Maybe you don't know his name but maybe your job is organized by his theories.
Frederick Winslow Taylor has been one of the most influential person of the Twentieth Century.
Have you ever seen "Modern times" by Chaplin? Here it is, Chaplin made that movie to say "no" to Taylor. The same situation Chaplin did about Hitler in "The Great Dictator".
So, who was this guy?
1856 - 1915
- His parents were engaged in social activities while, going against his family's ideas, he had more extreme tendencies (the opposite: he was right to racism and stereotypes typical of the time)
- In college he discovered his talent as an inventor:
- A spoon for tennis racket
- A harness that could awoke him at night when he turned his back to sleep: he thought nightmares depended by sleep positions.
- It was believed an innovator (in the sense of reconfiguring existing elements)
- Apprenticeship: He entered in a little industry in Philadelphia asking to have low pay in exchange for being able to change often his role to learn all phases
- After the apprenticeship: In 1884 he joined the "Midvale" (a factory that produced tracks at first, and weapons after) as vice-captain
- Degree: he continued his career coming to Chief Engineer with the responsibility for improving the performance of his sector
- Here begins his work of reorganization of job, despite of many difficulties (his former colleagues at the rowing)
Time after time, however, manages to bring his theory
- He had stayed at "Midval" for 5 years, until 1889 because he could not do more career there
- Join a different company to test his theory in other companies
- In 1895, he read the essay "A piece rate system" in front of the Association of American engineers and it was a great success
- He expanded and put on a team. Among them there was a guy, Thompson, who warned him about the "human variable" when the workers rebel
- From 1897 to 1901 he worked at "Bethlem Company" which produced armored plates for the Navy
- He clashed with the "human variable" and changed some things, like the "differential"
- Up to 1915 he began to make conferences at Universities and other places...
Elements of Taylorism
- Soldiering: the laziness of the workers. For him it was the great problem plaguing America and England and he did not understand how it was possible that this was allowed.
→ people deliberately plan to do less than they can
- One Best Way: there is always a better way to do something and that was the standard for the calculation of the differential
History: Before him people threw 12 tons of cast iron.
He managed to throw 47 per day
He succeeded analyzing everything, including the function of the muscles as every muscle must have a rest period he calculated the exact time for rest
Taught it to 8 people but only 1 (a Dutch guy named Schmidt who was half handicapped) succeeded. He fired the other 7
Result: fewer workers but more productivity
Increased the office of management which was now full of people who designed the various task management
- Collaboration: in its ideal world, management and workers had to work together for the good of the company. That is, the workers had to be happy to work hard (because he did not understand the "Soldiering")
- Task Management: the "brain" of the company wen from local workers to the central department office where each day management determines how much production must be carried out by workers
- Differential Piecework: it is one of his fundamental elements. The management decided the amount of production, if the workers could it, well, otherwise they were being paid less than before.
History: before, a worker produced five pieces a day for a fee of 50 cents per piece (ie 2.50 per day).
Taylor was convinced that it could produce 10 pieces and so worker could earne 3.50 per day and not only 2.50.
If he produced less than 10 pieces he took 2.25, less than before
- Chronometrical studies: each task was broken and timed. Then the worker had to do the amount of work required by this study made it by management
- Costs: you could pay more thanks to the differential, but you even gain more through increased production and cutting workers (I do not need any more as many hours a worker does the work of 10 workers than before). It also does not need skilled workers but just the cheap labor.
Operation of Taylorism
- Observe the basic work process
- Categorize all the tasks and the Times
- With trial and error trying to find a way to speed up any job
- Search the worker suitable (if there is one that refuses gets fired)
- Use the differential to control the production
