Scientific Management

Scientific Management Approach is one of the important approaches in the field of administrative theory. This theory came in the wake of new industrial revolution that has taken place during the later part of the nineteenth century. Scientific Management approach is an attempt to solve the problems of complex organisations that have emerged because of industrial development. Frederick Winslow Taylor is generally regarded as the pioneer of the scientific management approach, which paved way for the modern management approaches and techniques.

As an engineer he is instrumental in the development of new technologies, he invented several tools to increase the production. Some of the important tools he developed were cutting tool, a heat-treating tool, a steel hammer, hydraulic power loading machinery, boring and turning mills etc. He was always interested in improving upon the techniques of management. He emphasised on the scientific way of developing the tools as well as scientific way of performing the job. He has passion for efficiency and scientific way of work in the organisations.

The contribution of Taylor for the scientific management approach can be traced in his major writings. His writings bear his intimate observation of the work at the workplace and his desire to improve the production and efficiency in the organisation. The major writings of Taylor are, A Piece Rate System (1885), Shop Management (1903), The Art of Cutting Metals (1906), The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) and The Testimony before a Special Committee of the House of Representatives (1912).

TAYLOR ON DEFICIENCIES OF MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

F.W. Taylor’s important ideas on scientific management approach are explained in his writings. In ‘A Piece Rate System’ he propounded three basic principles:

1. Observation of work through time study (to complete the work and to determine the standard rate) for completion of work,
2. differential rate system for completing piecework and
3. payment to men not to positions.

In his article on “Shop Management’ he focused basically on organization and management of workshop. He dealt about the need to maintain low production unit costs and payment of high wages, applying scientific methods of research, standardization of working conditions, need for training and cooperative relations between workers and managements.

Taylor’s stay at Midvale Steel Company and his close observation and study of different operations in different factories, made him to know the defects in their management. They are: lack of clarity of responsibilities by workers and managements, lack of standards of work, restricted output because of soldering of work, lack of job clarity which promotes soldering of work, lack of scientific base for decisions, lack of division of work, and placement of workers at different jobs without considering their ability, skills, aptitude and interest.

His work on ‘The Art of Cutting Metals’ is based on extensive research of thousands of experiments conducted over a period of 26 years. He developed instruments for cutting of steel, studied motion and time and analyzed how workers handle materials, machines and tools when they perform different works. Taylor felt that there is a best way to do every work and scientific selection of right men for right job is essential for maximum production in any organization.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT APPROACH: THE CONTEXT

As mentioned above the scientific management approach developed in the early phases of industrial revolution. It tried to address some of the problems of industrial society. The basic concerns of industrial society were to improve efficiency, to reduce the cost of production and to increase the profits. This can be achieved through two-pronged strategy.

• One is related to improving the technology and the techniques of work along with efficient management of workers.
• The second is expansion of market to the new colonies.

Taylor was trying to address the first concern of the industrial society. Hence he emphasized more on scientific knowledge of doing things and scientific way of managing organizations.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT: THE BASIC PRINCIPLES

To overcome the deficiencies in the management Taylor formulated four new principles / new duties to be assumed by the management which are known as the principles of scientific management. They are:

The development of a true science of work

1. The scientific selection of workmen and their progressive development
2. Bringing together of science of work and the scientifically selected workers
3. The equal division of work and the responsibility between management and workers

The Development of a True Science of Work

Taylor believed that there is a need to develop science of work. He further believed that there is one ‘best way’ of doing every job. This can be achieved by systematic study of any work and replacing the old thumb-rule method by developing a scientific method. This requires gathering mass of traditional knowledge, recording it, tabulating it and in many cases finally reducing it to laws rules and even to mathematical formulae. And later these laws and rules are to be applied to the everyday work of all workmen of the organization. The scientific method of work saves worker from unnecessary criticism of the boss and the management to get maximum work from worker. It also results in establishing a ‘large daily task’ to be done by the qualified workers under the optimum conditions.

