Modern Value of the Scientific Management Theory
SONG Dongfeng
Shanxi University of Finance and Economics P.R.China, 030006
Abstract : Taylor's scientific management theory has separated administrative staff from worker and
created a professional manager, and divide management into several functions , but has ignored people's
subjective initiative and function of democracy, what the modern management theory needs paying
attention to even more is that management want people first, the studying type organization and group
are particularly important to enterprises of today, manpower resources management has already totally
replaced the concept at stage of scientific management, the change organized today needs to consider
more factors.
Keyword: Taylor Scientific management Development Organization
1 Introduction:
Fredrick W. Taylor, (1856-1915) is a representative figure on U.S.A.'s industrial development
history, he regards managing as science, emphasizes the important function that a administrator is in
production. Just because he has brought far-reaching influence to development of industrial country of
last century on the contribution of the office procedure and management theory, He is praised as “the
father of scientific management”. The scientific management theory has not merely promoted the
development of traditional industry, but also established the cultural foundation for western institutional
framework. Taylor regards lowering costs and improving productivity as object, has analyzed
the
task, and has carried on a large number of experiments with the scientific method. Under the efforts of
him, a kind of new organization culture is getting popular in the industrial country. Ford studied the
theory developed it to apply to his own career, and rely on the big machine to produce and succeed with
the assembly line homework, Taylor opened a new era of industrial management, have established the
foundation for other theoretician's research in organizing behaviouristics. There is shade of Taylor's
scientific management theory while organizing at modern times today.
Certainly, as to modern organization, the old method might not be suitable for solving the problem
that newly, and old organization culture might not be suitable for the new organization development
environment either, the purpose to study Taylor's theory today is pursuing and organizing the origin of
culture at modern times, establish the foundation for the change and development of modern
organization too. So this text attempts to proceed from Taylor's science management theory, to probe
into a thinking of enterprise's organizational change of today.
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scientific management: developing Theory
2.1 Special value of Taylor's theory
Before scientific management, the traditional management style is not regarded as the real
administration behavior, because the management job is often occupied by the most outstanding worker
in the trade. Such general management mode is to influence other workers by bearing hardships and
stand hard work of the administrator. As to worker, he will get special encouragement from employer if
they work hard. This simple and primitive method is suitable for small workshop, but has used and met
difficulty in hundreds and thousands of people's factory. So when the scope of the enterprise is
expanded, the scientific management theory has soil emerging, scientific management has been just
developed in extensive production practices too.
What the scientific management theory different from generally office procedure lies in that the
administrator has undertaken new responsibility and his work is completely different from workers.
As basic concept the most of the scientific management theory, what administrators should make first is
analysis task. According to Taylor's generalization, it is analyzed that the task solves three problems
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emphatically: First, what should be done; Second, how to do; Third, when to do and do soon. All the
administrator's efforts are for solve these three problems, why this is scientific management theory is
known as the law of task management too. From began at this time, management was divided into many
functions; a kind of professional manager appears. The organization has appeared thereupon.
2.2 Guide the behaviors of the administrator and person with the scientific principle.
Taylor divides a certain specific work into two parts: Work wanted to do by the administrator and
work which the administrator want to do. In order to find out the scientific method to manage a certain
work, Taylor needs to investigate in order to set up a sample implemented in advance, investigate that
includes five following steps:
1. Found the suitable right amount worker who finishes this specific work;
2. Study and distinguish the concrete working link of every worker carefully, and they finish the
tool that the corresponding link need to use;
3. Note the concrete time that they do every working link with the stopwatch; choose the fastest
method among them;
4. Remove those wrong ones, slow, useless steps of rhythm;
5. Put in order out a set of best workflow and the most suitable tool fast the most finally.
Taylor's purpose is to let the administrator making great efforts to divide the task into relative link
of defining, control each link with the standard of the all right quantity. The management is to control all
links. The function of management has already included planning, organizing, coordinating,
encouraging, supervising and controlling at this time.
In addition, Taylor noticed that he should understand the worker's expected value, and should offer
training to make them adapt to and finish the work that they do. The reward mechanism of the scientific
management theory relates to work that the worker finishes, therefore workers can obtain higher salary.
