Scientific Management

This is an essay about scientific management in McDonald’s operation, I believe the largest fast food McDonald’s is the most successful model on scientific management. Scientific management is a branch of classical approach; Taylor said scientific management is standardisation which means people in organization should be uniformed by company rules or policy which are some written documents. Scientific management is a very important part in management area, since look at the history of management. People are living in different groups such as school, factory, hospital and company etc.

If there is no group to organize people’s life, then our society won’t be developed so far. But only organize people is not enough, we also need to manage those people to do their job more efficient. So scientific management is a system learns from previous experience. The reason we using McDonald’s example in this assignment, because it’s the largest fast food organization in the world and also it the most successful case for scientific management. McDonald’s management system is perfectly following scientific management system from producing to selling, even though McDonald’s brother never studied ‘scientific management’ (Eric, 2001, p. 9). McDonald’s is the largest franchising cooperation in the world, so it must deeply understand the concept ‘copy’ and ‘standardization’. In the rest of the essay I would like to write this topic with indentify four key scientific management concepts, and how they applied in McDonald’s case. Also I am going to discuss four critical arguments according to those four concepts. Treat people like a machine is one of the concepts in scientific management. By my own understanding, this concept means letting people to do the same job again and again to maximising organizational profit.

As Hawthorne said management system of treating people like a machine will improve the productivity efficiently. ( Campling, J. , Poole, D. , Wiesner, R. , Ang, E. S. , Chan, B. , Tan, W. , & Schermerhorn, J. R. , 2008, p 95). People working in McDonald’s must follow its instruction to do the job, normally one person in one position. People don’t have to move too much steps in their work place. McDonald’s has their own ‘Made for you’ system, which means they make fresh when you order.

For example, when custom order a ‘big mac’ combo, people who making buns will toast the bun and pass it on to the person who making burgers, and wrapping it up ready for the custom. People who dose fries will put it into the box, finally people who in the front counter puts all these together for the customer. Everyone in McDonald’s just dose their job and pass it to the next. Each person repeatable does their own job for that shift. So working in McDonald’s doesn’t need too much skill, but a highly repeatable job, and this is the main point of scientific management.

Efficient achievement of clear organizational goals is another main concept of scientific management, as Taylor said ‘management should maximum benefits for both employers and employees’ (Campling, J. , Poole, D. , Wiesner, R. , Ang, E. S. , Chan, B. , Tan, W. , & Schermerhorn, J. R. , 2008, p 91 ). Therefore, employer’s benefit is getting maximum profit by minimum cost. Scientific ordering people to do the job is the essential element in scientific management, for example, two people equally to do one project may not do it efficiently.

However, if we order one person to do the main part, the other one as the supporter then the result would be more efficient. That is scientific distribution. In another word, the managers need to clearly understand organizational goals and efficiently achieve it no matter what method they use. (John, 1982, p 159). In McDonald’s case, their goal is making maximum burgers in certain time; therefore, scientific management instead of people management is the only way to reach this goal. In New Zealand, more and more 24hrs McDonald’s opened in last 5 years, I remember in 2002, McDonald’s in New Zealand normally open from 7am to 10pm.

From 2005, McDonald’s started using ‘Made for you’ system; this is a classical scientific system since employee must follow particular instruction making the food, therefore, this system save 80% waste compare with before. The big saving is also the profits for the organization. In other way, this improves the efficiency of the achievement. Every organization has its own policy and procedures; they are standardising and consisting the company by these policies and procedures. Policy and procedure are some written documents.

Organize a small group may use people management, since there is a certain size to limit; however, if only use people management to manage large company like McDonald’s won’t be that easy. Scientific management will be perfectly suit large organization; McDonald’s is the most successful case in the management world. McDonald’s regulate each product in certain cooking time, for example, 3 minutes for fries, chicken patty for 100 seconds, 9 pieces 10:1 patties each grill, and 6 for 4:1 patty. So every crew in McDonald’s learning all these procedures by doing their job.

Each of them follows the procedure and supervisor’s instruction to make sure keeping the same standard of McDonald’s all around the world. The result of the costing price dropped with a huge number since people clearly follows the procedure; so today custom can enjoy the same quality of service at any McDonald’s in the world. People like making decision by their feelings, however, intuitions are not always right. So compare with that, systematic analysis is more accurate and efficient in the organization. Systematic analysis is a main and key period of scientific management.

The main job is the communication between analyser and customers. Back to McDonald’s case, people who work in marketing department need a research of what’s hot and what’s not of their products, and then they need to get information from customers, frontline employees and some publics. So after analysis the report, they get a proper result much more accurate than just feel from the daily experience. Nothing is perfect, even though scientific management is a great management system it still having some disadvantages in some situations.

