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Introduction: The Theory behind Scientific Management
The definition of Scientific Management is that it is “the management thought concerned primarily with the physical efficiency of an individual worker.” (Business Dictionary, 2011) Though the famous economist Adam Smith, with his division of labour hypothesis is credited with using scientific management principles, it is widely believed that the father of scientific management is the management theorist, Frederick Taylor. Scientific Management and Taylorism are near synonymous due to the fact that the field of Scientific Management was pioneered by Frederick Taylor in the late 19th century. With the adoption of scientific management in virtually every aspect of management practice, the field of scientific management took off in a big way in the 20th century. This resulted in greater efficiencies and more productivity of the workforce as the application of scientific management theories meant that production processes were standardized and the principle of division of labour was applied leading to mass production of goods (Taylor, 2011, 80). An interesting aspect of the scientific management approach pioneered by Taylor is his emphasis on increasing efficiency from the “bottom up” where he concentrated on the shop floor to maximize productivity. When contrasted with the theories by Henri Fayol and Max Weber who favoured a top down approach, we find that Taylor’s approach is better suited to the rigours of modern day manufacturing and even service sector companies (Davis, 1975, 38).
Taylor’s Influence: Fordism, Neo-Fordism Fordism developed as an offshoot of scientific management and was pioneered by the legendary founder of Ford Motors, Henry Ford. In this approach, standardization and mass production of automobiles was pioneered and when this approach was adopted, the small batch production was ceased. By

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