Taylor's Scientific Theory of Management in Modern Day Workplaces

Taylor’s Scientific Theory of Management in Modern Day WorkplacesBy (Name)CourseTutorDate
Introduction
Management is one of the essential parts of an organization since it has remarkable effects on an organization. Management can be defined as a set of activities that includes planning, decision-making, organizing, leading and controlling the various activities that take place within an organization with the aim of achieving the organizational goals and objectives in an efficient and effective manner CITATION Koo90 \l 1033 (Koontz & Weihrich, 1990). It can also be defined as the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which the individuals who work within the organization can be able to work together in groups in an efficient manner so that they can achieve their goals.
Human beings began forming social organizations so that they can be able to accomplish the aims and objectives that they cannot be able to accomplish as individuals. As such, management is essential to ensure that there is coordination of the individual efforts towards achieving the aims. As the society continuously relies on the group effort and as the organized groups increase in number and size, the task of managers has been increasing in importance and complexity. Management theory is very crucial in the way that the managers manage complex organizations. The first management theory is popularly referred to as Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management.
The central thesis of the paper is to discuss the relevance of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory in the modern workplace. He is the father of the era of modern management.
Ghost of Taylorism in Modern Workplaces
Frederick Taylor was born into an affluent Philadelphia family and studied engineering at Steven’s Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He began his early career as an apprentice and common laborer. He then advanced to become a chief engineer CITATION Mil10 \l 1033 (Miller, 2010). He had direct observations of the men whom he worked with, and it led him to develop what is known as the motivation theory. It would later be called the management theory.
Taylor called this method scientific management. From Taylor's point of view, although he was benevolent towards the workers saw human labor to be something that is analogous to machine work. As such it needs to be “engineered” so that it can achieve efficiency CITATION Maq11 \l 1033 (Maqbool, et al., 2011). His theories of management are promoted worldwide, and they took more root in Japan than in the US or Europe.
Taylor sought to overthrow management by the rule of thumb and then replace it with actually timed observations leading the one that would be regarded as the best practice. He also advocated for the systematic training of the workers as one of the best management practices rather than allowing them to have personal discretion in their tasks CITATION Sch101 \l 1033 (Schachter, 2010). He also believed that workload would be shared among the workers and the management evenly with the management on one side performing the science and the instructions while the workers would be performing labor. Each of the two groups is supposed to do the work that is best suited for them.
For one to understand how Taylor's scientific management has revolutionized and helped to shape the modern organization, you need to gain an understanding of what came before him. The industrial revolution had been underway for nearly 100 years before Taylor took his first job as an engineer at Philadelphia Midvale Steel Company in the fall of 1878.
Most of the histories about industrial revolution focus on the technological developments such as the interchangeable parts, steam power, and the assembly line. There is little information that has been written about how the 19th-century plants were organized and how the managerial power was delegated. In most of the industries, the foreman was the manufacturer CITATION Bel12 \l 1033 (Bell & Martin, 2012).
The foreman had near absolute authority over the workers. Therefore, he was the one who was responsible for the hiring and also firing of the personnel. He trained the workers so that they can acquire the necessary skills, arbitrated grievances that were raised by the workers, promotion or demotion of the workers; he also enforced the manufacturer's personnel policies that regarded the working hours, personal appearance and the rules of conduct. In most of the industries, the piecework system was common CITATION Spe96 \l 1033 (Spender & Kijne, 1996). The foreman is the one who set up the wages by the use of the "rule of thumb method."
On the other hand, the manufacturer watched the payroll very closely. In some circumstances when the piece workers would be so productive to the extent that they earned more than the prevailing day wage, the manufacturer would order the piece rate cut by getting rid of the incentives that were placed on the wages of the workers. Due to the unsafe working environments at the factories, there was more or less labor-management strife. There were many strikes and violence that was common in the factories.
Given the circumstances above, we can be able to understand why Taylor worked so hard to promote his “one best way” of laying the foundations of how the businesses should be run from an organizational standpoint of view CITATION Dim12 \l 1033 (Dimitrios & Anathalia, 2012). Separation of the workforce from the management proved to be a recipe for success at the time. A job required a specific type of employee, and at the same time, an employee was matched with a specific job that suited him. Management was laid aside so that it can improve the other aspects of the business.
The separation of the workforce allowed the businesses to operate in an efficient manner. The worker would concentrate on the day to day tasks that are asked of them, and they would not have to worry about the decision making. The decision-making process was left to the management who were able to take the best course of action after carrying out a careful study and also planning and implementation of the pre-defined standards CITATION War14 \l 1033 (Warner, 2014). Taylor was trying to create a system that was founded on issues during his lifetime. The system was composed of production, order efficiency and labor that would transcend and be beneficial to age whether be it in the past or in the future.
The managers were taught to look at every aspect of a manufacturing operation as a piece of an integrated system. The improvements that were made to one of the processes would lead to a further improvement in the different processes down the line. The idea that was presented is that every part of a factory or a whole organization should be scientifically analyzed and redesigned to achieve the most efficient output.
Managers could continue to use time study to improve and eliminate bottlenecks. Instead of living the workers alone to solve any of the problems that they were confronted with, the management would be able to determine the best course of action and then train the workers to perform their tasks in a good way.
Taylor's scientific principle was based on the four principles that have been highlighted below.
1 Replacing the working by “rule of thumb” or a simple habit and common sense and instead use the scientific method so that you can be able to study work and then determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.
2 Rather than simply assigning the workers to do just any job, the workers would be matched with their jobs based on capability and motivation, and they would be trained to work at maximum efficiency.
3 Monitoring of the performance of the workers and also provide instructions and supervision to make sure that the workers are suing the most efficient ways of working to deliver good results.
4 Allocating the work between managers and workers so that the managers can spend their time in planning and training. It would ensure that the workers perform their tasks in an efficient manner.
The first principle which is to replace "rule of thumb," or the simple habit and common sense working methods with the other methods of scientific study of the various tasks is still relevant in the modern workplace. Miller (2010) says that the management first needs to break each of the jobs into the individual tasks and then determine which of the steps do not contribute to the end product. She goes further to illustrate that while she was working for a small manufacturing company, the management decided that their department was due for an overhaul to streamline the work process to increase the level of production at the company. Their primary job in each of the days was to make sure that they fill 80-100 bins with the various parts. They walked about 10 miles each of the days that they were at work. The management decided to redesign the layout of the warehouse racks so that they can be able to reduce their walking distance by about 66% and also cut about 2 hours from their work in each of the days.
The second principle which states that the scientific selection of the workers of the organization should be to select, tra...