This document summarizes the scientific management era from 1910-1935. It describes the major theorists and principles of scientific management put forth by Frederick Taylor, Henry Gannt, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Luther Gulick, Max Weber, and Henri Fayol. These theorists approached management in a scientific manner, emphasizing efficiency, task analysis, and standardized work processes. The document also discusses how scientific management influenced organizations and the contrasting approaches that emerged over time.
2. Scientific Management
The process of approaching various aspects of
organizations in a scientific manner using
scientific tools such as research, management, and
analysis.
4. History of the Era
Industrial Age
- Migration to cities
- Reliance on electricity and
gasoline
- Changes both on the farm
and in factories
- Autos, airplanes, movies,
and radio became common
5. History of the Era
1913 – Federal Reserve
System created
WWI begins and Panama
Canal opens
1919-1933 Prohibition
1920 - Nineteenth
Amendment
1929 - Stock Market Crash
6. Prior to Scientific Management
Owner, manager, sales, and front office personnel had
little direct contact with production activity.
A “superintendent” was responsible for all planning and
staff functions.
Worked with “journeyman” mechanics to try to schedule
production. No recognized staff functions.
Work methods were determined by individual mechanics
based on personal experience, preference, and what tools
were available for the job. “Rule of Thumb”
7. Frederick Taylor
Efficiency Expert in U.S. Steel
Industry
Invented New Tool Designs
and Handling Methods
Designed Stop-Watch Task
Timing
Created Piece-Rate Payment
Scheme
Developed Industrial
Departments
8. Time Studies and the Piece-Rate System Studied most efficient
worker
Used stop-watch timing to
measure each production
step
Eliminated any
unnecessary movements
Designed standardized
instruction cards for
employees
Employees paid for
meeting the established
rate of production
9. Henry Gannt
Worked with Taylor at Midvale Steel Company
Specialized in incentive wage plans
Introduced a differential piece rate system – Task
work with a bonus
Permitted workers to improve the production
system
Introduced a bonus for foremen based on the
number of their workers who earned bonus
10. Gannt Chart Information
Developed to help
industrial age managers
plan for mass production
Utilized to coordinate
WWI shipbuilding
Visual display used to
schedule based on time
11. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
- Associates of Fredrick
Winslow Taylor, their work
was intertwined with his and
their motion studies predated
Taylor’s system first
published in 1903.
- Developed the laws of
human motion from which
evolved the principles of
motion economy
12. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
Pioneers in the field of motion studies and provided the foundation
for job simplification, meaningful work, and incentive wage plans.
Analyzed each motion of work for wasted efforts in an attempt to
reduce each task to the smallest amount of expended time and
energy.
Professed: effective training, effective work methods, improved
work environment, positive psychological perspective.
Made the connection between standardization and efficiency
Believed that time could not be separated from motion; the two
were intertwined.
13. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
Systematically examined how repetitive tasks were performed
These repetitive tasks were broken down into Therbligs, which are
systems for analyzing the motions involved in performing a task.
This consisted of identification of individual motions, as well as
moments of delay in the process, designed to find unnecessary or
inefficient motions and to utilize or eliminate even split seconds of
wasted time.
Invented and refined Therbligs roughly between 1908 and 1924.
Each Therblig had a mnemonic symbol and standard color for
charting
14. Luther Hasley Gulick III
Believed that public administration could have made more effective if it were
practiced according to a set of guidelines.
All organizations are characterized by a tension between the need for division and
the need for coordination.
Work division is the foundation of organization.
It is important to recognize that there are limits beyond which labor cannot
usefully be divided. Gulick stated, “It might be more efficient to have the front
half of the cow in the pasture grazing while the rear half is in the barn being
milked, but any attempt to divide the cow in this fashion would, for obvious
reasons, fail.”
Gulick believed that, labor divided makes for efficiency, but only if the labor and
its outputs are harmonized with the organization’s goals
15. Organization of Work Units - Gulick
By Purpose – the aims of the work unit
By Process – what the unit actually does
By Clientele – work with similar materials or
clients
By Location – organized together due to
geographic location, regardless of function
16. Five Factors that Limit Full Coordination
- Gulick
Uncertainty concerning the future
Lack of knowledge on the part of the leaders
Lack of administrative skills on the part of the leaders
A general lack of knowledge and skills on the part of the
other members of the organization
The vast number of variables involved and incompleteness
of human knowledge, particularly with regard to man and
life
18. Gulick’s Definition of Leadership
The most difficult task of the chief executive is not
command, it is leadership, which is the
development of the desire and will to work
together for a purpose in the minds of those who
are associated in any activity.
Gulick sees ideas as more potent and more
powerful than organizations.
