THEORIES OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY.
INTRODUCTION.
Scientific management defined by Frederick Taylor is the systematic study of the relationships
between people and tasks to redesign the work for higher efficiency. Taylor sought to reduce the
time a worker spent each task by optimizing the way the task was done.
Scientific management theory was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized
workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity.
It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to
management. Its development began with Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s
within the manufacturing industries. Its peak of influence came in the 1910s; by the 1920s, it was
still influential but had begun an era of competition and syncretism with opposing or
complementary ideas. These include analysis; synthesis; logic; rationality; empiricism; work
ethic; efficiency and elimination of waste; standardization of best practices; disdain for tradition
preserved merely for its own sake or merely to protect the social status of particular workers with
particular skill sets; the transformation of craft production into mass production; and knowledge
transfer between workers and from workers into tools, processes, and documentation.
Implication of Scientific Management Theory
Taylor had a simple view about what motivated people at work-money. He felt that workers
should get fair pay days pay for a fair days work and that pay should be linked to the amount
produced. Workers who did not deliver a fair days works should be payed less or nothing.
Workers who did more than a fair days work should be payed more According to Frederick
Taylor; the main form of motivation is high wages, linked to output. This implied that workers or
laborers can be highly motivated at work if only their wages could be increased desirably. High
wages and increased salaries lead to high output and reduce complaints from workers.
The theory further implied that, the manager’s work is to tell and direct workers on what they are
supposed to at any time. A worker should not defy a command from his manger and that
whatever the manger directs is always right and should be followed without any question or
doubt.
Furthermore, the theory stated that mangers should do what they are told by their bosses or the
managers and they should be payed accordingly. Basically managers should receive high salaries
than the ordinary workers.
Theories’ frame
In management literature today, the greatest use of the term "scientific management" is with
reference to the work of Taylor and his disciples ("classical", implying "no longer current, but
still respected for its seminal value") in contrast to newer, improved iterations of efficiency-
seeking methods. According to Mullins (2004), in political and sociological terms, Taylorism
can be seen as the division of labor pushed to its logical extreme, with a consequent de-skilling
of the worker and dehumanization of the workers and the workplace. Taylorism is often
mentioned along with Fordism, because it was closely associated with mass production methods
in factories, which was its earliest application. Today, task-oriented optimization of work tasks is
nearly ubiquitous in industry. The theory behind it has evolved greatly since Taylor's day,
reducing the ill effects, although in the wrong hands it is sometimes implemented poorly even
now.
Taylor observed that some workers were more talented than others, and that even smart ones
were often unmotivated. He observed that most workers who are forced to perform repetitive
tasks tend to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished. This slow rate of work has been
observed in many industries in many countries and has been called by various terms some being
slang confined to certain regions and eras e.g. dogging, soldiering, many other words that used to
describe poor performance at work. Taylor used the term "soldiering" and observed that, when
paid the same amount, workers will tend to do the amount of work that the slowest among them
does.
This reflects the idea that workers have a vested interest in their own well-being, and do not
benefit from working above the defined rate of work when it will not increase their
remuneration. He therefore proposed that the work practice that had been developed in most
work environments was crafted, intentionally or unintentionally, to be very inefficient in its
execution.
Problem associated with scientific management in organizations.
i. Managers only implemented the increased output side of Taylor’s plan. This means that
they did not allow workers to share in increased output.
ii. Specialized jobs became very boring and dull.
iii. Workers ended up distrusting scientific management.
iv. Workers could purposely underperform.
v. Management responded with increased use of machines.
The assumptions held by the theory.
The main assumption of scientific management theory includes;
i. Man is rational economic animal concerned with maximizing his economic gain and that
he will do any thing to ensure that he benefits economically on his side.
ii. People respond to issues as individual and not as group. A group can have a common
perception but personal interests are stronger and tend to dominate groups interests.
iii. People can be treated in a standardized version like machines.
The relation of the theory to industrial relations
The main function of labor unions in a given country is to create a conducive environment for
workers in that particular country. In the course of his empirical studies, Taylor For example, by
observing workers, he decided that labor should include rest breaks so that the worker has time
to recover from fatigue, either physical as in shoveling or lifting or mental as in the ball
inspection case. Workers were taught to take more rests during work, and as a result production
"paradoxically" increased.
Unless people manage themselves, somebody has to take care of administration, and thus there is
a division of work between workers and administrators. The task of the administration was to
select the right person for the right job.
The theory further suggested that wages to all workers should be given according the might and
size of the work done and that their should be no discrimination between workers and mangers.
Workers were supposed to be given work that one could enjoy doing and better as to avoid
complaints and under performance. Taylor continued to advocate for resting break interval
between working hours and better pay. This was perceived as a positive approach rather but he
did not consider the intelligent workers.
References
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Webb, Sidney; Webb, Beatrice (1897). Industrial Democracy. Longmans, Green, and Co.
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