Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management Theory Video

Welcome to our video series on Management Theories That Changed the World. Today we are looking at Scientific Management, also known as Taylorism, after its originator, Frederick Winslow Taylor.

Until the early 20th century, managers of factories had very little contact with their workers. There was little standardization and work processes weren't highly optimized. But then along came Frederick Taylor. In 1909, he published the "Principles of Scientific Management." Its insights had a profound impact on work in ways that can still be felt today.

Taking a scientific approach to analyzing work, Taylor conducted studies that evaluated how long work tasks should take and assessed the most efficient way of accomplishing them. Taylor's main insight was that, by optimizing and simplifying different tasks, productivity would increase. Many of his insights might seem obvious now but, back in 1909, they were revolutionary.

Taylor's Scientific Management Theory can be summed up by the following four principles.

First, it's all about efficiency. Taylor suggested that, instead of working by habit or rule of thumb, there should be a more scientific approach to determine the most efficient way of carrying out a task.

Taylor conducted what he called "time and motion studies" to illustrate this. A motion is a specific task and Taylor timed each motion to see how long it took. These studies ascertained the quickest and most efficient ways of performing work.

Taylor believed in breaking down jobs into constituent parts, and his studies showed that you can improve efficiency by doing just that. Think of a car production line or even the way meals are prepared in fast food restaurants. Each step of the process or "motion" is optimized as much as possible.

Taylor's second principle relates to division of labor. He believed that, like a well-tuned machine, work should be broken down into key tasks, and workers assigned and trained in those specific tasks to maximize output.

The third principle is oversight. Essentially, this means that, worker performance should be monitored and supervised. Before Taylor's theory, managers had very little contact with their subordinates.

The final principle concerns hierarchy. Taylor believed that, managers should spend their time planning and training, while workers get on with their assigned tasks. The idea was managers think, workers do.

Today, parts of Taylor's theory may strike us as harsh or robotic, even unethical. True, it treats workers like cogs in a machine. Each one focused on a small element of the overall picture. And if people aren't performing optimally, he suggests you simply replace them. For Taylor, the only motivational force for employees is money and the more efficient they are, the more they're paid.

This, of course, clashes with more modern management concepts like autonomy and collaboration. Think about it. Do you do your best work and feel motivated when you're tightly controlled? Or when you're free to use your own approach and judgment?

Also, Taylor's theory completely ignores the value of teamwork. Scientific Management breaks down work into tiny steps that individuals follow. And while this may work in process-heavy jobs like factory-line work, collaboration and teamwork can be often highly valuable and necessary to an organization's success.

Another problem is the rigidity of Taylor's approach. In a rapidly changing environment, organizations need to be adaptable and Taylorism lacks flexibility. Essentially, Taylorism focuses heavily on processes and little on the value of people, what satisfies and motivates them.

Despite these criticisms, Taylor's Scientific Management Theory transformed the world of work and all subsequent management theory has been a reaction to and evolution of it.

So to recap, Taylor's four principles are: Efficiency, division of labor, oversight, and hierarchy. He believed that, by focusing on process, breaking down work into constituent parts, supervising workers, and having a clear hierarchy between managers and workers, you could significantly improve the efficiency and output of your work.

If you want to discover more historical management theories that changed the world, check out our other videos in this series.