The Concept Of Taylorism - UK Essays.
Scientific Management Theory Definition: The Scientific Management Theory is well known for its application of engineering science at the production floor or the operating levels. The major contributor of this theory is Fredrick Winslow Taylor, and that’s why the scientific management is often called as “Taylorism”.
The theory of scientific management has its roots in the studies conducted by F. W. Taylor during this formative period (see Taylor, 1911). There is much debate in the secondary literature about the synonymy of Taylorism and scientific management, which this paper does not discuss (for further details see, Caldari, 2007; Nelson, 1992).
Disadvantages of Scientific Management In spite of the illuminating advantages referred above, the concept of Scientific Management has become a subject of burning criticism. Not only the workers, but also the employees and even industrial psychologists are questioning the validity of Scientific Management.
The paradigm of scientific management focuses on production workers efficiency by breaking down every action, job, or task into small and simple segments that can be easily performed with minimal skills and without acquired knowledge (Taylor, 1911).
This essay will explore the theory of scientific management and will determine the relevance of Taylorism today in comparison to the 20th century. Scientific Management can be described as applying a tested and proven method in order to manage workers.
Taylorism in Education Frederick W. Taylor’s “scientific” and managerial approach to the workplace maximized efficiency and productivity through the standardization of labor. One of the primary principles of his system of management was to eliminate opportunities of chance or accident through the scientific investigation of every detail of labor (171).
Scientific Management and Taylorism are near synonymous due to the fact that the field of Scientific Management was pioneered by Frederick Taylor in the late 19th century. With the adoption of scientific management in virtually every aspect of management practice, the field of scientific management took off in a big way in the 20th century.