Scientific Management

(1910-1935)
Frederick Taylor
Henry Gannt
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
Luther Gulick III
Max Weber
Henri Fayol

Scientific Management
The

process of approaching various aspects of

organizations in a scientific manner using
scientific tools such as research, management, and
analysis.

Scientific Management Theorists

PURISTS
Frederick Taylor
Henry Gannt
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

TRANSITIONALISTS
Luther Gulick
Max Weber
Henry Fayol

History of the Era

Industrial Age
- Migration to cities
- Reliance on electricity and
gasoline
- Changes both on the farm
and in factories
- Autos, airplanes, movies,
and radio became common

History of the Era

1913 Federal Reserve
System created
WWI begins and Panama
Canal opens
1919-1933 Prohibition
1920 - Nineteenth
Amendment
1929 - Stock Market Crash

Prior to Scientific Management

Owner, manager, sales, and front office personnel had
little direct contact with production activity.
A superintendent was responsible for all planning and
staff functions.
Worked with journeyman mechanics to try to schedule
production. No recognized staff functions.
Work methods were determined by individual mechanics
based on personal experience, preference, and what tools
were available for the job. Rule of Thumb

Frederick Taylor

Efficiency Expert in U.S. Steel

Industry
Invented New Tool Designs
and Handling Methods
Designed Stop-Watch Task
Timing
Created Piece-Rate Payment
Scheme
Developed Industrial
Departments

Time Studies and the Piece-Rate System

Studied most efficient

worker
Used stop-watch timing to
measure each production
step
Eliminated any
unnecessary movements
Designed standardized
instruction cards for
employees
Employees paid for
meeting the established
rate of production

Henry Gannt
Worked

with Taylor at Midvale Steel Company

Specialized in incentive wage plans
Introduced a differential piece rate system Task
work with a bonus
Permitted workers to improve the production
system
Introduced a bonus for foremen based on the
number of their workers who earned bonus

Gannt Chart Information

Developed to help
industrial age managers
plan for mass production
Utilized to coordinate
WWI shipbuilding
Visual display used to
schedule based on time

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

- Associates of Fredrick
Winslow Taylor, their work
was intertwined with his and
their motion studies predated
Taylors system first
published in 1903.
- Developed the laws of
human motion from which
evolved the principles of
motion economy

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

Pioneers in the field of motion studies and provided the foundation

for job simplification, meaningful work, and incentive wage plans.
Analyzed each motion of work for wasted efforts in an attempt to
reduce each task to the smallest amount of expended time and
energy.
Professed: effective training, effective work methods, improved
work environment, positive psychological perspective.
Made the connection between standardization and efficiency
Believed that time could not be separated from motion; the two
were intertwined.

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

Systematically examined how repetitive tasks were performed

These repetitive tasks were broken down into Therbligs, which are
systems for analyzing the motions involved in performing a task.
This consisted of identification of individual motions, as well as
moments of delay in the process, designed to find unnecessary or
inefficient motions and to utilize or eliminate even split seconds of
wasted time.
Invented and refined Therbligs roughly between 1908 and 1924.
Each Therblig had a mnemonic symbol and standard color for
charting

Luther Hasley Gulick III

Believed that public administration could have made more effective if it were
practiced according to a set of guidelines.
All organizations are characterized by a tension between the need for division and
the need for coordination.
Work division is the foundation of organization.
It is important to recognize that there are limits beyond which labor cannot
usefully be divided. Gulick stated, It might be more efficient to have the front
half of the cow in the pasture grazing while the rear half is in the barn being
milked, but any attempt to divide the cow in this fashion would, for obvious
reasons, fail.
Gulick believed that, labor divided makes for efficiency, but only if the labor and
its outputs are harmonized with the organizations goals

Organization of Work Units - Gulick

By

Purpose the aims of the work unit

By Process what the unit actually does
By Clientele work with similar materials or
clients
By Location organized together due to
geographic location, regardless of function

Five Factors that Limit Full Coordination

- Gulick
Uncertainty concerning the future
Lack of knowledge on the part of the leaders
Lack of administrative skills on the part of the leaders
A general lack of knowledge and skills on the part of the
other members of the organization
The vast number of variables involved and incompleteness
of human knowledge, particularly with regard to man and
life

Seven Administrative Procedures Gulick

Planning
Organizing
Staffing
Directing
Coordinating
Reporting
Budgeting

Gulicks Definition of Leadership

The

most difficult task of the chief executive is not

command, it is leadership, which is the
development of the desire and will to work
together for a purpose in the minds of those who
are associated in any activity.
Gulick sees ideas as more potent and more
powerful than organizations.

