Synthesized answer
Taylor's critique that management lacks "laws as exact, and as clearly defined" as engineering suggests that shop management is not yet a precise science [4]. This fundamental flaw explains the "lack of apparent relation between good shop management and the payment of dividends" because success in business often hinges on elements other than shop management [3, 2]. These other elements include the company's location, financial strength, the efficiency of its business and sales departments, its engineering ability, its plant and equipment, and protections like patents or monopolies [2].
Furthermore, even when shop management plays a role, companies do not necessarily need to be better organized than their competitors to succeed [2]. In industries that are keenly competitive and where labor costs are a significant expense, poor shop management does not necessarily interfere with dividends because all competitors are equally bad in this regard [1]. Therefore, the earning of dividends is a poor indicator of the quality of shop management, as both good and bad management can be found across different systems and types of companies [1]. The passages do not explicitly detail how the…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
of the expense, and it is in such establishments that one would naturally expect to find the best type of management. Yet it is an interesting fact that in several of the largest and most important classes of industries in this country shop practice is still twenty to thirty years behind what might be called modern management. Not only is no attempt made by them to do tonnage or piece work, but the oldest of old-fashioned day work is still in vogue under which one overworked foreman manages the men. The workmen in these shops are still herded in classes, all of those in a class being…
, many unsuccessful companies having good shop management while the reverse is true of many which pay large dividends. We, however, who are primarily interested in the shop, are apt to forget that success, instead of hinging upon shop management, depends in many cases mainly upon other elements, namely,--the location of the company, its financial strength and ability, the efficiency of its business and sales departments, its engineering ability, the superiority of its plant and equipment, or the protection afforded either by patents, combination, location or other partial monopoly.…
Transcribed by Charles E. Nichols Shop Management By Frederick Winslow Taylor 1911 Through his business in changing the methods of shop management, the writer has been brought into intimate contact over a period of years with the organization of manufacturing and industrial establishments, covering a large variety and range of product, and employing workmen in many of the leading trades. In taking a broad view of the field of management, the two facts which appear most noteworthy are: (a) What may be called the great unevenness, or lack of…
from guess work and from rule-of-thumb methods and establishes it more firmly upon the foundation of fixed principles. The writer feels that management is also destined to become more of an art, and that many of the, elements which are now believed to be outside the field of exact knowledge will soon be standardized tabulated, accepted, and used, as are now many of the elements of engineering. Management will be studied as an art and will rest upon well recognized, clearly defined, and fixed principles instead of depending upon more or less hazy ideas received from a limited observation…
er has seen many first-class men developed who otherwise would have remained second or third class all of their lives. Is not the presence or absence of these conditions the best indication that any system of management is either well or badly applied? And in considering the relative merits of different types of management, is not that system the best which will establish these conditions with the greatest certainty, precision, and speed? In comparing the management of manufacturing and engineering companies by this standard, it is surprising to see how far they fall short. Few of…
More questions about this book
- 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?
- 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?