Posted by Jim McKinley on May 03, 1998 at 22:01:44:

In Reply to: Tayloristic culture posted by Robbert Northolt on April 02, 1998 at 03:23:53:

Scientific Management Principles

In his book, "The Principles of Scientific Management" (1911), Taylor listed four principles, shown in the following list. We have elaborated on the implications of each principle:

1. Develop a science to replace the old rule-of-thumb knowledge of the workmen, which the workmen kept in their heads. Reduce this knowledge to laws and rules and formulae.

Assumes a Newtonian clockwork universe
Provides no principle of learning, just a transfer of knowledge (no indication of how)
Suboptimizes at the task level
Expects identical results in future
Does not consider variation
Breaks the craft guild system
Gives revolutionary, discontinuous improvement

2. Scientifically select the workmen. Then progressively develop them.

Makes Newtonian assumptions of knowledge and ability to select the workmen

3. Bring together the science and the scientifically selected workmen.

Provides extrinsic motivation
Conditions company’s loyalty to both workers and management on compliance with
work standards
Demands quotas for above-average performance from all workers

4. Divide almost equally the work of the establishment between the workmen on one hand, and the management on the other.

Assumes that everyone needs to he supervised
Creates multiple layers of supervision to enforce standards and quotas
Creates ladder for ambitious managers to climb

Flaws of Scientific Management

What, then, are the flaws of scientific management that we speak of? They are many. For each of the flaws shown below we have included a commentary to show its effects in our own time under the heading of neo-Taylorism.

1. Belief in management control as the essential precondition for increasing productivity
2. Belief in the possibility of optimal processes
3. Narrow view of process improvement
4. Low-level suboptimization instead of holistic, total-system improvement
5. Recognition of only one cause of defects: people
6. Separation of planning and doing
7. Failure to recognize systems and communities in the organization
8. View of workers as interchangeable, bionic machines

From: Deming's Profound Changes: When Will the Sleeping Giant Wake Up? by Kenneth T. Delavigne and J. Daniel Robertson

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