Scientific Management free essay sample

Scientific Management is a system that was originated from Fredrick W. Taylor (1911), which composite analysis of worker’s individual workflow and their labour productivity. The main purpose of this theory is to maximize efficiency within organisations to speed up the process of work in the minimum amount of time and cost incurred by the organisation (Ross 2010). Taylor believed that the most efficient way that work could be done was only when workers knew what they were doing and not merely working hard. Scientific Management focuses on four main principles. Firstly, different parts of the task are studied scientifically for a best possible method to achieve and perform it. Secondly, workers are scientifically selected and trained to perform the designated task at their best trained ability. Thirdly, workers and managers will collaborate to ensure the results expected. Lastly, planning and division of work will be divided by managers to workers respectively. There are many examples of Scientific Management in the modern society, of which some includes, car, technology and computer manufacturing plants, hospitals and some of the restaurant (Dharmasiri 2013). We will write a custom essay sample on Scientific Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Foxconn is one of the many manufacturing companies that use Scientific Management in the twenty-first century. In an interview with CNN (2012), a worker said, â€Å"women work like men and work like machines †¦ It’s so boring, I can’t bear it anymore. Everyday was like: I get off from work. It became my daily routine and I almost felt like I was some kind of animal.† When work becomes a routine for workers in a repetitive environment, alienation occurs. From the theory of Durkheim (1893), alienation was producing anomie, which could lead to crime and even suicide. This shows very clearly in the case of Foxconn’s serial suicide cases, that workers do not feel a sense of belonging to the company by the recurrent vicious work cycle. They were also not allowed to voice their opinions and all that was needed was to finish their designated task. This increases disloyalty and decreases employee’s morale, which could indirectly affect the productivity of the company. According to the Hawthorne Studies by Elton Mayo, he  believes that workers should be given the rights to speak up their mind and unhappiness. Even if there were no solutions to it, employees would already feel better as they feel respected and treated like part of the organisation. The workers were working in an overcrowded environment and had salaries that were not equivalently fair to their working hours and the excessive amount of work given (Hays 2008a). When employees have to work long hours, not having enough rest it will lead to unhappiness among them. However, the matter of fact is that huge companies like Apple work with Foxconn because of their ability to produce millions of gadgets (Hays 2008b). This usually results from the Scientific Management style, where higher efficiency from the workers gives a higher revenue input to the company. This theory basically focuses on individual workers whom are scientifically trained for a specialised task (as seen in the 2nd principle of Scientific Management) so that they will be better at it. However, when specialisation occurs, there is a higher tendency of a de-skilled workforce. As stated by theorist, Braverman (1974), when employees only learn responsibilities and skills within their job scope, they tend to lose their level of communication skills and knowledge as they are confined only within their area of mastery. This would narrow down a person’s creativity and absorption of knowledge. It would make it hard for them to switch to another industry because of their limitations. It also remains a fact that many jobs (1.2million) were created for the people, creating higher employments. People wanted to work for Foxconn initially because of the incentives they offered. Founder Terry Gou, believed that incentives such as well furbished dormitories for the employees and a metropolis which has many facilities (Johnson 2011) would attract people to work for them. Fredrick Taylor had a similar approach called the ‘initiative and incentive’ system. He believes that only when employees get incentives, will they take initiative in their work and put their best efforts in. (Freedman 1992) In Foxconn case, there have been a rising number of unhappy employees. In  interviews with The New York Times, most hire in Foxconn last averagely a few months before they quit dejected and depressed. There have been ten of thousands who have already left the company (Barboza 2010). This shows that even the incentives given to them were not justified compared to the amount of workload, mundane and harsh working environment. Taylor believed that money was the main reason for the employee’s motivation and hard work. His theory of â€Å"a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work† was supported by the higher amount of salaries that was given to employees who achieved more results throughout the day