19. Gilbreths and Gulick Compared
GILBRETHS
- Devoted to Efficiency
- Analyzed Motion and
Movements of Workers
- Created Therblig System
- Their studies were part of
the manufacturing
revolution in the U.S.
GULICK
- Applied Scientific Method to
Management
- “Dean of American Public
Administration”
- Division of Labor and
Integrated Organization
- Applied Scientific Approach to
Personnel Management
- Defined work in terms of
positions needed to carry out a
process, rather than the people
doing the work
20. Max Weber
Weberian Model of Bureaucracy
Division of Labor and Specialization
Impersonal Orientation
Hierarchy of Authority
Rules and Regulations
Career Orientation
21. Weber’s Description of Power and
Authority in Organizations
Charismatic
Traditional
Legal
22. Criticisms of Weberian Bureaucratic
Model
Dysfunctional Consequences
Neglect of the Informal Organization
Internal Inconsistencies
Gender Bias
Oppressive Features
Organizational Pathologies
23. Weber’s Influence on Educational
Organizations
Described the bureaucratic characteristics used by
most educational institutions.
Described organizations as social systems that
interact and are dependent upon their
environments.
Provides a starting point for modified structures.
24. Henri Fayol (1841-1925)
Fayol’s Five Functions of Management
1. Forecasting and Planning
2. Organization
3. Command
4. Coordinate
5. Control
25. Fayol’s 14 Principles for Organizational Design and
Effective Administration
1. Specialization/Division of
Labor
2. Authority with
Corresponding
Responsibility
3. Discipline
4. Unity of Command
5. Unity of Direction
6. Subordination of Individual
Interest to the General
Interest
7. Remuneration of Staff
Centralization
9. Scalar Chain/Line of
Authority
10. Order
11. Equity
12. Stability of Tenure
13. Initiative
14. Esprit de Corps
26. Weber and Fayol Compared
Similarities
WEBER
- Ideal Type
- Hierarchy of authority
- Division of Labor
- Career Orientation
- Rules and Regulations
FAYOL
- One Best Way
- Top Down Management
- Specialization
- Stability of Tenure
- Discipline
27. Weber and Fayol Compared
Differences
WEBER
- Organization as a Social
System dependent on
environment
- Rationality
- Impersonal Orientation
- Administrative Efficiency
FAYOL
- No parallel
- Personal experience and
observation
- Esprit and Initiative
- Future Planning
28. Scientific Management’s
Impact on Organizations
Defined Administrative
Roles
Supervision of work rather
than people
Work specializations
Span of control
Cost accounting
Homogeneity of Positions
Engineering for Efficiency
Assembly Line Production
Emphasis on Quality
Control
29. Scientific Management’s Effect on
Schools
Teaching Objectives
Vocational Curriculum Design
Division of Labor
Subjects Departmentalized
Improvements by Analysis
Data-driven decisions
Outcomes for Instruction
Standardized assessments
Teacher Merit-pay
Staff Development Programs
30. Scientific Method of Management
Contrasted
Scientific Management
- The most efficient manner to
perform a task is determined
and everyone does it that way
- Task Analysis
- Personnel Selection and
Training
- Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
- Span of Control and Top
Down Management
Humanistic Approach
- Concern for people not the task
- Participatory decision-making
- Emphasis on Individual
Contributions and Personal
Awareness
- Flexibility
31. Scientific Method of Management
Contrasted
Scientific Management
- The most efficient manner to
perform a task is determined
and everyone does it that way
- Task Analysis
- Personnel Selection and
Training
- Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
- Span of Control and Top
Down Management
Social Systems Approach
- Focused on the interaction of
the organization and its larger
environment
- Leaders are high-task oriented
(work structure) and high-
relationships oriented (concern
for others)
- Organizations are a set of
interrelated elements
functioning as a whole
32. Scientific Method of Management
Contrasted
Scientific Management
- The most efficient way to
perform a task is established
and everyone does it that way
- Task Analysis
- Personnel Selection and
Training
- Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
- Span of Control and Top
Down Management
Situational Leadership
- No one style is appropriate for
all situations
- Increased involvement in
decision making
- Collaborative Planning
- Flexible Change Strategies
- Unique Organizational
Personality must be accounted
for in structure, leadership, and
decision-making
33. Scientific Method of Management
Contrasted
Scientific Management
- The most efficient manner to
complete a task is determined
and everyone does it that way
- Task Analysis
- Personnel Selection and
Training
- Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
- Span of Control and Top
Down Management
Futuristic Approach
- Focus on an improved,
decentralized system of
management
- “Learning organizations” able
to predict for and respond to a
changing environment
- Organizational Change Models
that help organizations prepare
for future challenges