Fredrick Winslow Taylor 1

Chapter 6: Scientific Management

At the end of the civil war new industrial climate emerged in American Business.
It was that time when businesses turning to be settle and demand for goods
increased, companies started separating between managers and labors. At that
time Scientific Management invented by Fredrick Winslow Taylor. He brought
up the ideas based on his long work experience.

FREDRICK WINSLOW TAYLOR

He is best as Father of Scientific Management. He was a Former Mechanical

Engineer from America. He worked on many experiments for 30 years. He first
began to experiment with new managerial concepts while employed at the
MIDVALE STEEL Co. At Midvale, he rise from patternmaker to chief engineer
within 6 year.

FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR, "A PIECE-RATE SYSTEM" (1896)

This system was devised by F.W. Taylor, the father of scientific management
and was the first systematic attempt in rationalizing incentive. The ordinary
piece-work system involves a permanent antagonism between employers and
men, and a certainty of punishment for each workman who reaches a high rate
of efficiency. The demoralizing effect of this system is most serious. Under it,
even the best workmen are forced continually to act the part of hypocrites, to
hold their own in the struggle against the encroachments of their employers.
The system introduced by the writer, however, is directly the opposite, both in
theory and in its results. It takes each workman's interests the same as that of
his employer, pays a premium for high efficiency, and soon convinces each
man that it is for his permanent advantage to turn out each day the best quality
and maximum quantity of work. Elementary rate-fixing differs from other
methods of making piece-work prices in that a careful study is made of the time
required to do each of the many elementary operations into which the
manufacturing of an establishment may be analyzed or divided. These

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 Frederick Winslow Taylor, "A Piece-Rate System" (1896) 2

elementary operations are then classified, recorded, and indexed and when a
piece-work price is wanted for work the job is first divided into its elementary
operations, the time required to do each elementary operation is found from the
records, and the total time for the job is summed up from these data. While this
method seems complicated at the first glance, it is, in fact, far simpler and more
effective than the old method of recording the time required to do whole jobs of
work, and then, after looking over the records of similar jobs, guessing at the
time required for any new piece of work. The differential rate system of piece-
work consists briefly, in offering two different rates for the same job, a high price
per piece in case the work is finished in the shortest possible time and in perfect
condition, and a low price if it takes a longer time to do the job, of if there are
any imperfections in the work. (The high rate should be such that the workman
can earn more per day than is usually paid in similar establishments.) This is
directly the opposite of the ordinary plan of piece-work in which the wages of
the workmen are reduced when they increase their productivity. The system by
which the writer proposes managing the men who are on day-work consists in
paying men and not positions. Each man's wages, as far as possible, are fixed
according to the skill and energy with which he performs his work, and not
according to the position which he fills. Every endeavor is made to stimulate
each man's personal ambition. This involves keeping systematic and careful
records of the performance of each man, as to his punctuality, attendance,
integrity, rapidity, skill, and accuracy, and a readjustment from time to time of
the wages paid him, in accordance with this record.

It is based on the assumption that the degree of efficiency varies from worker
to worker and hence the workers must be paid according to their degree of
efficiency.

THE MAIN FEATURES OF PIECE RATE SYSTEM ARE:

(i) The system is based on piece rates.

(ii) The standard output for unit of time is pre-determined on the basis of time
and motion study.

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 Frederick Winslow Taylor, "A Piece-Rate System" (1896) 3

(iii) There are two piece rates, one lower and another higher. Those who reach
the standard or exceed it, get wages at higher piece rate (e.g. 120% of piece
rate) and those who fail to reach it, get wages at a lower piece rate (e.g. 80%
of piece rate).

(iv) Minimum wages for the workers are not guaranteed.

THE ADVANTAGES ARE:

First. That the manufactures are produced cheaper under it, while at the same
time the workmen earn higher wages than are usually paid.

Second. Since the rate-fixing is done from accurate knowledge instead of more
or less by guess-work, the motive for holding back on work, or "soldiering," and
endeavoring to deceive the employers as to the time required to do work, is
entirely removed, and with it the greatest cause for hard feelings and war
between the management and the men.

