Thoughts and

Theories
of
Scientific
Management

Presented By:
Sudhir Kabra (221077)
Kirti Kaushal (221081)
Mukul Mishra (221097)
Abhishek Navander (221111)
Evolution of Modern Management
– Began with the industrial revolution in
the late 19th century as:
• Managers of organizations began seeking
ways to better satisfy customer needs.
• Large-scale mechanized manufacturing
began to supplanting small-scale craft
production in the ways in which goods were
produced.
• Social problems developed in the large
groups of workers employed under the
factory system.
• Managers began to focus on increasing the
efficiency of the worker-task mix.
2–2
The Evolution of Management
Theory

2–3
 Scientific Management Theory
by F. W. Taylor
• Scientific Management
– The systematic study of the
relationships between people and tasks
for the purpose of redesigning the work
process for higher efficiency.
• Defined by Frederick Taylor in the late
1800’s to replace informal rule of thumb
knowledge.
• Taylor sought to reduce the time a worker
spent on each task by optimizing the way
the task was done.
2–4
 Four Principles of Scientific
Management
• Principles to increase efficiency:
1.Study the ways jobs are performed now and
determine new ways to do them.
• Gather detailed time and motion information.
• Try different methods to see which is best.
2.Codify the new methods into rules.
• Teach to all workers the new method.
3.Select workers whose skills match the rules.
4.Establish fair levels of performance and pay
a premium for higher performance.
• Workers should benefit from higher output

2–5
 Problems with Scientific
Management
• Managers frequently implemented only
the increased output side of Taylor’s plan.
– Workers did not share in the increased output.
• Specialized jobs became very boring, dull.
– Workers ended up distrusting the Scientific
Management method.
• Workers could purposely “under-perform.”
– Management responded with increased use of
machines and conveyors belts.

2–6
 Henry L. Gantt

• Like Taylor, he emphasized the need

for developing a mutuality of interest
between management and labour - a
“harmonious cooperation.”
• Emphasized on importance of time,
as well as cost, in planning and
controlling work.
• Stressed upon developing an
understanding of systems on the part
of both labour and management
2–7
 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
• Refined Taylor’s work and made many
improvements to the methodologies of
time and motion studies.
– Time and motion studies
• Breaking up each job action into its
components.
• Finding better ways to perform the action.
• Reorganizing each job action to be more
efficient.
• Also studied worker-related fatigue
problems caused by lighting, heating,
and the design of tools and machines.
2–8
 Scientific Management in
Industry
Between 1901 and 1915, the year
Taylor died, his close associates
introduced scientific management in at
least 181 American factories.
In summary it suggests:
• First-line supervisors lost much of their
authority to higher-level managers and their
staffs;
• The proportion of the work day devoted to
production increased as delays were
eliminated;
• Fewer decisions depended on personal
judgments, biases, and subjective
 Scientific Management in
Industry

• Individual jobs were more carefully de-fined

and some workers exercised less discretion;
• In most cases earnings rose, but there were
enough exceptions to blur the effect;
• The level of skill required in production did
not change, though the most highly skilled
employees, like foremen, lost some of their
de facto managerial functions;
• Some unskilled jobs disappeared as improved
scheduling and accounting reduced the need
for labourers.
 Legacy
• Scientific management was the first
attempt to systematically treat
management and process improvement
as a scientific problem.
• With the advancement of statistical
methods, the approach was improved
and referred to
– 1920s & 1930s : Quality Control
– 1940s & 1950s : Operations Research and
management cybernetics
– 1980s : Total Quality Management
– 1990s : Reengineering
 Conclusion
• Process of reorganizing the factory
made scientific management a
malleable symbol of the potential of
modern organization for changing
virtually every facet of contemporary
life.
• Hallmarks of modern industry (1920s):
– Self-Conscious Management
– Systematic Planning
– Specialization of Function
– Highly structured, formal relationships
between Managers and Workers
 Case Study: PATTERNS OF
MANAGEMENT AT IBM

•Thomas J. Watson, an admired industrialist

in 1920s and 1930s, moved IBM into punch
card business.

•Watson, Jr., moved IBM into the computer

field and provided the vision leading to its
fundamental growth.

•What made IBM so successful was not

technical innovation but marketing and
service.
 Case Study: PATTERNS OF
MANAGEMENT AT IBM

Watson attributes his success to:

Selecting good people,
Integrating them into teams,
Providing financial incentives, medical
coverage & other benefits,
Being concerned about the people,
Having open communication channels to
them,
Job security,
Company offered stock options that made
many of them rich,
Elimination of piece-work
 Case Study:Toyota, A Step Ahead
Scientific Management

•Taylor and Gilbreth wanted “flow”

manufacturing to take place but they did not
want workers to stop and think.
•Eliminated decision making processes from
workers.
•But in the process thousands of simple and
small problems were neglected, quality
suffered, worker’s dignity suffered, and the
workplace was dehumanized.
•Dr. Shigeo Shingo, an independent consultant,
and Taiichi Ohno, vice-president of production
at Toyota, restudied the work of Taylor, Ford
 Case Study:Toyota, A Step Ahead
Scientific Management
•They discovered a powerful ‘missing
ingredient’ the worker on the factory floor is
really the expert on the job, rarely ever asked
to be creatively involved in solving problems. To
be internationally competitive this waste of
human resources had to end.
•As Lean was created at Toyota the worker was
directly involved:
Whenever a problem was detected the worker
either pulled a chain or pushed a button to stop the
line.
The worker was asked to immediately detect the
cause of the problem, solve it and also get to the
root cause so that the problem would not occur
 Case Study:Toyota, A Step Ahead
Scientific Management

Toyota wanted the exact same “Flow” as

Taylor and Gilbreth. They did not want the
worker to think on the job except when a
problem occurred.
They realized that the worker on the floor has
brains and that those brains were required to
help solve problems.
•Toyota noted for making junk in 1960
became the world’s highest quality
producer, in fact, the richest automotive
company in the world. Today, Toyota’s
stock is worth more than General Motors,