Scientific Selections and Progressive Development of Workmen

To ensure effective performance of the scientifically developed work there is a need to select the workers on scientific basis. It is the duty of the management to study the character, the nature and the performance of each worker with a view to finding out his limitations and possibilities for his development. Taylor believed that every worker has potentialities for development. Every worker must be systematically and thoroughly trained. Scientific selection involves selecting a right person for a right job. It is also necessary to ensure that the employee accepts the new methods, tools and conditions willingly and enthusiastically. There should be opportunities for advancement to do the job to the fullest realization of his normal capabilities.

Bringing together of Science of Work and Scientifically Selected Workers

The third principle of the scientific management is bringing of science of work and scientifically selected and trained workmen together. Taylor says ‘bringing together advisedly because you may develop all the science that you please and you may scientifically select and train workmen just as much as you please, but unless some men bring the science and workmen together all your labour will be lost’. Taylor felt it is exclusive responsibility of the management to do this job. He believed that workers are always willing to cooperate with the management but there is more opposition from the side of management.

Division of Work and Responsibility between Worker and Management

Traditionally the worker bears the entire responsibility of the work and the management has lesser responsibility. But Taylor emphasized on equal responsibility between worker and management. This division creates understanding and mutual dependence between them. This results in elimination of conflict and mistrust between the worker and management. Taylor thinks that scientific management can be justly and truthfully characterized as management in which harmony is the rule rather than discord.

Elements and Tools of Scientific Management

Taylor and conducted various experiments at his work places to find out how human beings could be made more efficiency by standardizing the work and better method of doing the work. These experiments have provided the following features of scientific management.

Separation of Planning and Doing: Taylor emphasized the separation of planning aspect from actual doing of the work. Before Taylor’s scientific management, a worker used to plan about how he had to work and what instruments were necessary for that. The worker was put under the supervision of a supervisor commonly known as gang boss. Thus, supervisor’s job was merely to see how the workers were performing. This was creating a lot of problems, and Taylor emphasized that planning should be left to the supervisor and the worker should emphasize only operational work.

Functional Foremanship: Separation of planning from doing result into development of supervision system which could take planning work adequately besides keeping supervision on workers. For this purpose, Taylor evolved the concept of functional foremanship based on specialization of functions. In this system eight persons are involved to direct the activities of workers. Out of these, four persons are concerned with planning:

• route clerk,
• instruction card clerk,
• time and cost clerk,
• shop disciplinarian.

The remaining four persons are concerned with doing aspect of the work. These are:

• speed boss,
• inspector,
• maintenance foreman, and
• gang boss.

All of them give directions to workers on different aspects of work.

Job Analysis: Job Analysis is undertaken to find out the one best way of doing the thing. The best way of doing a job is one which requires the least movements, consequently less time and cost. The best way of doing the thing can be determined by taking up time-motion-fatigue studies.

• Time study involves the determination of time a movement takes to complete. The movement which takes minimum time is the best one. This helps in fixing the fair work for a period.
• Motion study involves the study of movement in parts which are involved in doing a job and thereby eliminating the wasteful movements and performing only necessary movements. Elimination of unnecessary movements in doing work reduces time taken in performing a work and also the fatigue of workers
• Fatigue study shows the amount and frequency of rest requires in completing the work. After a certain period of time, workers feel fatigue and cannot work with full capacity. Therefore, they require rest in between. When the rest is allowed, they start working with full capacity.

Thus, job analysis, as given by Taylor, suggests the fair amount of a day’s work requiring certain movements and rest periods to complete it.

Standardization of Tools: Taylor maintained that in addition to determining the best methods, the management also should standardize the tools in the light of the needs of the specific jobs. In an experiment at Bethleham Steel Works on shoveling of coal, Taylor found that the average shovel load varied from 16 to 38 pounds. Further experiments showed that good workers were able to shovel more tones per day if they used a shovel carrying the load of 21 to 22 pounds. Subsequently Taylor found that with the different types of materials to be shoveled, about 15 different types of shovels were needed. From then on when workers arrived in the morning, they received written instructions on what to shovel and what type of shovel to be used. After three and half years 140 men were doing the work formerly handled by 400 to 600 workers. This shows that by using a proper instrument for each type of work we can achieve more work with the help of less number of workers.

