Welcome to my Social Network
It is not for me to say how much networking should be happening with the Open University. I have elected to play a passive role and jump in when things start to happen.
I may use this application just to communicate with my tutor.
The advantage that it has is it is with me whereever I go. I need not own a computer nor be concerned with what sofware my tutor has.
I can write to it using my mobile device and access it from an computer in the world.
I need not care where data lives nor be concerned of its security.
I can control access to who sees what and interface it with my learning material.
It is like having your brain out in the open for anybody to see.....
The great advantages is the clarity of communication and speed.
(But it is radical!)
A very powerful tool...... But is it the right tool ?
The proof will be in the pudding!!!!
BramiT 06Vi07
Standards
There are times in your life when you realise just how humble you are!
Wesley D. Sine (Cornell University), Hitosh Mitsuashi, (University of Tsukuba), David A. Kirsch, (University Of Marlyland) produced a piece of work of some substance which was published in the academy of Management journal, Vol 49, N01, 121-132.
This work 'Revisiting Burns and Staker: Formal Structure and New Venture Performance in Emerging Economic Sectors' it is a study that 'examines the effects of formal structure on the performance of new ventures in the emergent internat sector during the years 1996-2001'.
The convergence of internet technologies that was announced in 1998 is only now begining to show itself on the unsuspecting world. The arrival of Vista, Longhorn and Leopard will have an effect upon emerging economic sectors far greater than the impact of the personal computer back in 1984.
The work of these intellectuals is a fine example of the quality of work which students should aspire to. At my age I can only but admire the depth of knowledge an the hours of work that has gone into such a study My time has passed and I can only imagine what would have been my destiny taken a different path. Given the chance I would not hesitate to emulate theses fine scolars. This work should be inspirational to any child that reads it.
But there again I would not have arrived here understanding what they are talking about.
Read this and admire it: http://eship.cornell.edu/Revisiting_Burns_and_Stalker.pdf
We have made a major breakthrough with the discovery of an existing NHS Protopage learning website.
Triggering Maxim's Law set up and training at Bronte Ward
Welcome to the YMGI Learning Environment.
This is where we shall refine your lesson plans and session plans to ensure that your valuable time is best utilised.
My Study Buddies Learning Environment
BramiT 06VI07
http://eship.cornell.edu/Revisiting_Burns_and_Stalker.pdf
One of the problems with the internet is information overload. The above article is a piece of work of some substance and is not untypical of the wealth of information that is freely avalable.
The problem with any study group is the recognition that data / information is reliable and relevant. The fact that the earth was the centre of the universe changed somewhat with the arrival of science.
It is very difficult for me to study as the volume of information that I am presented with fuels my learning. I have been called 'An Intelectual Vampire'. The very process of handling information has become a management procedure, I have refined the task. The act of study is now a problem where limitations and constraints have to be set.
Todays student have no better opportunity to learn. As Study Buddies they have a method by which they can collaborate and, by mutual consent, state the constraints and limitations. Defining the learning environment is now critical as it is the enquiring mind that will strain with infromation overload.
How this problem will be addressed in one for governments and educatioanlist.
Not me..
OU159
TMA01
"Even in our leisure time, we are all ‘managers’ now".
The OUY159 TMA01 set a task to write 900 words about time management. It is because I live and breath time management that I have elected to ignore the guidance given.
The course of action which I took before signing up for Y159 was to spend time completing all the activities having obtained access to the course material before enrolling. This was my preliminary assessment. Having established that the course is both achievable and relevant I then began to prepare my learning environment. My action plan was suspended some time whilst I awaited the arrival of the course material. A milestone was placed on my action plan to contact the OU three days before the start date to chase the course material. An action was placed on the plan to prepare a withdrawal letter 24 hours before the start time. An action was put on the plan to issue that letter at 00:01 on the scheduled start date in the event of the material not being received.
When conducting projects which involve more than one resource unit then effective communication is essential. Consistency is also an essential factor to getting things done. In my case having to manage multiple projects with multiple threads it is essential that I set tangible objectives and stand by them. Phases, activities and tasks are never committed to the baseline without three contingencies.