Treat people like a machine is the classic sign of scientific management, personally I worked as a part timer for McDonald’s for one year, I have to say this management system is great for efficient performance, at the mean time it makes me feel really like a machine not a human. By the way, they pay minimum wages but actually hard works. So I wasn’t enjoy working there at that time, that’s why fast food organization like McDonald’s always has high staff turnover rate; because they don’t treat people properly so young people like us only go there for money and some experience. Made for you” system give mistake rate a big drop, but old employees still missing the old system a lot. Before ‘MFY’ came into McDonald’s, we feel McDonald’s like a big family, we like to asking front counter people how many burger they need, and how many fries we need to prepare; but now it all controlled by computer, there is no communication, no decision making and no interaction at all. Sometimes I found I lost myself, I am just a burger making machine. One key concept of scientific management is copying; repeating work is the main responsibility of workers.

It is good on keeping low cost of mistake, but people stay in the same environment and copying same working from the past. This restricts innovation and creativity from both managers and workers. McDonald’s main menu hasn’t been changed for over 30 years; it’s hard for them to create new products. Also it will be a huge cost of getting a new line of new products because each product in McDonald’s has its own production line; such as special machine for buns, regulation on oven size, same size of patties and so on. (Kincheloe, 2002, p. 59).

Standardizing is an important element of creating global brand; managing big organization all around the world must keep them on same standard, and then people trust this brand. Customer keeps the company running is the basic concept for any business. Keep good standard is the most important guarantee for the company; however customer may get tired of eating same food in a long term period. Policy and procedure are two key things to keep the standard of the company, good policy and procedure will reduce cost and mistake, but also decrease employees’ skill development and regulate them to know more inside McDonald’s.

This could make people unsatisfied with their job. (Pica vet, 2009). Since McDonald’s opens everywhere in the world, each country has different culture and background, too much policy and procedure will restrict their development in certain countries. Systematic analysis is doing well in McDonald’s case; it’s a great idea in management. Things are always good and bad, systematic analysis gets information and after select useful information it makes result. From science point of view, that’s more accurate than experience management.

In contrast, people who become manager levels depend on their experience more than the ability of systematic analysis. Business is a real world, it is a real practise. So sometimes manages make decision from their past experience are more efficient. This essay is around scientific management concepts and how it applies in McDonald’s operation. Scientific management is a system using data analysis and build a scientific production line to get maximum profits for both employer and employee.

The essay introduced four main concepts of scientific management including: treat people like a hand rather than a people; Focus on efficient achievement on clear goal; standardising through policy and procedures and using scientific analysis rather than intuitions. The final part of the essay I discussed four arguments based on those four concepts, it shows both advantages and disadvantages in real life. Reference Campling, J. , Poole, D. , Wiesner, R. , Ang, E. S. , Chan, B. , Tan, W. , & Schermerhorn, J. R. (2008). Management (3rd Asia-Pacific Ed. ) Milton, Queensland: John Wiley & Sons. Eric, S. 2001). Fast food nation: the dark side of the all American meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. John, E. K. (1982). Scientific management, job redesign, and work performance. London; New York: Academic Press. Jonathan, R. t. ( 2005 ). Organization theory and public management. Belmont, Calif: Thomason/ Wadsworth. Kincheloe, J. L. (2002). The sign of the burger: McDonald’s and the culture of power. United State: Temple University Press. Picavet, E. (2009). Opportunities and pitfalls for ethical analysis in operations research and the management sciences. Omega; Dec 2009, Vol. 37 Issue 6, p 1121-1131, 11p.

Use of Scientific Management in the 21st Century Roberta Larkins Jones International University April 14, 2010 Abstract The 19th and 20th Century gives the foundation of the shift in management modeling. Frederick Taylor, Henry Gantt, and Lillian Gilbreth gave great insight into the need for a paradigm shift in business. The elements of this shift form the basis of the four principles of Scientific Management. The principles of Scientific Management and their use in the 21st Century are the elements of this paper.

Use of Scientific Management in the 21st Century The management of an organization that has a structural system which clearly defines the functions of the departments, groups, and individuals can be defined by the term Scientific Management originated by Frederick Taylor. (Nelson, 2003, p. 1) The Encyclopedia for Business (n. d. ) defines Scientific Management as “methods aimed at determining the best way for a job to be done. (n. d. , pg 6).

