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).
Four Principles of Scientific Management are:
Taylor's scientific approach resulted in a piece-rate incentive system, and the time-and-motion study.
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:
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.
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 concept of management refers to the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, and controlling to achieve organizational goals. It is the management of human, physical, financial, and other valuable resources of the organization in an effective and efficient manner to achieve business objectives.
The best career choices are ones that match your values. Each person has several values that are important to him. These values are highly personal and knowing them provides a clearer sense of what's most important to you in your life and career. Career values are the beliefs you consider important from a work standpoint. Values help you understand what you want from a job? Explore a few examples of work values that can influence career path and job satisfaction.
Leadership has been defined in different ways by different sets of scholars. In very simple terms leadership can be defined as the skill of a person to influence an individual or a group for achievement of a goal in a given situation. One can use different dimensions and perspectives to define leadership. Through the evolution of leadership thought, leadership has been defined in various ways discussed here.
In its simplest sense, decision-making is the act of choosing between two or more courses of action. Decision making is a key skill in the workplace and is particularly important if you want to be an effective leader. When decisions have to be made, there are several stages that you should go through to reach a practical solution. Understand the meaning and importance of decision making and how to look at it as a process.
Behavioral Approach to Management
The behavioral management theory had a profound influence on management by focusing on understanding the human dimensions of work. It is also called human relations movement as behavioral theorists focused on managing productivity by understanding factors of worker motivation like their needs and expectations, personality, attitudes, values, group behavior, conflict, and group dynamics. It advocated the use of psychological techniques to motivate employees.
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Team Foundation in Forming Stage
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Tools for Developing Your Team
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Hawthorne Studies - Leadership
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