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Ans: Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856–March 21, 1915), widely known as F. W.
Taylor, was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He
is regarded as the father of scientific management, and was one of the first management
consultants.
Taylor was one of the intellectual leaders of the Efficiency Movement and his ideas, broadly
conceived, were highly influential in the Progressive Era.
Taylor believed that the industrial management of his day was amateurish, that management
could be formulated as an academic discipline, and that the best results would come from the
partnership between a trained and qualified management and a cooperative and innovative
workforce. Each side needed the other, and there was no need for trade unions.
He also developed a theory of organizations which altered the personalized autocracy which had
only been tempered by varying degrees of benevolence, such as in the Quaker family businesses
of Cadbury's and Clark's.
Taylor was not the originator of many of his ideas, but was a pragmatist with the ability to
synthesize the work of others and promote them effectively to a ready and eager audience of
industrial managers who were striving to find new or improved ways to increase performance.
At the time of Taylor's work, a typical manager would have very little contact with the activities
of the factory. Generally, a foreman would be given the total responsibility for producing goods
demanded by the salesman. Under these conditions, workmen used what tools they had or could
get and adopted methods that suited their own style of work.
Taylor's scientific management consisted of four principles:
By 1881 Taylor had published a paper that turned the cutting of metal into a science. Later he
turned his attention to shoveling coal. By experimenting with different designs of shovel for use
with different material, (from 'rice' coal to ore,) he was able to design shovels that would permit
the worker to shovel for the whole day.
In so doing, he reduced the number of people shoveling at the Bethlehem Steel Works from 500
to 140. This work, and his studies on the handling of pig iron, greatly contributed to the analysis
of work design and gave rise to method study.
To follow, in 1895, were papers on incentive schemes. A piece rate system on production
management in shop management, and later, in 1909, he published the book for which he is best
known, Principles of Scientific Management.
A feature of Taylor's work was stop-watch timing as the basis of observations. However, unlike
the early activities of Perronet and others, he started to break the timings down into elements and
it was he who coined the term 'time study'.
Taylor's uncompromising attitude in developing and installing his ideas caused him much
criticism. Scientific method, he advocated, could be applied to all problems and applied just as
much to managers as workers. In his own words he explained:
"The old fashioned dictator does not exist under Scientific Management. The man at the
head of the business under Scientific Management is governed by rules and laws which
have been developed through hundreds of experiments just as much as the workman is,
and the standards developed are equitable."
Objectives of Scientific Management
• The development of a science for each element of a man's work to replace the old rule-of-
thumb methods.
• The scientific selection, training and development of workers instead of allowing them to
choose their own tasks and train themselves as best they could.
• The development of a spirit of hearty cooperation between workers and management to
ensure that work would be carried out in accordance with scientifically devised
procedures.
The division of work between workers and the management in almost equal shares, each group
taking over the work for which it is best fitted instead of the former condition in which
responsibility largely rested with the workers. Self-evident in this philosophy are organizations
arranged in a hierarchy, systems of abstract rules and impersonal relationships between staff.
Q.2-: What are the major findings of Hawthorne
experiment? Examine their significance for the practice
managers?
The Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity whereby subjects improve an aspect of their
behavior being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being
studied,[1][2] not in response to any particular experimental manipulation.
The term was coined in 1955 by Henry A. Landsberger[3] when analyzing older experiments from
1924-1932 at the Hawthorne Works (a Western Electric manufacturing facility outside Chicago).
Hawthorne Works had commissioned a study to see if its workers would become more
productive in higher or lower levels of light. The workers' productivity seemed to improve when
changes were made and slumped when the study was concluded. It was suggested that the
productivity gain was due to the motivational effect of the interest being shown in them.
Although illumination research of workplace lighting formed the basis of the Hawthorne effect,
other changes such as maintaining clean work stations, clearing floors of obstacles, and even
relocating workstations resulted in increased productivity for short periods of time. Thus the term
is used to identify any type of short-lived increase in productivity
History
The term gets its name from a factory called the Hawthorne Works,[6] where a series of
experiments on factory workers were carried out between 1924 and 1932.