Third. Since the basis from which piece-work as well as day rates are fixed is
that of exact observation, instead of being founded upon accident or deception,
as is too frequently the case under ordinary systems, the men are treated with
greater uniformity and justice, and respond by doing more and better work.

Fourth. It is for the common interest of both the management and the men to
cooperate in every way, so as to turn out each day the maximum quantity and
best quality of work.

Fifth. The system is rapid, while other systems are slow, in attaining the
maximum productivity of each machine and man; and when this maximum is
once reached, it is automatically maintained by the differential rate.

Sixth. It automatically selects and attracts the best men for each class of work,
and it develops many first class men who would otherwise remain slow or
inaccurate, while at the same time it discourages and sifts out men who are
incurably lazy or inferior.

Finally, one of the chief advantages derived from the above effects of the
system is, that it promotes a friendliest feeling between the men and their
employers and so renders labor unions and strikes unnecessary.

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 Frederick Winslow Taylor, "A Piece-Rate System" (1896) 4

It is not unusual for the manager of a manufacturing business to go most

minutely into every detail of the buying and selling and financiering, and arrange
every element of these branches in the most systematic manner and according
to principles that have been carefully planned to insure the business against
almost any contingency which may arise, while the manufacturing is turned over
to a superintendent or foreman, with little or no restrictions as to the principles
and methods which he is to pursue, either in the management of his men or the
care of the company's plant. . . . Such managers belong distinctly to the old
school of manufacturers; and among them are to be found, in spite of their lack
of system, many of the best and most successful men of the country. They
believe in men, not in methods, in the management of their shops; and what
they would call system in the office and sales departments, would be called red
tape by them in the factory. Through their keen insight and knowledge of
character they are able to select and train good superintendents, who in turn
secure good workmen; and frequently the business prospers under this system
(or rather, lack of system) for a term of years. The modern manufacturer,
however, seeks not only to secure the best superintendents and workmen, but
to surround each department of his manufacture with the most carefully woven
net-work of system and method, which should render the business, for a
considerable period at least, independent of the loss of any one man, and
frequently of any combination of men. It is the lack of this system and method
which, in the judgment of the writer, constitutes the greatest risk to
manufacturing; placing, as it frequently does, the success of the business at the
hazard of the health of whims of a few employees.

DISADVANTAGES
(i) It does not guarantee a minimum wage for the workers.

ii) The system is very harsh to the inefficient workers because they gentle
wages due to lower rate and lower output.

iii) It penalizes a worker who just fails to attain the standard by a narrow margin

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 Frederick Winslow Taylor, “SHOP Management" (1903) 5

It is clear from the above illustration that the workers with lower efficiency less
wages and workers with higher efficiency get more wages under Table
differential piece rate system as compared to ordinary piece rate system.

FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR, “SHOP MANAGEMENT" (1903)

It’s the 2nd paper of F. W. Tailor Published in 1903 which focused on his
philosophy of management.

Frederick Winslow Taylor feels that management is also destined to become

more of an art, and that many of the elements which are now believed to be
outside the field of exact knowledge will soon be standardized, tabulated,
accepted, and used, as are now many of the elements of engineering.
Management will be studied as an art and will rest upon well recognized, clearly
defined, and fixed principles instead of depending upon more or less hazy ideas
received from a limited observation of the few organizations with which the
individual may have come in contact, there will, of course, be various successful
types, and the application of the underlying principles must be modified to suit
each particular case. The writer has already indicated that he thinks the first
object in management is to unite high wages with a low labor cost. He believes
that this object can be most easily attained by the application of the following
principles:

(A) A large daily task. — Each man in the establishment, high or low, should
daily have a clearly defined task laid out before him. This task should not in the
least degree be vague nor indefinite, but should be circumscribed carefully and
completely, and should not be easy to accomplish.

(B) Standard conditions. — Each man’s task should call for a full day’s work,
and at the same time the workman should be given such standardized
conditions and appliances as will enable him to accomplish his task with
certainty.

(c) High pay for success. — He should be sure of large pay when he
accomplishes his task.

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 Frederick Winslow Taylor, “SHOP Management" (1903) 6

(d) Loss in case of failure. — When he fails he should be sure that sooner or
later he will be the loser by it.

When an establishment has reached an advanced state of organization, in

many cases a fifth element should be added, namely: the task should be made
so difficult that it can only be accomplished by a first-class man.

