Lecture The evolution of management thought (6th edition) - Chapter 11: Scientific management in theory and practice

Scientific Management was a force in: the formal study of management the practice of management in the US, Great Britain, Europe, Japan, and the USSR. broadening the scope of management the study of organizations the development of business policy and the philosophy of management.

THE EVOLUTION

OF MANAGEMENT

EDITION

Electronic Resource by:

Regina Greenwood and Julia Teahen

Scientific Management in Theory & Practice

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Scientific Management in Theory

& Practice

 Impact of scientific management on

management education

 Impact of scientific management on

international management and other

disciplines

 The spread of management ideas

moved beyond the factory leading to the emergency of general management

Education for Industrial

 Business schools at the

time were considered

too vocational.

Adams/Price Hall - Business School, University of Oklahoma 

Early Management Educators

Early Management

Educators

management course at Dartmouth,

expanded the Taylor Society, and recognized the importance of social scientists.

concept of management handbooks,

influenced journals through his work and

books, and emulated Gantt’s call for service

to the community.

The International Scientific

Management Movement

 The “management revolution” spread abroad

as a product of the United States

 In France, industrialists tended to implement scientific management to increase productivity without following Taylor’s advice

 Taylorisme became a dirty word for French workers.

 Charles de Freminville with Le Chatelier formed the Conference de l’Organisation Francaise in

1920 to advance management in France

 Hans Renold instituted scientific management

in his British firm but the movement was

largely rejected in Great Britain

The International Scientific

Management Movement

 Henri Fayol formed the Center for

Administrative Studies in France in 1917

 He declared his work complemented

Taylor’s

 First CIOS meeting held in Prague in 1924

 The Twentieth Century Fund and the IMI worked to

promote management in Europe

 In Poland, Adamiecki’s

“harmonogram” was similar to PERT

The International Scientific

Management Movement

 In the USSR (the Soviet Union at the

time):

little came of this in practice.

would assist the socialist revolution;

others distrusted capitalistic ideas.

was accepted, not better job analysis and work methods.

getting the USSR to use Gantt Charts

for their five year plans.

 The Japanese liked

the idea of harmony,

had its roots in the

work of Taylor Yoichi Ueno was a leading teacher, author, and consultant The above picture was taken with

Harrington Emerson in Japan in 1925

Scientific Management in

Industrial Practice

 Model scientific management

installations:

reduction in labor turnover

Gilson; combined Taylor’s ideas with

personnel work

Hathaway; 250% output increase

 Scientific Management was recognized for reducing costly labor turnover.

Scientific Management in

Industrial Practice

 The Hoxie Study highlighted the difference

between the notions of scientific management and how well they were implemented

labor and conducted in a superficial manner

 Other studies by C.B Thompson and Daniel

Nelson reinforce this uneven application of

scientific management

 Nelson concluded that scientific management

had a “strong positive correlation” with industrial efficiency In addition, scientific management was

“associated with growth not stagnation” in most industries

Industrial Practice

 Data refutes the belief that scientific management led to a de-skilling of workers

 Skilled and skilled workers increased from 1900

semi-to 1920

 Scientific management was associated with batch shop production and labor intensive

operations

 In capital intensive industries, or

automobile assembly lines, it was less

useful

Assembly line at Ford 1924, courtesy of Library of

Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit

Publishing Company Collection

Emerging General

Management

 Scientific Management dominated the late 19th

and early 20th centuries

 But, in the early 20th century, indications of a broader concept of management developed

 Other disciplines began to search for efficiency through science:

 Public administration

 Marketing

 Accounting

 AMA founded in 1923

Early Organizational Theory

HBS

military style of management and the new conditions of industry.

goals sought as well as means to those goals.

there was no one best way to organize.

to see the organization as a whole system.

Scientific Management at DuPont and General Motors

 DuPont Powder Co

and General Motors

William C Durant

William C. Durant 

From Pierre S. DuPont and the Making of the Modern Corporation by Alfred D Chandler Harper &

Row 1971.

Alfred P Sloan, Jr

(1875-966)

Motors from 1923 to 1956

 Created centralized policy, control, and review

 Decentralized administration and operations

 Enabled decentralized parts to work for a common goal

 Established the Sloan FoundationSource: http://www.amazon.com

DuPont and General Motors

 Both used multidivisional structures

organized around product divisions.

 These divisions could were decentralized for operations and performance could be measured by ROI.

 Origins of the “M-Form” Organization – allowed growth without the

encumbrance of a functional

organization structure.

Business Policy and

 Arch W Shaw taught a policy course at

Harvard in 1912 based on cases It integrated business subjects

 Alexander H Church (1866-1936) broadened Taylor’s concepts to include policy and

implementation

 Oliver Sheldon (1894-1951) sought to combine the efficiency with the ethics of service

 Scientific Management was a force in:

Great Britain, Europe, Japan, and the USSR.

the philosophy of management.