Under the scientific management theory, the staff who cooperate with the train teacher harmonious have
an opportunity to get personal development, when he face these questions, he will do good than in case
of not accepting training .The scientific management theory is a way to coordinate staff's ability again in
essence. Scientific management theory of Taylor’s is to use scientific means to organize work and
supervise its carrying out course.
2.3 Meaning of the quantitative system of the work
Taylor has offered a kind of rational mode to regulate and examine the worker's behavior. Workers
are verified and arranged for feasible work and got the salary according to the sectionalization in
advance within fixed time. The quantitative system of this kind of job makes organizational
management and staff control simple and clear, encouraged workers to improve working effectively too
at the same time, and improved the production efficiency of the manufacturing industry through the
mode of the continuous productive process effectively at the beginning of the 20th century.
According to the view of free and democracy now, establish harsh standard unavoidable should
restrain creativity for work of staff, and cause their disgust. However, the fact is proved even in decades
after him in an era of Taylor, quantitative systems of the work are all effective and feasible. Through the
application of this system, the laborers believes that it accords with their personal long-term interest to
carry on the work with the best quality and the largest quantity every day, and their interests are
unanimous with the interests of the persons who hire. The combination of each side's interests and
combination of the performance goal can really improve working efficiency while organizing. Taylor
has carried on the test of more than ten years on the quantitative system of the work in his steel plant;
summarize the following seven advantages finally:
1. Reduced the production cost, raised workers' salary at the same time;
2. Have broken the union between workers;
3. Improve the unity and fairness through the regular standard;
4. Have promoted the cooperation during two sides of labor and capital;
5. Through establishing different work load, reach the supreme productivity in different working
links;
6. Choose the most suitable worker for every post automatically;
7. Have set up the harmonious organization without strike.
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Whether Taylor's conclusion to the quantitative system of the work is suitable for the modern
management idea, his method has set up the foundation for the management control system, and has
influenced deeply back modern organization's management theory.
In term of improving productivity, Taylor summarizes his scientific management theory: "Science but
not compulsory means; Unify but do things in his own way harmoniously; Cooperate but not
individualism; The output maximizes but not rigorously enforce the output under the regulation; Let
everybody give play to the biggest ability to obtain maximum value. " Certainly, this is the achievable
perfect view of enterprise applied management science theory in the design.
But some people have realized that the negative consequence of emphasizing the scientific management
theory excessively.
Firstly, they don't think Taylor's view as science, because the scientific management theory is only
a system accelerating working speed and strengthening the working intensity in essence, it is more
reliance muscles instead of the brain, and it has changed the laborers into a machine of a pursuit tempo,
it has deprived the personal thinking of work, initiative, fulfillment and enjoyment. In addition,
establishing the task in the foundation of choosing the best staff to do, it lead to only a small part of
the most strong and most active staff can finish it only, this forces them to compete with those workers
not very skilled, has brought on inequitable phenomenon.
Secondly, the opposition person still thinks that the scientific management theory is autocratic,
because it regards workers as the tool of production, and regards them as the semi-automatic accessory.
At the same time it strengthened managerial dictatorship, and emphasizes the function that discipline
restrains excessively. In addition it brings suspect, envy each other and illegitimate competition into
laborers, this has destroyed the unified and cooperative spirit in the colony of organizing.
Thirdly, the scientific management theory is thought to be lack efficiency because it only pays close
attention to the thing to the settlement and completion of extant problem and present task, can not
produce the extensive and long-term economic benefits.
No matter what kind of dispute does it exist, the scientific management theory of Taylor's has
pushed in industrial development undeniable. History of the industrial development has proved too that
it has efficiency that Taylor's organization management theory produces a era in the big machine.
Taylor's great place Lie in that he not merely finds the science in the management that he thinks, but
also use it for practice and popularize it actively, and also full of confidence with this, the wide
application of law of scientific management will improve ordinary people's productivity in industrial
production at double in the near future ".
3 the development trend organization today
Today after 100 years, the human society has already marched toward the new period completely
different from Taylor's times. Under the influence of enterprise's internationalization and economic
globalization, the development organizing is in the turning point of back modern organization after the
modern organization. Its characteristic includes democratic management, fraction, cooperating with
group. Individual is not looked at a small pinion in an enormous complicated machine as before. On the
contrary, regarded as the most basic unit while organizing, individual is a kind of valuable manpower
capital, can become and promote organizing to develop , creative positive strength, at the same time
individual will be responded too actively the environment of organizing, the attention to the personal
demand has been never as urgent as today. The scientific management theory is nearly designed by
manual labor and handicraftsman especially before one century, today, advocate knowledge economy,
the unavoidable need is improved with development of the times. On the premise of continuing
advocating scientifically, scientific management needs to circulate the factor of democracy, perhaps the
distribution system should be improved thereupon, the workforce has already turned into the capital
participating in being assigned, the appearance thereupon of various kinds of encouragement theories, it
is in the ascendant that the studying type is organized, the group seems more important even more than
its individual.
