Scientific Management

Question 1

Scientific Management was a notion established by Fredric Taylor and first introduced in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Answer 1

Fredric Taylor

Question 2

Taylors system was a theory of management that first analyses and then synthesises workflow to gain the best form of production.

Answer 2

form of production

Question 3

While these ideas lost some momentum during the mid 1900s, they have made an incredible comeback since the technological revolution of the late 1900s.

Answer 3

technological revolution

Question 4

One example of the return of the concepts of Scientific Management is fast food chains like McDonalds.

Answer 4

fast food

Question 5

McDonalds is a world-wide organisation known for its consistency of food items regardless of location or staffing constraints; a Big Mac is a Big Mac no matter where in the world you are.

Answer 5

consistency

Question 6

This is achieved by using consistent ingredients and instituting a highly standardised production procedure.

Answer 6

highly standardised

Question 7

This essay considers the main principles of Scientific Management and how they are being applied in the modern fast food chain, McDonalds.

Answer 7

main principles

Question 8

The first principle of Taylors system is to create a science of work, which involves determining the ‘one best way’ of doing a particular task and then determining the optimum time for completing that task. This then becomes the standard.

Answer 8

‘one best way’

Question 9

Taylor recommended that organisations perform careful experiments to establish the most efficient means of accomplishing tasks.

Answer 9

efficient means

Question 10

As an example, one former employee of McDonalds explained the current process related to making a burger. The process he described was governed precisely by defined steps and timed alarms that indicated step completion. Each step followed a particular order, it was timed, and each ingredient was measured; the outcome was entirely predictable. Every burger was exactly the same and took exactly the prescribed amount of time to complete.

Answer 10

example

Question 11

McDonalds have engineered a ‘one best way’ of making their burgers and other items.

Answer 11

engineered

Question 12

The second principle of Scientific Management is the careful selection and training of workers.

Answer 12

selection and training

Question 13

Taylor believed that workers should be matched to the task that they were best suited and then trained in the ‘one best way’ of completing that task.

Answer 13

matched

Question 14

If the worker was performing below expected, then they must be retrained.

Answer 14

retrained

Question 15

For example, another former employee of McDonalds described her first day on the job. Her task was to make the French fries, apparently the easiest task in the restaurant. She was shown a short instructional video outlining the process to make French fries and then set to work. She claimed there was no difficulty completing the task and the items she made were correct, because the instructions were accurate and precise.

Answer 15

example

Question 16

McDonalds is able to fit this inexperienced worker with a task and train her to competence in just fifteen minutes.

Answer 16

worker

Question 17

The third principle is to bring science and the scientifically trained worker together.

Answer 17

together

Question 18

By this Taylor meant that workers should be specialised and that their tasks be clearly defined, additionally, the tasks should be simplified as much as is possible.

Answer 18

specialised

Question 19

This would include instruction cards, and both performance and production reviews.

Answer 19

performance and production

Question 20

For example, the first employee mentioned above was a veteran of several years and worked on the most difficult team, making the actual burgers. His description style of the process, or perhaps his deep indoctrination, indicated that he was almost as mechanised in his thinking about making burgers as the task itself was mechanised, thus he was perfectly suited to this high stress area of the restaurant. The employee claimed that you didn’t need to know how to cook you just needed to follow the procedures to make a perfect burger.

Answer 20

example

Question 21

McDonalds have combined the science and the trained worker for optimal effect.

Answer 21

optimal effect

Question 22

The forth principle of Taylor’s design was an equal division of labour in which the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.

Answer 22

equal division

Question 23

One McDonalds store manager described the ways in which he was able to turn a poorly performing store around with exercises aimed at challenging and motivating an underachieving but essentially good work team.

Answer 23

described

Question 24

His role was clearly defined as managing the workers so that they could best perform the work.

Answer 24

role

Question 25

McDonalds have taken Taylor’s ideas and created a system that works the world over and produces the same burgers in over a hundred different countries.

Answer 25

hundred

Question 26

This would not have been possible without rigid training followed by exact measured procedures.

Answer 26

training