Scientific Management

Abstract

Scientific management is a management technique developed during the later stages of the industrial period, which focuses on systematising the work processes and quantifying the results.

Historical context

Scientific Management was created by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the last decades of the 19th century. This was a time of great industrial development in The United States when she was beginning to catch up to the production of the British Empire. Unlike today where most of society's value is created from service and more abstract sources, this is a period characterised by the development of the modern factories, with a clear division of labour, production quotas, and machinery controlled manually.

Principles

The four core principles of Scientific Management are:

1) That all aspects of the work be analysed critically and quantitively.

2) That workers be assigned the jobs that fit them the best.

3) That workers and manager corporate to maximise efficiency. Managers focus on managing, which includes the supervision of workers and results. It is the manager's job to make sure that the work is being done in the most efficient manner at all times.

4) Managers and workers work scientifically in their respective field, so that there is a clear division of labour. (1) (2)

Examples of practice

Soviet Union?

American factories?

China?

Modern examples?

Criticism

Too rigid and arbitrary. Difficult to use outside of factories (i.e. service)

References

(1) The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) by Frederick Winslow Taylor // (2) https://www.mindtools.com/anx8725/frederick-taylor-and-scientific-management