Taylor: scientific management

The theory

• F. W. Taylor argued that workers are motivated primarily by money, and that the way to raise output is to design work scientifically and pay people for what they produce.
• His method, scientific management:
  • Study the task — measure exactly how long each element takes and find the most efficient method (time and motion study).
  • Select the right worker for the task and train them in that one method.
  • Divide the work so each person performs a small, specialised part of it.
  • Pay by results — a piece rate, so earnings rise directly with output.
  • Supervise closely to ensure the prescribed method is followed.

What it predicts

• Output rises when pay is tied directly to units produced.
• Workers do not need to enjoy the work, understand it, or be consulted about it — they need to be paid for it.
• Efficiency comes from management thinking and workers doing, with the two clearly separated.

Where it still applies

• Piece rates in horticulture — picking and packing paid by volume.
• Production lines with standardised, repeated tasks and measured cycle times.
• Warehouse and courier work with productivity targets per hour.
• Fast food, where the sequence of every task is prescribed to the second.

Taylor is often dismissed as outdated, but a great deal of modern work is still measured, standardised and paid by output — so a student investigating a business with targets and piece rates is investigating Taylor.

The problems

• It ignores everything except money. Recognition, belonging, interest and security all disappear, and they demonstrably motivate people.
• Quality suffers, because the incentive is quantity — the design fault examined throughout this subject.
• Repetitive, deskilled work is boring, which raises absenteeism, turnover and error rates.
• No use is made of workers' knowledge. The people doing the job are the best source of improvement ideas, and Taylor's separation of thinking from doing throws that away.
• Poor fit for teamwork, because individual output is what is measured.
• Damages the employment relationship, since close supervision signals distrust — a direct conflict with whanaungatanga in a workplace built on relationships.