Impacts of Fordism and Taylorism on Contemporary Management - Report Example

Impacts of Fordism and Taylorism on contemporary management Introduction The discussions on management and the development of scientifically proven approaches in management of large organisations in the early 20th century are attributed to the development of the principles of Taylorism and Fordism. In 1911, Frederick Taylor developed a scientific management approach that depended on the use of researched and quantitatively tested data for decision-making and management plans. The approach considered ways through which organisations could account for their costs in order to improve efficiency and improve productivity (Thompson, 2013). Henry Ford, the founder the ford motor company first adopted the Taylors principles in the mass production of cars and motor vehicles in his factory in 1913. However, ford combined the principles of Taylors with the principles of division of labour under the Fordism approach that has been attributed to the growth of his company (Wright & Lund, 2006). Under Fordism approach, employees were trained in a specific area of production and made to perform the same task continually before passing the finished product to the next employee. This led to the introduction of division of labour and specialization, early applications that increased the production efficiency in the company (Crowley, Tope & Chamberlain, 2010). In this paper, the emerging human resource practices will be discussed in relation to how it has changed business performance and employee motivation. While discussing the theories of management currently employed by the organizations, the paper will analyse the article ‘the best companies to work for in 2013’. Human resource management practices have changed from the previous notions that was money cantered to a new one that is based solely on employee motivation and how the people are critical assets for the business. Impacts of Taylors and Fordism on contemporary management Taylors and Fordism have affected significantly on contemporary management practices and approaches and this paper will provide a detailed description of the impacts (Vallas, 1999). The Fordist era is considered as one of the eras when economic prosperity of organisations and the adoption of positive management approaches were adopted. The principles that ford established for his motor industry were motivated by the applications of Taylors that focused on scientific management approaches (Crowley, Tope & Chamberlain, 2010). Taylor advocated for the use of high levels of management through providing directions and being in control of the routine production and work processes in organisations. Though critics argued that the approach contributed to the deskilling of the American labour force, it was however one of the approaches praised for its ability to enhance economic prosperity and development of organisations. Taylor aspect of scientific management was based on the need for organization to improve their processes with an aim of improving the production efficiency (Vidal, 2011). In the golden rule of scientific management, Taylor emphasised on the need for organization to adopt appropriate human behaviour as this will create room for improve organizational performance. The area of organization behaviour has increased in both dominance and application in different areas of organizational management and this has led to the introduction of organization behaviour studies and cases (Thompson, 2013). Through the development of positive organizational behaviour in line with the rules documented in the scientific management approach of Taylor, organisations have a chance of improving their overall performance and productivity. This is due to the development of a common behaviour approach that is binding to all employees in an organization and which increases their ability to identify with the organization’s goals and objectives (Vallas, 1999). Management today has changed its focus form processes and the desire to achieve efficiency into the development of approaches that work towards enhancing the wellbeing of the employees. When Taylor and the scientific concept of management were developed at the beginning of the 20th century, the practices of management and the wellbeing of workers were completely different. This concept was also developed at a time when most industry players were family owned and made it possible for them to be more focused in production efficiency as compared to the worker welfare (Vidal, 2011). The need by managers today to reorganize tasks and to enable employees and managers handle different roles through planning, controlling and directing has been borrowed from Taylors. Just like previous family owned businesses during Taylor’s time that carefully selected workers and provided them with specialized training, the current management approach has also led to the use of appropriate selection approaches that weighs on their potential and ability to deliver on different responsibilities. Workers are today treated as individuals whose productivity is influenced by their motivation and the provision of the right training and compensation packages (Pruijt, 2003). Managers have also moved from the controllers and supervisors to role models and regulators who work to win the trust and confidence of the employees in line with the scientific management approach. With focuses on the systematic identification and the development of specialized and standardized work approaches, the scientific management of Taylor has been adopted in different fronts of management today (Allan, Bamber & Timo, 2006). The application of Taylors in today’s management approaches have been attributed to the massive success in different sector though few modifications have been done in line with the technological changes in different sectors. A number of techniques used in management today like the just in time (JIT) and the business process re-engineering (BPR) as some of the approaches that have borrowed heavily from the Taylors management approaches (Thompson, 2013). The principles of scientific management have also been applied in varying ways in the service sector like the food and restaurant industry. The development of McDonaldization is considered as another example of modern day Taylors which is customized to meet the needs of different organisations. With McDonaldization, tasks for different employees are systemized and the selection of employees done in such a way that they are trained in different processes within the organization. This has enabled the products of the company to have a similar standard and this has been attributed to the customer consistencies in these organisations (Vallas, 1999). As a result, most organizations have shifted their focus from developing strategies to implementing sound human resource management practices. Motivation