While the initial use of Scientific Management in dealing with issues of efficiency and productivity is rooted in the history of management theory during the 19th Century and early in the 20th Century, the same organizational needs are evident in business today and the usage of the fundamentals of Scientific Management can be used to effectively increase both efficiency and productivity in a 21st Century organization. The Pioneers Frederick Taylor, known as ‘the most in? ential business guru of the 20th century’ (154), began his journey into business in an apprenticeship to a patternmaker for a pump manufacturing company in Philadelphia. (Wren, 2004, 121) It is here Taylor has the opportunity to see firsthand what the employees are experiencing and make note of the elements of discourse. Wren describes the conditions as “worker restriction of output, poor management, and lack of harmony between labor and management” (2004, p. 122). As Taylor continued to advance in his career, he stood witness to instances of these same conditions in the employees at Midvale Steel Company.

It is during this time in his career along with his desire to change those working conditions that he began the work in Scientific Management that allows him to make his mark in managerial history. Henry Gantt, also a mechanical engineer, worked with Taylor for many years and both were partners in the development the concept of scientific management, although Taylor is more widely recognized for the model. Gant’s influence provided fuel for a better understanding of human nature in the workforce by improving employee representation plans , improving the practices of human-resources, and cooperation by labor-management,. Wren, 2004, p. 165) The human side of management is also the focus of works by Lillian Gilbreth, who is often called the first lady of management. (Pioneers of Management, n. d. , p7). Together they were the driving force in the use of Scientific Management and the creation of human resource principles within an organization. The Fundamentals Taylor viewed business as “a system of human cooperation that will be successful only if all concerned work toward a common goal” (Wren, 2004, p. 125). The four principles of Scientific Management address the initial concerns that Taylor witnessed.

Hodgetts and Greenwood (1995) share the four fundamentals as (1) Develop a science for each element of the person’s work, thus replacing the old rule of thumb, (2) Scientifically select, and then train, teach, and develop the worker, (3) Heartily cooperate with the personnel so as to insure that all of the work is done in accordance with the principles of the science that it has been developed, and (4) Management should take over all the work for which it is best fitted than the workers, and allow the latter to handle the rest. (1995, p. 18-221) These fundamentals can also transfer into the resolution of the original conditions by increasing worker productivity, effective management, and creating a harmonious relationship between management and worker. Increasing Worker Productivity Embedded into principles one and two, are considerations for sound human-resource management today. Taylor anticipated the concept of matching the abilities of a worker to an assigned job. (Wren, 2004, p. 129) Instead of developing their own approach to a job through experience, the employee will learn to do it the right way. Hodgetts & Greenwood, 1995, p. 218) plus trained in newer techniques which will allow the employee to be more productive in their output. Taylor’s belief in productivity was grounded in the idea “the real potential for increased output was not ‘working harder’ but ‘working smarter. ’” (Wren, 2009, p. 128). Hodgetts and Greenwood (1995) describe the ability to increase productivity “by training, teaching, and developing their personnel, this quality-driven organization was able to achieve substantial increases in efficiency and cost savings. ” (1995, p. 220).

Effective training assesses the training need within an organization, trains the employee with advanced or more efficient tools and techniques, then allows the employee to return to the organization and utilize their new skills thereby increasing the productivity of the employee. Effective Management The third principle in scientific management is presented by the utilization of effective management in an organization. According to Taylor, the principle object of management is to secure the maximum level or prosperity for both employer and each employee. (Wren, 2009, p. 48). Whether this is done by 21st Century talent management programs including bonuses and promotions, or 19th Century reward and recognition system, the inclusion of something that demonstrates to the employee that he or she is valued is essential. Harmonious Relationship The fourth principle of scientific management is to enforce the theory of workers and management coming together in order to run a successful organization. Part of this effort is in allowing the workers to become part of the solutions needed achieve higher levels of efficiency and productivity.

Darmody (2007) shares that management now realizes that when workers are given the opportunity to suggest ideas, they will work harder in the implementation of and assurance in the success of them. (2007, p. 23). Taylor’s view of this is continuous improvement effort. Conclusion The four principles of scientific management were important in the 19th century and continue to be important in the 21st Century in business. An organization that has a goal to remain successful and competitive must incorporate all four components into the strategic plan.

As the mindset of management shifts to deal with the internal and external forces of business in moving forward, a look back at the vision of Taylor, Gantt, and Gilbreth will assist the organization to succeed. References Darmody, P. (2007). Henry L. Gantt and Frederick Taylor: The Pioneers of Scientific Management. AACE International Transactions, 15. 1-15. 3. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database. Hodgetts, R. , & Greenwood, R. (1995). Frederick Taylor: Alive and Well and Ready for the 21st Century.

Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings, 218-222. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database. Nelson, D. , (2003, Jan) Scientific Management, Dictionary of American History, Retrieved from http://www. highbeam. com/doc/1G2-3401803768. html Pioneers of Management. (n. d. ). In Encyclopedia of Business (2nd ed. ). Retrieved from http://www. referenceforbusiness. com/management/Or-Pr/Pioneers-of-management. html Wren, D. , (2009) the evolution of management thought (6th Ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

The Author will discuss Scientific Management under the following headings: Section 1 An explanation on Scientific Management. Section 2, The contribution of Scientific Management to the development of Management thought and Section 3 looks at the limitations of Scientific Management. What is Scientific Management? Bratton et al (2007: 355) defines scientific management as a process of systematically partitioning work into its smallest elements and standardising tasks to achieve maximum efficiency. The scientific management approach was developed at the end of the 19th Century; its father is commonly accepted to be Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1917) although some variations of the theory have been developed by Gantt and Gilbreth.

The scientific management approach was set up to improve labour productivity by evaluating and setting up workflow practices. Taylor was Chief Engineer at the Midvale Steel Company his first-hand experience here led Taylor to recognise that labour productivity was largely inefficient due to a workforce that functioned by “rules of thumb” methods. In 1898 Taylor was employed as a consultant by the Bethlehem Steel works Company, where he applied his principles of scientific management through evaluating work in a scientific manner.

Taylor gained this information with his “Time and Motion Study”, as Dale explains, Taylor employed a young man to analyse all the operations and the motions performed in each and to time the motions with a stopwatch. From knowing how long it took actually to perform each of the elements in each job, it would be possible … To determine a really “fair days work”. (Dale 1963, p155) Taylor’s experience at Bethlehem Steel led him to develop four principals of management. The first being substitute rule of thumb work processes with processes based on a scientific study of the tasks.

Taylor broke down each part of the production process into individual tasks to accomplish task specialisation. Taylor also used time and motion studies to establish the most proficient technique for performing each work task and giving rest periods. Secondly, managers should select, train, teach and develop the most suitable person for each job. Taylor hated “soldering”, and by introducing a piece-rate system of pay he eliminated the group process in which workers slowed their speed of work to suit the ordinary worker’s needs.

Thirdly, comprehensive training and supervision to each worker must be given by management to guarantee the job is done in a scientific way and finally scientific management principals need to be applied to the planning and supervising of work and the workforce complete the tasks. The Principals of scientific management were widely accepted and spread as far as the Soviet Union where Taylor’s principals were included into a variety of five-year development plans. The most well-known application of Taylor’s principals of scientific management was in Henry Ford’s Model T.

Frank Gilbreth (1868 –1924) and his wife Lillian (1878 – 1972), developed variations of Taylor’s scientific management, they were mostly concerned with the elimination of waste and like Taylor thought that a “One Best Way” to carry out a task could be found. Another contributor to scientific management was Henry Gantt (1856-1915) who was a protege of Taylor’s who designed the Gantt chart a straight line chart to display and measure planned and completed work as time elapsed. The contribution of Scientific Management to the development of Management thought

Scientific management does play an important role in the 21st Century. Examples of scientific management can be seen in our car and computer industries, the hospitals and the restaurants we eat in and nearly all function more efficiently due to scientific management. In today’s economic environment scientific management is probably more important in today’s businesses then ever before. The Author will discuss this under the following headings: Scientific Study of work, use of incentives, division of labour and the selection and training of workers. Scientific Study of work

The fundamental tools that result in increased productivity are time study standards and work design. For example in the production department of any company materials are requested and controlled; the sequence of operations, inspections, and methods are determined; tools are ordered; time values are assigned; work is scheduled, dispatched and followed up. A good example of scientific management in today’s society is any of the directory enquires numbers, staff read from a script and simple ask what number you want and then a computer reads out the number and even asks if you would like to be connected.

Use of incentives According to Taylor workers were only motivated by money, in today’s workplace Taylor’s piece rate pay may have a different name “performance related pay” is how its new trading name and most of the Multi International companies now pay their workers a very basic pay and only rewards staff who excel at there jobs. According to Taylor one should “pay the worker, not the job”. In the Authors organisation Eircom all staff from the lines engineers to the managers are all paid by performance and this has helped to eliminate a lot of the ‘soldiering’ that used to take place.

Division of Labour Scientific management gives managers control and this can be seen in many of our call centres whether its directory enquires or calling the bank ‘thank you for calling and how may I direct your call? ’ these scripts show us 21st Century management control. Management see these scripts as necessary to keep workers efficient and consistent but it is just modern day Taylorism which assumes that workers are dim and lazy. Selection and training of workers Finding the ‘best’ person for the job is still a challenge for many companies.