as compared to those who did lesser (Mindtools). According to the Hawthorne Studies by Elton Mayo, it is seen that there has to be social motivating factors and not just monetary incentives. Some of which includes, interpersonal relations between employees and managers. Elton Mayo believes that it is important for co-workers to feel like friends for a better work environment. However, Scientific Management shows the lack of compassion for the employees, as there was not supposed to be communication between them. All that was needed was to finish the task given. Backing up with Mary Follett (1938) theory, she believes that managers should work with employers rather than controlling them. In the 21st century, we are moving towards a postindustrial society where people are generally more educated. Scientific Management would not be feasible in this generation as people have more knowledge and they would not feel convinced to just take instructions blindly. When organisations neglect workers monetary, emotionally and physically needs, all in exchange for achieved end quantity results, there will be a negative impact in the long run. In Foxconn case, although productivity is high, it is directly inproportionate to the happy employees. Scientific Management shows that employers care more about productivity as compared to the happiness of employees. This would discourage workers as they would feel unappreciated and they see no purpose in their stay in the company. When this happens, it demoralises employees and they would lose focus and motivation to work hard for the company. This is clearly shown true by the number of workers who resigned in Foxconn. There are pros and cons to Scientific Management; therefore it would be  biased to discredit it totally. In a world today, transformational management would be the ideal style of management for organisations. The community is moving at a fast pace towards a post-industrial society in the 21st century. The most important thing for any company to do well in the long run is for employees to be in an environment that they feel happy in. When they feel happy, there will be higher motivation for them to want to give their best, which increases their loyalty to the company. It is important for companies to have high efficiency and productivity, however not at the expense of worker’s happiness, health or safety. Organisations should always exercise social responsibility, only when they do so will they get the respect and results expected from their employees. However, due to the nature of the job, it requires fast outputs in the shortest time possible. Workers were then treated like machines, with low labour cost. Most of the large organizations incorporate Scientific Management in their style of work, as it seems like the most efficient way to increase productivity in the fastest possible way. It is seen that Taylor’s Scientific Management theories, which have developed over a century, is still relevant and found within the modern workplaces. Scientific Management free essay sample The research proceeded through five phases: (1) The initial  Illumination studies  (1924[-]27) were aimed at evaluating the effect of lighting conditions on productivity; (2)  the Relay-assembly Room studies  (August 1928[-]March 1929) assessed the effects of pay incentives, rest periods, and active job input on the productivity of five selected woman workers; (3)  the Mica-Splitting Test group  (October 1928[-]September 1930) in which a group of piece-workers were used to corroborate the relative importance of work-group dynamics vs. ay incentives; (4)  the Bank Wiring Observation group  (November 1931[-]May 1932) a covert observational design in which the dynamics of control in a work-group of 14 male employees on the regular factory floor were observed; and (5)  the plantwide Interviewing program  (September 1928[-]early 1931) essentially an attempt by the company to categorize concerns, mitigate grievances, and manipulate employee morale according to the princ iples of social control learned in the previous phases). The latter two phases were interrupted by the detrimental effects of the Great Depression on company production orders, but the interviewing phase was later reinstated as a Personnel Counseling program, and was even expanded throughout the Western Electric company system between 1936[-]1955. We will write a custom essay sample on Scientific Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Hawthorne effect, defined as the tendency under conditions of observation for worker productivity to steadily increase, was discovered during the earliest scientific management phases of the research. It was suggested that when human work relations (ie. supervision and worker camaraderie) were appropriate, adverse physical conditions had little negative effect upon worker productivity. If the company could only learn more about the human relations aspects of the workplace, they might soon be able to utilize them to increase overall plant production. The latter phases of research, therefore, become more sociopsychological in design. MAY0 was the most prominent early