‘The problems faced by BA at Terminal 5 could have been avoided if the management had applied their knowledge of Scientific Management’
Scientific management is a theory that was developed in the beginning of the 20th century as engineers looked for ways of developing a systematic approach to management. The most basic principles of the theory state that ‘there should be a scientific design to every task this known as being ‘the one best way’ approach, a scientific selection and training of workers and co-operation between management and workers to ensure that the work is done according to the science’ (Lewis n.d.). This essay will discuss scientific management and how it could have helped BA avoid the catastrophe of Terminal 5, a £4.6 billion ‘megaproject’ (Flyvberg & Priemas, 2008). Once the role scientific management could have played has been identified the piece will then move on to focus on the Human Relations theory and finally the Contingency approach.
British Airways management broke the principles at the very core of the scientific management theory throughout the planning and indeed on the day the project was due for launch. Some staff told news reporters that the problems had been known of for some time but the management chose to ignore them and proceed with the opening of the terminal without giving real attention to the issues. Scientific management is a widely studied and renowned principle in management and any top manager especially one working on a complex project like T5 and a multi-billion pound co-operation like BA would have come across this theory and its importance, so there could be no excuse that BA CEO Willie Walsh and those around him did not know of the theory so therefore couldn’t apply it. Although it can be argued that it is unlike British business culture to have a rigid system in place such as the scientific management