The effective management of a task is essential to the overall performance of the project. Throwing out the rulebook is allowed to meet the primary objective. My mission for attending the OU Y159 is to increase my knowledge. The qualification is of no real consequence. In the TMS01 case study I have elected to use my life skills to the best of my ability. I will lay out what I believe to be a true statement of my understanding of project management.
Effective project control is the recording of tasks and their relationship to each other so that the resources available can be managed in such a way that the use of said resources is done so with the best effect in terms of cost and project life cycle. Where a flexible end date is defined then the project duration may be extended or reduced to implement what is best for the client. Best could be cost or services, each project to be treated by its own merit having clearly defined the objectives from the offset.
Having competed my structured reading, skills assessment and brainstorming I will than go about satisfying the needs of my examining body. This, my initial document is for me, a working copy, a reference point to which I will append or delete objects according to the guidance of the Open University. This document is a collection of objects, in my case thoughts and ideas. Each paragraph can be considered an object in its own right.
I now have the simple process of marking, numbering and indexing my thought into a database. The key to this approach is the index. Having set the scene the reading material can be processed in the same way, each paragraph being treated as an object. The use of coloured marker pens is a useful tool. Finally, the guidance can be processed in the same way. Once again the use of colour and symbols is of great use when, in the final phase, the visualisation page is produced. This is where graphical interfaces come into play. A, vivid, vibrant image of the subject matter can then be produced. The use of modern technology is such that a reference point, X/Y co-ordinate on the image can be used to access video footage. This is forward thinking. The benefit of this is seen during the revision process. To retain knowledge a student needs to event manage his / her time. Revision 24 hours after the event is essential, 1 week, followed by one 1 month followed by 3 month is the key to retention. The use of images and multi-media revision aids is a recipe for success it is a lifestyle which you apply to every aspect of your life or none at all. Maintaining a consistent approach is essential for your own mindset and the effective communication to your team. By presenting effective communication to yourself you are in fact managing your life.
The OU Y159 is already restraining the learning process. This is in no way meant to be a criticism of the course but a reflection of the cost effectiveness of business. In my case I manage information at the leading edge of information technology this presents me with a significant problem. The fact that I apply LISA . Lifestyle Application, standards to every event means that I have no choice when it comes to the completion of some tasks.
That’s it... All I need to do now is read and follow the guidance of my mentor.
This is proactive self management.
We will now, briefly, talk about outsourcing and the utilisation of outside agencies. I have always promoted the use of resources outside my projects to clear activities from my plan. The identification of synergies and intellectual counter trade are two tools available to the project manager to expedite a task.
My final two tasks are two check my word count and to consult my tutor.
900 Words!
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TMA02
Option 2 - Essay activity based on Block four.
Vision 23 – Alan Bramwell.
This essay is based upon the subject matter of the Open University course Y159 Understanding Management. There are two primary source of information in Section Four Burns, T and Stalker, G. (1966) The Management of Innovation and Rosemary Stewart, R. (1982) Choices for the Manager. The leadership qualities of Genghis Khan and Lord Horatio Nelson were not mentioned, the writings of Thomas Hobbs and Robert Tressel will be discussed as being the two ends of a social spectrum that leads social conflict with the potential of human damage. The Peterloo Massacre and Social Reform is the result of internal / external influences on business and the demands/constraints which dictate decision making. The theories of Burns and Stalker have seen considerable change since 1966. The rise in the internet has increased the effect of external influence producing a shift in the mechanistic / organic balance of an organisation. The essay will look at parallels in business to the natural world and show theorists and analyst how nature provides the answer to many of today’s business problems.. The conclusion will focus will be on one roll within the world of sport, ‘The Junior Organizer’, how his roll as a stakeholders has changed. This is a study of the J Curve, (Information Vs Stability), and The Butterfly Effect.