popularizer of these studies. His previous industrial psychology work included reducing turnover in a Philadelphia area textile mill by establishing a system of rest periods for workers but he now stressed a ocial relations interpretation of the ongoing Hawthorne research. This portrayal had the eventual disciplinary effect of extending the purview of industrial testing beyond the previous individualized placement of workers toward the wider realm of manipulation of work-place relationships. Mayo’s account is altogether more programmatic than the guarded comments of WHITEHEAD or of ROETHLISBERGER and DICKSON in their official company research report (where more of the messy empirical details of the early phases of research were presented). All three sources, however, intentionally portray the Harvard Business School researchers as equally benevolent toward worker and company interests. The standard portrayal of wholehearted cooperation between the workers and supervisors in the latter phases of research came under sharp attack from industrial sociologists from 1937 onward including: GILSON; LYND; MILLS; LANDSBERGER. It was BARITZ, however, who popularized the notion that industrial researchers were inevitably servants of power. The counseling phase of research in particular was designed to apply the listening techniques of the Catholic confessional and the psychiatric couch (p. 116) with the aim of adjusting people to situations (rather than alleviating those situations from the workplace). An attempt at disciplinary damage control was then published by DICKSON and ROETHLISBERGER. A more convincing counter argument can be gained from other sources. Baritz clearly overstated his argument. Early 20th century immigrant workers were not simply hapless victims of capitalism. They used the limited opportunities presented by the industrial workplace to create their own conditions for the further development of their sub-cultures. ALTHENBAUGH; BERNSTEIN; SUSMAN; NELSON-ROWE all indicate that these self-made conditions included such features as parochial schools, organized labor unions, and even labor colleges. GILLESPIE follows up this line of historical reasoning by placing the Hawthorne research into the context of the rise of labor unions. The Hawthorne subject pool did not mindlessly  react  to industrial management techniques nor did they simply  adjust  or  adapt  to the less than subtle contingencies of social relations experiments. They recognized these contingencies for what they were: New company attempts to increase overall production and control union sentiment. HOGAN; WEISS indicate that transplanted peasant culture which emphasized family collectivism, religious devotion, and attitudes toward the value of work and formal education likely affected workplace relations as much as any company-based program. Whereas scientific management  decorticated  workers, and the mental testing tradition  individualized  workers, social relations research portrayed workers as ruled by a  sentiment of interpersonal irrationality. This was, of course, an improvement; but not much of an improvement. BRAMEL FRIEND caution modern researchers to bare in mind that the results of industrial research can not be fully understood by mere appeal to subject expectancy effects, nor even to contextualized social work group relations. They must be understood in the wider, shifting, societal-historical context of management-union relations. ******************************************************************************** EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE RECOGNISED: Improve driver behaviour just by paying attention to them Let’s face it; human beings are creatures of habit, cultivating unique behaviour patterns over time, some good, others bad. Whether it’s how we speak, sit, eat or drive, humans develop what physiologists call ‘muscle memory’, where the brain and body orchestrate automated responses to everyday situations, commonly known as ‘habits’. The Hawthorne Effect Back in the late 1920s, an American psychology professor called Elton Mayo began a series of experiments at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Chicago to determine the link between working conditions and productivity. Initially, Mayo wanted to determine the effect fatigue and monotony had on job productivity. To do this, he separated a group of employees from the rest of the assembly line and subjected them to a number of different tests involving changes in their working environment, like rest breaks, work hours, lighting, temperature and humidity. He placed a supervisor on site to monitor the employees. This person, who informed the test group of all forthcoming changes in their work situation, was regarded as a benign observer, rather than a strict disciplinarian [or spy] by the workers. As the experiments progressed, Mayo discovered that productivity amongst the test group increased considerably and he came to the conclusion that simply by being proactively and individually monitored by management, employees performed better. He, in effect, uncovered a profound truth about the way human beings perform