Frederick W. Taylor: Scientific Management

Present writers generally credit Frederick W. Taylor with first focus-

ing attention on an analysis of the tasks and responsibilities of the first-

line supervisor within the organization. Beginning with his employment

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in Midvale Steel Works in 1878, Taylor placed new emphasis on the job

of the manager. It was his idea that the planning and performance of the

task should be separated, the operator being held responsible for perfor-

mance, while management assumed the responsibility for planning.

The task of planning as conceived by Taylor involved several key

points. First, Taylor believed it necessary for management to investigate

thoroughly all of the variables and components involved in the perfor-

mance of each task. Second, as a result of this investigation, management

would be able to select the single most effective method to be used in the

performance of a given task. Third, in Taylor’s opinion the responsibility

of management did not end with the development of a standard method

for each job; in addition, it was now necessary for the manager to select

workers who were both mentally and physically capable of performing

each specific task within the factory. Finally, the integration of capable

men and most effective method was undertaken by management through

the proper training of the workers in the method to be utilized.

As a result of the manager’s planning and training activities, Taylor

believed it would now be possible for management to achieve lower labor

costs as well as increased productivity. This would be possible because

the value of the worker’s output increased at a faster rate than his piece

work wages. In Taylor’s opinion, the ability to pay these increased wages

would serve to spur worker efforts to increase output to an even greater

level and bring about still lowers costs and increased productivity. It

seems that Taylor’s philosophy of motivation was rooted in the concept

of the “economic man”, and it was therefore mainly through economic

incentives that management could appeal to the workers to achieve

greater levels of productivity.

Perhaps the most important contribution of Taylor, however, was in

bringing a specific definition and function to the discipline of manage-

ment. Based upon the work of Taylor and of other writers of the scientific

management school, there began to evolve a set of responsibilities and

functions specifically associated with the practice of management. The

principles of scientific management may be summarized as follows:

1. Management is a separate and distinct activity.

2. First-line supervision is basic.

3. Management function include: examining variables involved in the

task; developing the most effective methods; selecting workers according

to the psychological and physiological requirements of the job; training

workers in the most effective methods.

4. Productivity increases mean higher wages for the worker.

1. What do present writers credit F.W. Taylor with?

2. What are the main principles of scientific management?

3. What are the key points the task of planning involves as conceived

by F.W. Taylor?

4. How did scientific management change industrial management?

5. Comment on the concept of the “economic man”.

6. Speak for or against F.W. Taylor’s principles.

Text 4

Read the following text and answer the questions that follow it.