Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) was an American inventor and engineer that applied his
engineering and scientific knowledge to management and developed a theory called scientific
management theory. His two most important books on his theory are Shop Management (1903)
and The Principles of Scientific Management (1911).
Frederick Taylor's scientific management theory can be seen in nearly all modern manufacturing
firms and many other types of businesses. His imprint can be found in production planning,
production control, process design, quality control, cost accounting, and even ergonomics. If you
understand the principles of scientific management, you will be able to understand how
manufacturers produce their goods and manage their employees. You will also understand the
importance of quantitative analysis, or the analysis of data and numbers to improve production
effectiveness and efficiency.

Principles of Scientific Management Theory

In broad terms, scientific management theory is the application of industrial engineering
principles to create a system where waste is avoided, the process and method of production is
improved, and goods are fairly distributed. These improvements serve the interests of employers,
employees, and society in general. Taylor's theory can be broken down into four general
principles for management:
1. Actively gathering, analyzing, and converting information to laws, rules, or even
mathematical formulas for completing tasks.
2. Utilizing a scientific approach in the selection and training of workers.
3. Bringing together the science and the worker so that the workers apply the scientifically
developed techniques for the task.
4. Applying the work equally between workers and managers where management applies
scientific techniques to planning and the workers perform the tasks pursuant to the plans.
Frederick Taylor approached the study of management quantitatively through the collection and
analysis of data. For example, he and his followers performed motion studies to improve
efficiency. He analyzed the motions required to complete a task, devised a way to break the task
down into component motions, and found the most efficient and effective manner to do the work.
An example of a motion study is observing the number of distinct motions required to shovel coal
into a furnace. The task is then broken down into its distinct components, such as picking up the
shovel, walking to the coal, bending over, manipulating the shovel to scoop the coal, bending
back up, walking to the furnace, and manipulating the shovel to deposit the coal. The most
efficient way to perform the task was developed and workers were instructed on how to apply the
method.

Historical Perspective
One of the earliest of these theorists was Frederick Winslow Taylor. He started the Scientific
Management movement, and he and his associates were the first people to study the work
process scientifically. They studied how work was performed, and they looked at how this
affected worker productivity. Taylor's philosophy focused on the belief that making people work
as hard as they could was not as efficient as optimizing the way the work was done.
In 1909, Taylor published "The Principles of Scientific Management." In this, he proposed that
by optimizing and simplifying jobs, productivity would increase. He also advanced the idea that
workers and managers needed to cooperate with one another. This was very different from the
way work was typically done in businesses beforehand. A factory manager at that time had very
little contact with the workers, and he left them on their own to produce the necessary product.
There was no standardization, and a worker's main motivation was often continued employment,
so there was no incentive to work as quickly or as efficiently as possible.
Taylor believed that all workers were motivated by money, so he promoted the idea of "a fair
day's pay for a fair day's work." In other words, if a worker didn't achieve enough in a day, he
didn't deserve to be paid as much as another worker who was highly productive.
With a background in mechanical engineering, Taylor was very interested in efficiency. While
advancing his career at a U.S. steel manufacturer, he designed workplace experiments to
determine optimal performance levels. In one, he experimented with shovel design until he had a
design that would allow workers to shovel for several hours straight. With bricklayers, he
experimented with the various motions required and developed an efficient way to lay bricks.
And he applied the scientific method to study the optimal way to do any type of workplace task.
As such, he found that by calculating the time needed for the various elements of a task, he could
develop the "best" way to complete that task.
These "time and motion" studies also led Taylor to conclude that certain people could work more
efficiently than others. These were the people whom managers should seek to hire where
possible. Therefore, selecting the right people for the job was another important part of
workplace efficiency. Taking what he learned from these workplace experiments, Taylor
developed four principles of scientific management. These principles are also known simply as
"Taylorism".

Four Principles of Scientific Management

Taylor's four principles are as follows:
1. Replace working by "rule of thumb," or simple habit and common sense, and instead use
the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform
specific tasks.
2. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on
capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.

3. Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that
they're using the most efficient ways of working.
4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time
planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.

Critiques of Taylorism
Taylor's Scientific Management Theory promotes the idea that there is "one right way" to do
something. As such, it is at odds with current approaches such as MBO (Management By
Objectives), Continuous Improvement initiatives, BPR (Business Process Reengineering),
and other tools like them. These promote individual responsibility, and seek to push decision
making through all levels of the organization.

