Scientific Management vs. Modern Theory and Practice Essay

This essay explores the relationship between scientific management, founded by Frederick Winslow Taylor, and modern management theory and practice. It delves into the principles of scientific management, also known as Taylorism, and contrasts it with the human relations movement initiated by George Elton Mayo. The essay highlights the importance of workplace efficiency, human relations, motivation, and communication between management and employees. It also discusses modern business perspectives, including competition and employee performance regulation, referencing theories such as Tuckman’s theory of team development and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The essay emphasizes the need for ethical codes of conduct and innovative approaches to managing the workforce, drawing connections between scientific management, human relations, and human resource management. The Hawthorne experiment is discussed in detail, highlighting the impact of personal attention on employee productivity and the importance of addressing the 'soft side' of employees by fostering emotional attachment and a sense of belonging. The essay concludes by acknowledging the complexity of human behavior and the need for a balanced approach that considers both material satisfaction and personal involvement to ensure that all employees feel valued and attended to. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments for students.

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Essay on relationship between scientific management and modern theory and practice
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Management
Management is one of an important aspect in business. Managing the nature of the
business activities helps the managers to predict the outcomes towards the achievement of
success. Herein lays the appropriateness of effective planning by the managers, which results
in the achievement of positive outcomes. This planning helps in systematizing the activities
according to their priorities (Jarosław, Wiesław and Tadeusz 2014). According to the
business critics, scientific management has proved to be the best way for managing. This
essay attempts to shed light on the aspect of scientific management through the consideration
of theory and practice.
Scientific management
Scientific management is an essential subject for ensuring the systematic progress of
the business activities. Here, the focus is on improving the efficiency. Frederick Winslow
Taylor founded the concept on the scientific engineering process and management issues.
Since then, scientific management is also known as Taylorism. Most of the themes of
scientific management have become obsolete (López 2014). However, workplace is one such
place, where some of the themes can be found. These include logical reasoning, rationality,
work ethics, standardization, mass production, knowledge transfer and documentation.
Human relations movement
Founded by George Elton Mayo in 1930, human relations movement attempted to
explore the satisfaction received by the workers through the enhanced productivity. The aim
was to study the behavioural approach of the workers towards the allotted tasks and the
responsibilities. Division of the staffs into groups helped in studying the behaviours in an
efficient and effective manner. Within the behaviour, psychology of the staffs is a vital aspect

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in terms of the treatment, which they received in the workplace (Rządkowski, Głażewska and
Sawińska, 2015). Mention can be made of Hawthorn’s studies, which reflects motivation as
an important aspect towards luring the staffs. Herein lays the importance of the role played by
the managers and the employers, enhancing the workplace relations.
The basic perspective of the movement is psychological in terms of assessing the role
of the management. This is in terms of regulating the human resources, the workers. In this
regulation, societal aspects gain prominence as compared to the organizational structures.
Typical example can be psychological disturbances faced by the employees regarding the
continuous poor performance. This example reflects incapability of both the managers and
the staffs in terms of executing the allocated duties and responsibilities (Jarosław,
Wiesławand Tadeusz 2014). Moreover, it distorts the structure, as the managers fail to
provide motivation to the workers. Taunts and mocking adversely affects the psyche of the
workers, affecting their performance. Herein lays the need for communication between the
hierarchies, the second emphasis of Mayo.
Two-way communication proves effective in terms of gaining an understanding of the
issues, which the managers and the employees are facing. Counselling is one of the means,
which ensures the security of the responses provided by the workers. Moreover, it relates to
the ethics, a crucial parameter for catering to the wellbeing of the workers. This ethics can be
considered as the third area focused by Mayo for excavating the relationship between the
employee and the management (Krupa and Ostrowska 2016). Adopting appropriate
leadership skills enhance the personality of the managers. Setting short-term goals improves
the focus of the staffs on the business activities. Exposing determinant attitude towards these
goals improves the decision making process of the staffs.
Modern theory and practice

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According to the modern perception of business, competition is an essential issue,
which the companies and organizations need to adhere. In this, the aim of the managers is to
secure the market position. Along with this, initiatives are taken towards regulating the
performance of the employees. Herein lays the appropriateness of the theoretical
considerations, which helps in carrying out the activities in a proper manner (Gould 2016).
One of the primary theories is Tuckman’s theory of team development, which helps in
creating a strong and efficient team. Here, good practices relates to the recruitment of
candidates flexible in working under the pressures. This is because the companies go through
time and financial constraints for completion of the process.
Motivational theories also find their predominance in a modern workplace. A typical
example of this is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which reflects the provision of
motivation according to the needs of the staffs. Within this, most important is the
psychological needs, as they affect the individual sentiments of the workers. Along with this,
the needs of self-esteem are also important in terms of catering to the professional
development of the staffs (Akhtar et al. 2018). Here, practices relate to the provision of
training programs to the staffs for enhancing their preconceived skills, expertise and
knowledge about the basic management issues. Along with the motivational theories,
leadership theories are crucial in terms of enhancing the personality of the managers. Mention
can be made of Great Man Theory, where evaluation results in radical transformation of the
managers.
Linking between the concepts
Management is essential in terms of regulating the performance of the staffs.
Theoretical considerations enliven the knowledge of the managers regarding maintaining the
workplace relations. One of the typical examples of scientific management is the

