1911 · English

The Principles of Scientific Management

Frederick Winslow Taylor

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3 selected passages and classifications

Passage 1

Thus all of the planning which under the old system was done by the workman, as a result of his personal experience, must of necessity under the new system be done by the management in accordance with the laws of the science; because even if the workman was well suited to the development and use of scientific data, it would be physically impossible for him to work at his machine and at a desk at the same time. It is also clear that in most cases one type of man is needed to plan ahead and an entirely different type to execute the work. The man in the planning room, whose specialty under scientific management is planning ahead, invariably finds that the work can be done better and more economically by a subdivision of the labor; each act of each mechanic, for example, should be preceded by various preparatory acts done by other men. And all of this involves, as we have said, "an almost equal division of the responsibility and the work between the management and the workman."

Labour and mechanization Habit and self-command human institutions · advances dependence · advances govern · advances Economic and material power Character and human development Diminishes autonomy

Taylor argues that scientific management transfers planning from workers to management and divides labour between those who plan and those who execute. This makes workplace action more economically organized but diminishes workers' independent control and practical responsibility.

Local word range 8166–8590

Passage 2

In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first. This in no sense, however, implies that great men are not needed. On the contrary, the first object of any good system must be that of developing first-class men; and under systematic management the best man rises to the top more certainly and more rapidly than ever before.

Labour and mechanization Government, measurement, and surveillance Habit and self-command human institutions · advances cultivate capacities · advances Economic and material power Character and human development Conditional or mixed Individual Institutional Work and economic order Administration and public order

Taylor explicitly shifts priority from personal discretion to designed systems, while presenting that shift as a means of developing, rather than replacing, capable workers.

Introduction, on system and the development of workers

Passage 3

The words "maximum prosperity" are used, in their broad sense, to mean not only large dividends for the company or owner, but the development of every branch of the business to its highest state of excellence, so that the prosperity may be permanent. In the same way maximum prosperity for each employee means not only higher wages than are usually received by men of his class, but, of more importance still, it also means the development of each man to his state of maximum efficiency, so that he may be able to do, generally speaking, the highest grade of work for which his natural abilities fit him, and it further means giving him, when possible, this class of work to do.

Labour and mechanization Habit and self-command human institutions · advances cultivate capacities · advances Economic and material power Consequences and welfare Character and human development Conditional or mixed Individual Institutional Work and economic order

Taylor’s strongest affirmative account treats the worker’s development and matching to a task as compatible with maximum output and employer prosperity.

Chapter I, “Fundamentals of Scientific Management”

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