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Taylorism was the most conscious of the systematization of management, and the
regulation and control of production.
In the US, the large corporations were developing higher levels of product and labour
specialization to cope with rising demands. A shift away from skilled labour towards
unskilled immigrants workers was taking place, but still within the context of a relatively
high-wage economy. This required new forms of co-ordination, integration and control,
and methods of keeping down labour cost. The orientation of larger firms towards
professional managers, engineers and consultants provided a supportive framework for
the rise of Taylorism.
Principles
Taylorism is concerned with the control of labour process. Though affecting the activities
of management and workers, the ideas were developed directly out of his obsession with
the combating the workers’ control of output – labeled “soldiering” = observed at the
steel works. To solve the “labour problem”, a number of basic management principles
were advanced:
Taylor did believe that workers were motivated by the pursuit of rational self-interest and
that incentive wages – in the form of a differential piece-rate system – were the solution
to most labour problems.
He is far more concerned with breaking the power of the workgroup and removing the
basis for collective bargaining through individualistic payment systems.
He neglects the wider capacity to improve work efficiency in the spheres of scheduling,
stores management and purchasing and plant lay-out.
Weber and administrative theories of management
- Taylor provided a system of detailed control over work, aided by a set of bureaucratic
rules
- Weber focuses more on the remote and impersonal qualities of a bureaucracy.
Characteristics
- The office is a vocation and a full time undertaking.
- Officials are selected on a basis of technical qualification, education and expertise.
- There is seperation of office and office holder
- It is not his or her property and the employee does not possess the means of
administration.
- Thorough and expert training is part of the conditions of employment.
- Work is rewarded by a regular salary and prospects of advancement in a lifetime career.
- A career is based on the organisational hierarchy. Officials are selected by higher
authorities and are not externally elected.
Characteristics
- Hierarchy of offices.
- Division of labour based on defined responsibilities, rights and duties.
- Calculable rules and regulations, impersonal modes of conduct and a common control
system govern the conduct of work.
- Written documentation functions as a function of management of the office.
- Taylorism and bureaucracy though sharply disputed, have nonetheless shaped the
modern practices and society.
- Many companies and organisations have incorporated Taylorist methods in one form or
the other where rules are most often the heart of the process.
Conclusion