The Impact of Scientific Management in the 21st Century

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-scientific-management-21st-century-
morgan-davis-obalim-glovf/

Introduction

According to the theory of management, scientific management refers to strategies

that are used to determine how best a certain job can be performed in an
organization. Scientific management can also be technically defined as
management thought primarily concerned with the physical efficiency of an
individual worker.

Scientific management is a procedure aimed at the production of non human

technology exerting control over employees or workers in an organization. Now
days, most organizations in the industry make use of scientific management.

Some of these organizations include hospitals, car, and computer manufacturing

industries, processing plants, hotels, and restaurants, among others. Despite many
criticisms and theories that dismiss the relevance of scientific management in
modern times, this article analyses the impact of scientific management in the 21st
century.

Although scientific management has a great, positive impact in the 21st century, it
also has some disadvantages. This may influence scientific management in the
current work environments leading to inefficiency.

Critical Analysis of Scientific Management

Taylor, who is referred to as the father of scientific management, developed the

theory of scientific management. Before the invention of this theory, most business
organizations used the rule of thumb. This is where the worker had the initiative and
control.

In the application of the rule of thumb, it was the efforts of the worker which gave
results of the business productivity, either a success or failure. According to Taylor,
“the rule of thumb is inefficient such that it can not give the desired results as per
the industry expectations.” His aim and motion to develop the theory of scientific
management was to replace the rule of thumb, which was unproductive and
inefficient.

Fundamental Principles of Scientific Management

There are key principles of scientific management. Some of these principles include
time study, functional foremanship, and use of equipment and implements of a high
standard in trading, use of standard acts of workmen, and use of functions that are
uniquely planned, among many others.

The key principle of scientific management is geared towards ensuring that

employees and employers prosper to the maximum. Scientific management not
only ensures large revenues to the company but also ensures that every branch of
business has developed to its high state of excellence.

Again, scientific management does not only ensure higher wages received by the
employee than the usual wage of his class but also the development of each
employee for maximum efficiency. Taylor argues that there should be a machine-
like operation in an organization portrayed by employees in order to ensure
efficiency, which is directly proportional to profitability.
Scientific management theory asserts that workers should be trained and
scientifically selected. This enhances increased profitability in an organization. This
is because a highly trained and qualified worker means quality production.

Also, according to the theory of scientific management, the employer should ensure
that there is maximum cooperation with the employee. This gives an assurance of
perfection in the job. In addition, each work performed by every employee should
be tested to ensure that it has utilized the best procedure. This ensures the
production of quality work hence high profitability.

Relevance of Scientific Management

Scientific management has a clear and strict approach. Scientific management

remains to be of great relevance in today’s organizations. The management used in
an organization should have a structural system that defines the functions of
various departments, groups, and individuals.

Taylor believed that the best job in an organization could be produced by using a
perfect method, which could be implemented by the employees. Through this belief,
Taylor wanted to create a specialization in the organizations in order for each
employee to specialize in one line of production, leading to increased profitability.

Taylor’s views and beliefs on the role of management are on how a certain task in
an organization is to be performed and the methods used. For the theory to apply in
today’s operations within organizations, Taylor made a formalized process of
keeping records of time and motion in which job operations were done within the
industry.

Scientific management applied in today’s operations within an organization has

been found to be very helpful.

One of the greatest contributions of scientific management in today’s organization

is increasing productivity. Scientific management focuses on the activities
performed by the workers in an organization. The importance of this was that
scientific management makes the workers or employees efficient.

This increases the production capacity of the company. This helps in meeting the
objectives of all stakeholders. In his analysis, Taylor focused on time and motion
used in the achievement of organizational goals. Using these studies, the operations
in the workplace are well analyzed, and the most effective and efficient ways of
performing job operations are discovered hence improving the company’s
productivity.

In addition, the use of scientific management in today’s operations increases overall

profitability and gives the organization a better opportunity to compete in the
market globally. This is derived from the ability of the organization to maximize the
efforts of all stakeholders in the organization.

Secondly, scientific management has led to the development of offshore markets.

This has resulted from its ability to analyze techniques used in labor within the
organization. The use of these labor techniques is what makes most of the functions
that were done. On the same note, scientific management has come up with
methods of production that are most effective and cheap.

Again, due to the discovery of the theory of scientific management, companies, and
industries have been able to produce high total quality products. Scientific
management has led to quality improvement that has greatly improved the
profitability of the company.
For example, industries like the automotive and the military industries have greatly
improved their product quality. This has been achieved through the use of
techniques introduced by Taylor in his discovery of scientific management.