Many companies now use automated curriculum vitae processing by computers with scientific personality testing to try and match the job to the right person. Employers are looking for employees to work hard, be flexible and to be skilled. It is imperative to get the right people, with the right skills in the right positions and at the right time. Choosing the right people may increase an organisations competitive advantage which is after all central to competitive success of any organisation. Limitations of scientific management Scientific management has been in a state of constant evolution since its adoption.

The objective of the scientific management movement was to increase efficiency by carefully planning workers’ movement in the most efficient way. Taylor’s ideas and those of his followers led to time-and-motion experts with their stopwatches and clipboards observing workers, and seeking the ‘one best way’ in which every job could be performed. From the late 1920s, a ‘human relations’ school of thought emerged, challenging Taylorist beliefs in formal work structures and what was considered to be the over-simplification of the concept of motivation.

Scientific Management was based on the assumption that workers were driven entirely by economic concerns but Human Relations researchers examined the behaviour of people at work and argued that social factors such as informal work groups and management styles influenced performance. As a result, the personnel management function began to focus on matching the needs of employees with those of management, through the creation of informal structures and managerial styles (Gormley 2009).

The Hawthorne Studies conducted by Elton Mayo and his colleagues are exemplary early studies in this tradition and work on motivation by Abraham Maslow although their ideas were built on the original quantitative theories of measuring work as seen in scientific management they also discovered some of the limitations of ‘Taylorism’. The Author will now discuss the limitations of scientific management as discovered by Mayo, Maslow and Deming. Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies

The Bank Wiring Observation Room

Experiments which involved a group of men being observed in their natural work setting with no changes to their working conditions but with an observer taking notes and interviewing them. The group had set there own standards and restricted their output. They had decided what their daily limit was and what constituted as a fair day’s work and this was not to be exceeded by any worker. The results showed Mayo that workers were dissatisfied with the scientific approach. Mayo’s results placed focus on the social context of work: in particular, worker motivation, group dynamics and group relations.

The workers were joined in there opposition to management and were not motivated by the financial incentives offered for higher output. Data gathered at the Hawthorne plant (collectively known as The Hawthorne studies) suggested a positive association between labour productivity and management styles. Abraham Maslow (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) Maslow was concerned with the issue of employee motivation and wanted to explain how workers could be motivated to achieve higher performance. Maslow focused on the paternalistic style of management focusing on employees’ social needs as the key to better relations and better erformance. This became known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the needs which Maslow identified started with

• Physiological needs – food and shelter
• Safety needs – the need to feel secure
• Acceptance needs – the need to feel accepted by others
• Esteem needs – the need for self respect
• Self Actualisation – the need for self achievement and fulfilment

Total quality management (TQM) sees quality as a key to organisational success and emphasizes prevention rather than the correction of mistakes.

In the Authors opinion TQM is probably the modern day ‘Taylorism’ the four principals of TQM are. Plan Prepare and plan in a structured way by learning from the past and setting benchmarks for change. Do If your goal is far-reaching, start small and evaluate your results before going wider. Study Analyze the results of what you have done and find out how to apply what you have learned to future activities. Act – Do what you need to do to make your process better and easier to replicate In Demings 14 point management plan, Deming wanted everything to be uniform , in delivery times , prices and work practices.  Create constancy of purpose towards improvement. Replace short-term reaction with long-term planning. Adopt the new philosophy. The implication is that management should actually adopt his philosophy, rather than merely expect the workforce to do so.  Cease dependence on inspection. If variation is reduced, there is no need to inspect manufactured items for defects, because there won’t be any. Move towards a single supplier for any one item. Improve constantly and forever. Constantly strive to reduce variation.  Institute training on the job.

If people are inadequately trained, they will not all work the same way, and this will introduce variation.  Institute leadership. Deming makes a distinction between leadership and mere supervision.  Drive out fear. Deming sees management by fear as counter- productive in the long term, because it prevents workers from acting in the organisation’s best interests Break down barriers between departments. Another idea central to TQM is the concept of the ‘internal customer’, that each department serves not the management, but the other departments that use its outputs. Eliminate slogans.

Another central TQM idea is that it’s not people who make most mistakes – it’s the process they are working within. Harassing the workforce without improving the processes they use is counter-productive. Eliminate management by objectives. Deming saw production targets as encouraging the delivery of poor-quality goods. Remove barriers to pride of workmanship. Many of the other problems outlined reduce worker satisfaction.  Institute education and self-improvement. 14. The transformation is everyone’s job. Each of these management models teaches us something about the limitations of scientific management.

