The principles of scientific management

By F. Taylor. 2024

3,407 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This work outlines Frederick Winslow Taylor's philosophy and practical applications of The Principles of Scientific Management. Taylor argues that the greatest loss suffered by the country is the waste of human effort due to industrial inefficiency, a problem even larger than the conservation of material resources. The primary goal is to secure maximum prosperity for the employer (permanent success and high dividends) and maximum prosperity for each employee (high wages and development to maximum efficiency). The key to this prosperity is maximum productivity. Taylor contends that the widespread practice of "soldiering" (deliberately working slowly) and inefficient "rule-of-thumb" methods stems from the underlying antagonism between labor and management. Scientific Management presumes that the true interests of the two sides are identical and proposes four fundamental principles: 1) Develop a true science for each element of a man's work, replacing old rule-of-thumb methods; 2) Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the workman; 3) Heartily cooperate with the men to ensure all work is done in accordance with the developed science; 4) Establish an almost equal division of work and responsibility between the management and the workmen, with the management taking over planning and preparatory duties. The essence of this cooperation is for management to daily assign a carefully planned, high-paying task to each workman and teach him how to perform it using scientific methods. Taylor provides practical illustrations, from simple labor like shoveling and bricklaying to complex machine work, demonstrating that scientific analysis can double productivity and lead to a 30% to 100% wage increase for workmen, resulting in industrial peace and prosperity.

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Citations in the corpus

Unveiling Professional Development: A Critical Review of Stage Models (2006, background): “However, know-how is not adequately accounted for in empirical studies of professional skill that adopt a traditional view (such as Simon, 1979; Taylor, 1911; Veres, Locklear, & Sims, 1990).”
PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT AND PERSON-JOB FIT IN EMPLOYEE SELECTION: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE (2004, background): “From its simple inception evolving out of scientific management (Taylor, 1911), the process of determining P-J fit increasingly gained sophistication with identification of both statistically reliable and valid processes that can be used to determine P-J fit.”
Followership theory: A review and research agenda ☆ (2014, background): “We see origins of this perspective in Frederick Winslow Taylor's foundational view that managers are superior and employees are inferior (i.e., “subordinates”) (Taylor, 1911, 1934).”
Integrating Dialectical and Paradox Perspectives on Managing Contradictions in Organizations (2017, background): “Pioneering scholars such as Taylor (1911), Fayol (1949), Follett (1941), and Barnard (1938) all were concerned with the tension between organizational effectiveness and employees’ welfare.”
The Evolution of Management Models: A Neo-Schumpeterian Theory (2018, background): “Taylor disseminated scientific management through books (Taylor, 1911), lectures, and consulting for companies.”
Exploring the Duality between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the Mirroring Hypothesis (2012, unknown): “…structure, authority, control, and hierarchy (i.e., the division of labor and specialization of work) as distinguishing features of organizations, building upon work in the fields of scientific management, bureaucracy and administrative theory (Taylor, 1911; Fayol, 1949; Weber, 1947; Simon, 1976).”
Development of a Measure for the Organizational Learning Construct (2002, background): “Frederick Taylor’s [131] views on scientific management explained how work associated with the management of organizational operations could be objectified and improved.”