This effect was observed for minute increases in illumination.Evaluation of the Hawthorne effect
continues in the modern era.[7][8][9]Most industrial/occupational psychology and organizational
behavior textbooks refer to the illumination studies. Only occasionally are the rest of the studies
mentioned.[10] In the lighting studies, light intensity was altered to examine its effect on worker
productivity.
In one of the studies, experimenters chose two women as test subjects and asked them to choose
four other workers to join the test group. Together the women worked in a separate room over
the course of five years (1927-1932) assembling telephone relays.
Output was measured mechanically by counting how many finished relays each dropped down a
chute. This measuring began in secret two weeks before moving the women to an experiment
room and continued throughout the study. In the experiment room, they had a supervisor who
discussed changes with them and at times used their suggestions. Then the researchers spent five
years measuring how different variables impacted the group's and individuals' productivity.
Some of the variables were:
• changing the pay rules so that the group was paid for overall group
production, not individual production
• giving two 5-minute breaks (after a discussion with them on the best length
of time), and then changing to two 10-minute breaks (not their preference).
Productivity increased, but when they received six 5-minute rests, they
disliked it and reduced output.
• providing food during the breaks
• shortening the day by 30 minutes (output went up); shortening it more
(output per hour went up, but overall output decreased); returning to the first
condition (where output peaked).
Changing a variable usually increased productivity, even if the variable was just a change back to
the original condition. However it is said that this is the natural process of the human being to
adapt to the environment without knowing the objective of the experiment occurring.
Researchers concluded that the workers worked harder because they thought that they were
being monitored individually.
Researchers hypothesized that choosing one's own coworkers, working as a group, being treated
as special (as evidenced by working in a separate room), and having a sympathetic supervisor
were the real reasons for the productivity increase. One interpretation, mainly due to Elton
Mayo,[citation needed] was that "the six individuals became a team and the team gave itself
wholeheartedly and spontaneously to cooperation in the experiment." (There was a second relay
assembly test room study whose results were not as significant as the first experiment.)
Interviewing Program
The workers were interviewed in attempt to validate the Hawthorne Studies. The participants
were asked about supervisory practices and employee morale. The results proved that upward
communication in an organization creates a positive attitude in the work environment. The
workers feel pleased that their ideas are being heard.
The purpose of the next study was to find out how payment incentives would affect group
productivity. The surprising result was that productivity actually decreased. Workers apparently
had become suspicious that their productivity may have been boosted to justify firing some of
the workers later on.[11] The study was conducted by Mayo and W. Lloyd Warner between 1931
and 1932 on a group of fourteen men who put together telephone switching equipment. The
researchers found that although the workers were paid according to individual productivity,
productivity decreased because the men were afraid that the company would lower the base rate.
Detailed observation between the men revealed the existence of informal groups or "cliques"
within the formal groups. These cliques developed informal rules of behavior as well as
mechanisms to enforce them. The cliques served to control group members and to manage
bosses; when bosses asked questions, clique members gave the same responses, even if they
were untrue. These results show that workers were more responsive to the social force of their
peer groups than to the control and incentives of management.
Fayol was a key figure in the turn-of-the-century Classical School of management theory. He
saw a manager's job as:
• planning
• organizing
• commanding
• coordinating activities
• controlling performance
Notice that most of these activities are very task-oriented, rather than people-oriented. This is
very like.
Fayol laid down the following principles of organization (he called them principles of
management):
Classical organization theory evolved during the first half of this century. It represents
the merger of scientific management, bureaucratic theory, and administrative theory.
Initially, Taylor was very successful at improving production. His methods involved
getting the best equipment and people, and then carefully scrutinizing each component
of the production process. By analyzing each task individually, Taylor was able to
find the right combinations of factors that yielded large increases in production.
Max Weber (1947) expanded on Taylor's theories, and stressed the need to reduce
diversity and ambiguity in organizations. The focus was on establishing clear lines of
authority and control. Weber's bureaucratic theory emphasized the need for a
hierarchical structure of power. It recognized the importance of division of labor and
specialization. A formal set of rules was bound into the hierarchy structure to insure
stability and uniformity. Weber also put forth the notion that organizational behavior
is a network of human interactions, where all behavior could be understood by
looking at cause and effect.
