Frederick Winslow Taylor 1856-1915. Influences - Family History Father –Pennsylvania Quaker family...

Frederick Winslow Taylor

1856-1915

Influences - Family History

• Father– Pennsylvania Quaker family– Lawyer– Owned farms and properties– Very Wealthy

Influences - Family History

• Mother - Emily Winslow (Delano)– New England Puritan Family– Related to Franklin Delano Roosevelt– Anti-slavery ‘agitator’– Campaigner for women’s rights– Child rearing philosophy based on ‘work,

drill and discipline’.– Believe in ‘definite instructions’ for Fred

Influences

• Affluent family• Attended Phillips

Exeter Academy• Destined for Harvard

Influences - Early Work

• Started as an Apprentice• 1878 - Midvale Steel as a Clerk

– Moved down the company ladder - laborer– Role changed almost monthly– Keeper of tools, assistant foreman, foreman,

master mechanic, director of research, chief engineer of the plan

• 1880-1883 Engineering at Stephens Institute

Influences - Other Than Mother

• Adam Smith - Process-driven model of management

Tendencies

• Incredibly driven problem solver• Inventor

– Taylor-White process for treating tool steel– Spawned over forty patents

• Sportsman• Passion for Order and Efficiency• Persistent• Personal Tendencies

Accomplishments & Theories

• 1889 - Bethlehem Steel Company– Tried wide ranging

changes– Fired in 1901– Experience laid the

basis for theories of Scientific Management

Scientific Management• Workers engaged in

“soldiering”• Superiors had no

idea how long a job should take

• No one thought to examine the nature of people’s work

Scientific Management• Armed with

stopwatch, examined exactly what happened and how long it took

• Minute examination allows an observer to establish a best means of carrying out the job

Scientific Management

• Workers would know what was expected

• Managers would know how much should be produced

• Reliable piecework rates, bonuses, penalties

Scientific Management

• Quality of the work had to be stressed before striving for an increased Quantity of work

• Paid for performance, not attendance

• Advocated daily feedback

• “Seventy five percent science and twenty five percent common sense”

Scientific Management Exercise

• Build 20 Pieces as specified:– Two Red 4x2– Two Black 4x2,

crosswise– One White 2x2, on

middle

Scientific Management - Results

• Watertown Arsenal (Labor Cost Reductions)– Packsaddle from $1.17 to $.54– 6” Gun from $10,229 to $6,950

• Typically, “Schmidt” increased production 400% while receiving 60% more pay

• Often boosted production

Scientific Management - Results

• 1910 - Harrington Emerson claimed the railroads could save $1 Million per day

• Immediate result was a dramatic cut in the cost of manufactured goods

• Potentially allowed for an increase in wages

• Also resulted in crude reductions in employee numbers

Frederick Taylor - Contributions

• Invented Management as a Science• Established the job of management as

measurement• Created middle management• Intended SM to cover the whole

organization• First management consultant

(“Consultant to Management”)

Frederick Taylor - Recap• Earned approximately $50,000 per year from

1900 to 1911 from consulting• Had three maids, estate superintendent,

cook, coachman and yard laborers• Taught in France and Germany• 1910 - refused his share of his father’s

$900,000 estate• 1915 - Taylor’s estate worth $700,000• Died after a lecture tour in Cleveland

Frederick Taylor - Supporters• First International

Management Theory– Japanese– Lenin– Henri Le Chatelier

• Frank & Lilian Gilbreth• Peter Drucker• Henry Gantt• Henry Ford• Hugo Munsterbuerg• Champy/Hammer

Frederick Taylor - Criticisms

• Relied on money to motivate• Efficiency before ethics• Views in accord with socialism• Increased wages until competitions

catches up• Built on a lack of trust, a lack of respect

for the worth, wit and intelligence of individuals

Frederick Taylor - Criticisms

• Eliminated qualified, professional work

• Focus on making the task more stupid

• Believed people did not need to be told what was happening elsewhere in the organization

• Employees had to ‘turn off their minds’

• Denied people their individuality

Frederick Taylor - Criticisms

• 1909 - U.S. Steel, 3500 workers revolt

• 1911 - Taylor questioned at a special committee of the U.S. House of Representatives

• Nightmare visions explored in literature

Where Do We Go From Here?• Peter Drucker

– Knowledge workers are “abysmally unproductive”

– Challenge of the next century is to increase the productivity of knowledge workers

• Lucier and Torsilieri– Routine work (80%)

needs to be standardized.

– Complex decisions should be outsourced