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The idea here is that workers are given as much autonomy as practically possible, so that they
can use the most appropriate approaches for the situation at hand. (Reflect here on your own
experience are you happier and more motivated when you're following tightly controlled
procedures, or when you're working using your own judgment?) What's more, front line workers
need to show this sort of flexibility in a rapidly-changing environment. Rigid, rules-driven
organizations really struggle to adapt in these situations.
Teamwork is another area where pure Taylorism is in opposition to current practice. Essentially,
Taylorism breaks tasks down into tiny steps, and focuses on how each person can do his or her
specific series of steps best. Modern methodologies prefer to examine work systems more
holistically in order to evaluate efficiency and maximize productivity. The extreme specialization
that Taylorism promotes is contrary to modern ideals of how to provide a motivating and
satisfying workplace.
Where Taylorism separates manual from mental work, modern productivity enhancement
practices seek to incorporate worker's ideas, experience and knowledge into best practice.
Scientific management in its pure form focuses too much on the mechanics, and fails to value the
people side of work, whereby motivation and workplace satisfaction are key elements in an
efficient and productive organization.

Key Points
The Principles of Taylor's Scientific Management Theory became widely practiced, and the
resulting cooperation between workers and managers eventually developed into the teamwork

we enjoy today. While Taylorism in a pure sense isn't practiced much today, scientific
management did provide many significant contributions to the advancement of management
practice. It introduced systematic selection and training procedures, it provided a way to study
workplace efficiency, and it encouraged the idea of systematic organizational design.

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Daniel Martnez Cardoso

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1.
Introduction.
The purpose of this essay is to analyse the extent to which Taylor's Scientific Management
Principles are present in current organizational management practices. Therefore, I will first
expose the main ideas behi
nd Taylors work and his theory of
Scientific Management. Following that, I will explain each of the Scientific Management
Principles and present arguments that discuss their prevalence in current organizations,
illustrating the matters with some examples. Finally, I will conclude by showing my findings
based on the previous analysis.
2.
Scientific Management and its Principles.
The late nineteenth century was characterised by the increasing size and complexity of industrial
organizations, facts which made it more difficult to organise human effort efficiently and
effectively (Rollinson, 2005: 9). As a response to contemporary trends, a systematic management
movement was formed, which consisted of attempts by managers with engineering backgrounds
to apply the principles of their discipline to the organization of production, with the objective of
solving the problems of the industry with rational methods of managing (Barley & Kunda, 1992:
369). In this context, the Scientific Management theory was born, based on the work performed
by Frederick Winslow Taylor during the latter part of the 19th century and further developed in
the early 20th century (McKinnon, 2003: 1). Scientific M
anagement supplied the systematic management movement with coherent ideological
foundation (Barley

& Kunda, 1992: 369) and it has become the most widely used set of general principles for
organising production (Rollinson, 2005: 10). In addition, job analysis and design have its roots in
Scientific Management and are now a
common human resources practice in most of the worlds largest corporations (Bell
& Martin, 2012: 107). Scientific Management
can be defined as
an organizational ideology and a set of techniques conceived to deal with such problems as
soldiering by workers, resource
waste, and disorder, as well as managements arbitrariness, greed, and lack of control
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Daniel Martnez Cardoso

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(Guillen, 1994: 75). It consists of a series of tools, methods and organizational arrangements to
increase the efficiency and speed of machine shop production, which involves, among others, a
timing work system
to establish a scientific measure of what
const
itutes a fair days work (
Taylor, 1911:49), bookkeeping and accounting tools, and techniques to measure work input, as
well as a managerial bonus plan devised by Gantt,
a rule for the calculation of machine speeds by Barth and the science of motion stud
y and all its branches developed by Frank and Lilian Gilbreth (Merkle, 1980: 2). It pretends to
organise or reorganise work methods to give managers greater control over the labour process,
that is, the exchange of effort for rewards (Rollinson, 2005: 9-10).
Taylors theory rest
s on the assumptions
that high pay
is the main and perhaps the only
thing that people seek to obtain for work
(Rollinson, 2005: 10),
people
are
primarily rational (Barley
& Kunda, 1992: 372)
and a belief in the utility and m
orality
of scientific reasoning (ibid)
. Following Rollinson (2005:10), Taylor was convinced that since both parties (workers and
managers) obtained what they wanted (higher pay and maximum effort from workers), Scientific
Management would lead to cooperation,
prosperity
and a
greater surplus for the organization (Bell