Gilbreths and Gulick Compared

-

GILBRETHS
Devoted to Efficiency
Analyzed Motion and
Movements of Workers
Created Therblig System
Their studies were part of
the manufacturing
revolution in the U.S.

GULICK
-

Applied Scientific Method to

Management
Dean of American Public
Administration
Division of Labor and Integrated
Organization
Applied Scientific Approach to
Personnel Management
-

Defined work in terms of positions

needed to carry out a process,
rather than the people doing the
work

Max Weber

Weberian Model of Bureaucracy

Division of Labor and Specialization
Impersonal Orientation
Hierarchy of Authority
Rules and Regulations
Career Orientation

Webers Description of Power and

Authority in Organizations
Charismatic
Traditional
Legal

Criticisms of Weberian Bureaucratic

Model
Dysfunctional

Consequences
Neglect of the Informal Organization
Internal Inconsistencies
Gender Bias
Oppressive Features
Organizational Pathologies

Webers Influence on Educational

Organizations
Described

the bureaucratic characteristics used by

most educational institutions.
Described organizations as social systems that
interact and are dependent upon their
environments.
Provides a starting point for modified structures.

Henri Fayol (1841-1925)

Fayols Five Functions of Management
1. Forecasting and Planning
2. Organization
3. Command
4. Coordinate
5. Control

Fayols 14 Principles for Organizational Design and

Effective Administration
1.
2.

3.
4.
5.
6.

7.

Specialization/Division of
Labor
Authority with
Corresponding
Responsibility
Discipline
Unity of Command
Unity of Direction
Subordination of Individual
Interest to the General
Interest
Remuneration of Staff

Centralization
9.
Scalar Chain/Line of
Authority
10.
Order
11.
Equity
12.
Stability of Tenure
13.
Initiative
14.
Esprit de Corps

Weber and Fayol Compared

Similarities
-

WEBER
Ideal Type
Hierarchy of authority
Division of Labor
Career Orientation
Rules and Regulations

FAYOL
One Best Way
Top Down Management
Specialization
Stability of Tenure
Discipline

Weber and Fayol Compared

Differences
-

WEBER
Organization as a Social
System dependent on
environment
Rationality
Impersonal Orientation
Administrative Efficiency

FAYOL
No parallel
Personal experience and
observation
Esprit and Initiative
Future Planning

Scientific Managements
Impact on Organizations
Defined Administrative
Roles
Supervision of work rather
than people
Work specializations
Span of control
Cost accounting

Homogeneity of Positions
Engineering for Efficiency
Assembly Line Production
Emphasis on Quality
Control

Scientific Managements Effect on

Schools

Teaching Objectives
Vocational Curriculum Design
Division of Labor
Subjects Departmentalized
Improvements by Analysis

Outcomes for Instruction

Data-driven decisions
Standardized assessments

Teacher Merit-pay
Staff Development Programs

Scientific Method of Management

Contrasted
-

Scientific Management
The most efficient manner to
perform a task is determined
and everyone does it that way
Task Analysis
Personnel Selection and
Training
Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
Span of Control and Top Down
Management

Humanistic Approach
Concern for people not the task
Participatory decision-making
Emphasis on Individual
Contributions and Personal
Awareness
Flexibility

Scientific Method of Management

Contrasted
-

Scientific Management
The most efficient manner to
perform a task is determined
and everyone does it that way
Task Analysis
Personnel Selection and
Training
Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
Span of Control and Top Down
Management

Social Systems Approach

Focused on the interaction of
the organization and its larger
environment
Leaders are high-task oriented
(work structure) and highrelationships oriented (concern
for others)
Organizations are a set of
interrelated elements
functioning as a whole

Scientific Method of Management

Contrasted
-

Scientific Management
The most efficient way to
perform a task is established
and everyone does it that way
Task Analysis
Personnel Selection and
Training
Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
Span of Control and Top Down
Management

Situational Leadership
No one style is appropriate for
all situations
Increased involvement in
decision making
Collaborative Planning
Flexible Change Strategies
Unique Organizational
Personality must be accounted
for in structure, leadership, and
decision-making

Scientific Method of Management

Contrasted
-

Scientific Management
The most efficient manner to
complete a task is determined
and everyone does it that way
Task Analysis
Personnel Selection and
Training
Bureaucratic Organization
Structure
Span of Control and Top Down
Management

Futuristic Approach
Focus on an improved,
decentralized system of
management
Learning organizations able
to predict for and respond to a
changing environment
Organizational Change Models
that help organizations prepare
for future challenges