SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

Scientific Management

Scientific Management

Introduction

Scientific management is the umbrella term for practice and research that advocates making organisations more efficient by systematically working to improve the efficiency of workers.

This paper aims to discuss the scientific management movement that evolved over a period of decades that ultimately led to their mutual success especially in the 21st century. Design/methodology/approach - Through a discussion of the key relationship developed in the 21st century, scientific management great consequences for the field of curriculum studies. This result is largely due to the fact that the principles of scientific management were transported into the arena of curriculum design.

The notion of scientific management was the brainchild of business consultant and industrialists and introduced to education most prominently by curriculum theorist Franklin Bobbitt. The rationale of school-based scientific management relied heavily on the public school as a business or factory. It was a response to a discontent among the public that schools were spending tax dollars wastefully. An approach based on sound principles of science and business was considered to be an effective remedy for this state of affairs.(Taylor, 2005, p.20)

A management paradigm has defined scientific management, the human relations school, and structural analysis each provide an example of a paradigm. Porter's work on national competitiveness has been broadened by adding national case studies to the overall body of his work and by extending his framework of national competitiveness to a variety of policy sectors. (Perkins, 2001, p.209)

Literature Review

The reference taken here is from Brandeis and his appreciation for the work of scientific management. There are a number of discussions that we will be analyzing in this topic involving. We will also look at the principles of scientific management and its effectiveness as well. (Taylor, 2003, p.189)

Any student in a basic introductory management course can tell you that when it comes to the scientific management movement the name Frederick Taylor immediately comes to mind, and rightly so. It was Taylor who first successfully conceived and implemented the idea of work efficiency, standardisation and productivity for the “betterment of the shop” in various organisations as early as the 1870s.

However, few actually know that the term “Scientific Management” and a great deal of its widespread notoriety are actually owed to Louis D. Brandeis. Although, Brandeis is best remembered for his tenure on the US Supreme Court from 1916 to 1939 as a legal craftsman and as its first Jewish Justice, his work in helping shape American industrial philosophy and practice should not be overlooked. (Sorensen, 2005, p.59)

Both Taylor and Brandeis came to strongly believe that government could very much benefit from the basic concepts of scientific management. (Rosen, 2003, p.193)

While, he saw the potential problems of abuse and misapplication of scientific management methods, he believed that the benefits of its true applications would far outweigh any possible misuse or negative effects. (Noble, 2001, p.265)

Brandeis eventually became convinced that both business and society would inevitably recognize and adopt the virtues of scientific management by consent and not by ...