Taylor's Scientific Management

Meaning

Frederick Winslow Taylor, an American mechanical engineer working in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, is widely regarded as the father of Scientific Management. Taylor observed that factory work of his time was largely organised on the basis of "rule of thumb" — methods handed down informally from worker to worker, with no scientific measurement of the best way to perform a task. He proposed replacing this guesswork with a systematic, scientific study of each job, so that the "one best way" of doing a task could be identified, taught, and enforced consistently. Scientific management, in Taylor's own sense, is therefore the application of scientific methods of observation, measurement and analysis to the problems of management, so as to raise both efficiency and the prosperity of both the employer and the worker.

Taylor's Four Principles of Scientific Management

1. Science, not rule of thumb. Every element of a worker's job should be studied scientifically — through observation, measurement and experimentation — to determine the single best method of performing it, rather than relying on informal, unverified custom or a worker's own guesswork.

2. Harmony, not discord. Management and workers should function as a united team working toward the same goal — greater output and greater prosperity for both sides — instead of viewing each other as adversaries locked in a permanent tug-of-war over wages and effort.

3. Cooperation, not individualism. Management and workers should actively cooperate with one another, rather than compete or work at cross-purposes, sharing the responsibility for planning and improving work methods instead of leaving workers to labour in isolation from management's own expertise.

4. Development of every person to their greatest efficiency and prosperity. Every worker should be scientifically selected, trained, and developed for the particular job best suited to their own capability, so that both the individual worker's efficiency and their personal prosperity are maximised, alongside the organisation's own output.

Taylor's Techniques of Scientific Management

Functional Foremanship. Taylor proposed replacing a single all-purpose foreman with a team of specialist foremen, each responsible for one narrow function of supervision (such as speed, quality, discipline, or repairs), so that workers receive expert guidance in every separate aspect of their job rather than generalist supervision from one person alone.

Standardisation and Simplification of Work. Standardisation fixes uniform, tested standards for the tools, materials, working conditions and methods used for a given job, while simplification eliminates unnecessary variety (for example, in the range of products or the sizes of components), so that the best-known method becomes the everyday method, reducing waste and confusion.

Method Study. Method study is the systematic recording and critical examination of the existing and proposed ways of doing a job, in order to develop and apply a more effective, less wasteful method that reduces cost while maintaining or improving quality.

Motion Study. Motion study involves closely observing and analysing the individual body movements a worker makes while performing a task, so that unnecessary, wasteful movements can be identified and eliminated, leaving only the movements truly essential to completing the job. …