In the organization of the current society, even if the work of management is subdivided into
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different parts, for instance CE0, CIO, CFO, etc. In this case, it is very common that a general manager
asks his staff the scientific and technological question. But this is not contingent under Taylor's
scientific management theory. Because the administrator, with be compared by the administrator, more
and more careful that the administrator should know the production procedure, only in this way their
work that they could prepare the guiding card for worker to arrange scientifically.
The new situation demands to produce the new office procedure, people incline to replace and
rigorously enforce the management in the meaning with the human resource development theory now,
this shows for us that set out to grow some changes at our side: What the theoretician and administrators
regard the staff as " people ", and hope to know " on earth to let an individual join to an organization,
dissolve and enter this organization and advance towards the goal of organization".
The management motive of the traditional theory is that the “carrot and stick” in essence; the
decision of group's cooperation and property of participation is perfect in theory, but is impractical in
practice. And the new management theory regarded the laborer as the factor of organization, which is
voluntary, creative, and daring to be responsible. Let workers regard the organization's goal as one's
own personal goal from heart, produce a kind of satisfaction to the work psychologically. It is difficult
to reach by the pressure and the system of quantitative work. So, we should regard totally-trust to the
staff as the base in improving organizational management.
1. Should not be made by a certain individual again while making policy;
2. Design convenient horizontal and vertical exchange while organizing organized;
3. Encourage the staff to participate in and set up corresponding incentive system to improve
working enthusiasm;
4. Extensive friendly the superior and the subordinate are interdynamic should generally exist in
organizing;
5. There should be mutual trusting relationship of height while organizing;
6. The staff should bear responsibility too in the course of controlling.
7. The design organizing should be favorable to the development of the group.
8. Pay attention to the studying type setting-up organizing.
But what we should pay attention to is that this is only an extensive and idealized mode offers
for organization to meet the back modernized characteristic, different organizations should establish its
management modes according to its characteristics .
，
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Conclusion
Today's enterprise organization's has already advanced enormously compared with the organization
in the past, in this course of change, we needs new theory as guidance in the organizational change. The
organization theory of the traditional industrial enterprise can't already obviously adapt to the present
change, an organization development of the industrial society toward the last industrial society at
present. There is characteristic that traditional industrial enterprise organizes the theory unavoidably in
the organization theory of the last industrial society, but more one should adapt to the characteristic of
development of our times, and it should adjust just as change of the marketing theory. Divide the work
and organize detailed too and subdivide, the network type, group type, studying type characteristic of
organizing should be incorporated in the theory of the organizational change.
Some managerial expert interpret industrialism as " with technical staff and professional personnel
replace capitalist become of society with strongest influence power member, this kind of trend of
emphasizing knowledge defines current era as information age, at the same time , can estimate the rising
of service and decline of the manufacturing industry . "According to this kind of analysis, during the
process of organizing development, the human resources will become more important than in the past.
By contrast, Taylor's scientific management theory has already lagged behind development of the
society to a certain extent, especially his attitude toward laborers --Taylor has ever said: "Put people to
the correct position in correct time like playing chess in practice in management.”
Taylor's theory has brought enormous positive impact for the industrial development in last century,
but unless the theoretician and practitioner amplify Taylor's doctrine for other forms to adapt to the new
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environment, the scientific management theory will become the brilliant past in history. Even so, it is
known to all that the important meaning of scientific management. Further more, the view of Taylor's,
about the system of task, criterion, and incentive, is still having direction significance in the period of
the change from modern organization to back modern organization.
References
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[1] Wei jie. Enterprise's front question. Development of China Publishing House. 6(2001). P82 135.
[2]Stuart crainer. The management century. Publishing house of Hainan.8(2000). p1 59.
[3]Wu peiliang. The theory and design of organization. Publishing house of the People's University of
China. P21 51.
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