Administrative Theory, MPA

Dr. Abdisalam Mohamed,

Assignment: Frederick W. Taylor is considered as the father

of scientific management theory, Why?

Mohamed Abdi Ibrahim.

Question2: Frederick W. Taylor is considered as the father of
scientific management theory, Why?
The Scientific Management Theory The origin of scientific management theory is
considered to be a major breakthrough in industrial management.
With the growing expansion and consolidation of large-scale industries in the wake
of the Industrial Revolution, the Western world had witnessed a resultant crisis of
management.
The problem was further aggravated by events like the First World War.
The growing scarcity of resources, competition, and complexity in managing
business had demanded an efficient science of management.
The scientific management theory was the outcome of such a need.
It had drastically ‘redefined’ the science of management by ensuring maximum
efficiency with the consequent economization of time and resources.
In other words, it had ‘revolutionized’ industrial relations by proposing to revamp
the age-old manager–worker relationship by standardization of work procedure,
improvement in the working conditions, and so on, and also by making managers
equally responsible for overall productivity.
It suggested that the application of scientific technology would maximize the
overall productivity in an industry, which in effect would increase the earnings of
both the workers and employers and minimize the friction between them.
Frederick W. Taylor has been considered as the father of scientific management
theory, though the term ‘scientific management’ was coined much later by Louis
Brandeis in 1910, reflecting on the ideas of Taylor.
Taylor believes that in every trade there is one best way of doing a job, and the
objective of the manager is to explore that best way to expedite the situation
optimally. Taylor’s own words better convey the essence of scientific management
theory: Among the various methods and implements used in each element of each
trade there is always one method and one implement which is quicker and better
than any of the rest. And this one best method and best implement can only be
discovered or developed through a scientific study and analysis of all the methods
and implements in use, together with accurate, minute, motion and time study.
(Taylor, quoted in Nigro and Nigro 1983) The major works of Taylor include ‘A
Piece-rate System’ (1895), ‘Shop Management’ (1903), ‘The Art of Cutting
Metals’ (1906), and ‘The Principles of Management’ (1911).