.
- Development of each person to achieve maximum efficiency and prosperity.
Assumptions of Scientific Management
Scientific Management can be applied to analyze the problems of an organization.
Lyndall F. Urwick
Urwick affirmed Scientific Management, offering superior solutions to the alternatives, and therefore largely supported its validity, value, and certainty in scientific methodology.
Followers of Taylor
Henry Robinson Towne (1844-1924)
Towne was an innovator, especially in his attempts to improve piece-work systems. He advocated for an exchange of experiences among service managers from various companies under the direction of the ASME, thus presenting the data on which to base a science of administration.
Henry Lawrence Gantt (1861-1919)
Gantt met Taylor in 1887 at the Midvale Steel Co. and became a faithful disciple and collaborator. He focused on creating an environment that allowed for more worker cooperation. He established a system to pay premiums to workers, which he called “Gantt Tasks.” He also developed methods for training professional workers and techniques for planning and control graphics.
Frank Bunker Gilbreth (1868-1924)
His studies and experiments led him to identify 17 basic elements that could be applied in any action to reduce movement. He called these elements “THERBLIGS” (an anagram of Gilbreth). He assigned each element a symbol and color.
Other Contributors
Carl Barth, Harrington Emerson, Morris Cooke.
Early Ford Principles
Productivity, intensification, and economizing.
Evolution of Edwin Locke’s Ideas
Time and motion study, standardized tools and procedures, assigned tasks, bonuses, individualized work, responsibility of managers in training, and scientific selection.
Industrial Principles
Time study, motion study, standardization of tools, department planning, management by exception principle, instruction cards for workers, rules for calculating metal cutting, routing systems, methods for determining costs, selection of tasks, and incentives for completing tasks on time.