at work, specifically, â€Å"The need for recognition, security and sense of belonging is more important in determining workers morale and productivity than the physical conditions under which he works. † Drive-Report’s Hawthorne Effect The life of a professional truck or bus driver can be lonely one, characterised by long working hours on monotonous stretches of highway. Because drivers are away from the ‘head office’ most of the time, it is difficult for management to get to know each and every driver’s professional aptitude, let alone his or her personal circumstances. It’s not hard to see why so many South African professional drivers feel like nothing more than a number on the payroll. For Prof Mayo, professional drivers would no doubt make ideal test cases. With Drive Report stickers posted on fleet vehicles, supported by regular and constructive management intervention using the Drive Report driver profiling services, the Hawthorne Effect is unlocked. By involving drivers in the Drive Report behavioural analysis process, fleet managers and driver trainers express a genuine concern for the driver, based on issues of improved safety and skills development, effectively making the driver feel ‘part of the team’, and a valuable one at that. Once drivers embrace the notion that Drive Report is an ‘on-going improvement tool’ employed to help them [rather than a ‘policing’ tool], they consciously strive to drive better, rectifying bad driving habits by replacing them with all the ‘best driving practices’ taught to them by their driver trainer. Bottom line The Drive Report system is specifically designed to improve driver efficiency. By proactively using the data generated by Drive Report for coaching purposes, fleet managers unleash the power of the Hawthorne Effect, boosting driver job satisfaction and professionalism, yielding financial benefits such as reduced fuel and maintenance costs while enhancing on-road safety. If these monetary gains are passed on to the driver as part of an incentive programme, a truly holistic win-win situation is created. /****************** re you looking for ways to motivate your team? Lets look at a principle called the Hawthorne Effect. In the 1920s, Elton Mayo, an Harvard University professor, started research at the Western Electric Companys Hawthorne plant in Cicero, Chicago. Mayo conducted behavioral research and was considered the founding father of industrial psychology. Mayos research showed that workers are motivated more by emotional rather than economic factors. Examples would be active involvement in changes and decisions which results in employees taking more ownership and gave them a feeling of importance. This approach resulted in a greater impact when compared to improvements in workplace conditions or more pay. Mayo also laid the foundations for later gurus, notably Herzberg (Motivation and Hygiene Factors), Maslow (Hierarchy of Needs), McGregor (XY Theory) and with Peters and Waterman (In Search of Excellence). During the 10-year study Mayo conducted research with 20,000 Western Electric employees that included a team of Harvard scientists and up to 100 investigators. This massive ten-year program grew from the initial experiment that began by improving the lighting to determine the effect on workers motivation and productivity. They found positive results, but productivity also increased in the control group of workers where conditions were unchanged, except that they were informed they were part of the study. Mayos work was perhaps the earliest significant demonstration that that took a look at factors that impact people in their workplace. Today, consider how can you use the Hawthorne Effect, and the results of the research from the 20s to help yourbusiness. Remember, people are mainly motivated not by economic factors, but emotional factors, such as feeling involved and receiving attention. /**************** Taylorism versus the ‘Hawthorne effect’ February 28, 2011  in  Columnists Management has been one of the great success stories of this world. But what is management? A myriad of definitions litter the pages of management texts. This article will not proffer a definition but will juxtapose the two main styles of managing people at work so that readers will be able to distinguish between good and bad management. Tendai and Chipo manage a team of workers under them. Tendai tries as much as possible to avoid any human contact with his staff and treats them as economically motivated automatons. He is a â€Å"cowboy† type of manager who undermines individual initiative and freedom. On the contrary, Chipo takes a more people-oriented approach. She tries to understand the problems and anxieties of her staff and to encourage their wider participation at work. Both Tendai and Chipo seek to control their teams but using different tactics. Tendai is a scientific management type of manager. Scientific management or Taylorism had its origins in Frederick W Taylor who lived from 1856 to 1915. In essence, Taylorism entailed extreme division of labour, de-skilling of the worker, payment by results (â€Å"piece-work†), tight managerial control and