Scientific Management is often associated with negative consequences both for workers, who may consider themselves to be victims of exploitation and for managers, who may find it difficult to motivate such workers or to deal with poor performance and resistance.

Conclusion

Considering that Frederick Taylor has been dead for nearly a century and in this time a knowledge explosion has taken place, Taylor’s track record is extraordinary. If Taylor, Gantt, Gilbreth and Lillian were alive today would they be happy with what has become management thought? In the Authors pinion many of the different management styles all share certain similar characteristics of scientific management and the Author believes that they would all find the total participation movement quite acceptable. The Scientific management theories discussed above evolved from the needs of the past to manage mainly the labour force. The needs of the present in the current economic climate may require similar recording of procedures as involved with time and motion studies during the Industrial Revolution in the past to regulate the workings of Finance in Banking and related areas mainly facilitated by the IT Revolution.

Rest assured that changes in the past and the present and their successful resolution by scientific management will be replicated many times in the future and hopefully the resolutions will improve/maximise the return for the employer (stakeholder) and employee. In conclusion there is no single ‘best’ strategy or style of management. The ‘best’ solution is the one that is most fitting in relation to the particular needs of that organisation.

Bibliography

1. Bratton, J, (2007) Work and Organisational Behaviour, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, .
2. Dale, E. (1973) Management, Theory & Practice. New York: McGraw-Hill.
3. Griffin, R. (2009) Fundamentals of Management. (5th Edition), USA: South Western College Gunnigle, P,
4. Heraty, N. and Morley, M. J. , (2006). Human Resource Management in Ireland. (3rd Edition) Dublin, Gill & Macmillan.
5. Taylor, F, (1947). Scientific Management . New York: Harper Row. Tiernan, S. and Morley, M. and Foley, E. (2006). Modern Management (3rd Edition) Dublin, Gill & Macmillan

Taylor’s great contribution to industrial production was to attempt to apply the principles of scientific analysis to work and its organization. He placed great emphasis upon measurement and time and conceived the idea that there was a ‘one best way’ of organizing work, one way that would yield greater efficiencies in terms of time and costs than any other. He assumed that the nature of man’s motivation was essential, that man could and would be motivated by the prospect of earning more.

Basing his approach on this belief, he began the process of measurement and experimentation that led to the development of the means whereby the labor process could be designed and so organized to facilitate the mass production of standardized products. This was achieved through the design and division of work into a large number of small tasks, each of which required very little skill and were performed by units of labor on a repetitive basis.

Each of the tasks was to be as simple as possible and the belief was that with experience labor would become more and more proficient at the individual constituents of the process and efficiency would improve to the optimum levels. Responsibility for the design, planning, organizing and control of the process of production was to be divorced from the labor engaged in the production process and performed by others.

This contributed in large measure to the development of the management functions, and formed a basis for the development of a managerial cadre. Subsequently, Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer, came to be seen as one of the major proponents of these techniques and principles. (In truth, Ford denied influences of Taylor’s scientific management on his approach, and it is possible that both these men entertained mutual antipathy).

Differences between taylorism and fordism

In effect, Fordism can be considered as an adaptation and practical large-scale application of principles of Taylorism. This is the reason why Fordism is most often referred to in the same breath as Taylorism. As elaborated by Frederick Taylor and successfully implemented and popularized by Henry Ford, the principles of scientific management had one predominant aim: the cheapening of the cost of production by increasing substantially the output of individual workers.

McDonalds’ Scientific Management

Company, like McDonalds, has always one purpose – to maximize profits along with the minimization of costs. The major element of the company is the people who are working with – employer and employees. McDonald’s base of the employees to work efficiently, effectively and in timely manner is the “worker stupidity” (Axiom, 2005). One of the problems the company is facing is attitude and nature of the employees towards work – “underworking” and “soldiering” (Axiom, 2005). Generally, in the McDonald Company, underworking and soldiering lowers the production and accompanied by greater costs.

Output of each employee would be lessened along with the delay of a good production. In addition, home and foreign markets is very prone to its instability and competitiveness among rivals which may lead to the total elimination of the business and organization. However, the McDonald implements the Frederick Taylor method of installing managers and task management. This paper will discuss how the company implements the Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management. Discussion Although McDonald achieved the maximum prosperity with maximum revenues and lower production costs, some of the employees are doing the opposite.

First reason is McDonald’s employees have the mindset: increase in out production would result in job elimination and few employees would be needed (Axiom, 2005). To prevent McDonalds’ employees from this kind of mindset, the company pulverizes individuality by training individually resulting in an efficient workforce. The competition among the employees put down any discrepancies of low pay. For a worker having an appropriate low pay, the company convinces tan employee accept the low wages and benefits because the are always more people who are willing to take it.