One of the first experiments that challenged the classical view was conducted by
Mayo and Roethlisberger in the late 1920's at the Western Electric plant in
Hawthorne, Illinois (Mayo, 1933). While manipulating conditions in the work
environment (e.g., intensity of lighting), they found that any change had a positive
impact on productivity. The act of paying attention to employees in a friendly and
nonthreatening way was sufficient by itself to increase output. Uris (1986) referred to
this as the "wart" theory of productivity. Nearly any treatment can make a wart go
away--nearly anything will improve productivity. "The implication is plain: intelligent
action often delivers results" (Uris, 1986, p. 225).
The Hawthorne experiment is quite disturbing because it cast doubts on our ability to
evaluate the efficacy of new management theories. An organization might continually
involve itself in the latest management fads to produce a continuous string of
Hawthorne effects. "The result is usually a lot of wheel spinning and cynicism"
(Pascale, 1990, p. 103). Pascale believes that the Hawthorne effect is often
misinterpreted. It is a "parable about researchers (and managers) manipulating and
'playing tricks' on employees." (p. 103) Erroneous conclusions are drawn because it
represents a controlling and manipulative attitude toward workers.
Writing in 1939, Barnard (1968) proposed one of the first modern theories of
organization by defining organization as a system of consciously coordinated
activities. He stressed in role of the executive in creating an atmosphere where there is
coherence of values and purpose. Organizational success was linked to the ability of a
leader to create a cohesive environment. He proposed that a manager's authority is
derived from subordinates' acceptance, instead of the hierarchical power structure of
the organization. Barnard's theory contains elements of both classical and neoclassical
approaches. Since there is no consensus among scholars, it might be most appropriate
to think of Barnard as a transition theorist.
Taylor, Weber, Barnard, Mayo, Roethlisberger, and Simon shared the belief that the
goal of management was to maintain equilibrium. The emphasis was on being able to
control and manipulate workers and their environment.
b) Scientific mgmt
The scientific management movement emphasized a concern for task (output) i.e. it
considered the individual worker to be the basic unit of Organization. While the
Human Relations Movement stressed a concern for Relationships (people) i.e. the
informal group was now the basis of organization. The function of the leader under
scientific management was to set work criteria and enforce them on the workers and
was to be seen as the figure of high authority. While under the human relations
movement, the function of the leader was to facilitate cooperation and coordination
among the employees while providing assistance and opportunities for their ‘personal
growth and development’ and was to be seen as “an agent for intra and inter group
communication”. Taylor’s avoided ‘informal groups’, but the human relations
movement supported their existence. The reason was that scientific management
portrayed the worker as mechanical, passive and a being that worked only for
monetary rewards and ‘the one best way’ to achieve organizational goals was to
maintain as much rationality as possible. But the human relations movement believed
that the existence of such informal groups would facilitate the communication and
cooperation among members and would help achieve organizational goals. Scientific
management aimed at the growth of the organization but paid little attention to the
worker’s individual growth by exercising external control over the worker’s
performance.
Ans: Rensis Likert (pronounced 'Lick-urt') (1903–1981) was an American educator and
organizational psychologist best known for his research on management styles. He developed
his eponymous Likert Scale and the linking pin model. In the 1960s Likert developed four
systems of management which described the relationship, involvement, and roles between
management and subordinates in industrial settings. The four systems is a result of the study
that he has done with the highly productive supervisors and their team members of an American
Insurance Company. Later on, he and Jane G. Likert revised the systems to apply to
educational settings. Their revision was initial intended to spell out the roles of principals,
students, and teachers; eventually other individuals in the academic realm were included such
as superintendents, administrators, and parents.
Exploitive authoritative system (I)
Just as in an exploitive authoritative system, decisions are made by those at the top of the
organisation and management. However employees are motivated through rewards (for their
contribution) rather than fear and threats. Information may flow from subordinates to managers
but it is restricted to “what management want to hear”.
In this type of management system, subordinates are motivated by rewards and a degree of
involvement in the decision making process. Management will constructively use their
subordinates ideas and opinions. However involvement is incomplete and major decisions are
still made by senior management. There is a greater flow of information (than in a benevolent
authoritative system) from subordinates to management. Although the information from
subordinate to manager is incomplete and euphemistic.
