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Scientific management
- 1. HRD 870 Jonathan Clayton Jason Feaster Andrew Markham
Editor's Notes
- The earliest form of managerial consulting dates back to the turn of the ninetieth century. In that time, factory jobs dominated the work force and much like today, managers were looking for ways to increase productivity and lower costs. Some individuals during this time began applying scientific thought to management, with some of their resulting ideas, such as the Gantt chart, still being used today. In order to better understand where we are going as consultants in the twenty-first century, it is important to look back and understand the history of our profession. We will explore the lives of some of these pioneers.
- Often times described as the father of scientific management, Frederick Winslow Taylor grew up with a fascination for order and control. Born on March 20, 1856 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Taylor is remembered by childhood friends for his scientific approaches to the most basic problems. For example, when playing baseball Taylor would insist on taking detailed measurements of the field before the game, so that all players could be spaced in perfect relation to one another Accepted to Harvard, but choose not to attend due to failing eyesight. Began work as a machinist at a steel company. While working at steel company he observed many workers intentionally work slower when paid hourly to limit the amount of work they have to do. He called this process soldiering, and because of his obsession with control and order this bothered him badly. He went to work designing a system to increase productivity in the factory. he came up with the piece rate system, which succeeded to increase productivity. Taylor developed and implemented a differential piece-rate policy that set in place a expected production rate per employee. Employees who exceeded this rate were paid higher, and employees who did not meet the rate were paid lower Went on the be hired by other ocmpanies as a consultant to design similar systems, but often met a common problem - opposition between managers and employees His work began to be known as Taylorisim Opposition to taylorism increased in the later years of taylors life Workers and unions complained that the system was unfair, and eventually congress investigated and ruled that Taylorisim did not keep in mind the best interest of workers. the system was not used after that, but taylors work laid the groundwork for the modern day consultant Died in 1915.
- Henry L. Gantt was born in 1861 in Calvert County, Maryland. Gantt graduated from McDonogh School in 1878 and went on to the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He was a teacher before starting his mechanical engineering career. 1887 Gantt’s consulting career began. He worked with Frederick W. Taylor in applying scientific management principles to their work at Midvale Steel as well as Bethlehem Steel. Between the years of 1910 and 1915, he developed the Gantt chart. The Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project’s schedule. The Gantt chart breaks down the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a plan. The chart also reveals a project’s planned and actual progress. The Gantt chart helps organizations break down different elements of a project and can help companies decipher the roles each employee has. The chart also shows the dependency relationship between activities in a project. Use of the Gantt chart benefited from the development of computers in the 1980s and 90s. The Gantt chart is still used today for project management.
- Frank Gilbreth was born to New Englander parents in Fairfield Maine in 1868. After his graduation from high school in 1885, he was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but chose to forego college to go directly into business (Gilbreth, 2008). Gilbreth’s career started in the construction industry, as a bricklayer’s apprentice. Here his interest in ergonomics and efficiency was sparked. He was devoted to finding “the one best way” of performing a task Frank Gilbreth met Lillian in 1903, and began to help her complete her doctoral degree at Brown University. Once married, Frank’s focus shifted from construction to industrial management. Frank published his first book, Field System, in 1908. The book was a collection of ideas gathered from men who worked in Frank’s construction company. He asked for their ideas and recommendations for how to improve processes and tasks that they perform throughout their day. This was the first in a series of similar books detailing the tasks that workers perform
- Lillian Gilbreth was born to German parents in Oakland California in 1878. She was the oldest of nine children, three boys and six girls, and it was not expected by her parents that she should attain a college education. Lillian would not need to work, her parents thought, but she desired education (Burns, 1978). She enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, and earned her bachelor’s degree in 1900 and her master’s in 1902, both in English. While working on her doctoral degree in 1904, she visited Boston, where she met and married Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Lillian worked to complete her doctoral degree at Brown University and published her thesis, The Psychology of Management, which appeared serially in the Industrial Engineering Magazine from May 1912 – May 1913. She completed her doctorate at Brown in 1915.
- Once married, Frank’s focus shifted from construction to industrial management. This is in part due to Lillian’s interest in the field of psychology and how it can be applied to management (Burns, 1978). They began to lead the way in the new field of scientific management, all while raising twelve children. Frank developed the Motion Study, a study of the motion taken by a worker when performing a task In 1912 frank applied his motion study to the most delicate tasks of a surgeon. He then worked with Dr. Robert Dickinson to improve the management of hospitals. The integration of the Gilbreths’ scientific management ideas in hospitals “provided the foundation for modern hospital management In 1913 the Gilbreth’s started the Summer School of Scientific Management, which preached their philosophies of integrating psychology and education into management. The school was attended by professionals from all over the world, and effectively established Frank Gilbreths’ reputation as a management consultant The Gilbreths published the paper Motion Study for the Handicapped in 1917. This paper was prompted by the study of injured soldiers returning from World War I. Frank Gilbreth would watch the motions of wounded soldiers and teach them ways to manage the everyday tasks they needed to perform. legged men, or by skilled one-handed men” (Burns, 1978). Frank Gilbreth died suddenly in 1924, leaving Lillian to run a household of 12 children, six girls and six boys. After Frank’s death the consulting firm they had founded together failed, as many companies were hesitant to do business with a woman (Carmody, 2004). This did not keep Lillian down. She continued to hold workshops in her home, lectured and wrote. In 1935 she was appointed to a part-time professorship at Purdue University, in the Management school, and continued there until 1948. She retired in 1968, and passed away in 1972
- These individuals were pioneers in the field of scientific management, laying the groundwork for today’s performance improvement professionals. Their work created and advanced the consulting profession as we know it today.