Assisment #5
In his article, “The Principles of Scientific Management, (1911:4)”, Frederick Taylor he discusses how one could simplify jobs and make days work more productive. Taylor started this paper by quoting then President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt: “The conservation of our national resources is only preliminary to the larger question of national efficiency (Taylor;p1)”. Taylor explains the concept to which he referred as to “soldiering” in which was his term for “slow working.” Taylor believes that money motivated all workers.Therefore an employee should pay day by day based on the quality of work he produces the day. He believes an employee will not work as hard, and if he saw his fellow co-worker “slacking” he will begin to question himself, why do I get the same amount when his not working as hard as I do?. It will create conflict between workers and decreased the quality of work produced by the company. Taylor believes that there has to be a healthy job environment for employees to keep motivated. He believes that a good relationship between employees and employee is a key factor, for efficient work. When a worker is not being watched so closely and carefully by his employer, will produce a better quality of work. He believes that if employers and employees work together to maximize the product quality and efficiency, it will benefit all, it was a matter of both realizing they are working for the same goal.Taylor believes if there was a solution to end the soldiering, that if the workers will not behave this way it will create higher wages and shorter working hours along with home condition possible.
The three causes for “soldiering” Taylor believed were, “ The Fallacy,”“The defective,””The inefficient rule-of-thumb.” Taylor states “ This paper will attempt to show the enormous gains which result from the substitution by workmen of the scientific rule of thumb methods.” (Taylor,p4) He believes that both the employee and employer will benefit from the substitution of soldering. In my opinion, Taylor’s theory sounds great on paper, however, in today’s world, the fact we live in a capitalist society seems to make a nonexisting collaboration. A capitalist or business owner has the pressure of material and competition, once he feels the pressure, he will begin to put the pressure on his employees and the principles of scientific management Taylor’s theory will be affected.