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development of strategies, which helps the personnel to complete the tasks according to their
priority (Aven 2015). For this, teamwork is essential, where focus needs to be placed on
maintaining the human relations. Perceiving this in the form of a movement is a struggle
towards reducing the instances of conflicts, discriminations and harassments. Here, one of the
good practices is the ethical code of conduct, which enhances the bondage between the
employees and the managers.
Scientific management and human relations can be correlated. Herein behavioural
theory can be brought into the discussion. This is in terms of studying the approach of the
staffs towards the allocated duties and responsibilities (Tjosvold2017). Here, practices relates
to experiments regarding behavioural approaches and studies related to the organizational
behaviour. Utilizing the results for seeking new means of motivation is an innovative means
towards managing the workforce.
The aspect of human resource management can also be brought into the discussion.
This is because of its functionality relating to the management of the workforce. This is
through the means of assessing their approach towards effective and judicious utilization of
the organizational resources (Aven 2015). This assessment, in turn, helps in estimating the
time till when the organization can fulfil the identified and the specified objectives. Herein
lays the appropriateness of the human relations. Here, the focus is on the unity and
cooperation between the hierarchies.
Perceiving from the aspect of decision-making, human relations relate with the aspect
of scientific management. Making strategies, towards arranging meetings, results in the
achievement of positive outcomes. Inclusion of the staffs in the decision making process acts
as a valuation for the efforts put in by the employees towards carrying out the allocated duties
and responsibilities (Gould 2016).

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The Hawthorne Experiment
Elton Mayo is then proponent of the Hawthorne experiment. In Hawthorne plants in
Chicago, great level of discontent had been observed among the workers. The number of
dissatisfied workers have been nearly 30,000. The time was the early 20s of the twentieth
century. The discontent seemed quite odd since the phone parts manufacturing company have
been quite progressive in employee management (Fisher &Bendix, 2017). Elton Mayo
conducted a research with light, break duration and working hours. A large section of women
workers faced issues with either more or less light. Further studies also revealed that
regardless of the duration and exposure level of lighting, a positive impact on the employees
had been observed. The same thing had been true for rest of the periods; breaks, either short
or long led an enhancement of productivity.
Personal Attention
The primary observation of the research conducted in the Hawthorne research was
that the giving attention to the workers enhance the productivity of the companies. The
workers who had participated in the research felt cared for, when their opinions were given
prominence. Their passion for performance naturally increased and they could associate them
with the organisational goals. Again, the visit of senior officers in the workplace made the
employees feel that they belonged to the most essential section of the organisation. Hence it
can be concluded that personal attention can direct influence and aggravate the performance
of the employees (Lee, 2016). Their enhanced sense of belonging would increase the bonding
between the employees also. Hence, collaboration would foster in a workgroup. This is an
essential motive of the human relations movement. Collaboration among employees is an
essential component of this movement. The experiment leads to the conclusion that the
discontent of the workers were linked to their sentiment and thus they involved in conflict

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with the management. The managers in the company had only focused upon cost reduction
and enhancement of the company’s efficiency.
The Soft Side
The work regime of the employees in an organisation is not only manoeuvred by
rules, regulations or procedures. Attention towards the employees, respecting them, and
engaging social or interpersonal conflicts are also important (Jung & Lee, 2015). Such
activities foster in the employees a sense of emotional attachment with the company and they
tend to give their best effort to the fulfilment of the organisational goals. This is achieved by
hitting the soft side of the employees. The soft side of a person is controlled by sentiments or
irrational logic. This can eliminate rational thinking. Rational logic leads to the cultivation of
doubts in the minds of the employees regarding the role of the employers. However, if they
are taken care of, their sense of belonging changes and they consider the workplace to be a
part of their family.
Complex Humanity
The complexity of the human behaviour makes every individual’s perspective
different. As an outcome, their sense of material satisfaction are also different (Follett, 2016).
Therefore along with allowances, personal attachment and involvement with the employees is
also necessary. Otherwise a section of the employees would think that their wants have been
addressed to. On the other hand, the other section would suppose that they have been left
unattended.

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References
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