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This essay will look at the way Fredrick Taylor changed the way people were
managed through scientific management. It will then focus on how the Human
Relations approach differed from the classical and scientific approach. The essay will
also be looking at how scientific management is still being used in the food industry
today illustrated with examples.
Fredrick Taylor was the father of scientific management. His main aim was to
improve the efficiency of the workforce. He claimed to be able to ‘systematize shop
floor management’ (Sheldrake, 2003, p.15-16). Taylor categorized workers into two
types. The first being first – class workers who were naturally motivated to work hard
and help improve the efficiency of production (Sheldrake, 2003, p.15-16). The other
type of worker was classed as soldiering for example workers who would like to do
the minimum work possible in order to leave on time and not put in any extra hours to
help increase efficiency. By categorizing the workers he could reward the first class
workers by pay incentives resulting in higher motivation and greater productivity.
Taylor stated ‘There is no question that the tendency of average (workers) is towards
working at a slow, easy gait’ (Sheldrake, 2003, p.15-16) this means that Fredrick
Taylor viewed the majority of the workforce as under – achievers and they were
influenced by their work colleagues to take it easy. Fredrick Taylor performed some
time – and – motion studies in order to help improve productivity in scientific
management. One of these examples was the ‘science of shoveling’ (netmba) (2010)
Taylor found that the perfect weight that a worker should be lifting with his/her
shovel should be 21 pounds. Since there were a large variety of different materials
that weight different amounts, Taylor believed that the shovel should be sized so that
it would always hold 21 pounds of whichever materials were being shoveled. As a
result productivity increased and those workers were rewarded with pay increases.
Humans Relations focuses on ‘the social factors at work and the behavior of
employees within an organisation’ (Mullins, 2002, p. 64). Elton Mayo focused on the
individual worker’s needs ‘an attempt to reduce worker dissatisfaction’ (Sheldrake,
2003, p.104). The mass production methods created by Frederick Taylor and Henry
Ford focused on increasing the efficiency by making the employees work harder no
matter what ‘supervisors who had the authority to fire anyone they considered to be
inefficient’ (Sheldrake, 2003, p. 87). This meant that there was a high staff turnover
and dissatisfaction amongst the workforce. As a result, staff would leave which would
cost the Ford motor company money to recruit and train new staff thus slowing down
productivity. Elton Mayo created the Hawthorne Experiments in order to improve the
working conditions and the motivation of his employees ‘introduction of rest periods
calculated to reduce the level of fatigue’ (Sheldrake, 2003, p.103). Productivity
increased as a result however ‘The apparent interest in them shown by management
was the main reason for the higher productivity’ (Mullins, 2002, p. 65). Mayo was not
interested in classical and scientific types of management ‘Mayo was not interested in
the niceties of research design or the techniques and procedures’ (Sheldrake, 2003,
p.103). Instead he wanted his employees to be motivated to come to work and by
introducing rest periods and changing hours of work to suit the employees, he reduced
high staff turnover ‘he did succeed in reducing labour turnover and improving
productivity’ (Sheldrake, 2003, p.103). Another Hawthorne experiment carried out by
Mayo was the blood pressure measurements ‘to carry out a series of blood pressure
measurements on the workers as part of his study of industrial fatigue’ (Sheldrake,
2003, p.111). This meant that if he could help make his workers less tired then

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productivity and the quality of their output would both increase as a result. The
human relations approach allowed the managers to give the workers more
responsibility on making decisions on the production floor whereas the classical
approach has a defined hierarchical structure, which meant that the managers made all
of the decisions for the workers. ‘Clear organizational hierarchy with three distinct
management levels’ (Russ, 2012). Human relations also focuses on the individual
judgement of the worker whereas scientific management looks at the systems and
procedures of the task being carried out ‘the substitution of a science for the
individual judgement of the worker’ Taylor (1911/1972 Page 114 – 115).
Scientific management is used in the food industry today in McDonalds. At the
Hamburger University McDonalds have continued the use of scientific management
by emphasizing ‘the consistent restaurant operations procedures, service, quality and
cleanliness’ in their training of new employees. (About McDonalds, 2010-2013). This
21st century approach to the training of the McDonalds employees can be drawn in
parallel to Taylor’s ‘rationalizing and standardizing production methods’ (Sheldrake,
2003, p.19). Both Taylor and McDonalds are both aiming for standards and
procedures to be put in place by their trained staff in order to achieve consistency in
production. Taylor used monetary incentives on his employees in order to help
increase productivity ‘Taylor encouraged the workers to be more productive through
the use of monetary incentives’. (Teachspace, 2013)
McDonalds also ‘reward achievement’ through ‘employee of the month’ and offering
competitive wage and bonus pay packages to help increase motivation and hard work
throughout their employees. (About McDonalds, 2010 – 2013) As a result this will
help increase productivity. Frederick Taylor performed time and motion studies in
order to reduce time wasting between tasks and increase productivity. In 2012,
McDonalds ran a marketing campaign ‘Enjoy! 60 Second Service’ which focused on
scientific management principles whereby they were trying to reduce time serving
customers their products thus increasing productivity. (Rocket news 24, 2012)
Taylor and Ford both introduced automated systems and machinery that helped
‘systematize shop floor management’ (Sheldrake, 2003, p.15-16). This meant that
they would need less workers resulting in lower costs but higher productivity due to
the speed of the machines. In 2011, McDonalds ‘install touch – screen technology
across its 7,000 restaurants in Europe’ with their aim being to increase efficiency and
as a result increasing productivity. (Computing, 2011)
This essay looked at the way Fredrick Taylor changed the way people were managed
through scientific management. It found that Taylor systemized his workforce so that
he could increase the efficiency of production. The essay then focused on how the
Human Relations approach differed from the classical and scientific approach. Elton
Mayo ensured that the working environment of his employees was satisfactory so that
they could stay motivated and help increase production as a result. The essay also
looked at how scientific management is still being used in the food industry today at
McDonalds where they standardize the training so that each employee can repeat the
same process of making a burger to the same quality.
Word Count - 1128

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References List
 John Sheldrake (2003). Management Theory. 2nd ed. London: John Yates.
 Mullins (2002). Management and Organisational Behaviour. 6th ed. Financial
Times, London
 NetMBA (2010) Frederick Taylor And Scientific Management
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/ (Accessed on 15/10/13)
 Small business (2012) Advantages and Benefits Of the Classical Management
Theory By Julianne Russ http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-benefits-
classical-management-theory-37990.html (Accessed on 15/10/13)
 About McDonalds (2010 – 2013) Hamburger University –McDonald’s Center
Of Training Excellence
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/corporate_careers/training_and_develo
pment/hamburger_university.html (Accessed on 15/10/13)
 Teachspace (2013) Man as a Mechanism in the Factory
http://www.teachspace.org/personal/research/management/taylor.html
(Accessed on 15/10/13)
 About McDonalds (2010 – 2013) Mission & Values – McDonald’s Values
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mission_and_values.html
(Accessed on 15/10/13)
 Rocket news 24 (2012) 60 Second McDonalds Guarantee By Steven
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/12/23/mcdonalds-japan-guarantees-your-
order-in-60-seconds-or-you-get-a-free-burger-employs-actual-hourglass/
(Accessed on 15/10/13)
 Computing (2011) McDonald’s To Implement Touch-Screen Ordering By
Stuart Sumner http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2072026/mcdonalds-
implement-touch-screen (Accessed on 15/10/13)