Frederick Winslow Taylor's "Shop Management" advocates for a radical shift in industrial organization, arguing that the foundation of the best management is the pursuit of high wages coupled with low labor cost. He identifies two primary issues in existing shop management: significant unevenness in the development of its various elements, even in well-run establishments, and a lack of discernible connection between good shop management and profitability. The book aims to explain the principles that enable maintaining high wages and low labor costs, even under difficult conditions, and to outline the steps for transitioning from ineffective management systems to a superior model.
Taylor proposes a "functional type" of management to replace the traditional "military type." This functional approach divides management responsibilities, assigning each individual as few functions as possible, ideally confining them to a single leading function. He emphasizes removing all planning and clerical work from the shop floor, centering it in a dedicated planning department. Foremen and gang bosses should then focus solely on executive duties, ensuring the execution of plans developed elsewhere. This new model aims to optimize efficiency by clearly defining roles and responsibilities throughout the management structure.
Key concepts
- Functional type of management — A system where management work is divided so that each person performs as few functions as possible, ideally just one.
- Military type of organization — The traditional organizational structure of management being abandoned in favor of the functional type.
- Planning or laying-out department — A dedicated department responsible for all planning and clerical work, removing it from the shop floor.
- High wages and low labor cost — The central argument and desired outcome of Taylor's management system, presented as the foundation of effective shop management.
Popular questions readers ask
- How would you explain Taylor's concept of "unevenness" in shop management, using the provided example of the chemical manufacturers, and what does this concept imply about the overall effectiveness of pre-scientific management practices?
- Taylor asserts that management "is still looked upon as a question of men." How does this reliance on individual "master spirits" directly contribute to the "equally glaring examples of inefficiency" observed in departments where that individual lacks personal experience?
- Given Taylor's critique that management lacks "laws as exact, and as clearly defined" as engineering, how might this fundamental flaw explain the "lack of apparent relation between good shop management and the payment of dividends"?
- If a company were to adopt Taylor's implied vision of management as a defined "art" with exact "laws," what specific operational changes would be necessary to overcome the inefficiencies and "unevenness" he describes, and how would these changes fundamentally alter the role of a manager?
- Imagine you are one of the "master spirits" leading a successful department, as described by Taylor. How might his argument that management is not yet a "science" challenge your personal understanding of your own expertise and the methods that brought you success?