Thus, it creates a distorted sense of job security. Second reason is for the defective system of management result in a forced labor to employees which lead to underworking or soldiering. Actually, there’s no question about the tendency of an employee for underworking or soldiering. However, it was prevented thorough managing tasks. The company holds two notions: “people principles” and “social responsibility” (Axiom, 2005). According to the company, the former refers to the relationship between the company or the employer and the employees along with the treatment towards the employees.

In addition, they apply the five basic ideas – “Respect and Recognition, Values and Leadership, Pay, Learning and Developmental Growth, and Resources” (Axiom, 2005). Lastly is the employees’ notion in the inefficient rule of thumb. The rule of thumb is universal among employees where, in practice, workers are inefficient in their undertakings of tasks leading to a waste of large part of their effort. The manager keeps the employees at their tasks by giving orders and enforces task management.

The use of computers, machinery and new innovations significantly reduce the time range of output production and raise the output production leading to the increase of demand and increase of revenues. As a part of its proper management, the company uses specialization or division of labor and the worker. Conclusion The maximum prosperity of McDonalds is not determined solely to the quantity of money received by the company, employees or employer but the development in terms of work efficiency and effectively of all the tasks around the company and every branch of the company.

Management should be handled proficiently and professionally so that prosperity would be permanent. For an employee, higher wages is not the sole determiner of his maximum prosperity but his development to his state of maximum efficiency and proficiently. Reference

Reference

Axiom. (2005). The Fast Food Employee and Industry, McDonald’s and other Fast Food Giants Market Research.

Retrieved November 17, 2007, from The Fast Food Employee and Industry, McDonald’s and other Fast Food Giants Market

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Evolution of management thought Introduction: Modern managers use many of the practices, principal, and techniques developed from earlier concepts and experience. In 1975, Raymond E. Miles wrote Theories of Management: Implications for organizational behavior and development. In it, he evaluated management includes classical, human relations, and human resources management. __The development of management thought has been evaluated in nature under the following four parts: 1. Pre-Scientific Management Era (before 1880) 2. Classical management Era (1880-1930) 3. Neo-classical Management Era (1930-1950) . Modern Management era(1950-on word) Classical Management: includes 1. Scientific Management School 2. Administration Management school 3. Bureaucracy Management. Neo- classical Management: includes 1. Human relation school 2. Behavioral Management School Modern Management: includes 1. Social system school 2. Decision theory school 3. Quantitative Management school 4. System Management school 5. Contingency Management school. Bureaucracy Management: Max Weber known as father of modern Sociology analyzed bureaucracy as the most logical & structure for large organization.

Features of Bureaucracy Rational authority: This is based on law, procedures, rules, and so on. Positional authority: Positional authority of superior over a subordinate stems from legal authority. Charismatic authority: Charismatic authority stems from the personal qualities of an individual. Principal of Bureaucracy 1. Clearly defined and specialized functions. 2. Use of legal authority; 3. Hierarchical form; 4. Written rules and procedures; 5. Technically trained bureaucrats; 6. Appointment to positions based on technical expertise; 7.

Promotions based on competence; 8. Clearly defined career paths. , known as the father of Scientific Management, Published Principals of Scientific Management , in which he proposed work methods designed to increase worker productivity. Scientific Management focuses on worker and machine relationships. Organizational productivity can be increased by increasing the efficiency of production processes. The efficiency perspective is concerned with creating job that economizes on time, human energy, and other productive resources.

