Taylor's Contribution to Contemporary Management Term Paper

Total Length: 794 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 3



Although Frederic Winslow Taylor may have built his management model on observations of machines, for people working on machines, he also systematically analyzed human behavior at work. He stressed that just as machine parts were easily interchangeable, cheap, and passive, so too should the human parts be the same in the machine model of scientific organizations. In other words, even if one must lose an employee because of personal and cost concerns, the duties and protocols of the office should be sufficiently clear that another human being can fulfill those duties. (Wertheim, 1999) This is not a humane-sounding ideology, but the idea of functions rather than people is the key to the ability of any hierarchy to work in modern times, from the military to management of hierarchical corporations.

Then as now, many workers resist the dehumanization of work. To be fair to the father of scientific management, Taylor also studied issues such as worker fatigue and safety.

Stuck Writing Your "Taylor's Contribution to Contemporary Management" Term Paper?

He urged management to study the relationship between work breaks, and the length of the workday and productivity. In an era where fourteen-hour days were still practiced, he convinced many companies that the careful introduction of breaks and a shorter day could increase rather than decrease productivity. Describing and breaking down the task to its smallest unit and using the scientific method of determining maximum productivity for each element of work also enables individuals unfamiliar to a discipline to learn on the job more easily. Although Taylor restricted behavioral alternatives facing worker-remove worker discretion in planning, organizing, controlling, he also was the first to suggest providing incentives to perform job one best way-tie pay to performance, as well as using time and motion studies to find one best way to do work ad using experts to establish the most optimal and ambient conditions of work. (Wertheim, 1999)

Works.....

Show More ⇣


     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Taylor's Contribution To Contemporary Management" (2005, February 05) Retrieved May 18, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/taylor-contribution-contemporary-management-61643

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Taylor's Contribution To Contemporary Management" 05 February 2005. Web.18 May. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/taylor-contribution-contemporary-management-61643>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Taylor's Contribution To Contemporary Management", 05 February 2005, Accessed.18 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/taylor-contribution-contemporary-management-61643