A summary of Taylor’s “Selections from the Principles of Scientific Management” Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction

Born in 1856, Fredrick Winslow Taylor was a mechanical engineer, but later specialized as a management consultant in “worker productivity and industrial efficiency”. In his “scientific management”, Taylor puts forward a science-based methodology, which he believes has the potential to improve worker productivity and enhance industrial efficiency (Taylor, 1911).Since its publication, the methodology has remained a significant topic in industrial development and business management. The purpose of this paper is to summarize Taylor’s “Selections from the Principles of Scientific Management”.

Taylor’s thesis

Taylor’s theory revolves around his main idea presented as his thesis. The idea argues that the actual prosperity of an industry is rooted in the increase in the productivity of the worker, where both parties would gain from changes in the industrial efficiency (Taylor, 2010).Here, Taylor develops a “circle” in which employers have the role of studying and implementing how tasks are carried out within a given organization in an industry. According to Taylor (2010), the result would be an increase in production and a significant decline in the cost of production.In turn, this would result into an increase in the company’s productivity and provision of better pay as a reward to its employees. Thus, Taylor’s theory develops a situation where both the employee and the employer maximize their earnings due to an increase in productivity.

Taylor’s four principles of scientific management

With his thesis, Taylor proceeds to develop his famous principles of scientific management. Here, he proposes a system of “initiative and incentive” as the best system of managing production (Taylor, 2010).The system, according to Taylor, allows management to provide ‘incentives’ to employees for their good work, which then makes workers give their ‘best effort’ to the company. In this case, Taylor develops the four principles of scientific management.The first principle calls for a replacement of the old ‘rule-of-thumb’ method by developing a scientific approach to every element in human labor. Secondly, scientific selection of employees, training, teaching and developing labor is needed to replace the old system that allowed every employee to choose his own labor in addition to self-training.Thirdly, the managers must cooperate effectively with their employees to ensure that every bit of work is done according to the scientific principles (Taylor, 2010). Taylor’s fourth principle claims that the division of responsibilities and labor between the employers and employees must be on equal basis.

Taylor’s theory of common maximization of benefits

In addition to these principles, Taylor introduces the idea of ‘mental revolution’. He argues that both managers and employees must have a ‘complete change of their outlook’ towards their work effort and towards the mutual relationship between them (Taylor, 2010).Moreover, he argues that the revolution requires that the managers’ responsibility is to ensure a good environment at the working place and use scientific methods to solve problems affecting their employees. Taylor further argues that the main purpose of the relationship between the two parties in an industry is to ensure maximum prosperity, where both must obtain handsome remunerations.To express his ideas in a practical manner, Taylor has used a number of case studies, including the Bethlehem Steel Company’s case of ‘pig iron’, his experience at the Midvale Steel Company and some studies by Frank Gilbreth (Taylor, 2010).

References

Taylor, F. W. (1911). The Principles of Scientific Management. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers.

Taylor, F. W. (2010). Selections from “The Principles of Scientific Management”. Web.