|
|
Scientific management is an interesting principle concerned with business. It is defined as a practice in which scientific methods are used in place of common rule of thumb methods in the workplace. Its concern is to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, in hand with the maximum prosperity for each employer. A novel titled The principles of Scientific Management, by Frederick Winslow Taylor gives a detailed account of how this method was used in the past, its usefulness and the effect it has had on our society as a whole. Scientific management always has been a debatable topic and continues to be even today. Different ways of business management practices are effective, but in this novel Taylor attempts to persuade the reader that his method of science in the workplace is ideally the most effective. As the novel unfolds, many generalizations about business and aspects of American life are apparent. Accordingly, different cultural values are addressed in the descriptions of how this method is practiced. To begin, we must take a look at how business practices were operated in the past. In most cases, the employer didn’t work closely with the employee and the employee was in a sense on his own. He or she was free to discover the most effective ways of working, while getting paid minimum wages. The workers were paid a certain amount an hour, and weren’t necessarily given a specific quota to meet at a certain time. This way of work was ineffective in many ways. The employees often viewed their bosses as enemies, and antagonists. Their relationships were impersonal and negative. Soldiering, which is the intentional slowing of work by the employees to do less work and get paid more.
|
