The Principles of Scientific Management Paperback – February 12, 2014

Good

"The most important object of both the workman and the management should be the training and development of each individual in the establishment, so that he can do (at his fastest pace and with the maximum of efficiency) the highest class of work for which his natural abilities fit him," according to Frederick Taylor in this book. The book, first published almost 100 years ago, was a leading source of management theory in the first half of last century.Those who have taken a class on management theory may have come away with the impression that Taylor's Scientific Management was superseded by McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y, with Theory X representing the superseded command-and-control Taylorism and Theory Y representing a more enlightened participative form of management. This caricature is far from the truth, although Taylor does display some amusing attitudes:"The workman who is best suited to handline pig iron is unable to understand the real science of doing this class of work. He is so stupid that the word `percentage' has no meaning to him, and he must consequently be trained by a man more intelligent than himself into the habit of working in accordance with the laws of this science before he can be successful."Although he called his principles "scientific management", Taylor does not seem to have been much of a scientist himself, relying on others to derive simple equations from his time-and-motion measurements. However, he did clearly identify a problem which continues to plague most workplaces today: most workers, either deliberately or inadvertently, work in a manner which is far below their productive potential; consequently, most businesses could be more successful, most employees could be paid more, and most countries could be wealthier, if only workers acted more efficiently.The book was clearly written in a different time and culture, and the manual-labour-type examples that Taylor uses are less relevant now that most such jobs have been mechanised or exported. However, the challenge for management still remains: the hunt for productivity improvements which bring benefits for everybody and result in greater co-operation and improved relations between the labour force and management.

The principles of scientific management has been waiting on my bookself for me to pick it up and actually read it for quite a while. Taylors book has had such an impact on the modern management ideas that I simply had to read the original work.Before reading the book, I had my opinion ready (which is not a good thing). The ideas must be stupid, I thought. However, when starting to read the book, I was taken by the situation described by Taylor and the thinking he had behind his theory. Much of it made sense, at the time and was not so stupid at all. I've thus read it in one sit (it's not very thick either). So what's it about?Taylor's ideas were about studying the work and finding the best method for doing work and then training the workers in following this best method. Finding this best method is "the science" and management is very much responsible for finding and improving the work of the workers. So, this creates the separation of planning and execution, which is often mentioned when talking about Taylorism.Why did he do this? Much of the reasoning, which is very visible in his dialog between worker and manager, is that workers are too stupid to improve their own work. They have no education and they wouln't be able to actually think about their work and improve it. This might have been a fact in his life. However, if this is still true today, personally I would doubt it.Taylor considered workers stupid. He makes quotes like "A trained gorilla would probably be better in the job than these man" (not exact quote). These statements made me very uncomfortable and therefore I've long doubted about whether it should be a 3 or 4 star rating.I've still decided on a 4 start rating. The book is a classic and very valid in his time. I recommend everybody to read it AND REALIZE THAT TODAYS WORLD IS NOT THE SAME. Thus take the good ideas (improving your work) but leave the ideas which were related to their time (strict separation planning and execution).Worth reading.

I am neither a scholar nor a student required to read Taylor. Instead, I am an IT consultant and MBA who wanted to go back and fill in some of my literature gaps. I have read many books that refer to Taylor's Scientific Management in the context of time and motion studies, and outmoded commant-and-control management. Having now read the book, I am pleased at what a thoughtful and inciteful piece it really is.It seems that Taylor is outlining the fundamentals of workflow management involving a large component of human labor. He includes concepts we might today refer to as actors, tasks, routings, measurement, feedback and enablers--all necessary ingredients to process design and optimization. His take on efficiency improvement also reads like the basis for lean manufacturing or operations. Pages 92-93 summarize the notion of time and motion studies.I was also pleased with his key idea of integrating management with the frontline workers, for the purposes of coordinating, teaching, monitoring and assisting--something not done at the time. This concept appears time and again in business writings. In fact, in the last month I read similar ideas in James Champy's "Re-engineering Management" (1995) and McKinsey Quarterly's, "Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers" (Aug 2009). It's been 100 years, and Taylor is still holding up!

one of the best business practice books I think possibly exists. especially if you are in manufacturing, but in any business, as the author says, these techniques and methodology can be applied. I like what he says when he says a great company both pays their employees more than the average wage for the industry, and at the same time has a lower cost per unit of output than the average in the industry. the reasons and the benefits are the basis of this book. in other words, leadership and efficiency, which the techniques and the ideas are spelled out clearly in this short ~30 pages? essay

Everyone should read this book, whatever walk of life they are in. Put it on the Christmas list! Great read

Décrit les bases de l'organisation du travail et de la spécialisation des tâches, tout en encourageant à bien payer les employés

Se vc for estudante de Administração, não verá nada de diferente do que já tenha visto na sua aula de TGA.Mas com esse livro, vc entenderá os processos com mais detalhes e poderá viajar pelos experimentos e ambientes aos "olhos" de Taylor.

Livre très intéressant ... vu l'année qu'il a été publié et regardant aujourd'hui les problèmes que nous avons dans l'industrie on se sent vivre toujours les mêmes difficultés. L'auteur est visionnaire dans sa description et il présente une vue scientifique du management.

Super book..A small paper with very powerful ideas..must read for all people associated with production management