Block four commences with the role of stakeholders and goes on to reflect upon the the different types of organisations discussed in Block 2, (goals, ownership, sectors etc), being a collection of individuals working together to effectively achieve goals. A goal can be simply represented as a task that has properties, (Who, What, Why When and at least one Tangible Deliverable). The study of the organisation then goes on to discuss the environment, The External Environment, the Far Environment, Near Environment and the Internal Environment. The external influence of Technological Pressure has impacts upon the Internal Environment. Technology, (in the life cycle of the Sycamore Fig), can be represented by the development of chemicals and the line manager as the Fig wasp. The fig wasps protects the interest of the Sycamore Fig. In the reproductive cycle the fig has an internal enemy, the Nematode. Nematodes could represent workers that do not recognise that they are stakeholders and are dependent upon the whole body for their survival. The Nematode is a parasite working against the establishment, it invades the body of the Fig Wasp whilst it performs it’s in no reproductive duties. The battle between stakeholders is chronicled in Robert Tressel’s, The Ragged Trouser Philanthropist, the focus of the Labour Party Manifesto in the 1960’s. Thomas Hobbs, The Leviathan influenced the Thatcher years whilst Plato, The Republic, a classic. Lord Horatio Nelson and Genghis Khan could be considered the most influential leaders of our time, (Jobs and Gates too!). The Khan Meritocracy was in doubt the greatest of all empires. The Nelson Effect, (Communication, Delegation and Trust), had some parallels with the ethos of Genghis Khan. The modern manager needs to understand the art of war. The loss of
The Light Brigade is an example of poor communication and failure to support the troops. Generals watched as the Light Brigade faced the onslaught. They briefly won over the guns only to be defeated by a second force of Lancers as the ‘management’ failed to supply the resources, The Heavy Brigade could have secured victory. The work of Rosemary Stewart details the demands and constraints of managers. Within business as in war there are financial and political influences. Effective use of all the resources by a stakeholder is essential, there is no point in demanding high cost assets when the core business requires the quill. Businesses that do not move with the times risk extinction. The mechanistic / organic theories of Burns and Stalker have never been more relevant. The development of Open Systems has resulted in external influences impacting upon on the internal core of an organisation. Price catalogues are an example of this, where once produced annually the development of Intranet/Internet and Extranet solution means that ‘External Pressures’ are imposed upon a business in seconds. The works and studies of Sine, Mituashi and Kirsh draws attention to the impact of Information technology. The expected boom in projects after the Y2K did not happen. In 1998 Microsoft and Apple computer companies announced the collaborative venture ‘converging technologies’. The expectations of the business community has taken a long time to arrive, (many significant projects were put on hold). Promises of 70% efficiency in code production and the introduction of interoperable languages, (code that effectively talks to each other applications), is now coming true. The 31st January 2007 will be seen as a milestone in business industry. The arrival of
In conclusion, the techniques that I would employ are those of the natural world and those of the great leaders.. There has to be great communication, leadership and trust. The rise of JIT, (Just In Time), caused the fall of some businesses, external pressures imposed by manufactures like
The world of ‘The Junior Sports Organiser’ has changed in the last decade. Once a mentor could take students for a lesson at his/her leisure he/she is now governed be the demands and constraints of external influences. There is now significant legislation that governs people working with children. This has become a multi-million pound business with the government and education establishments gaining significantly from legislation.
At the start of the Blair government I was informed that the fiscal policy will be one of ‘Stealth Taxation’
I will let history prove this statement to be true or false.
Mentoring of children is now a business, it used to be fun – Alan Bramwell 2007.
Word Count: 1000
Task 2.
There has been no feedback from my Tutor. This is no reflection upon Theresa as I have a clearly defined action plan that has meant that my she has had no visibility of my work to date.
The OU will realise that on any project there are internal and external pressures in an individual. The control and management of synergies and external influences has dictated my life for 30 years.
The late submission of my work was essential to the success of my project, (the formation of my company).
I would like to thank the OU for their support and praise them for the quality of material and response to needs. I will not hesitate to recommend this course to the 40,000 people that I now represent, (regardless of my personal outcome).