ehumanisation of the workplace. Taylor and his followers considered money to be the main motivator for workers. According to him, if workers were carefully trained and given the right tools, productivity would increase. Taylor observed that workers would exert no more effort than they believed they were being paid for — a phenomenon he termed â€Å"soldiering†. He posited a panacea — time and motion studies combined with rational analysis to determine the best method for performing any particular task. His thesis was that if compensation was linked to output, productivity would go up. Taylor’s ideas marked the genesis of mass production. Henry Ford of the â€Å"You can have any colour (of car) as long as it is black† fame was one of the first to adopt Taylor’s methods in the production of the â€Å"Model T†. By the 1930s, scientific management had started to fall out of favour. Taylorism became synonymous with boring and repetitive jobs, loss of skills, loss of autonomy for the workers, low morale, sabotage, inferior quality, absenteeism, high turnover and general apathy. Having worked as a machine operator before, Taylor didn’t see workers as people, but rather as cogs in a machine that could easily be replaced. The industrial engineer, with his stopwatch and clipboard, standing over a worker measuring each little part of the job and worker’s movements became a loathed figure and led to antagonism between workers and managers. Chipo belongs to the human relations school led by Professor Elton Mayo, a Sociologist from Harvard Business School and fierce critic of Taylorism. Between 1924 and 1932, Mayo and his colleagues carried out a series of experiments with factory workers at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company near Chicago in the United States of America. The Western Electric company was an assembly division of America Telephone and Telegraph (ATT). The research involved the illumination experiments of the mid-1920s, Relay Assembly Test Room involving the six workers from 1927 to 1932, a survey of 21 000 employees in 1928 and observations in the Bank Wiring Room from 1931-1932. The outcome of this research became famously known as the â€Å"Hawthorne Effect†. In the illumination experiments, lighting intensity was varied up and down for an experimental group of workers, whilst light levels were left unchanged for the control group. Almost all of the lighting changes led to an increase in productivity. Most interesting of all, productivity also shot up within the control group. What really was going on? Apparently, something unusual was happening. The workers felt that they were part of it. They felt important. They felt obliged to work harder and demonstrate that they could not be regarded as mere parts in the organisational machine. Thus was born the notion of the â€Å"Hawthorne Effect†. With the Bank Wiring Room experiments, a small group of male workers were engaged in producing electrical components. The research sought to find out how payment incentives would affect productivity. Surprisingly, productivity fell. Apparently, workers had become suspicious that their productivity would lead to some of them losing their jobs. Closer observation revealed the existence of informal groups or cliques which served to control group members and to manage bosses. Rate busters (those who performed beyond the norm) were forced to toe the line through a mixture of peer pressure and physical sanctions. The major finding of the Hawthorne studies was that when individuals are made to feel special, it encourages them to behave or perform at a higher level of efficiency than they might otherwise. Those men and women who participated in the Hawthorne studies felt special by virtue of being the focus of attention by the researchers. Being studied prompts a person to reflect more on the task and this often causes them to improve their performance. Like it or not, the Hawthorne studies have taken on an almost mythological status and are firmly embedded in HR folklore. The general conclusion from the studies was that workers are not solely driven by economic considerations but by social needs as well. Management therefore requires effective social skills, not just technical skills. The informal side of the organisation is as important as, or perhaps even more important than, the formal rules and hierarchy. Whereas Taylor sought to eradicate the informal aspect of work, the human relations school sought to acknowledge its indispensability and to find ways of aligning it with the formal parts and purposes of the organisation. Following Mayo, facilities such as canteens and other facilities at work including social clubs were introduced. The limitations in the research methodology used in the Hawthorne experiments led to debate and doubt about whether the conclusions of Mayo and his colleagues were valid and reliable. In 1982, Berkeley Rice alluded to the â€Å"Hawthorne Defect† in the journal Psychology Today. However, as we were all taught in business school, every research is flawed in one way or the other! Between Tendai and Chipo, who fits the â€Å"bad guy† tag? Who is the â€Å"good guy? †