WHAT TAYLOR WAS TRYING TO SAY IN “SHOP MANAGEMENT”

 Pay high wages & have low unit product costs
 Had to apply scientific methods of research & experiment to formulate
principles & processes for control of the manufacturing operations
 Employees had to be scientifically placed on job
 Employees should be trained precisely
 Friendly cooperation would have to be cultivated between management
and workers

CONCEPTS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT:

 Develop a science which replaces the old rule-of-thumb method
 Scientifically select & then train, teach & develop the workmen
 Management should cooperate with workers
 Equal division of work and responsibility between management &
workmen

MECHANISMS LISTED BY TAYLOR’S:

 Time study
 Functional & divided foremanship
 Standardization of all tools & implements
 A planning room or department
 The ‘exception principle’ of management
 Slide rules & similar time saving implements
 Instruction cards for workers
 Reward & penalty
 The ‘differential rate’
 A routing system

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 Aims and objectives of scientific management 7

 Modern cost system & so on

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

1. To determine industrial and market trends:

Industrial and market trends help and assure continuous operations and
employment-the essential for the sustenance of any enterprise. As a
result of determination of industrial and market trends planned and
balanced operations in an enterprise will assure continuous employment
to the employees.

2. To obtain better gains for the concern and its employees:

Minimizing wastes while employing scientific techniques and getting

productive use of human resources and material results in increased
profits for the concern which they willingly share with their employees by
way of enhanced wages to them.

3. To improve the living standard of workers:

Enhanced income to the workers leads to improvement in their standard

of living.

4. To provide better contentment and a happier life for workers:

As a result of the increased income and their improved standard of living,

this takes away all aching factors from their minds and they come to lead
a better contented and happier life.

5. To render employees satisfactory conditions for work:

It is the objective of scientific management to left the employees feel

satisfied and at ease so far as the conditions of their work is concerned.

6. To provide highest opportunity for invoker’s employment and

advancement:

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 Aims and objectives of scientific management 8

Scientific management through its 'Job analysis' techniques offers the

highest opportunity to an individual, depending on individual's capacity,
for employment and advancement through training and development.

7. To motivate workers for promotion to higher positions:

With the systematic training and methodical instructions that help the
development of new and higher capacities, the scientific management
motivates and creates, an urge within the worker's minds for reaching
the higher ladder and promotion.

8. To generate self-reliance and self-respect in workers:

With methodical job specifications and know-how techniques, the

scientific management helps generating feelings of self-reliance and
self-respect in the workers.

9. To develop personality, attitudes and behavior of workers:

An atmosphere charged with research and evaluation free from any

authority pressures as provided by scientific management helps in the
development of their personality attitudes and behaviors.

10. To build workers' character:

Scientific management relies on the golden principle 'Work is worship'

and through this impresses workers to build their character through their
proper work performance.

11. To promote equity and justice:

Scientific management aims at promoting an equitable and a fair

treatment in wages and other things to all irrespective of any favor of
fear.

12. To create atmosphere of amity and mutual cooperation:

Scientific management's endeavor is ever directed to eliminate elements

of friction and discord and bring about an atmosphere of amity, mutual
cooperation and understanding in a given situation.

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 Aims and objectives of scientific management 9

THE IMPACT OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and
synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency,
especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science
to the engineering of processes and to management. Scientific management is
sometimes known as Taylorism after its founder, Frederick Winslow Taylor.

One obvious contribution of scientific management was the overall

improvement in factory management, improvement in the shop, utilization of
equipment, labor and materials etc.

For management it has pointed the way to-

-a more effective organization,

-a more reliable product,

-a better workforce,

-a better understood customer,

-an improved corporate image and

-a more effective profit position.

