Scientific management Flashcards
unit 8
what is scientific management?
Scientific laws which govern natural would should be applied to the workplace, i.e., Workers would be more productive if scientific principles used for machines were applied to activities of labor
What was taylors motivation behind scientific management
wanted to design management system that would reorganize the conditions of work in factory as he belied that many inefficiencies hampered factory production
what are the key aspects of scientific management?
Using common sense, scientific selection of workmen, greater cooperation between management and workers, work should be governed by scientific laws
What did Taylor believe that scientific management based on four major principles would do?
each principle would create a more efficient workplace
what were time and motion studies?
Timing a worker using a stopwatch as the worker would preform one task in a variety of different ways. Once the manager figured out the fastest way to do a job, the planning department would write this out as a work order and then present it to the worker
what were key aspects of scientific management?
workers doing their job according to the wishes of the planning department
workers would be paid an incentive wage that rewarded them upon meeting scientifically determined production standard
workers paid more if they produced more
why was scientific management introduced in the early 20th century
Historians argue that scientific management was created solely as a response to growing labor problems faced by US manufacturers
controlling alienated labor force allowed management to monopolize all aspects of labor
What key component was Taylor missing from Braverman’s orthodox perspective
Braverman doesn’t take into consideration the connection between new management theories and growth of unprecedented technological changes in workplace
what were some of the technical preconditions necessary for the popularization of scientific management?
Unprecedented growth in large scale factories and techno-science industries in United States which relied heavily on mechanical technologies and required large amounts of fixed capital
what did Harry Braverman argue about scientific management?
that it had a very negative impact on the US labor force due to scientific management being a capitalist tool that successfully subordinated labor interests
what did the revisionist perspective argue?
That Harry lacked historical context and overestimated the impact of scientific management on workers
