Analysis and Review of the Theory of Scientific Management - Essay Example

? Personal Management Framework Paper Teacher: Overview The employees that work in any workplace are usually divided into two types, which are manual workers and knowledge workers. These types are defined by sociologists and economists who work to form theories in relation to the concept of workers and their tasks. Manual workers and knowledge workers are interdependent on each other on each other and also have differences. The sociologists and economists have shown interest in this concept in order to augment the efficiency of workers in any organizational setup. Manual workers can be described as the labor power of any organization who are responsible for making usage of their physical power while knowledge workers can be described as those workers who make use of their intellect and knowledge in contrast of their physical power. Drucker (1999) informs that Karl Marx and many other theorists introduced theories to describe and give final opinion on the concept of two types of workers, however, they were not successful because they lacked pragmatic experience. With the passage of time, conceptual theorizing was there along with pragmatic knowledge of the working scenarios. According to Drucker (1999), the innovator of the concept of efficiency or productivity of the workers in relation to practical knowledge was Fredrick Winslow Taylor. After his description of the concept, the attention of theorists diverted to the efficiency of workers in relation to the augmentation of financial system. It was due to the innovative concept of Fredrick Winslow Taylor that the Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory came into existence and its name is indicative of Taylor’s contribution. Along with Taylor, other theorists like Maslow, Gilbert and many others also worked towards forming a final opinion about the concept of productivity of workers. It is because of the stated theories that nowadays, these approaches are applied in actual work environments to increase the efficiency of the workers. This paper discusses my personal framework and addresses the assumptions, value, beliefs, and any relevant practices. In addition, it integrates relevant management theories and theorists that are seminal to the foundation of my framework and includes the role of the manager, worker, and organization in my framework. Present Management Assumptions, Values and Practices The change in the organizational structure by the passage of time is becoming more difficult and gigantic. Time has caused this change and now the real meaning of the productivity in sense of workers is realized globally. Theorists and researchers proposed many theories related about increasing the productivity of workers and by workers, but in today’s environment none of these theories can be purely applied to the organizational structure. The reason behind the imperfection of these theories of management presently is that these theories evolved when the industry was growing and many theorists presented these at the early stages of the growing industries. Some of the theories are applied today by the management. At that time these theories of management were thought likely to be correct to increase the workers productivity at a maximum level. At time of this evolution industries were spreading at a greater pace all around the world. In older days, when industry was growing management was not particular about the worker’s productivity in the sense that the workers are considered as machines and they are not mentally and physically soothed instead only basic need are fulfilled by the management. But now a day workers are not considered as machines and the management has to worry about the other needs of the workers too. Now a day workers have some other luxuries and their basics in term of needs. Taylor opinions about the organizational structure in terms of its workers and suggests about the basic trait of workers in an organization that numerous workers are not known of their work and still many organizational structure have such workers which do not know what their job exactly is. For an example a worker, if questioned about his job, may get puzzled. But the top most priority of any organization is to raise the productivity through the workers, knowing the condition that should apply to the workers. Taylor has an opinion that if a worker in an organization is not known by his work, he will gat confused and will result in making that employ a useless worker for the organization in which the term useless mentions the unproductiveness of a certain worker. Typical such example is that if a football player also plays tennis, he will remain unprepared for the both of the jobs. Other such example can be seed in organizations, where accounts workers perform as marketing agents (Drucker, 1999, p. 84). In order to achieve a better productivity, some steps should be taken at the very first level which should be considered as the major steps that are, when a worker is hired, he must be informed about his duties and he must be enforced to work according to his duties. The organizations also hold the responsibility to encourage the worker to work according to his responsibilities and he must have such chances to enhance his knowledge to become an efficient worker. The organization should build a system of giving incentives to such workers who worked hard and proved themselves efficient workers for the organization. The organization also holds the responsibility to manage the workers accordingly and develop such system which would maintain a certain quality of workers. The old organizational management theories, where the workers are considered as machine, have loosen their value and a new culture in the organizations is adopted today which enhanced the efficiency of the workers by providing them their basic needs as well as their other needs. The contentment provided to the workers by the organization would certainly quantify the production of the workers. It also enhances the quality of the production. It is not about the number, it is about the quality of that number. Theories and Approaches on Productivity of Workers The theory that was proposed to raise the efficiency or the productivity, the workers working for the certain organization particularly manual workers are regarded as robots and all they desire is a handsome salary. This theory is firstly proposed by Taylor and among most of his theories. This theory was mostly disagreed by today’s industrialists and theorists. The main negative aspect of the theory proposed by Taylor is that, which considered humans as robots. (Accel-Team, 2010). A research which described the nature of different workers in a particular organizational environment showed that the two workers having the same type of work will have a different method and different technique in doing their work. The research was carried by two persons who are Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. The study was named as “motion theory”. After the theory, the modern world’s industrialists used different techniques to enhance the productivity by viewing the workers at the time of their works and study them. Camera played an important role in the study. After the Second World War the era of industrial growth, utilized different theories to increase the efficiency of the workers there occurred a boost in the industrial growth. During that era industrial growth was independent of management theories. G. B Dantzig is the pioneer in bringing management a scientific work and produced a linear programming to develop workers’ skills to increase the workers efficiency. Before G. B Dantzig Professor P.M.S. Blackett proposed a idea of ‘Operational Research’.