Scientific Selection and Training of Workers: Taylor insisted that each worker should be given the job for which he was best suited. According to Taylor ‘one of the very first requirements of the worker who is fit to handle the pig iron as a regular occupation is that he shall be stupid and so phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental makeup the ox than any other type’. Taylor further felt that “there is work for each type of man; just as for instance, there is work for the dry horse and work for the trotting horse. There is no type of work, however, that suits all types of man”. It is therefore essential to find the realistic ways of judging their capacities of different workers. The management should give them formal training and clear instructions on precisely how to perform the prescribed motions with the standardized tools and materials.

Task Prescription: Not only the tasks are divided and optimal methods of achieving the tasks are prescribed, the worker should also be given clear description of what he should do. Here Taylor emphasizes that the tasks should be well planned in advance and the worker be given clear instructions concerning his particular task to be done. Proper task prescription will provide clarity to the worker as well as the management.

Financial Incentives: Financial incentives can motivate workers to put in their maximum efforts. If provisions exist to earn higher wages by putting in extra effort, workers will be motivated to earn more. Taylor himself applied the concept of differential piece rate system which was highly motivating. According to this scheme, a worker who completes the normal work gets wages at higher rate per piece and one who does not complete gets at lower rate. Thus, there is considerable difference in wages between those who do not complete. To make the differential piece rate system work, Taylor has suggested that wages should be based on individual performance and not on the position which he occupies. Further, the wage rate should be fixed on accurate knowledge and note estimates.

Economy: While applying scientific management, not only scientific and technical aspects should be considered but adequate consideration should be given to economy and profit. For this purpose, techniques of cost estimates and controlled should be adopted. The economy and profit can be achieved by making the resources more productive as well as by eliminating the wastages. Taylor has clarified by giving examples of how resources are wasted by not following scientific management.

Mental Revolution: Scientific management depends on the mutual co-operation between management and workers. For this co-operation, there should be mental change in both parties from conflict to co-operation. Taylor feels that this is the most important feature of scientific management because in its absence, no principles of scientific management can be applied. In this regard, Taylor has observed as follows: –

“Scientific management is not any efficiency device of any kind for securing efficiency; nor is it bunch or group of efficiency devices. It is not a new system of figuring costs; its is not a new scheme of paying men; it is not a piecework system; it is not bonus system; it is not a premium system it is no scheme of paying men. . . . . It is not divided foremanship or functional foremanship; it is not any off the devices which the average man calls to mind when scientific management is spoken of. . . . . Now, in its essence, scientific management involves a complete mental revolution on the part of the working men engaged in any particular establishment or industry – a complete mental revolution on the part of those on the management’s side – the foreman, the superintendent, the owner of the business, the board of directors – a complete mental revolution on their part as to their duties towards their fellow workers in the management, towards their workmen and towards all of their duty problems.

Work Study and Work Measurement: Taylor advocated the need for systematic study of work. The use of time study can help us in finding out the optimal way of study carrying out a task. He considered it as an essential component of scientific management. It involves measuring and studying the ‘unit times’. Taylor conducted several studies to find out the standard unit of work to be carried out by an individual worker. He studied each and every movement of the worker in performing a particular task with the help of a stopwatch. By studying each and every movement of the work we can eliminate the unnecessary movements of the workers and find out the time required for the each movement. With the help of time study and work-study it is possible to perform a particular task with a lesser movement. The purpose of work-study is to eliminate not only unnecessary movements but also to eliminate the slow movements and fatigue of the workers there by it is possible to find out ‘the best way’ of performing each activity.

Work as an Individual Activity: Taylor is always opposed to any kind of group activity. He believes that people are motivated by personal ambition, and that once put into a group the individual looses his individual drive. He believes that the influence of the group makes one produce less. Further he argued that female workers were prone to such personal pressures and indeed separated them in such a way that verbal interaction was impossible.

Trade Unions: Since Taylor was critical of group activity he was also against trade union movement. He regarded trade unions as unnecessary under his system of work. The employer according to him was on the same side of the workers. The goal of the workers and the employers is the same. Acceptance of scientific management principles would reduce conflict between workers and the management. Since management itself laid down what was the ‘fair day’s pay’ for fair day’s work through objective rationale means, the need for trade unions does not arise.

