Slide 2: Frederick Winslow Taylor – A Brief Introduction
- Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer.
- Known as the father of Scientific Management, he was a proponent of efficiency.
- His interest in efficiency led him to experiment
- with various motions that are useful for laying bricks
- with various elements of jobs to find out an optimal way of completing a job.
Slide 3: Principles of Scientific Management
- 'The Principles of Scientific Management' published in 1911 best described his belief that simplification and optimization of jobs would increase productivity and work efficiency to a great degree.
- His publication was meant to touch upon three points:
Slide 4: Principles of Scientific Managementcontd.
- Taylor's Principles of management are also famous as 'Taylorism'
- He believed that the principal objective of management is to secure maximum prosperity for the employer which should be accompanied by the maximum prosperity of the employees.
- Greatest prosperity for an employer is possible only when the men and machines of the organization are giving their maximum output.
Slide 5: What is Soldiering?
- Taylor stated that soldiering is a greatest obstacle to maximum productivity and efficiency of workmen.
- Worker soldiering suggests the practice of deliberately slowing down the process of work by the workers due to various reasons.
- Taylor believed that the elimination of soldiering and all the other factors contributing to the slow working process would "insure higher wages and make shorter working hours and better working and home conditions possible"
Slide 6: Causes of Soldiering
Taylor believed that there were three causes attributing to worker soldiering,
- Firstly, fallacious belief cherished by workers of his time working speedily and up to their best of abilities would deprive other people of their works.
- Secondly, faulty management system which didn't keep knowledge of the timing required for the completion of each job, thereby allowing workers to take advantage of the system and continue the process of soldiering.
- Thirdly, the rule-of-thumb methods are largely inefficient but due to the universal use of these methods in all trades, most of the workers waste their time and effort practicing these methods.
Slide 7: Four Principles of Scientific Management
Taylor stated four cardinal principles of scientific management to remove soldiering and increase efficiency and productivity of the workers:
- Development of a specific science for each job
- Scientific selection of workers and their progressive development
- Careful supervision by the management
- Equal distribution of responsibility between management and workers.
Slide 8: Four Principles of Scientific Managementcontd.
- His first principle explains that in order to overhaul the rule of thumb methods which lack precision, it is important that the management takes the initiative of planning the work in accordance with scientific laws by breaking a work into individual tasks and determining which steps are necessary and which is not.
- The second principle emphasizes the following two points:
- systematic division of labor among workers based on their individual capability and motivation and
- training of the workers by the management
Slide 9: Four Principles of Scientific Managementcontd.
- The third principle emphasizes careful supervision by the management to see that the jobs are executed in accordance with the scientific laws because workers unless properly monitored can fall back into old habits.
- The fourth principle asserts that the work responsibility should be divided between the managers and workers equally so that the management remains responsible for systematic planning of work procedures, selecting the right employees for right kind of jobs, training the employees and supervising their works.
Slide 10: Effects of Scientific Management
- The immediate result of scientific management could be felt in the cost cut of manufactured goods which increased the purchasing capability of customers.
- Scientific management caused increase in salaries.
- Machine show owners influenced by the scientific management started devising inventory tracking methods, routing slips and an array of techniques for organizing production to increase operational efficiency.
Slide 11: Effects of Scientific Managementcontd.
- The influence is also felt in the field of industrial management with many plants having installed elements of his scientific management such as time study methods, methods for better management of tools, machines, supervisors, workers and materials.
- The most crucial impact could be felt in the development of the discipline called industrial engineering which involves in its curriculum the key principles of scientific management including wage-incentive determination, time and motion studies and detailed production planning.
Slide 12: References
- Taylor, Frederick Winslow (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. Retrieved on 3rd September 2013 from <http://www.wissensnavigator.com/documents/taylorscientificmanagement.pdf>
- Backer, Patricia Ryaby (1998). Scientific Management. San José State University. Retrieved on 3rd September 2013 from <http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/scientific_mgt.htm>
- Montemurro, Victor A. Frederick Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management. St. John’s University. Retrieved on 3rd September 2013 from <http://www.cassie-memorial.org/sjuweb/Coursework%20Web/EDU%205571/PDF/Taylor/Taylor%20Essay.pdf>
- Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management. Retrieved on 3rd September 2013 from <http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_Taylor.htm>
- Frederick Winslow Taylor, Class of 1883. Stevens Institute of Technology. Retrieved on 3rd September 2013 from <http://archive.stevens.edu/ses/about_soe/history/frederick_winslow_taylor.html>
- Sophistication of Mass Production. Willamette University. Retrieved on 3rd September 2013 from <http://www.willamette.edu/~fthompso/MgmtCon/Scientific_Management.html>
