Taylor’s Scientific Management
Taylor’s theory of scientific management aimed at improving economic efficiency and labor productivity. Taylor had a simple view that money motivated people at work. He felt that workers should get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and that pay should be linked to the amount produced. He introduced the differential piece rate system, of paying wages to the workers.
The industrial revolution provided the impetus for developing various new approaches to increase the productivity and efficiency of the workers. Taylor during 1856 and 1915 propounded that there is a need for developing a scientific way of performing each job and workers should be trained to perform that particular job in a scientific way. Harmonious relations should be developed between management and workers to ensure that the job is performed in the desired way. This led to the management theory known as principles of scientific management.
This theory is a Classical management theory that is based on the belief that workers only have physical and economic needs and prescribes specialization of labor. Classical theories recommend centralized leadership and decision-making and focus on profit maximization. Three streams of classical management theory are - Bureaucracy (Weber), Administrative Theory (Fayol), and Scientific Management (Taylor).
Principles of Scientific Management
Four Principles of Scientific Management are:
- Time and motion study: Develop a science for each element of the job to replace the old rule of the methods. Study the way jobs are performed and find new ways to do them.
- Training: Scientifically select employees and then train them to do the job as described in step-1. Teach, train, and develop the workman with improved methods of doing work. Codify the new methods into rules.
- Supervision: Interest of employer & employees should be fully harmonized so as to secure mutually understanding relations between them. Supervise employees to make sure they follow the prescribed methods for performing their jobs. Continue to plan the work but use workers to actually get the work done.
- Differential Rewards: Establish fair levels of performance and pay a premium for higher performance.
Taylor's scientific approach resulted in a piece-rate incentive system, and the time-and-motion study.
Taylor's Differential Piece Rate Plan:
Taylor felt that the wage system was one of the major reasons for soldiering. To resolve this problem, he advocated the use of a piece-rate incentive system. The aim of this system was to reward the workers who produced the maximum out-put. The system proposed:
- If Efficiency is greater than the defined Standard then workers should be paid 120 % of the Normal Piece Rate.
- If Efficiency is less than standard then workers should be paid 80% of the Normal Piece Rate.
Time and Motion Study:
Taylor also tried to determine the best way to perform each and every job. To achieve this objective, he introduced a method called time-and-Motion study. In this method, a large production job was broken down into various small tasks or motions and unnecessary motions were removed to find out the best way of doing a job. A motion study involves finding out the best sequence and the minimum number of motions needed to complete a task.
After Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth made numerous contributions to the concepts of scientific management. Frank and Lillian were mainly involved in exploring new ways of eliminating unnecessary motions and reducing worker fatigue.
- Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924) is considered the "father of motion study"
- Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972) contributed to studies pertaining to motion.
Limitations of Scientific Management:
Although Scientific Management Theory has been instrumental in providing various valuable insights into the development of management thought. In spite of the numerous contributions made by scientific theory, given below are the few limitations:
- The principles of scientific management focus on solutions from an engineering point of view rather than a managerial point of view
- The entire theory is based on the assumption that humans are rational and motivated primarily by the desire for material gain. It overlooks the social and emotional needs of workers and overstressed their economic and physical needs
- The human desire for self-actualization and job-satisfaction (working conditions, job content, etc.) is ignored by the theory
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