Development of Management Thinking: Taylor through scientific management saw the development of management as a science. It implies that specific laws could be derived for management practice and those laws relate specifically to wage rates and ways of doing work. Arriving at these laws involved management in the use of scientific method.

Division of Work: Taylor felt that not only there should be a division of labor on a shop floor but also the division of work between the worker and management. According to Taylor the main function of management should be planning for future. The responsibility of worker is to concentrate totally on carrying out the given task. He believed that there were distinct personality types for performing planning function and doing function. The planning function relates to the managements and doing function relates to the workers. He also recommended minute division of tasks for each individual in the organization.

Followers of Scientific Management

Other persons who worked to develop scientific management were Carl George Berth, Henry Gantt, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and Edward Felene to mention a few important. Berth worked with Taylor and later developed many mathematical techniques and formulae that made it possible to put taylor’s ideas into practice. Gantt developed graphic methods of depicting plans and making possible better managerial control. This eventually led to the development of famour Gantt Chart which is in wide used today and was the forerunner of such modern technique as PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique). Frank and Lillian Gibreth, a team of husband and wife, also tried to find out `one best way of doing’ under the given set of realities. They also tried to look at the problems of workers from social and psychological point of view. Felene invited Gilbreth to apply scientific management to manage his departmental store. The major areas of concern were employee training and evaluation and human element in business. Later, he created Twentieth Century Fund, a famous research organization still in existence.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT MOVEMENT

Louis Brandeis first used the word scientific management in the year 1910. In the earlier days Taylor usually referred to these techniques as the “Task System” or “Task Management”. Later Taylor welcomed the more appealing nomenclature and declared “management is a true science resting upon clearly defined laws, rules and principles”. He felt that his work covered the entire sphere of Industrial Management. He was convinced that same principles could be applied with equal force to all social activities “to the management of our homes; management of our farm; management of our business of our tradesmen; of our Church; our philanthropic institutions; our universities and our government departments”.

Very soon Taylor became very popular. His close associates such as Henry Grantt, Frank Gilbreth and Lillian Gillberth etc., carried out further research in the area and published many articles and books. Many followers of Taylor served as advisors to hundreds of companies. Engineering Schools began to give courses on shop management and industrial management. Schools of business administration also started giving courses in these areas. Many special disciplines rooted in scientific management have emerged.

In brief scientific management became a “movement”. It offered the hope of resolving industrial problems through the use of objective principles. The movement soon became replete with popularizes, traditionalists and dissidents. It had a tremendous effect on industrial practices in the United States. The movement soon became international, spread to Germany, England, France, Sweden and other European countries. Its greatest success however was in Russia. In 1917 immediately after the Bolshevik revolution, Lenin welcomed Taylor’s techniques to Russia. He referred to Taylor’s system as “a combination of subtle brutality of bourgeois exploitation and a number of its greatest scientific achievements”. The movement seems to have been supported by all contending factions at the higher levels of the Russian Communist Party. Taylor’s ideas were built into the curriculum for the education and training of the engineers who subsequently tended to monopolies managerial posts in the Soviet industry.

CRITICISM

Though scientific management became a movement and offered solutions to some of the industrial problems, it was equally opposed and criticized by many people. The scientific management has emerged at a time when capitalist development had reached the stage of requiring organizational changes in the functioning of industrial enterprise. Hence it is considered more as a pro-capitalist theory. The critics considered that the scientific management helped more the owners of industries than the workers. The trade unions were against scientific management methods. They considered Taylorism as not only destroying trade unionism but also destroying principles of collective bargaining. They felt that the scientific management was a menace to the community at large as it causes continuous increase in unemployment. Trade unions felt that Taylor was more interested in mechanical aspects of work and not much concerned about the total work situation. As a result there were a number of agitations by labour unions in America, which led the American Congress in 1912 to appoint a special committee of the House of Representatives to investigate in to Taylorism. The trade unions in 1915 succeeded in getting an amendment to the Army Appropriation Act forbidding the use of stopwatches or the payment of premiums or bonuses in army arsenals.

A still stronger attack was made by the investigation conducted by Professor Robert Hoxie on industrial relations. The Hoxie Report concluded that the approach of Taylor and his associates dealt only with mechanical and not with the human aspects of production.