(Accel-Team, 2010). After wards the theories like theory X, theory Y and theory Z proved the need of such aspects which are regarded as inspiring aspects that can inspire a worker to be more productive for the organization. The theories also considered and regarded the need of the workers to be fulfilled in order to increase the workers’ productivity. These theories made a radical change in the organizational behavior towards the organization. The theorists behind these theories were Maslow, McGregor, and Ouchi respectively. The theories state the factors that influence a worker to be more effective for the organization (Shead, 2009). The theories proved their effectiveness in declaring that the workers who work for an organization are an asset for the organization and organization should not consider the workers as machines. Management should take a good care of employs or workers and fulfill their need to enhance the quality and productivity of the workers. How to Increase the Productivity of Workers? The question that is “How to increase the productivity of workers?” looks quite simple but is enough thought provoking. The theorists who worked to form theories of productivity of workers along with management of organizations faced difficulty in answering the question. Taylor, the innovator of the concept of productivity of workers also faced problem in answering this question due to which, he described that productivity of workers depends on specific task allocation. The approaches introduced by Leonard Mertens named as static approach and dynamic approach are regarded to be much applicable in terms of evaluation and increasing the productivity of workers. According to the static approach, the managers working in an organization should form an objective related to training that should be given to the manual workers or laborers of a workplace. This training is related to the particular method that should be adopted in order to perform the tasks. In other words, it can be said that the training is about the basic method of performance of specific tasks. Schumpeter, one of the significant theorists explains that the static approach looks simple and adjustable but in actuality, it is quite complicated. According to Mertens, measurement of preliminary proficiency of a worker can be there and can differ in different organizational setups. After measurement of preliminary proficiency of workers, the workers can be assisted in terms of improving their level of efficiency so that their expertise at work is increased. There can be levels assigned to different levels of competency of workers. According to dynamic approach, a relation is formed between the training provided by the organizational management and productivity of the workers. As stated by Mertens (2004), the workers’ efficiency can be improved by evaluation and provision of training required by the workers of different levels. Therefore, static as well as dynamic, both approaches are applicable in order to increase productivity of workers. Role of the Organization, Manager and Worker The productivity of workers needs to be enhanced at different organizational levels so that organizational objectives are met. The workers have different levels of competency and these levels must be identified. The requirements related to provision of training must be recognized by the organization so that it can apply a training process for its workers. According to Vemic (2007), the organization has a responsibility towards its workers in terms of provision of training. The management should choose suitable workers, who require training, should describe what they expect to receive as a result of training, should evaluate the growth of trainees and should start the training program as per requirements. However, according to Vemic (2007), there are some problems that affect the training procedure which are both external and internal. No one can negate that the responsibility of leaders or trainers is the most crucial aspect of the whole training process. The manager usually plays the part of the trainer or a link between trainees and the organizational administration. According to Management-Hub (2010), the manager’s role is very significant as his part is concerned about counseling the whole procedure of training as he is the one who monitors the growth of trainees with the progress of training process. The manager also evaluates the training procedure in terms of its inadequacies and proposes solutions for the improvement. Therefore, the manager plays the most significant part in carrying out the training process effectively. Like organization as a whole and manager, the workers also have their roles, which should be performed in order to facilitate the organization. The workers should be able to recognize and comprehend their place and task required from them so that they should perform accordingly. They should also form better communicative links with each other as well as management so that the organizational goals can be met collectively. Workers have their own significance and their effectiveness in any organizational procedure cannot be rejected. The training process is also successful because of positive involvement of the workers. References Accel-Team. (2010). Historical Perspective on Productivity Improvement. Scientific Management and Frederick Winslow Taylor. Retrieved Online on March 1st, 2011 from http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_02.html Accel-Team. (2010). Historical Perspective on Productivity Improvement. Scientific Management - Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_03.html Accel-Team. (2010). Historical Perspective on Productivity Improvement. Developments from the Second World War on. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.accel-team.com/scientific/scientific_04.html Drucker, P. F. (1999). Knowledge-Worker Productivity: The Biggest Challenge. California Management Review. Pg: 79-94. Management-Hub. (2010). Roles & Responsibilities of a Manager in an Organization. HR Manager Role. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.management-hub.com/hr-manager-roles.html Mertens, L. (2004). Training, Productivity, and Labour Competencies in Organisations. Concepts, Methodologies and Experiences. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/ampro/cinterfor/publ/mert_pro/pdf/total.pdf Open Group. (2002). Identity Management Business Scenario. Identity Management. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.opengroup.org/downloads/bus-scenario-IM.pdf Shead, M. (2009). Personal Productivity from Management Theory. Productivity501. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.productivity501.com/personal-productivity-from-management-theory/26/ Vemic, J. (2007). Employee Training and Development and the Learning Organization. Facta Universitatis. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/eao/eao200702/eao200702-13.pdf Bibliography Chaplin, D. (2002). Maximising Development Productivity. What Is Productivity? Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.byte-vision.com/ProductivityArticle.aspx Gregory, S. P. (No Date). Training and Development Leads to Higher Productivity and Retention. Business Know How. Retrieved Online on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/higherprod.htm Slay, B. and Hughes, J. (2006). Growth, Productivity and Development. Development & Transition. Retrieved on March 17th, 2011 from http://www.developmentandtransition.net/index.cfm?module=ActiveWeb&page=WebPage&DocumentID=589 Read More