2.Chester Barnard, who was president of New Jersey Bell Telephone Company,
introduced the idea of the informal organization — cliques (exclusive groups of people)
that naturally form within a company. He felt that these informal organizations provided
necessary and vital communication functions for the overall organization and that they could
help the organization accomplish its goals.
Barnard felt that it was particularly important for managers to develop a sense of
common purpose where a willingness to cooperate is strongly encouraged. He is
credited with developing the acceptance theory of management, which
emphasizes the willingness of employees to accept that managers have legitimate
authority to act. Barnard felt that four factors affected the willingness of
employees to accept authority:
• The employees accept the communication as being consistent with the organization's
purposes.
• The employees feel that their actions will be consistent with the needs and desires of
the other employees.
• The employees feel that they are mentally and physically able to carry out the order.
Barnard's sympathy for and understanding of employee needs positioned him as a bridge to
the behavioral school of management, the next school of thought to emerge.
3. Max Weber
In the late 1800s, Max Weber disliked that many European organizations were
managed on a “personal” family-like basis and that employees were loyal to
individual supervisors rather than to the organization. He believed that
organizations should be managed impersonally and that a formal organizational
structure, where specific rules were followed, was important. In other words, he
didn't think that authority should be based on a person's personality. He thought
authority should be something that was part of a person's job and passed from
individual to individual as one person left and another took over. This
nonpersonal, objective form of organization was called a bureaucracy.
• Competence. Competence, not “who you know,” should be the basis for all
decisions made in hiring, job assignments, and promotions in order to foster ability
and merit as the primary characteristics of a bureaucratic organization.
• Records. A bureaucracy needs to maintain complete files regarding all its activities.
Classical organization theory is the “B” in bureaucracy. Weber defined the organization elements
which comprised the “ideal bureaucracy.” These included:
As you can see, many aspects of Weber’s “ideal bureaucracy” are simply measures that ensure
fairness and objectivity. But critics of classical organization theory charged that it placed too
much faith in the infallibility of rules and procedures, while ignoring important aspects of
individual motivation.
FUTUR CHALLENGES OF MANAGEMAENT: during the last 2 decades there has been
a phenomenal growth in size and complexity of an organization in every field be it
government, religions, educational, medical, military or business.
There are ten fundamental premises that will determine your overall management success.
Before we get to the five biggest challenges facing managers I thought I would give you the ten
since thet are closely related.
6. Integrity and ethics must be the foundation for all of your decisions and
actions.
7. If you want effective and productive employees you must see employee
development as an investment and not a cost
10. You are responsible to your employees and not for them.
·Corporate culture. Corporate, organization and department culture all flows from the top down.
The written and unwritten rules, policies and philosophy of a manager or the organization all
eventually find their way into the attitudes and performance of almost everyone in the
organization. One of the critical things to remember when dealing with people is: you get the
behavior you reward. If the culture directly or indirectly rewards a certain type of attitude or
behavior, you are, by your actions or inactions, probably reaffirming that these are acceptable. If
you want to change behavior, you must first evaluate the culture that is in place that may be
rewarding the type of behavior you are getting but don’t necessarily want.
·Communication style. Rumors, hearsay, memos, emails, meetings, individual counseling
sessions and bulletin boards all have one thing in common – they communicate information –
some more effectively and timely than others. If communication in an organization is all top-
down, you can be assured that you are not in touch with the realities of your organization, the
marketplace, your customers or suppliers.
·Organization direction. One of the biggest challenges managers face today is effectively
communicating corporate direction with clarity and consistency to all employees who have a
right and need to know. Most organizations do a poor job of this at best. One way to find out
what your people believe is to conduct an anonymous survey of attitudes, perceptions and
opinions.
·Decision making. Many managers make decisions that other employees will either have to
implement or that will affect them. If these decisions are made without bottom-up feedback, you
can guarantee that the outcome of the decisions will be less than desired or expected.
·Feedback mechanisms. Employees want to know how they are doing – whether poorly or well.
Failure to give them the feedback they need is to keep them in the dark regarding the assessment
of their performance and how and where they need to improve.
1. Social environment
2. Economic environment
3. International environment
4. Technological environment
5. Political environment
6. Physical environment
The trends of these environments and there relevance for future managers are:
Population explosion
Education level
Leisure time
Public opinion
Automation
Information technology