Management Science School and Application

The scientific school of management focused on the ‘science’ of creating specialized work processes and workforce skills to complete production tasks efficiently.

Scientific Management

The scientific school of management is one of the schools that make up classical management theory. Still very much concerned with increasing productivity and efficiency in organizations by finding the best way to do something, the scientific school of management is focused on the ‘science’ of creating specialized work processes and workforce skills to complete production tasks efficiently.

• The scientific management schools

1. Scientific management theory arose in part from the need to increase productivity.
2. In the united states especially, skilled labor was in short supply at the beginning of the twentieth century.
3. The only way to expand the productivity was to raise the efficiency of workers.
4. Therefore ,Fredick W.Taylor,Henry Gantt,and Frank and Lillian Gilberth devised the body of principles known as Scientific management theory

  Taylor contended that the success of these principles required ”a complete mental revolution” on the part of management and labor.

 In short taylor believed that management and labor had common interest in increasing productivity.

1. Taylor based his management system on production line time studies. instead of relying on traditional work methods, he analyzed and timed steel workers movements on a series of jobs.
2. Using time study he broke each job down into its components and designed the quickest and best method of performing each components. In this way he established.

• How much workers to do with the equipment and materials in hand. he also encourage
• Employers to pay more productive workers higher rate than others. using a “scientifically correct “rate that would benefit both the company and workers.
• Thus the workers were urged to surpass their previous performance standards to earn more pay .Taylor called his plane the differential rate system.

Classical scientific theorists such as Frederick Taylor, Henry Gantt, and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth spent their time researching how a specific job was done, what steps were taken by an employee to complete the work, the amount of time it took a worker to complete a task using different methods, and then used this information to determine which way was most effective.

The result of this research led to the development of four principles of scientific management:

• Management should provide workers with a precise, scientific approach for how to complete individualized tasks.
• Management should carefully choose and train each employee on one specific task.
• Management should communicate with employees to ensure the method used to complete the task is, in fact, the most productive and efficient.
• Management should create the appropriate division of labor.

Application of Scientific Management

Application of these scientific management principles is quite simplistic once up and running, but it requires a great deal of analysis up front. A manager must first consider the nature of the work that needs to be completed and then decide the best possible way to go about it. A division of labor allows the manager to take complex tasks and break them down into smaller, more precise tasks that the individual workers can complete. Each employee is trained explicitly on how to best perform their task. A manager will check with their worker to ensure that the suggested method for completing the work is efficient and make adjustments when necessary. If all goes as planned, a manager will watch as a product efficiently moves from worker to worker down the production line. As the individual parts come together, the sum is essentially created. Think of an assembly line where each individual employee completes one repetitive step in the product development process. The product is finished and ready to be sold after each employee completes his or her respective tasks in the product development process. To see classical scientific management, division of labor, and the assembly line in action, we can turn to Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company.

 Henry Ford’s Model T Production Line

Turns out that right around the same time Taylor, Gantt, and the Gilbreths were developing the principles of scientific management, Henry Ford was looking for an effective way to produce his Model T. At that time, a car was really considered a luxury item that was handcrafted by one individual on a factory floor, and Ford sought to change this. By combining the idea of scientific management’s best possible way to accomplish a task through the division of labor and Ford’s engineering background, the true assembly line was born.

Ford spent a good amount of time researching the best possible way to assemble the Model T. First, he rationalized the most effective way to build the Model T based on the size of parts. From there, he determined the best order to assemble similarly sized parts. Workers were then assigned and trained on individualized tasks. Production began, but there were a few hiccups along the way.

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