{"id":167,"date":"2012-04-25T04:15:43","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T04:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/frslabs.com\/frsblog\/?p=167"},"modified":"2012-04-25T04:15:43","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T04:15:43","slug":"scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientific Management \u2013 Taylorism at its best."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Frederick Winslow Taylor, one of the pioneers in scientific management, argued, <em>a century ago<\/em>, that management shouldn\u2019t be an art; instead a carefully selected set of scientific principles that should focus on systematic collection of knowledge about work processes, creation of tried and tested procedures for performing tasks and ruthless application of workforce efficiency. By doing so Taylor perhaps laid the foundation for what would transform the way workforce is managed and rewarded for generations to come.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor, an engineer and a management consultant is widely known as the \u2018Father of Scientific Management\u2019 and his principles are commonly known as \u2018Taylorism\u2019. In his book (originally a paper prepared for presentation to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Taylor unfolds the fundamentals of scientific management in a simple and easy to understand language. For instance, he starts the paper with: \u201cThe principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee\u201d. \u00a0Read some of the biggest companies\u2019 mission statements and you\u2019ll appreciate Taylor\u2019s simplicity.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor argues that for an organisation to function harmoniously with high productivity, the following are essential: analysis of current situation, decomposing tasks into constituent parts, getting rid of tasks that don\u2019t add value, developing a science for every job, systematically recruiting and training employees to maximise production, and motivating employees by giving them the right incentive for their high efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>There is almost an arrogant belief by Taylor that through methodical study and scientific principles it is possible to establish the \u2018one best way\u2019 of carrying out a job. This was challenged many a times, particularly by the creative industry but let\u2019s leave that discussion for another blog. We challenge this idea too as there are several ways to achieve a goal (we see this all the time \u2013 even when we figure out a way to solve a problem, something else comes up that is even better) and its very much contingent on the prevailing technologies, skill of a person\/team, motivation and circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps Taylor advocated the \u2018one best way\u2019 as the \u2018best practice\u2019 \u2013 a word that is overused in my view and least understood by many. Taylorism has not escaped its share of academic criticism over the years. Nevertheless, Taylor\u2019s meticulous experiments and theories has been adopted by most (if not all) the major industries around the world. He summarised his scientific principles paper on a poetic note (which we like).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u201cScience, not rule of thumb.<br \/>\nHarmony, not discord.<br \/>\nCooperation, not individualism.<br \/>\nMaximum output, in place of restricted output.<br \/>\nThe development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Book Reference: Frederick Winslow Taylor (1911), The Principles of Scientific Management.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frederick Winslow Taylor, one of the pioneers in scientific management, argued, a century ago, that management shouldn\u2019t be an art; instead a carefully selected set of scientific principles that should focus on systematic collection of knowledge about work processes, creation of tried and tested procedures for performing tasks and ruthless application of workforce efficiency. By [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,14],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scientific Management \u2013 Taylorism at its best. - FRSLABS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-\u2013-taylorism-at-its-best\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shankar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/\",\"name\":\"FRSLABS\",\"description\":\"Privacy Protection | Identity Verification | Fraud Managment\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/\",\"name\":\"Scientific Management \\u2013 Taylorism at its best. - FRSLABS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-25T04:15:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-25T04:15:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/44aa0b93c2b856fcc15543185e8dbf3d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scientific Management \\u2013 Taylorism at its best.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/44aa0b93c2b856fcc15543185e8dbf3d\",\"name\":\"Shankar\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b71e9e7aa03a6cdafa4d0ae11becd9b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b71e9e7aa03a6cdafa4d0ae11becd9b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shankar\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.frslabs.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/author\/shankar\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scientific Management \u2013 Taylorism at its best. - FRSLABS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-\u2013-taylorism-at-its-best\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shankar","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/","name":"FRSLABS","description":"Privacy Protection | Identity Verification | Fraud Managment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/","name":"Scientific Management \u2013 Taylorism at its best. - FRSLABS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-04-25T04:15:43+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-25T04:15:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/44aa0b93c2b856fcc15543185e8dbf3d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/2012\/04\/25\/scientific-management-%e2%80%93-taylorism-at-its-best\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scientific Management \u2013 Taylorism at its best."}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/44aa0b93c2b856fcc15543185e8dbf3d","name":"Shankar","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b71e9e7aa03a6cdafa4d0ae11becd9b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b71e9e7aa03a6cdafa4d0ae11becd9b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shankar"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.frslabs.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/author\/shankar\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173,"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frslabs.com\/frsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}