Job are designed so that each worker has a specified, well controlled task that can be performed as instructed. Principal of scientific management 1. Replacement of old rule of thumb method. 2. Scientific selecting and training. 3. Labor management co-operation. 4. Maximizes output. 5. Equal division of responsibility. Perspective of scientific Management: There are four scientific management systems: 1. Develop a science for each element of the job to replace old rule of thumb method. 2. Scientifically select employees and then train them to do the job as described in step 1. . Supervise employees to make sure they follow the prescribed method for performing their job. 4. Continue to plan the work but use worker to actually get the work done. Administrative Management Administrative Management emphasizes the manager and the functions of management. Henri fayol known as the father of modern Management. He wrote General and Industrial Management. His five function of managers were plan, organize, command, co-ordinate, and control. Principal of administrative management 1. Division of labor 2. Authority & responsibility, 3. Discipline, . Unity of command, 5. Unity of direction, 6. Subordination of individual interests to general interest, 7. Remuneration of personnel, 8. Centralization, 9. Scalar chain, 10. Order, 11. Equity, 12. Stability of tenure, 13. Initiative and 14. Esprit de crops (union of strength). Mary parker Follett’s concepts included in the administration management that is * The universal goal, * The universal principal, * Law of the situation: Emphasizes that there is no one best way to do anything, but that it all depends on the situation. Neo- classical Management: includes Human relation school * Behavioral Management School Human relation school: Behavioral or human relations management emerged in the 1920s and dealt with the human aspects of organizations. It has been referred to as the neo-classical school because it was initially a reaction to the shortcoming of the classical approaches to management. The human relations movement began with the Hawthorne studies. The Hawthorne studies are significant because they demonstrated the important influence of human factors on worker productivity. There are four major phases to the Hawthorne studies: . The illumination experimen : Tried to determine whether better lighting would lead to increased productivity. 2. The real assembly group experiments 3. The interviewing program and 4. The bank wiring group studies. Chester Barnard Record his insights about Management in his book function of Executive. It outlined the legitimacy of the supervisors directive and the extend of the subordinates acceptance. Barnard taught that the three top functions of the executive were to – 1. establish and maintain an effective communication system, 2. Hire and retain effective personnel . Motivate those personnel. His Acceptance Theory of authority state that managers only have as much authority as employees. The acceptance of authority depends on four conditions. 1. Employees must understand what the manager wants them to do. 2. Employees must be able to comply with the directive. 3. Employees must think that the directive is in keeping with organizational objectives. 4. Employees must think that the directives are not contrary to their personal goal. Behavioral Management schoo : The behavioral approach did not always increase productivity.

Thus, motivates and leadership techniques became a topic of great interest. The human resources school understands that employees are very creative and competent, and that much of their talent is largely untapped by their employers. Employee want meaningful work; they want to contribute; they want to participate in decision making and leadership functions. Meaning of principles: Principle is the tested guide lines for a certain course of action . In another way a principle can be defined as a fundamental statement of truth providing a guide to thought and action.

We can also say that it is a statement which reflects the fundamental truth about some phenomenon. A fundamental statement tells us what results are expected when the principle is applied. Nature of management principle: 1. Flexibility 2. Universal application 3. Principal are relative not absolute 4. Based on situation 5. General statement. Modern Management concept Modern Management concept mainly divided into two classes:– 1. Decision theory schoo : Herbert Simon, Glurk and lyndall urwick the major contributors to this school of thought. The main features of this theory are as follow:– . Decision is central to the study of organization. 2. The organization effectiveness depends on the quality of decision. 3. All factors affecting decision making are the subject matter of the study of Management. 4. The member of the organization is decision makers and problem solvers. Contingency Management school / Situational approach: The latest approach to management which interact the various approaches to management is known as the contingency approach or open and adaptive systems approach. The work of Joan Woodward in the 1950s marked the beginning of this approach in management.

Contingency school states that management is situational & the study of management lies in identifying the important variables in the situation. It recognizes that all the subsystem of the environment are interconnected and interrelated. By studying their interrelationship, the management can find solution to specific situation. Emerging Management position : New management viewpoints are emerging. Quality management emphasizes achieving customer satisfaction by providing high quality goods & services. Reengineering the organization redesigns the processes that are crucial to customer satisfaction.

Based on the scientific management theory, what are some of the routines in health care that seem to be inefficient? What examples of participative decision making exist in your workplace? Provide your rationale. The Scientific Management approach was initially described and theorized by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In his book “Principles of Scientific Management”, first published in 1911, Frederick Taylor formulated a view on management that was highly inspired by engineering principles.

As such, the studies of Frederick Taylor can be seen as a culmination of a series of developments occurring in western industrialized countries, in which engineers took the lead in developing manufacturing productivity and in industrializing organizations. Frederick Taylor developed Scientific Management out of the belief that tasks could be optimized scientifically, and that Scientific Management could design the best rational way of performing any task, which would lead to enhanced productivity and profitability.

Enhanced productivity would not only lead to greater profits for the employers, but also for the workers, who would be given the tools and training to perform at optimum performance. The development of best practices should be based on detailed observation of work processes, and on vigorous training and selection of the best-suited workers. The routine that seems to be inefficient in my work place is the procedure of blood transfusion.

In my hospital before and after each blood transfusion the nurse has to verify all the papers with a second nurse and the nursing supervisor. This is very time consuming and delay the treatment especially at the time of emergency transfusions. So we notified this issue in the meeting and they changed the policy. Instead of nurse supervisor, nurse manager in each unit can verify the papers before transfusion and after blood transfusion nurse supervisor can review the papers.