Scientific Management, Also Called Taylorism, Was A Theory: Human Resource Management Organizational Behavior

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The Principles of Scientific Management is a monograph published by Frederick

Winslow Taylor in 1911. This influential monograph, which laid out the principles of
scientific management, is a seminal text of modern organization and decision theory
and has motivated administrators and students of managerial technique. Taylor was an
American mechanical engineer and a management consultant in his later years. He is
often called The Father of Scientific Management. His approach is also often referred
to, as Taylor's Principles, or Taylorism.
Scientific ManagementThe scientific management approach was initially described and theorized by
Frederick Winslow Taylor in the late nineteenth and twentieth century. In his
book Principles of Scientific management, first published in 1911, Taylor
have formulated a view in management that was highly inspired by
engineering principles. As such, the studies of Frederick Taylor can be seen
as a culmination of the series and developments occurring in western
industrialized country, in which engineers took the lead of developing
manufacturing productivity and in industrializing organizations.
Frederick Taylor developed Scientific Management out of the belief that task
could be optimized scientifically, and that scientific management could
design the most rational way of performing any task, which would lead to
enhance productivity and profitability. Enhanced productivity would not only
lead to greater profits for the employers, but also for the workers, who could
be given the tools and training to perform at optimum performance.
Scientific management, also called Taylorism, was a theory
of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective
was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one
of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and
to management.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 March 21, 1915) was
an American mechanical engineer who
sought to improve industrial efficiency.[1] He is regarded as the father
of scientific management and was one of the first management consultants.
[2]
Taylor was one of the intellectual leaders of the Efficiency Movement and
his ideas, broadly conceived, were highly influential in the Progressive Era.

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and


developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in
the 1960s that have been used in human resource
management, organizational behavior, organizational

communication and organizational development. They describe two


contrasting models of workforce motivation.
Theory X In this theory, management assumes employees are inherently
lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently dislike work. As
a result of this, management believes that workers need to be closely
supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical
structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level.
According to this theory, employees will show little ambition without an
enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.
According to Michael J. Papa, if the organizational goals are to be met, theory
X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employees'
compliance. Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive
supervision, and a punitive atmosphere. The Theory X manager tends to
believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all
prospective employees are only out for themselves. Usually these managers
feel the sole purpose of the employee's interest in the job is money. They will
blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether it may
be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame. A Theory X
manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that
they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to
structure the work and energize the employee. One major flaw of this
management style is it is much more likely to cause diseconomies of scale in
large business.
Theory Y In this theory, management assumes employees may be
ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It is believed that
employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. According to them
work is as natural as play. They possess the ability for creative problem
solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Given the
proper conditions, theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to
seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-control and selfdirection in accomplishing objectives to which they are committed. A Theory
Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to
do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a
strong motivation. Many people interpret Theory Y as a positive set of beliefs
about workers. A close reading of The Human Side of Enterprise reveals that
McGregor simply argues for managers to be opened to a more positive view
of workers and the possibilities that this creates. He thinks that Theory Y
managers are more likely than Theory X managers to develop the climate of
trust with employees that is required for employee development. It's
employee development that is a crucial aspect of any organization. This
would include managers communicating openly with subordinates,
minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate relationships,
creating a comfortable environment in which subordinates can develop and

use their abilities. This climate would be sharing of decision making so that
subordinates have say in decisions that influence them.
Theory X and theory Y combined.
For McGregor, Theory X and Y are not different ends of the same continuum.
Rather they are two different continua in themselves.
McGregor had identified theory X and theory Y differently for the basic
characteristics stated previously in the above sections of what these theories
represent. Theory Xassumptions are that individuals dislike their careers.
Theory X people have to be supervised. As for Theory Y assumptions are that
individuals like their careers and are willing to take part in responsibility.
Theory Y people don't need supervision and can be expected to turn good
productive value in their jobs.'

Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on


their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not
attributes.

Commerce is the whole system of an economy that constitutes an


environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political,
social, cultural and technological systems that are in operation in any
country. Thus, commerce is a system or an environment that affects the
business prospects of an economy or a nation-state. It can also be defined as
a component of business which includes all activities, functions and
institutions involved in transferring goods from producers to consumers.
Industry is the production of an economic good or service within
an economy.[1] Manufacturing industry became a key sector of production
and labour in European and North American countries during the Industrial
Revolution, upsetting previous mercantile and feudal economies. This
occurred through many successive rapid advances in technology, such as the
production of steel and coal. Following the Industrial Revolution, perhaps a
third of the world's economic output is derived from manufacturing
industries.

Service in economics, it is an intangible commodity. That is, services are an


example of intangible economic goods.

Service provision is often an economic activity where the buyer does not
generally, except by exclusive contract, obtain exclusiveownership of the
thing purchased. The benefits of such a service, if priced, are held to be selfevident in the buyer's willingness to pay for it. Public services are those, that
society (nation state, fiscal union, regional) as a whole pays for, through
taxes and other means.

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