Taylor and Scientific Management - Essay Example

Taylorism is the name given to Taylor’s Scientific Management or the Classical Perspective. In a statement, Taylor said that “The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for the employee” [6]. This means that there should be a win-win situation for all the parties involved while nobody would feel at a loss. In Taylor’s view, the task of factory management was to determine the best way for the worker to do the job, to provide the proper tools and training, and to provide incentives for good performance. He broke each job down into its individual motions, analyzed these to determine which were essential, and timed the workers with a stopwatch. With unnecessary motion eliminated, the worker, following a machinelike routine, became far more productive. [5]
Some of the principles of Taylorism include:

• Develop a ‘science’ for every job, including rules motion, standardized work implements, and proper working conditions
• Carefully select workers with the right abilities for the job
• Carefully train these workers to do the job, and give them proper incentives to cooperate with the job science
• Support these workers by planning their work and by smoothing the way as they go about their jobs

Changes in Modern Garment Manufacturing
With Taylor’s radical theories of employee motivation and increased productivity, the organizations started to test them and gained favorable results. His theories began to change how organizations functioned. Before this time organizations were usually set up in homes or informal businesses where the workspaces were open. There were no barriers to communication and ideas could flow freely among employees. Taylorism abruptly changed this feature of organizations. He proposed the concept of working in enclosed spaces so that each employee could get his or her own personal space. Also, this was a way to cut down on social loafing in the organization. By this theory of ‘division of labor, companies now assort work to each worker according to his skill set and capability to handle the type of work. [1] [3]

According to Becker and Steele, “Taylorism has been a significant part of organizations from the early part of the century and has been polished by major American corporations for the last seventy-five years.” [2]
Some of the changes that are visible today in modern garment manufacturing are: [1] [3] [8]

Hierarchical leadership
Just like in every organization, garment manufacturing organizations also involve several chains in the organizational hierarchy. These levels include the management level who own and make high-end decisions about which type of cloth, which style and how much to produce, and whether to sell it locally or export it. The lower-level employees actually work and oversee the mechanized production of the garments.

Split locations for manufacturing and office work
Generally, there are a few locations where actually the garments are made and where the top-level management works. At the backend, the factory has an office where the supervisor oversees the work. Then in a totally separate location, the front end, the top management, or the corporate heads have a head-office where work and make executive-level decisions. Furthermore, there are other locations where the garments are stored in warehouses.

Offices are compartmentalized
Department has crept up into modern garment manufacturers outlets. There usually is a separate accounting, human resource, sales, and production department as advocated by Taylor’s theory of division of labor.

Work has become specialized with divisional labor
As seen above there are now more compartments and departments in the garment manufacturing organizations. Just in the production department, there are specialized employees including quality controller, color dyer, merchandiser, tailor, designer, etc.

Product/Outcome focused
The garment industry has become totally customer-oriented. In this aspect, Taylor’s theory of product orientation hasn’t affected the garment industry. The garment manufacturers produce the styles that are demanded by the customers as they consider customers as the king.

Conclusion
Taylor’s theories of scientific management (Taylorism) are now being used all over the world. His theories are beneficial for the workers as they get more compensation for the work they do increase their motivation to work more for the company. Taylor’s contributions to the industrial world have led to an efficient and more productive working environment. Read More