Frederick Taylor. Founder of the scientific organization of labor and management

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The main goal of any commercial enterprise is to improve its own performance parameters. In order to do this, it is necessary to increase the productivity of workers and reduce unnecessary costs. Frederick Winslow Taylor singled out the factors that affect labor productivity, and also acted as the creator of the scientific management system. With the help of a series of experiments, he determined the average time norms for completing individual operations and the best ways to perform them.

Frederick Taylor: biography

The future founder of scientific management was born in 1856 to a lawyer in Pennsylvania. He studied in France and Germany and then in New Hampshire at the Exter Academy. Initially, Frederick Winslow Taylor intended to become a lawyer, like his father. He successfully graduated from Harvard College in 1847 in this speci alty, but he discovered problems with his eyesight that prevented him from continuing his education.

Frederick Taylor began his career as an apprentice modeller, was a machinist for a while, butalready at the age of 35 he was appointed as a management consultant after successfully conducting a series of experiments at a steel plant in Midvale, and based on their results he made valuable suggestions to management. Here, in six years, he went from a simple hired worker to a chief engineer, while receiving a correspondence technical education, and for the first time differentiated the salary of his employees depending on their labor productivity.

Professional achievements

In 1890, the future founder of Taylorism ends his engineering career and becomes the general manager of the Philadelphia Manufactory Investment Company. But three years later he decided to start his own business and became the first private consultant in the history of management. At the same time, Frederick Taylor promoted scientific methods of production management through his membership in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers until he founded an organization dedicated exclusively to this issue.

Theoretical concepts that brought him worldwide popularity, the scientist outlined in three main works:

• Factory Management;
• "Principles of scientific management";
• "Testifying before a special committee of Congress."

Practical experimentation

While working at a steel mill, Taylor was involved in research into the time spent on the execution of individual manufacturing operations. The first experiment was to measure key trim pointscast iron pigs. Frederick Taylor succeeded in deriving average labor productivity standards, which then began to apply to all workers. As a result, wages at the enterprise increased by 1.6 times due to an increase in labor productivity by almost 4 times and rationalization of the ingot production process.

The essence of the second experiment conducted by Taylor was to determine the optimal ways to place blanks on the machines using a ruler that was specially invented by him, and the correct cutting speeds. Tens of thousands of experiments were carried out at the enterprise, which made it possible to identify 12 factors that affect the final efficiency.

Research theories

Scientific management is an umbrella term for the ideas that Taylor put forward regarding the theories and practices of management. His method involves short repetitive cycles, a detailed sequence of tasks for each employee, monitoring the implementation of goals and motivating employees through a system of material rewards. The differentiated system of remuneration and performance bonuses used today in most organizations are based on his achievements. According to senior organizational management scholars Anrzej Huczynski and David Buchanan, efficiency, predictability and process control are the main goals that Frederick Taylor attributes to his scientific method of management.

The connection between personal and professional life

Because as a resultconsidered practical developments, the demand for labor was reduced, the embittered workers even tried to kill the scientist. Initially, even big businessmen opposed him, and a special commission was created in the US Congress to study his conclusions.

Since 1895, Taylor devoted himself entirely to the study of the scientific organization of labor. Over time, he came to the conclusion that the well-being of the enterprise is possible only if there are favorable conditions for each employee. The scientist died at the age of 59 from pneumonia, leaving behind findings that inspire researchers and entrepreneurs today.

Frederick Taylor: principles of management

The scientific management system is based on three "pillars": regulation of labor processes, systematic selection and advanced training of personnel, monetary motivation as a reward for high performance. According to Taylor, the main reason for inefficiency is the imperfection of incentives to encourage employees, so they should be paid attention to by a modern entrepreneur.

The work organization system developed by the scientist is based on 4 principles:

• Careful attention to the individual components of the production process to establish laws and formulas for their effective implementation.
• Careful selection of employees, their training and development, and the dismissal of those who are not able to understand scientific management methods.
• Feedback from management to employees and convergenceproduction and science.
• Distribution of functions between employees and management: the former are responsible for the quality and quantity of the final product, the others for developing recommendations for improving the organization of work.

The above principles of Taylor proved their correctness, because a century later they underlie the functioning of any enterprise, and the study of building a management system is one of the main areas of research.