There are five major impacts of scientific management:

Research in a place of rule of thumbs

Standards in every phase of management

Systematic Planning for visible improvement

Control as a sensing mechanism

Cooperation

There are some positive and negative impacts in scientific management which
are given in the following:

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 Aims and objectives of scientific management 10

POSITIVE EFFECTS
According to management expert Peter Drucker, author of 39 books on
management and professor at Claremont Graduate University, applying
scientific management methods in manufacturing originally resulted in a
dramatic reduction in the cost of products. This enabled more people to be able
to afford buying them. Wages rose and unskilled workers moved into higher
paying machine operator jobs. Scientific management studies enable an
organization to make better decisions about how to improve operations so that
a company can achieve its strategic goals. Industrial unions established wage
requirements and job security provisions based on the clearly defined job task
descriptions that emerged from scientific management studies in the workplace.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Scientific management studies neglected to acknowledge the importance of the
workers. Subsequent research on improving workplace productivity took into
account the importance of the employees, their knowledge and their needs.
Implementation of scientific management studies produced, in some cases,
inhuman working conditions caused by mass production lines. Poor treatment
of workers led to the rise of unions and increased strikes and unrest. Although
scientific management originally devalued workers and their contributions, over
time, these organized labor unions actually used some of Taylor’s concepts to
protect jobs and control members.

At last, upon these five concepts Taylor emphasized that management should
be founded. And these five principles Research, Standards, Planning, Control
and Cooperation form the solid basis of virtually every successful venture.

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 Contribution of Frank Bunker & Lillian Bunker Gilbreth 11

CONTRIBUTION OF FRANK BUNKER & LILLIAN BUNKER GILBRETH

In the annals of management, Frank Bunker Gilbreth (1868-1924) and Lillian

Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972) are respected for their unique contributions to the
advancement of motion study, fatigue study and work simplification. Their
humanistic approach to the problems of management utilized the principles of
psychology and the application of experimental results to improve industrial
procedures.

FRANK BUNKER GILBRETH’S CONTRIBUTION:

Motion studies
In Army

Gilbreth devised the standard techniques used by armies around the world to
teach recruits how to rapidly disassemble and reassemble their weapons even
when blindfolded or in total darkness.

During World War I. His assignment was to find quicker and more efficient
means of assembling and disassembling small arms. According to Claude
George (1968), Gilbreth reduced all motions of the hand into some combination
of 17 basic motions. These included grasp, transport loaded, and hold. Gilbreth
named the motions therbligs — "Gilbreth" spelled backwards with letters th
transposed to their original order. He used a motion picture camera that was
calibrated in fractions of minutes to time the smallest of motions in workers.

Their emphasis on the "one best way" and therbligs predates the development
of continuous quality improvement (CQI), and the late 20th century
understanding that repeated motions can lead to workers experiencing
repetitive motion injuries.

Therbligs are 18 kinds of elemental motions used in the study of motion

economy in the workplace. A workplace task is analyzed by recording each of

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 Contribution of Frank Bunker & Lillian Bunker Gilbreth 12

the therblig units for a process, with the results used for optimization of manual
labour by eliminating unneeded movements.

Transport empty Receiving an object with an empty hand. (Now called

[unloaded] (TE): "Reach")

Grasp (G): Grasping an object with the active hand.

Transport loaded Moving an object using a hand motion.
(TL):
Hold (H): Holding an object

Release load (RL): Releasing control of an object.

Preposition (PP): Positioning and/or orienting an object for the next
operation and relative to an approximation location.
Position (P): Positioning and/or orienting an object in the defined
location.
Use (U): Manipulating a tool in the intended way during the
course working.
Assemble (A): Joining two parts together

Disassemble (DA): Separating multiple components that were joined.

Search (Sh): Attempting to find an object using the eyes and hands.

Select (St): Choosing among several objects in a group.

Plan (Pn): Deciding on a course of action

Inspect (I): Determining the quality or the characteristics of an

object using the eyes and/or other senses.
Unavoidable delay Waiting due to factors beyond the worker's control and
(UD): included in the work cycle.

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 Contribution of Frank Bunker & Lillian Bunker Gilbreth 13

Avoidable delay Waiting within the worker's control which causes

(AD): idleness that is not included in the regular work cycle.

Rest (R): Resting to overcome a fatigue, consisting of a pause in

the motions of the hands and/or body during the work
cycles or between them.
Find (F): A momentary mental reaction at the end of the Search
cycle. Seldom used.

In Medical

Gilbreth was the first to propose the position of "caddy" (Gilbreth's term) to a
surgeon, who handed surgical instruments to the surgeon as needed.