& Martin, 2012: 109). However, as Wagner-Tsukamoto (2007: 106) stated, opportunistic
managers used the system to abuse and mistreat workers, and, after its last peak of fame in the
1920s, Scientific Management popularity decreased due to its consideration as the

science of exploitation
(
Bakan, 2004: 76). After that time, an era of criticism and competition for the movement,
characterised for willingness to collaborate with the labour (Hawthorne Studies, Human
Relations Movement, etc) began (Barley & Kunda, 1992: 372). I will now deal with the four
Principles of Scientific Management and discuss the relevance of each in current management
practices.
1. The development of laws and
scientific principles for work tasks to replace oldfashioned or traditional methods
(Boone and Bowden, 1987: 126). With this Principle, Taylor wanted to
use scientific techniques to determine the most efficient way of doing work (Morgan, 2006:
23),
replacing
the role of thumb
method (Taylor, 1911: 36), that means, the one that is not accurate or reliable for every situation,
and to simplify jobs
by describing each workers task
in detail, specifying
3
Daniel Martnez Cardoso

s141180
how it should be done and the amount of time necessary to do it (ibid: 38-39). In
essence, he arrogated that managers could find the one best method to perform a task
that would guarantee maximum efficiency (Freedman, 1992: 27). Yet this point of view is
nowadays
rejected, because there is no managerial best practice, it all depends on
the circumstances of the country, industry, and culture in which organizations operate (there are
three eclectic models of management, and every new managerial practice seems to be a mixture
of them
) (Guillen, 1994: 75) and the organizations world appears to be unpredictable, uncertain and
even uncontrollable (Freedman, 1992: 26).
However, a
dapted to new technologies and modern practices, Taylors
specialization of tasks, standardization and scientific improvement of processes are still alive in
modern organizations, as it will be now exposed. Firstly, big companies are often divided into
several departments to focus on
specialization, since the change in structure allows them t

o divide the tasks of the whole organization into manageable sub-tasks and allocates them to
organisational units
that are responsible for their completion (Rollinson, 2005: 461).
However, when the
organizations structure does not include specialized job
s concerned with analysing the environment, the companies usually fail to adapt to changing
circumstances (ibid: 463). So, scientific management works better with small companies which
do not usually need to react to change (Caldari, 2007: 74). This lack of flexibility, the main
defect attributed to the Fordism model (which adopted Taylorism
s
Principles with just a different philosophy during 1960-1970) was the key word for the
development of Post-Fordism (Caldari, 2007: 72). Although it may seem that Post-Fordism,
which emerged from the crisis of Fordism (Amin, 2008: 18), surged to challenge Fordism tenets,
core principles of scientific management neglected under Fordism were implemented through the
search of flexibility, applying rationalist ideas like standardization and efficiency (Crowley et al,
2010: 423).
Thus, this movement is perhaps more aptly termed Neo
-Taylorist than PostFordist management (
Crowley et al, 2010: 422), which shows Taylorism still influences it a lot.

F. W. Taylors Scientific Management Theory in Modern

Day Workplace
Posted on October 23, 2010 by lupa4eve
Management can have the most remarkable effects on organization; that is why management has
become an essential part of organization. According to Griffin (2001) Management may be
defined as a set of activities (including planning, and decision making, organizing, leading and
controlling) with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner.
Management can also be defined as the process of designing and maintaining an environment in
which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims (Koontz and
Weihrich 1990).
From the time human beings began forming social organizations to accomplish aims and
objectives they could not accomplish as individuals, managing has been essential to ensure the
coordination of individual efforts. As society continuously relied on group effort, and as many
organized groups have become large, the task of managers has been increasing in importance and
complexity. Henceforth, management theory has become crucial in the way managers manage
complex organizations. The first management theory is what is popularly referred to as Frederick
Taylors Scientific Management (Stoner, Edward, Gilbert, 2003).
The central thesis of this paper is to discuss the relevance of Frederick Winslow Taylors
Scientific Management Theory in the modern workplace. Frederick Taylor started the era of

