Scientific Management
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Scientific management is a theory that focuses on the management of work and the workers. Frederick Taylor was a firm believer of the theory scientific management.
Frederick Winslow Taylor was born on March 20, 1856 in Philadelphia and died on March 21, 1915. Frederick Taylor was a discoverer and an American engineer, who wanted to expand work productivity. He used his experience as a mechanical engineer to help with his experiments and observations. As an engineer Taylor observed that the work environment lacked work standards, produced disorganized workers and jobs were assigned to people that did not match the job description or have the skills or ability to perform the job. Frederick Taylor is known as the “father of scientific management” and was one of the very first management advisors. Taylor was one of the scholarly leaders of the Efficiency Movement and his philosophies were largely perceived. His theories proved to have a great impact in the Progressive Era.
The place where Frederick Taylor actually ideas about the theory of scientific management came from was his actual work experience in Midvale Steel Company. Promptly in his career he became concerned about improving work productivity and techniques. To do this there were four key point of the scientific management theory that he created. The first point was scientific job analysis. This included observation, data gathering, and careful measurement to determine “the one best way” to perform each job.
Next, was the selection of personnel. This step helped to scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop workers. The third step was management cooperation. This step explained that managers should cooperate with workers to ensure that all work is done in accordance with the principles of the science that developed the plan. Lastly, was functional supervising, which stated that managers assume planning, organizing, and decision-making activities, and workers perform jobs. In 1911, Frederick Taylor published the book “The Principles of Scientific Management” and in the book, he described the practices that were explained above to expand the productivity of employees at Bethlehem Steel. Taylors practices were proven to be an abundant achievement and as an end result Taylor became known as the founder of the Work Study movement. Frederick Taylor theory stated that many workers put little energy into their work if they knew their managers would easily let them get away with it. This mode of behavior was considered to be soldiering according to Taylor. He acknowledged this bad behavior as mismanagement of the work at the lowermost level of the organization. This lack of proper organization demonstrated itself in a lack of efficiency.
Taylor thought that organizations should study tasks and develop detailed procedures. Case in point, in 1898, Taylor observed how much iron from rail cars Bethlehem Steel plant personnel could be unloading if they were using the accurate tools, movements, and steps. The outcome was an astonishing 47.5 tons per day instead of the ordinary 12.5 tons every worker had been averaging. Taylor also saw that by reconstructing the shovels the workers used, he was able to increase the amount of work time and consequently decrease the number