Q06 Pmc Exam Question

Q6) How relevant is the study of Scientific Management for an understanding of the operation of modern manufacturing and service industries? The study of Scientific Management is indeed very important and relevant for an understanding of the modern manufacturing and service industries -

Introduction of Scientific Management Scientific management arises from Taylor’s attempts to increase workforce efficiency and productivity. Taylor believed that decisions and methods based upon traditions and comradeship. (Eg. Irish employing Irish workers) should be done away with. In the past, different groups of workers decide their output and possess superior knowledge of their job over their supervisors. Rather, precise procedures and management should be introduced so as to control the quality, workmanship and work rate of the workers.

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Characteristics of Scientific Management Reward for exceeding required output, penalty for failure to meet required output Standard procedures for each task Jobs are fragmented into simpler tasks Workers are deskilled There is a structured hierarchy and organization Promotion and selection is based on competence, seniority and training Managers have to follow strict rules and procedures Work is normally repetitive and predictable

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How has modern manufacturing industries been influenced by Scientific Management Modern manufacturing industries such as wafer fabs, car assembly plants, electronics manufacturing factories, garment factories and even canned drink factories all exhibit substantial traces of the effects of scientific management.

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Fordism When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, he took Taylorism a step further and revolutionized the way modern manufacturing industries operate. Most of the abovementioned industries all possess similar traits such as fragmenting complicated tasks into dozens of simpler ones. They are so simple that any new employee would probably take less than a day to perform. In these industries they have strict codified organizational structures and procedures for tasks. Employees usually has little discretion and power in the way they want the tasks to be performed or decisions to be made. In factories, experienced employees will have a chance to rise to the position of a team leader or supervisor. A particularly glaring legacy of scientific management is the physical existence of the assembly line where workers and machines “assembled” a product from scratch to finish in a sequential pattern.

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How has modern service industries been influenced by Scientific Management Examples of modern service industries include fast food restaurants (McDonald’s), banks and hotels.

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Whenever you enter into a fast food restaurant, the counter staff greeting you would have memorized a set of script detailing the exact words to use from the moment you enter the restaurant to the moment you exit the restaurant. Even preparing the French fries would have strict timelines and procedures. This is quite similar in hotels although the hotels normally do not control the employees as strictly as the fast food restaurants. In hotels, employees are taught the proper words to use when speaking to guests and the proper etiquette. Similarly in banks, in order to assure the customer that the bank is reliable, standard procedures are lined up to ensure that money and funds are properly processed, transferred or stored. Lower level employees have to follow such procedures strictly and usually perform a few simple tasks.

- Conclusion Scientific management has influenced and affected most manufacturing and service industries in many ways or the other. Taylorist methods and practices are especially evident in the manufacturing industries when the emphasis is very much on production and the standard of quality. Although not as obvious as in the service industries, scientific management has nonetheless influenced the procedures and operations of the service industries. However, much as the service industries have been shaped by scientific management, employees in such industries have more freedom and liberty to perform tasks as well as to influence management decisions as compared to their counterparts in the manufacturing industries. Part of the reason is because service personnel tend to face the customer more than those in the manufacturing industries. Therefore service staff especially those in the hotel industry might go out of their boundaries to please their customers. The organization they are working for will usually understand such behaviour and will tend to encourage it instead of curbing it. In conclusion, scientific management dictated the way manufacturing and service industries operate but it held more sway over the development of the manufacturing industry in modern history.