modern management. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he was decrying the
awkward, inefficient, or ill-directed movements of men as national loss.
Taylor consistently sought to overthrow management by rule of thumb and replace it with
actual timed observations leading to the one best practice. He also advocated the systematic
training of workers in the one best practice rather than allowing them personal discretion in
their tasks. He further believed that the workload would be evenly shared between the workers
and management with management performing the science and instruction and the workers
performing the labor, each group doing the work for which it was best suited (Koontz 1990).
Taylors Scientific Management is not hard to recognize within the modern day workplace. The
car and computer manufacturing plants, the work environments we go to everyday, the hospitals
we are treated in and even some of the restaurants we might eat in, almost all of them function
more efficiently due to the application of Scientific Management. In fact, these methods of
working seem so commonplace and so logical to a citizen of the modern world that it is almost
impossible to accept that they were revolutionary only 100 years ago.
Taylors Scientific Management is based on four principles. According to Mindtool the four
principles are as follows:
1. Replace working by rule of thumb, or simple habit and common sense, and instead use the
scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.
2. Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs based on
capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.
3. Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that theyre
using the most efficient ways of working.
4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time
planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.
The first principle which is to replace rule of thumb, or simple habit and common sense,
working methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks is still relevant in the
modern workplace. Miller (2010), postulate that management first needs to break each job into
individual tasks and determine which steps dont contribute to the end product. While I was
working for a small manufacturing company, management decided that our department was due
for an overhaul to streamline the work process and increase production. Our main job each day
was to fill 80-100 bins with various parts. We walked about 10 miles on average each day. So,
management redesigned the layout of the warehouse racks to reduce our walking distance by
about 66% and cut 2 hours from our work day.
The second principle which basically stated that scientific selection of the worker of organization
should be: select, train, teach and develop the most suitable person for each job scientifically,
rather than passively leaving them to train themselves (Priestley 2005). The second principle of
the Taylors Scientific Management can still be found in todays world. In must organization

mangers or senior employees are responsible for selecting the right people for each job and
overseeing their training. This will ensures that the training is conducted correctly.
In majority of todays workplaces after the workers and job processes are put in place, the
managers of the company stay involved and provide supervision to each worker to ensure the job
is done in the best way to suit the organization goal. This is very important. Just because a
department is designed to be efficient does not prevent workers from falling back into bad work
habits. The last principle of Taylors Scientific Management state that work should be divided
between managers and workers. The mangers apply management principles to planning and
supervising the work, and the workers carry out tasks. This theory has been utilize in most
modern organization and has lead to an increase in production and also takes some of the
pressure off the workforce, but allows managers to stay involved in the daily processes of the
department (Miller, 2010).
Taylor also advanced a theory of motivation which is just the same as incentive theory that is,
the theory that workers are motivated by money. Hence, he advocated that productivity
improvements should result in improved pay. Workers are paid according to the number of items
they produce in a set period of time- piece-rate pay. As a result workers are encouraged to work
hard and maximize their productivity (Priestley 2005). However this theory still exists in the
modern workplace especially in factors and for truck drivers. For example a sweet factor near to
my house use this theory; employees get paid according to amount of sweet they can rap over a
set period of time. Workers who are more efficient will always earn more money; however this
will motivate or encouraged the inefficient worker to work harder.
According to Stoner (2003) Employers who pay workers more will get better, happier, more
efficient workers who make better products in increasing quantity. But like most academic
theory, reality never seems to behave as predicted on paper. If employers have more efficient
workers, profit margins increase. Thus, according to Taylor, employers can pump some of this
increased profit into workers paychecks in order to keep them happy and efficient.
In concluded Taylor proposed four great underlying principles of management. First, there is
need to develop a science of work to replace old rule-of-thumb methods: pay and other rewards
linked to achievement of optimum goals measures of work performance and output; failure to
achieve these would in contrast result in loss of earnings.
Second, workers to be scientifically selected and developed: training each to be first-class at
some specific task. Three, the science of work to be brought together with scientifically
selected and trained people to achieve the best results. Finally, work and responsibility to be
divided equally between workers and management cooperating together in close
interdependence. However Taylors Scientific Management theories which have develop over a
century is still relevant and found within the modern workplaces.