A strong criticism came from Harry Braverman who in his book ‘Labour and Monopoly Capital’ (1974) argued that an analysis of Taylor’s work enables us to distinguish three general principles of scientific management (Clegg and Dunkerly, 1980). They are:

The principle of dissociation of labour process from the skills of the workers: The Taylorism in other wards results in separation of worker from the knowledge that the worker might poses, particularly that knowledge deriving from a craft or traditional process. Now the labour process therefore is dependent upon managerial practices rather than worker abilities.

The principle of separation of conception from execution: By this Braverman refers to the division under the scientific management of manual and mental labour. The implementation of Taylorism leads to a situation where the organisation of work is the prerogative of the management where as the worker has to simply execute the work. In other words this is separation of ‘mind’ from the ‘hand’. Those who work with hand and those who work with mind are two separate entities. This results in alienation of labour.

The principle of use of monopoly over knowledge to control each step of labour process and its mode of execution: This principle is logically derived from the pervious two. It shows that the Taylorism results in the managerial section monopolizing the knowledge of work and controlling the worker in each and every aspect of execution of the work. This results in domination of managerial class over the workers.

Several others criticized scientific management. Even the managers at that time were critical of scientific methods. They did not appreciate his comments on ‘thumb-rule’ methods. Managers were opposed to the Taylor’s ideas of training programmes for the managers. It is interesting to note that Taylor had to resign from Midvale Steel Works and Bethlehem Steel Company because of the differences with the company managers.

The other critics of Taylor’s scientific management include Oliver Sheldon, Mary Parker Follette, Elton Mayo, Peter Drucker and others. They charged that Taylor’s scientific management was impersonal and underemphasized the human factor. This criticism led to a series of experiments in industrial sociology and social psychology. The studies of Elton Mayo and other researchers on human relations have rejected Taylorism. Taylor’s philosophy that men were generally lazy and try to avoid work has also been criticized.

Another criticism of Taylor is that he did not properly understand the anatomy of work. His emphasis on minute division of work was criticized on several grounds. Firstly, the work gets de-personalized and the worker becomes a mere cog in the machine. The worker lacks the sense of participation in the work; the worker has no outlets to exhibit all his potentialities. Secondly, Taylorism may lead to automation of workers, which may have psychological consequences. Peter Drucker, management expert, aptly says that the organization became a piece of poor engineering judged by the standards of human relations as well as those of productive efficiency and output.

Taylor’s functional foremanship was criticized by many saying that it will lead to confusion when each worker kept under the control of eight supervisors. A worker may not be able to satisfy eight supervisors in all the aspects.

RELEVANCE

Scientific management helped many industrial organizations in the United States to overcome the problems of workers. In the similar way Taylorism spread to England to resolve industrial crises in that country. At a time when there is an industrial unrest and increasing unemployment, the scientific management came to the rescue of industrial organizations. Any developing country like India which is facing similar industrial problems can learn lessons from scientific management. With the application of principles of scientific management it is possible to improve the efficiency of organizations. As it is discussed earlier, even the socialist societies such as Russia have welcomed the scientific management principles, which are developed in the context of capitalist economy. This shows the relevance of Taylor’s scientific management to the organizations irrespective of the nature of economy.

CONCLUSION

The above discussion on scientific management shows that the Taylor’s scientific management was responding to the problems of the early industrial organizations. Taylorism provided certain practical solutions to the problems of industries and they got benefited from scientific management. Taylor firmly believed that there is a ‘best method’ for doing any work. One has to find out the best method by systematic study of work. Taylor emphasized that the management has to take up equal responsibility for the work done in the organization. He also emphasized that there is a need to select the right type of persons to perform the job and also train them in improving the performance. Apart from systemic study of the work, the standardization of tools and procedures are necessary. There is also a need for complete understanding and cooperation between the worker and the management. They should instead of focusing on increase in the wages and profits; they should give importance to increase the production.

Taylor’s ideas have helped the industrial societies to overcome the basic problems of low production and labour problems. Because of the scientific nature of Taylor’s ideas they have spread not only to the European countries but also to the socialist societies like Russia.