Fredrick W Taylor Essay

Frederick W Taylor was one who led a life of earnest development in the production and manufacturing sectors. His life was one the spurned on time study and one that advanced America and the world in scientific management. Taylor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1856. He lived an eventful and noble life for 59 years and one day dying on March 21, 1915. Throughout his lifetime he was a great inventor with over 40 patents and a brilliant engineer (Britannica). In his early years Taylor was always learning and creating. At age 12, Taylor created a harness that would keep him on his back to try and prevent nightmares (www.stfrancis.edu). In 1872 he went to the Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Here he led his class scholastically. After his completion of studies at Philips Taylor started working as a machine shop laborer in a steel plant named Midvale Steel Company. Quickly Taylor started to grow in position; he became a successful shop clerk, machinist, gang boss, foreman, maintenance foreman, head of drawing office, and finally chief engineer. It is evident to see that Taylor was a man of wisdom and drive, who never settled for anything less than the best. In 1881, at age 25 he introduced time study at the Midvale Plant. The project was a great success and as a result the profession of time study was started. While working at Midvale, Taylor studied at night to get a degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. As can be seen even from an early age Taylor had successes in new areas of study which spurned on his later life accomplishments. Throughout Taylor’s mid and late life he continued to advance and spread his knowledge of time study. He retired at age 45, after that he, his wife and their three adopted children lived in Philadelphia from 1904 to 1914. He continued to devote money and time to promote the principals of scientific management through lectures at universities and professional societies (Britannica). In 1906 Taylor was elected the president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and that same year was he was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree by the University of Pennsylvania (Britannica). Taylor was a man of expert wisdom and foresight and it is seen throughout his life as we just discussed but these characteristics primary shine when you look at his theory and successes of time study. He realized that production could be increased by standardizing this system of work (smallbusiness.chrono.com). Taylor’s time study theory was that he would break each job down into specific tasks and timed how long it took a worker to complete each task (smallbusiness.chrono.com). Then he specified exactly how each task was to be performed and what tools to use, then the workers were trained to complete the task in a certain way (smallbusiness.chrono.com). He did this because he believed that there was one and only one method of work that maximized efficiency as he said, â€Å"And this one best method and best implementation can only be discovered of developed through scientific study and analysis.† (Vincenzo Sandrone). He proved this theory at the Bethlehem Steel Works where they had 500 men shoveling coal. He performed his time and motion studies and found out that using a different shovel for different size coal that it increased the amount you could shovel. So as a result of these two studies men could shovel more coal for a longer period of time. Thus he effectively reduced the number of men shoveling coal to 140 (smallbusiness.chrono.com). This is the reality of his theory and the results speak for themselves. Also, Taylor worked alongside Henry Ford to create the first assembly line (smallbusiness.chrono.com). Taylor also used his expertise and applied it to moving pig iron. He increased the amount moved from 12.5 tons per a day to 47.5 tons of pig iron a day. This leads to another point of Taylor’s theory and it was that he believed that you had to choose the right people for the task. Relating the example just mentioned, Taylor said that not all workers were fully capable of moving 47.5 tons of pig iron per a day, perhaps only 1/8 of the pig iron handlers were capable of doing that. This is because their physical capabilities were well-suited for moving pig iron. This is Taylor’s point, that workers should be picked according to how well they suit a particular job. Taylor also had a motivational theory, called the economic man (Business Studies). This was that workers were motivated or encouraged by money alone and the only factor that could stimulate further output or work was the chance of earning extra money (Business Studies). Taylor always said that workers should be paid a ‘fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work’ and that the pay should be directly linked with output (Business Studies). This leads to a further point of Taylor’s, and it is called ‘piece rate’. To encourage this, workers were pay by each unit that they produced, and the first unit were paid at a low rate and the more the worker produced that higher the pay they received. He also believed that incentive wages were of no use unless they were coupled with efficient tasks that were carefully planned and easily learned (www.stfrancis.edu). Thus is Taylor’s main motivational suggestion; to link pay with output. Taylor also standardized the role of management. This included setting managers apart from operations and giving them more authority to set the tasks workers do (smallbusiness.chrono.com). Taylors’ attitudes toward workers were laden with negative bias â€Å"in the majority of cases this man deliberately plans to do as little as he safely can.† The methods that Taylor adopted were directed solely towards the uneducated (Vincenzo Sandrone). Taylor believed that the secret of productivity was finding the right challenge for each person, then paying him well for increased output (www.stfrancis.edu). He believed that incentive wages were no solution unless they were combined with efficient tasks that were carefully planned and easily learned (www.stfrancis.edu). Throughout this passage it is evident to see what a work Taylor accomplished. He is the father of scientific management and the one who spurned off time study. Taylor spent his whole life increasing efficiency in the workplace, working with making people and companies, most notable, Henry Ford. He and many others of his time like Henry Ford did work that put the United States on the leading edge during the Industrial Revolution. Bibliography 1. Frederick Winslow Taylor, Mary Ellen Papesh, www.stfrancis.edu/content/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/bbios/biograph/fwtaylor.htm 2. Britannica, Frederick W Taylor, www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/584820/Fredrick-W-Taylor. 3. Herzberg & Taylor’s Theories of Motivation, Lisa Magloff, Demand Media, www.smallbusiness.chrono.com/herzberg-taylors-theories-motivation-704.html 4. Frederick W Taylor: Master of Scientific Management, www.skymart.com/resources/leaders/taylor/asp 5. Business Studies second edition, Peter Stimpson and Alastair Farquharson, Cambridge University Press 2010