GS 336: WORK AND SOCIETY Lecture 17

4: CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF
WORK ORGANIZATION

Topic: Taylorism: Scientific Management

Objectives
 Scientific Management: Definition
 F. W. Taylor’s work and experiments
 Taylor’s Time-and-Motion Studies
 Taylor’s four principles of Scientific Management
 Taylor’s basic idea of Scientific Management
Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management
DEFINITION

It examines workflows to improve labor productivity,

management of business, industry, or economy, according
to the principles of efficiency derived from experiments in
the methods of work and production, especially from time-
and-motion studies.

 Scientific Management is focused on the management

of work and workers.

 In 1898, while working in Bethlehem Steel Industry,

Taylor observed the phenomenon of worker’s purposely
operating well below their capacity, that is, soldiering.
Taylor explained three causes of soldiering:

The most universally held belief among

workers that if they became more
productive, fewer of them would be needed
and jobs would be eliminated
Employees take great care never to work at a good
pace for fear that this faster pace would become the
new standard. If employees are paid by the quantity
they produce, they fear that management will
decrease their per-unit pay if the quantity increases.

Workers waste much of their effort by

relying on the rule-of-thumb method rather
than on optimal work methods that can be
determined by scientific study of the task.
Rule of Thumb vs Scientific Management
 Time and Motion Studies
Taylor argued that even the most basic, mindless tasks
could be planned in a way that dramatically would
increase productivity, and that scientific management of the
work was more effective than the ‘initiative and incentive’
method of motivating workers.

To scientifically determine the optimal way to

perform a job, Taylor performed experiments
that he called Time Studies (also know as time
and motion studies)

Taylor used stop watches to measure the workers efficiency

Example of Time-and-motion experiment
1. Replace rule-of-thumb methods with methods based on a
scientific study of the tasks

2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each worker rather than

passively leaving them to train themselves

3. Cooperate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically

developed methods are being followed

4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so

that the managers apply scientific management principles to
planning the work and the workers actually perform the task
 Basic Idea of Scientific Management

Develop a standard method for performing a job

Select workers with appropriate abilities for each job

Train workers in standard methods

Support workers by planning their work and eliminate interruptions

Provide wage incentives to workers for increased output

Contributions
Demonstrated the importance of
compensation for performance

Initiated the careful

study of tasks and jobs

Demonstrated the importance of

personal selection and training
 THANKS!
ANY QUESTIONS?