Shahjalal University Of Science & Technology

Assignment on
Sociology
course title: SOC 201Z
Date: 22-02-2015

Submitted by
Dipashree Bhowmick
Dept. of PME,SUST
Reg no: 2012336043
session-2012-13
Submitted to
Mr A H M Belayet Hussain
Associate Professor
Dept. of Sociology, SUST
Question:
What does scientific management mean? Discuss
the principles of ‘Taylorism’ and ‘Fordism’ in an
industrial managerial system.

Answer:
 Scientific management :
In simple words, scientific management implies the art of
knowing exactly what is to be done and how it is to be done.
Under this approach, scientific techniques are applied in the
recruitment, selection and training of workers and are also used
in tackling various industrial problems.
F.W. Taylor popularised scientific management movement and
made it universally acceptable . In Taylor’s view, “Scientific
management means knowing exactly what you want men to do
and seeing that they do it in the best and the cheapest way”. It
Also called as Taylorism.
Taylorism seeks the worker basically as an economic animal, a
self seeking non social individual who prefers managers to do
their job related thing for them. Given this, the management
simply has to work out the most efficient way of organizing
work and then tie the monetary rewards of the work to the level
of output achieved by the individual. This would produce results
which would benefit employer and employee alike, removing
the likelihood of conflict and the need for trade unions.

 Scientific management involves the following

approaches:

 The scientific analysis by management of all the tasks

which needs to be done in order to make the workshop as
scientific as possible
 The design of jobs by managers to achieve the maximum
technical division of labour through advanced job
fragmentation.
 The separation of the planning of work from its execution
 The reduction of skill requirements and job-learning
times to a minimum.
 The minimizing of materials-handling by operators and
the separation of indirector preparatory tasks from
director productive tasks.
 The use of such devices as time-study and monitoring
systems to co-ordinate these fragmented elements and the
work of the de-skilled workers.
 The use of incentive payment systems both to stabilize
and to intensify workers.
 The conduct of manager-worker relationships at ‘arm’s-
length’- following a minimum interaction model.
 Taylorism in an industrial managerial system:

Taylor's own name for his approach was scientific management.

Taylor's philosophy focused on the belief that making people
work as hard as they could was not as efficient as optimizing the
way the work was done. Taylorism represents an organizational
form without any notion of a career-structure, unlike other
organizational models available at the turn of the century. It is
analysed in terms of the division of labour and the structure of
control over task performance. Therefore Taylorism can be
defined as the bureaucratization of the structure of control, but
not the employment relationship. Taylor's methods began from
his observation that, in general, workers forced to perform
repetitive tasks work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.
This slow rate of work (which he called "soldiering", but might
nowadays be termed by those in charge as "loafing" or
"malingering" or by those on the assembly line as "getting
through the day"), he opined, was based on the observation that,
when paid the same amount, workers will tend to do the amount
of work the slowest among them does: this reflects the idea that
workers have a vested interest in their own well-being, and do
not benefit from working above the defined rate of work when it
will not increase their compensation. He therefore proposed that
the work practice that had been developed in most work
environments was crafted, intentionally or unintentionally, to be
very inefficient in its execution. From this he posited that there
was one best method for performing a particular task, and that if
it were taught to workers, their productivity would go up.

 Principles of “Taylorism” in an industrial

managerial system:

The scientific management approach propounded by F.W.

Taylor is based upon the following four principles:
(1) Science, Not Rule of Thumb:
This principle says that we should not get stuck in a set routine
with the old techniques of doing work, rather we should be
constantly experimenting to develop new techniques which
make the work much simpler, easier and quicker.

(2) Harmony, Not Discord:

As per this principle, such an atmosphere should be created in
the organization that labour (the major factor of production) and
management consider each other indispensable. Taylor has
referred to such a situation as a ‘Mental Revolution’. Taylor
firmly believed that the occurrence of a mental revolution would
end all conflicts between the two parties and would be beneficial
to both of them.
(3) Cooperation, Not Individualism:
According to this principle, all the activities done by different
people must be carried on with a spirit of mutual cooperation.
Taylor has suggested that the manager and the workers should
jointly determine standards. This increases involvement and
thus, in turn, increases responsibility. In this way we can expect
miraculous results.

(4) Development of Each and Every Person to His / Her

Greatest Efficiency and Prosperity:

According to this principle, the efficiency of each and every

person should be taken care of right from his selection. A proper
arrangement of everybody’s training should be made. It should
also be taken care that each individual should be allotted work
according to his ability and interest. Such a caring attitude
would create a sense of enthusiasm among the employees and a
feeling of belongingness too.

Under the management of "initiative and incentive", the first

three elements exist in many cases, but their importance is
minor. However, under the scientific management, they form the
very essence of the whole system.

 Principles of Fordism in an industrial managerial

system:
In organizational development, there are different theories that
are considered to be influential. One of which is the theory of
Fordism. Fordism is a form of industrial production developed
from Taylorism methods. Fordism is a production ideology
pioneered by Henry Ford  in the Western industrial countries
which supported domestic mass production and allocation of
relatively higher wages among labourer.  The concept is used in
various social theories and management studies about
production and related socio-economic phenomena.[1] It is also
related to the idea of mass consumption and changes of working
condition of workers over time. This production management
practice was widely criticized for its inhumane production
system with regards to employee conditions and was then
replaced by Fordism. Although Fordism was a method used to
improve productivity in the automotive industry, this principle
could be applied to any kind of manufacturing process.

 Theprinciples of fordism in an industrial

managerial system:
Major success stemmed from three major principles:

(1) The standardization of the product (nothing hand-made:

everything is made through machines, molds and not by
skilled craftsmanship)
(2) The use of special-purpose tools and/or equipment
designed to make assembly lines possible: tools are
designed to permit workers with low skill levels to operate
"assembly lines"—where each worker does one task over
and over and over again—like on a doll assembly line,
 where one worker might spend all day every day screwing
on doll heads.
(3) Workers are paid higher "living" wages, so they can afford
to purchase the products they make.
These principles coupled with a technological revolution during
Henry Ford's time allowed for his revolutionary form of labour
to flourish. It is true that his assembly line was revolutionary,
but it was in no way original.  His most original contribution to
the modern world was his breaking down of complex tasks into
simpler ones with the help of specialised tools. Those are
basically the three tenets of Fordism. Needless to say, the first
two tenets are standard now.