The discovery and implementation of scientific management in the organization

have created a division of labor among the employees. Division of labor in an
organization produces better results and high standards. This helps to create better
productivity in the organization and contributes to enhanced product quality.

This is because every employee works in the field where he is skilled. Organizations
also benefit from scientific management in that it helps them come up with a good
and organized organizational structure. This approach of creating a good
organizational structure was meant to improve efficiency and give employees
motivation right from the lower level.

The advanced technology that came up with scientific management had social
effects. This is because Taylor’s aim of the division of labor was to deskill the
employees, making them specialize in one task. This had an enormous effect on the
social aspect of the life of the employees as it increased the discipline in the
working area.

Importance of Scientific Management in Organizations

Most companies in the 21st century have adopted the use of scientific management
in their operations. A good example is the American fast food restaurant that is
known worldwide because of its advanced management skills. In his book, Thomas
quoted Ford as the author of the assembly line for car manufacturing.

This American company has adopted the management style of Ford, who furthered
Taylor’s ideas. Ford said he believed that the profitability of the business
organization could be improved by having every employee working according to an
assembly line.

Ford implemented this in the car manufacturing industry after Taylor invented the
idea of division of labor. The American company has adopted a design for the
various branches of the food chain in its operations.

This style reduces the number of steps the employees would take to complete a
certain duty. In his study on motion, Bell brought the idea of avoiding unnecessary
tasks in the organization. This has been adopted by American fast-food restaurants
in order to avoid waste of time. Again, in this same organization, Taylor’s ideas have
also been adopted.

Taylor’s main aim of scientific management was to ensure specialization and

division of labor amongst the employees. The American fast-food restaurant uses
this idea to create hamburgers. In his article, Bell says this business organization
simplified the hamburger into a number of steps.

This was done as follows; grilling the burger, putting in lettuce and tomatoes,
adding sauce, then putting it into rolls and wrapping. This has improved efficiency
and as well created specialization because every task requires a different employee.
Although scientific management has been of great significance in this restaurant, it
has had some limitations. It limits the employees with advanced skills.

This is because the skills are just wasted in highly simplified job operations. This
denies not only the opportunity for skill presentation but also their human rights as
individuals. Scientific management has also been applied today in supermarkets.

Supermarkets make use of Taylor’s idea of division of labor and specialization to

achieve their goals. This is because supermarkets employ different people due to
the different tasks like stacking shelves, scanning products sold in supermarkets,
and handling queries.

Another area that uses scientific management is the center for calls which initially
used the rule of thumb. This was replaced by scientific management in order to
make services for employees efficient and appropriate.

Scientific management encourages control of the senior management to the

employees. This was used in these call centers where the senior managers recorded
the conversations of the employees; hence this kept the employees under the
control of their employers.

The airport is another industry that has adopted the use of scientific management in
its daily operations. A good example of this is in tagging with a barcode the luggage
and bags as they are carried through sensors in the conveyor belt. This applies to
Ford’s principle of the assembly line.

This improves efficiency in the industry. Again, in the car manufacturing industries,
there is also the application of scientific management. These industries make use of
Ford’s principle of the assembly line. Car manufacturing industries like Toyota make
use of this principle in making their products.

The process is broken down into various steps. This increases efficiency and
improves the quality of the products hence increasing productivity. Another
organization using scientific management is the hospital, which has a reception
office.

Limitations of Scientific Management in the 21st Century

Scientific management has some limitations. For instance, Taylor’s idea of deskilling
employees demotivates them and denies highly advanced and skilled employees
their rights. This creates dissatisfaction in the workplace.

It has been asserted that money is a basic need for employees and that all social
factors are considered to motivate them. It also seems difficult to implement
scientific management because, with the specialization of employees in tasks,
businesses cannot create competition in the market.

Again, with Taylor’s idea, employees are unable to go to the managerial seats. This
is because employees’ skills are ignored by the application of specialization.

Conclusion

Borrowing from the assertions in this article, it can be argued that scientific
management has been of much influence on companies and business organizations.
This is because its positive impacts on the companies outweigh the negative
impacts.

Therefore, it is advisable for companies to adopt some of the usefulness of scientific

management in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness in their operations.
This will help improve profitability.

It is also advisable for today’s organizations to be careful while applying this theory
in their operations. This is because not all operations and tasks in companies and
business organizations need to adopt scientific management to improve
profitability.