Scientific management
The work of the Gilbreths is often associated with that of Frederick Winslow
Taylor, yet there was a substantial philosophical difference between the
Gilbreths and Taylor. The symbol of Taylorism was the stopwatch; Taylor was
concerned primarily with reducing process times. The Gilbreths, in contrast,
sought to make processes more efficient by reducing the motions involved.
They saw their approach as more concerned with workers' welfare than
Taylorism, which workers themselves often perceived as concerned mainly with
profit. This difference led to a personal rift between Taylor and the Gilbreths
which, after Taylor's death, turned into a feud between the Gilbreths and
Taylor's followers. After Frank's death, Lillian Gilbreth took steps to heal the rift;
however, some friction remains over questions of history and intellectual
property.

Fatigue study
In conducting their Motion Study method to work, they found that the key to
improving work efficiency was in reducing unnecessary motions. Not only were
some motions unnecessary, but they caused employee fatigue. Their efforts to
reduce fatigue included reduced motions, tool redesign, parts placement, and
bench and seating height, for which they began to develop workplace

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 Contribution of Frank Bunker & Lillian Bunker Gilbreth 14

standards. The Gilbreths' work broke ground for contemporary understanding

of ergonomics.

Lillian Bunker Gilbreth’s contribution:

Time, motion and fatigue study
She and her husband were partners in the management consulting firm of
Gilbreth, Inc., which performed time and motion study. Additionally, the
Gilbreths did research on fatigue study, the forerunner to ergonomics. The
Gilbreths developed innovations in workplace efficiency like improved lighting
and regular breaks, as well as in workplace psychological well-being like
suggestion boxes and free books.

Domestic management and home economics

After Frank’s death, Gilbreth turned her attention to the home, despite her
aversion to housework; her children described her own kitchen as a "model of
inefficiency." Yet, without Frank as a colleague, Lillian's best chances for career
success were in the female-friendly arena of domestic management and home
economics.

The Gilbreth children often took part in the experiments. Gilbreth was
instrumental in the development of the modern kitchen, creating the "work
triangle" and linear kitchen layouts that are often used today.

She is credited with the invention of both the foot pedal trash can, the shelves
on the inside of refrigerator doors (including the butter tray and egg keeper),
and wall light switches – all now standard. She also filed numerous patents,
including ones on improving the electric can opener and one for the wastewater
hose for washers.

Volunteer work and government service

Her government work began as a result of her longtime friendship with Herbert
Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, both of whom she had known in
California; Gilbreth had presided over the Women's Branch of the Engineers'

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 Contribution of Frank Bunker & Lillian Bunker Gilbreth 15

Hoover for President campaign. At the behest of Lou Henry Hoover, Gilbreth
joined the Girl Scouts as a consultant in 1929, later becoming a member of the
board of directors, and remained active in the organization for more than twenty
years.

In 1927 she became a charter member of the Altrusa Club of New York, NY; an
organization for Professional and Business Women started in 1917 for the
purpose of providing community service.

Under the Hoover administration, she worked on and headed the women's
section of the President's Emergency Committee for Employment in 1930,
where she worked to gain the cooperation of women's groups for reducing
unemployment. During World War II, she was an advisor to several
governmental groups, providing expertise on education and labor (particularly
women in the workforce) for organizations such as for the War Manpower
Commission, the Office of War Information, and the United States Navy. In later
years, she served on the Chemical Warfare Board and on Harry Truman's Civil
Defense Advisory Council. During the Korean War, she served on the Defense
Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

In Summary
They focused on reducing motion instead of time to increase efficiency.

Devoted to efficiency.

Developed brick laying method.

Invented a microchronometer.

Constructed three-dimensional wire models of motions to permit better study

and analysis.

They made chronocyclegraph.

They used motion picture films to analyze and improve motion sequences.

Analyzed Motion and Movements of workers.

Created “Therblig” system.

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 Contribution of Frank Bunker & Lillian Bunker Gilbreth 16

Their studies were part of the manufacturing revolution in the U.S.

Developed the process of the chart and the flow diagram to record process and
flow patterns used in a works situation.

Developed “whitelist” card system on personnel- a forerunner of current merit-

rating system.

Worked on simplifying English alphabet,the typewriter keyboard and spelling.

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