To what extent is Taylors theory of scientific management

still useful in todays business
Published: 23, March 2015
The manifestation of Frederick Taylor's theory of scientific management was a major
breakthrough in traditional approach to management process. Simultaneously, as management
theory evolved gradually Taylor's theory was severely criticised and its role decreased
dramatically to the extent that nowadays it is argued whether scientific management still exists. It
is not hard to find examples of Scientific Management in today's modern world; we can see the
car industry which use a similar approach as well as the computer manufacturing plants even
some hospitals, almost all of them function more efficiently due to the application of Scientific
Management. However, as stated these organisations use a 'similar' approach, so therefore, in this
essay I will attempt to discover if or how much is Frederick Taylor's theory of scientific
management still used by managers in its pure form.
Taylor's experience at the Midvale Steel Company led to the birth of scientific approach to
management. As he worked there he recognised that the labour productivity was largely
inefficient due to a workforce that functioned by "rules of thumb". He started his experiments at
the workplace in order to replace the traditional "rules of thumb" by factual scientific knowledge.
The backbone of this activity was his "Time And Motion Study" where he worked out how he
can reduce the number of motions in performing a task in order to increase productivity. This
element of his theory is still widely used by managers today, which is evident in McDonalds,
who use one standardised process e.g. to make a burger, which workers have to follow. This
standardised process and the 5 principles of scientific management* put together have evidently
been used and proved to be the best way for such organisations to reach their ultimate
productivity as they are the world leading fast food chain. Places for example Dubai or India,
customers are guaranteed their order within 60 seconds, and this guarantee can only have come
from the application of Taylor's Time and Motion study. Taylor's experiment led him to think,
workers are motivated solely by money and he promoted the idea of "A fair days pay for a fair
days work" which I will go into later in this essay.

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*5 principles of scientific management:
A clear division of tasks and responsibilities
Use scientific methods to determine the 'one best way' of doing a job

Scientific selection of best person for the newly designed job

Ensure workers are trained to perform the job the 'one best way'
Strict surveillance of workers using a hierarchy of authority and close supervision
Every manager will have their own unique style of management; however, every manager has to
use strategies which are compatible with the organisations nature of work and the culture of the
organisation. Taylor experienced his approach was rebelled and criticised for being rigid and
inflexible because simply workers did not want the change. Therefore managers have to think
deep about which strategy to use in their organisation and seek ways of achieving greater
flexibility in the workforce. One of the major giants in today's world Google do not apply
Taylor's "machine" metaphor to their organisations workforce and focus more on the Hawthorne
experiment where certain experiments were carried out by George Elton Mayo at the Hawthorne
Works. His research conclusions were welcomed as it showed that the workforce is more of an
asset to the organisation. This increased motivation and productivity seemed to boost as well as
in quality because his experiments lasted 5 years therefore, he had greater data to draw
conclusions from unlike Taylor. Therefore, Google allows their workforce to have the freedom to
work at desired times and the environment is custom designed by the workforce. Google's
organisational structure enables the workforce to work in teams on projects which showed in
Mayo's experiments that working in groups can be highly efficient.
The two organisations I have mentioned above are well ahead in their business world using
completely contrasting strategies. One can say that they both are in different market sectors,
where one requires high innovative and creative skills and the other requires hands and feet, well
that is one conclusion this essay can make that Taylorism is still useful today depending on the
product and structure of an organisation. A piece rate system will not suit Google, therefore they
will not have Taylor's theory applied to their organisation. Moreover his "best method" idea will
also not suit all organisations because to be innovative and creative there can't be just one best
method.

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Another interesting point is since 1960 the time when the downturn of Taylor's theory had begun,
charitable organisations had started to increase, and this can be seen in the Fig 1.1 below. The

