Scientific Management in the Modern Organizations

Scientific management and the Fordist era Scientific management describes an approach in management developed by Fredrik Taylor to facilitate the analysis and synthesis of workflow in order to enhance economic efficiency in the early 20th century.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Scientific Management in the Modern Organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It endeavored to define the main goals of a whole firm, establish subgoals within the key goals, and create synergy between the two aspects. Research shows that the Fordist principles adopted most of the aspects of the scientific management, and advanced them further to facilitate mass production and the formalization of labor control (Vallas et al. 118). This advancement entailed two core aspects. First, Fordism modified the principles related to the standardization of production parts, and added an aspect that separated concept and execution through speci fications in the assembly process. Secondly, Fordism added an aspect of limiting interruptions in the labor process and enhancing control over workers’ tasks in the scientific management model. Fordist production employed strategies such as managerial direction and control, standardization of tasks and departmentalization. These aspects of scientific management focused on the division of labor into smaller units that allowed easier monitoring of workers. The principles of scientific management benefited the objective of mass production during the Fordist era as it provided core principles for optimizing output. Fordism modified Taylor’s principles and incorporated the aspect of the worker and the machine to attain optimal results through collective labor.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These principles helped to convince workers to pursue their employerâ€℠¢s goals in order to attain theirs. Furthermore, it fused Taylor’s concepts of division of labor with various aspects of the moving assembly line. Negative effects of Taylor’s principles Scientific management contributed to the core principles employed in production management in the modern world. Its focus on a domineering management approach to promote effective labor division affects employees’ autonomy. A restrictive working environment has adverse effects on employees’ productivity. Another negative aspect of Taylor’s principles concerns the dehumanization of employees. Most of the aspects of mass production entail Taylor’s principles that describe management as an entity that is distinct from various human aspects such as emotions. Thus, the adoption of these principles promotes the depiction of humans as instruments due to the breaking down of jobs into considerably small units. This aspect affects the cognitive input of employees as the tasks become significantly easy. Thus, scientific management has negative effects on modern management practices whose scope is not restricted to the financial rewards for employees. Modern organizations must respond to diverse aspects of employees such as their social well-being in order to enhance employee productivity.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Scientific Management in the Modern Organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Modern working environments render the authoritarian approach within scientific management as invalid (Vallas et al. 200). A mechanistic managerial design is likely to introduce conflicts between the management and employees especially concerning an organizational change. The failure to involve employees in a company’s decision-making process depicts an aspect of lack of trust by the top management on the competency of workers. Taylor’s principles promote the need to create a distinction between workers and experts. This is likely to cause a decline in motivation among employees as they may develop the notion that the company does not value their contributions in its undertakings. In this regard, employees become detached from the company’s objectives start to exhibit laxity in their duties. Taylor’s aspect of the piece-rate payment places emphasizes on an employee’s financial gains rather than the goals within an organization. When employees focus more on the financial benefits derived from their input, they become less concerned with the broader scope of an organization’s goals. Scientific management in the modern organizations Despite the drawbacks associated with scientific management, its various principles create a platform for building a mutual relationship between employers and workers. It possesses a significant level of validity concerning modern organizational approaches. Taylor’s principles enab le a company to structure its operations in a manner that guarantees the satisfaction of both the employer and the employee. It creates a scope within which managers can identify strategies that facilitate accountability within an organization.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this regard, a company can impose various control measures on its workforce to guarantee satisfactory output. Moreover, Taylor’s principles facilitate workers concentration on a few tasks within an organization. Specialization increases the output of organization due to enhanced efficiency concerning the execution of tasks. Another beneficial aspect of scientific management is the optimization of efficiency while minimizing cases of waste during production (Vallas et al. 248). This enhances the economies of scale within a company. Adopting Taylor’s principles provide a company with significant levels of control over its work force. In this regard, monitoring of the employees’ output will ensure desirable output. Thus, the principles of scientific management create a framework upon which modern organizations can create a distinction between managerial functions and the roles of employees. However, its applicability in modern management practices faces challeng es due to some inapplicable concepts such as the description of employees’ satisfaction to depend solely on monetary returns. In this regard, one can conclude that although the whole of the scientific management theory is not viable in modern management practices, some of its elements possess significant relevancy, and have become integrated in almost all modern organizations. This describes the significant correlation between different management practices within today’s organizations. Works Cited Vallas, Steven P., William Finlay, and Amy S. Wharton. The sociology of work:  structures and inequalities. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print This essay on Scientific Management in the Modern Organizations was written and submitted by user Laylah Reilly to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.