of employees has become a key aspect in the management of any organization and most organizations today develop employee motivation plans. Facebook, an American based social media company, has developed proper motivational package and this enabled the company to be awarded the ‘best company to work in’ award of 2013 (Pruijt, 2003). When Taylor developed the scientific approach to management in his Taylors, the employee and workers were given prominence as he recognized their roles in the management process. Taylor acknowledged the need for fairness to employees as a way of increasing their increasing productivity of the workers, an approach that will increase the profit of the organization. Despite this approach being criticized by some theorist, it has remained dominant in the market and is used in varying levels by production and manufacturing companies across the world (Allan, Bamber & Timo, 2006). The development of specialization approaches led to the belief that human beings were reduced to automatons, as they were employed for cheap labour and provided with no room creativity and thinking. Employees were made to work in the same sector over and over again and made to do the same task on an everyday basis due to specialization. This affected their ability to innovate and think critically, a step that would have been essential for positive performance in the organization (Beerepoot & Hendricks, 2013). However, the same approach is witnessed in different sectors to date as production and manufacturing companies continue to seek cheap labour to make their products. Nike, a US based sport apparels and Sportswear Company has opened a number of manufacturing units in Asia where unskilled employees provide cheap labour after specialized training. This approach has been adopted by these organisations as a way of reducing production costs and increasing the profitability of the organisations (Wright & Lund, 2006). The need to build and work towards improving individual needs and concerns were also developed by Taylor in his scientific management model, an approach that different organisations under the human resource management have continued to adopt. By being instrumental in improving the needs and concerns of the employees, the organizational efficiency is increased as it creates motivation among the employees. Motivation is essential in the development of an employee population that is moved by the need to help the organization achieve its objectives and goals in the market (Allan, Bamber & Timo, 2006). Henry ford’s ideology on Fordism focused on increasing efficiency in production processes following the rules of Taylors and the use of specialization. This theory was used in 1913 by ford motors in the United States to enhance production processes and increase the productivity of the company. Through this approach, ford introduced the notion of deskilling in the car production process, which led to continuous improvement in its production process. This approach has significantly contributed to the development of improved production and economic growth using better management and operational controls in organisations today (Vidal, 2011). The principles of lean management and the development of faster production cycles among other theories used today in management were borrowed from the ideology of Fordism. Skills today are viewed as being fragmented and specialization in different sectors is more common and differentiated as compared to several years ago. This has made the improvement of organisations to be based on their ability to improve their service delivery and focus on meeting the market expectations and needs. As customers continue to exert pressure on organisations through their new expectations, the focus has shifted from being production and profitability based to developing systems that are customer and market based (Allan, Bamber & Timo, 2006). Taylors has provided room for contemporary managers to employ different practices with an aim of meeting the extrinsic and intrinsic needs of the people in an organization. Employees in any organization have intrinsic and extrinsic needs and priorities that if ignored or assumed by the management affects the production and productivity in the organization. According to Taylor, managers must endeavour to provide a good extrinsic environment with proper extrinsic rewards in order to achieve quality production (Beerepoot & Hendricks, 2013). This has been the main aim and goal of businesses today and this explains the rise in employee-based management approaches which increases employee involvement and increases their participation in the overall management in the organization. Pakistan for example, has continued to face significant challenges in the management of its organization due to the failure of these institutions to adopt Taylors. Most of these organisations have continued to adopt selfish attitudes towards their business and this can be attributed to their inability to recognize the intrinsic needs of the employees. In failing to handle the intrinsic and extrinsic market factors, the organisations have failed in their societal and communal roles as corporates and this explains the low productivity and profitability. According to Antonio Gramsci, the theory developed by ford in the 20th century was a postulation of the approaches that modern organisations should adopt to remain both competitive and marketable. Through the introduction of mass production, ford introduced the currently used economies of scale concept that has enabled major organisations to increase their productivity and profitability (Allan, Bamber & Timo, 2006). Conclusion The adoption of proper management approaches remain the dream of every organization in the face of the current competition and a much-informed market. The current market structure and nature makes it essential for organisations to grow using proper management approaches that ways on different management approaches and theories. The introduction of the Fordism and Taylors led to the development of organisations that focused on massive production while creating a productive environment for employees (Beerepoot & Hendricks, 2013). Such an environment encourages employee specialization and division of labour that is essential in organisations that practice mass production and service a wide market. With the current growth in international trade, organisations have been forced to increase both their efficiency and production to meet the needs of the market while maintaining quality (Wright & Lund, 2006). These are the principles that govern the laws of management under Taylors and Fordism, which was attributed for the growth of organisations in the 19th century. References Allan, C., Bamber, G. & Timo, N 2006, Fast-food work: are McJacobs satisfying? Employee relations, 28(5), 402-420. 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