Scientific Management (Taylorism)

Improving labor productivity by scientifically analyzing and establishing optimal workflow processes. Explanation of Scientific Management of Frederick Winslow Taylor. (1911)

What is Scientific Management? Description

The Scientific Management approach was devised by Frederick Winslow Taylor at the end of the 19th century to improve labor productivity by analyzing and establishing workflow processes. Taylor thought that by analyzing work in a scientific manner, the "One Best Way" to perform a task could be found.

Taylor had pragmatic and even good motives to free up the good worker (Schmidt) of one half of his work, who was carrying pig iron at Bethlehem Steel. And at the same time he wanted to alleviate poverty and eliminate waste of time, energy and human ability. But his methods were very hard and sometimes had the opposite effect when they fell into the hands of ruthless exploiters of workers. This is why Scientific Management is often referred to disparagingly as Taylorism.

Frederick Winslow Taylor - Father of Scientific Management. Biography

Frederick Winslow Taylor is born in 1856 to a wealthy Quaker family in Philadelphia. In 1874 he becomes an apprentice patternmaker and machinist at Enterprise Hydraulics Works, gaining shop-floor expertise. In 1878 he takes up an unskilled job at Midvale Steel Works where he does his first experiments. In 1881 he gains a master degree in mechanical engineering. In 1890 he is appointed to general manager of Manufacturing Investment Company (MIC). It is important to understand that the circumstances during the life of Taylor were quite different from those today: there had been a series of depressions and production methods at the time were very inefficient. Also there was a need to employ many immigrants into the US, to raise the living standards and to meet rising demands for goods of every sort. All of this influences Taylor when he publishes The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911. Taylor dies in 1915.

Usage of Scientific Management. Applications

Basis or inspiration for many later management philosophies, including Management by Objectives, Operations Research, CSFs and KPIs and Balanced Scorecard, Just-in-time and Lean Manufacturing, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma and Business Process Reengineering.
As a contrast to modern business or management methods.
Old-fashioned, inefficient industrial environments.
Taylor was pragmatic and he was a strong advocate of Learning-by-Doing. Contrary to today's theorizing, hypothesis formation and testing, the One Best Way came from the workers, not from the managers or owners (Spender and Kijne, 1996). Peter Drucker saw Taylor as the creator of Knowledge Management, because the aim of scientific management is to produce knowledge about how to improve work processes.

Steps in Scientific Management. Process

Taylor's scientific management consisted of four principles:

Replace rule of thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
Select, train, teach and develop the most suitable person for each job, again scientifically, rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
Managers must provide detailed instructions and supervision to each worker to ensure the job is done in a scientific way.
Divide work between managers and workers. The managers apply scientific management principles to planning and supervising the work, and the workers carry out the tasks.

Strengths of Scientific Management. Benefits

One of the first formal divisions between workers and managers.
Contribution to efficient production methods, leading to a major global increase of living standards.
Focus on the individual task and worker level. Compare: Business Process Reengineering (process level)
Direct reward mechanisms for workers rather than pointless end-of-year profit sharing schemes.
Systematic. Early proponent of quality standards.
Suggestion schemes for workers, who should be rewarded by cash premiums.
Emphasis on measuring. Measurement enables improvement.
Pragmatic and useful in times and circumstances as described above (See: Biography).

Limitations of Scientific Management. Disadvantages

Taylorism can easily be abused to exploit human beings. Conflicts with labor unions.
Not useful to deal with groups or teams.
Leaves no room for individual preferences or initiative.
Overemphasis on measuring. No attention for soft factors.
Mechanistic. Treating people as machines.
Separation of planning function and doing.
Loss of skill level and autonomy at worker level. Not very useful in current knowledge worker environments (except as an antithesis).

Book: Taylor, Frederick Winslow - The Principles of Scientific Management, 1911 -

Book: Spender, J.C. and Kijne, H. (Eds) - Scientific Management: Fredrick Winslow Taylor's Gift to the World? 1996 -

Scientific Management Forum (9)

Can Scientific Management Be (Best) Practised in Developed Countries?
"Do you think the Scientific Management system can really be applied in a developing country like South Sudan?
If yes, how long will it take for people to get used to the system?"

McJobs. Definition, History, Pros and Cons
"What does the word "McJobs" mean? How did it start, what are the arguments for and against it and why is it a management debate?"

Workflow Processes of Taylor
"What is meant with the 'workflow processes of Taylorism'? What were the main criticisms on it?"

Before Implementing Scientific Management
"Can you say night & day? Scientific management is what business managers try to use (flavor of the month) on an ongoing basis to improve those scientifically set up / controlled tasks that make the organization money, while not understanding why or how those tasks even work.
Attempting to make changes to improve any organization through the controls of any of the scientific management philosophies or methods without agreeing that those philosophies or methods will in fact improve your business if they are implemented properly, along with complete support and trust in the type of change to be implemented - the business should just continue business as usual.
Then, if a scientific management method is agreed upon with senior management, a complete understanding and buy in from all leadership levels must be achieved prior to start up an implementation process, or the end result will likely be less positive than initially planned and the probability of the organization moving in reverse is more likely than not."

The contribution of Taylor to the theory of Management
"Everything (including many management models / theories) is the outcome of the conditions and overall circumstances at the time and place were it was written. Also to interpret the theory of Taylor we must study and analyze the set of circumstances of that time. And understand that what we see today, is the evolution of the past.
In this respect the contribution Taylor made into the theory of management is really a significant one. He was the ice-breaker, he was the person who broke the inertia and brought the next generations into such a situation from where the ideas started pouring in. Ultimately we made marvelous advancements into management theory and are still moving ahead continuously.
Thanks to Taylor...!"

Comparison of Man to Machine
"Taylor`s theory works better with machines because human beings do not follow a set pattern of behaviour. They can change at any time without reference to rules and instructions."

The Eight Bosses System (Taylor)
"Taylor also described the '8 Bosses System'.
He suggested dividing the labor of the production department into eight main compartments, led by eight different supervisors:
1. Time and costs
2. Work instructions
3. Processes and the order in which they executed
4. Process preparation
5. Maintenance
6. Quality check
7. Technical supervision
8. Employee management
With supervision of Taylor the system worked, yet the system never had the desired success. This was mainly due to coordination problems between the supervisors and unclear situations among the employees. Even though the system has not been used a lot, Taylor's theory did have a great influence. Wherever his ideas were applied, the production increased remarkably. The effect of the system often did not go further then an increase of efficiency. The expected improvement in the wages and mutual relations with the chefs, were unfortunately never accomplished."

Scientific Management is Interesting
"In Taylor's theory he compared human to machines. For him, human real motivation is salary so employers must abuse them. I'm not really sharing his opinion but in a certain way it is interesting to use his theory."