graph shows that people were willing to work voluntarily without money being their main
motivation. This proves that Taylor's thinking of money being the only factor was wrong.
Therefore again charitable organisations which there are loads of today will not be using Taylor's
methods in their work environment. However, during a time of an emergency such organisations
may apply Taylor's "best method" on their assembly line, to get to the people in need as soon as
possible. Again we can see some of Taylor's theory being used but still not in its pure form.
Growth in number of charities 1960-2008 - Figure 1.1 [1]
Fordism is another management theory which has its roots based on the theory of scientific
management. The theory combined the idea of the moving assembly line together with Taylor's
systems of division of labour and piece rate payment. With Fordism, jobs are automated or
broken down into unskilled or semi-skilled tasks. The pace of the continuous flow assembly line
dictates work. Although Ford led the way of production in the assembly of consumer goods, such
as cars, his theory had the faults of Taylor's. Theory X management ensures a high division of
labour in order to effectively run mass production; this leads to little workplace democracy
resulting in unsatisfied workforce (Nelson, 1980). In addition, machinery is given more
importance than workers. Only the element of piece rate can be applied in some organisations
today by managers.
Overall scientific management seems to be an incomplete system, which managers try to
complete today by using some elements and integrate it with other theories for example
Maslow's hierarchy and Herzberg's theory.
Employees now seem to be more intelligent then before, people have started to value themselves
more but as seen in both the Steel plant under Taylor's management and in every McDonald's
restaurant in the World, labour is becoming "deskilled". As jobs are broken down, and workers
tasks are made easier, humans become little more than "machines" in the chain. They are not
satisfied with only fiscal reward for their tasks. Under Taylor's Scientific Management system
workers were viewed as working solely for economic reward. In current organisations, on the
other hand, it has been recognised that productivity and success is not just obtained by money
and control of workforce but by contributing to the social well-being and development of the
individual employee. Every employee out there is there to fight and be promoted, not just work
as machines.
In conclusion, it can be seen that Scientific Management is still very much a part of any
organisation in the 21st Century. Its strengths in creating a divide between management functions
and work functions have been employed widely at all levels and in all industries. In addition its
strengths in making organisations efficient through replacement of "rules of thumb" with
scientific fact have insured its widespread application. Now that all modern organisations work
on a factual basis and all of them have managerial and employee structures competition is
controlled by other factors outside the boundary of Scientific Management. Modern
organisations prioritise social factors such as employee initiative, loyalty and adaptability
alongside efficiency. For this reason, Taylor's claim that workers are solely concerned with
monetary reward and that every motion of work needs to be controlled from above seems
outdated, untrue, and impractical.

It is perhaps then better Scientific Management theory in its pure form is not visible in modern
organisations, however, elements of it are so relevant that they have become deeply ingrained in
all modern organisations with other theories mixed and matched. These are the very reasons why
management has taken on new dimension in the 21st Century.
I believe Taylor's methods in its pure form still can be found in developing countries. Simply
because bit organisations put their manufacturing plant where labour is cheap and is desperate
for money. Therefore, Taylor's saying "A fair days pay for a fair days work" can work very well
there, giving organisations high productivity for cheap labour.

Small Business Employers and Dangers of Discrimination

May 25, 2011 Posted By Dave Thomas

A small business owner can run the tightest ship and yet find him or herself staring at a financial
nightmare - a discrimination suit.
The problems a small business employer can face include a sexual harassment lawsuit, an age
discrimination lawsuit, or a disability claim just to name a few. What initially seemed like a
harmless in-office comment or action can soon turn into hiring an attorney and fighting to avoid
opening up the checkbook.
Just what constitutes discrimination in the workplace? Would you be able to recognize the signs
of discrimination? What action would you take against an employee if you suspected them of
discrimination?

For unaware small business owners, even a staff of less than 20 employees means meeting the
obligations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Those small employers who have offices of 20 or more employees are also required to meet the
provisions of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. These same employers not only have
to comply with federal laws, but also a number of state laws.
In order to minimize the chances of being sued, here are some actions to abide by:

Avoid discrimination from the start. Employers should hire individuals without
considerations to gender, national origin, race, religion. When advertising for
help, be sure the advertisement is not discriminatory in any manner.
Run your office without even a hint of discrimination towards employees. If an
employee reports a case of sexual harassment or racial targeting, be sure to
thoroughly investigate it.

Maintain records of all incidents involving employee disciplinary action and

firings. In the event you are sued down the road, having all employee actions
documented will assist you in supporting your case.

Be sure not to retaliate against an employee who comes forward with an

allegation of discrimination.

Employers should note they are required to post notices to all employees informing them of their
rights under EEOC laws (for more information on anti-discrimination laws, click here); notices
must be available to individuals with any disabilities that impact their reading.
As it stands, many states and towns have anti-discrimination laws and agencies that enforce laws
regarding employer discrimination. Employers are advised to review their state laws to
determine what added protections employees have and the requirements they must meet in
running a business.
Running a business certainly comes with its challenges, but the rewards can be many.