I have achieved goals.
Without you my Vision would not have been made possible.
W-Count 1150
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These summaries describe the characteristics of each role in the Belbin theory and also give 'allowable weakness' points.
This means that managers can expect these weaknesses to emerge and therefore an allowance should be made.
Therefore if a 'Team Worker' will have a natural tendency to be indecisive in a crisis, then the team can make sure that they don't have high expectations in that situation.
Team workers will be happiest if the crisis is foreseen and policy decisions which involve them made before the pressure is turned on.
It is evident that many of these roles will naturally conflict with each other.
It is very powerful when individuals within a team first understand that the conflicts that sometimes occur are caused by these natural behaviours and tendencies and not because the other person 'does not like me'.
Open University Y159 - Understanding Management.
ECA Option 2
The Strategic Approach To Resource Management – Alan Bramwell.
To summarise the collective work of Fayol, Mintzberg, Maslow, Stewart, Belbin, and Taylor will be difficult.
When we focus on the ‘strategic approach’ we are drawn to the properties of ‘The Task’. In addition to those mention in the course notes we should respect the works of Hertzberg, Burns and Stalker, Gantt and
Management is all about the ‘The Task’. There are two types of tasks. A standard task has a number of properties, including resource allocation. The special task ‘Milestone’ has all the properties of a standard task, including dependency links but has no resource allocation. The Milestone assists planning, the creation of a GANTT Chart and the production of the CPA, (Critical Path Analysis). Project managers group tasks into activities which are in turn grouped into phases. The collection of a group of projects is called a super project. These have become the industry standards for the ‘strategic manager’.
It is the collection of information that drives the modern business. The four factors of constructing a business used to be Land, Labour, Material and Capital. The effective management of working capital was the key to success. Controlling the working capital is the life force of the business. To this we must now add Information.
The first of the four strategic stages is Reflection and Analysis. The recording of accurate information with regards top the performance of a specific task is invaluable. The reflection and analysis of internal and external influences on the business can be achieved with accurate recording of facts. JIT, (Just In Time), inspection for total quality allows immediate reaction to an unexpected event from an external source. Controlling materials before they get embedded into the product is essential in today’s competitive markets. Stakeholders now have significant responsibility as the devolved ownership of the task has been made possible by Information Systems.
Establishing clear goals now become simple as we strive for more information about the task it is possible to find better ways of conducting the whole project. Allowing managers to multi-task with many concurrent projects allows flexibility and control. The more tasks a manager has to manage the more synergies he/she has can create and contingencies to keep the resources fully utilised. Information systems allow managers to effective communicate clear goals.
Reflection and analysis provide the fuel for the planning and scheduling of tasks. Interdependencies and best practises are gained by education and experience. Information systems and knowledge base solutions are one again essential to this process.
Finally we need to consider the true value of information. There should always be time to review and evaluate a project. The performance of individuals and mechanical resources is essential. Circumstances change the world does not stand still. Organisations are becoming less mechanistic and more organic. The influence of external forces, particularly legislative and technical is having huge impacts upon stakeholder. The
The roll, (the sum of the tasks assigned to the resource unit – Personnel Officer), is to effectively manage the ‘strategic approach’ to business that the theorists proclaim.
The one theory that is useful to my business is Planning In Order To Achieve Goals. This is essentially task management primarily theorised by Fayol, Taylor, Belbin, and Mitzberg.
Fayol had five functions, To Forecast, To Organise. To Command, To Co-Ordinate, To Control which he synthesised fourteen principles for organisational design which included The specialisation/division of labour. Today as managers we provide resource units with employment contract, job specifications and terms of reference designed to protect stakeholder interests.
Taylor ‘The Father Of Scientific Managemant’ immerged as an engineer at a similar time to Fayol. The white coat, stop watch and clip board were the tools of the trade for the ‘Time and Motion’ resource unit that evolved form his writings.
We have not yet discussed the task prioritisation which orders work in the the two scales of importance and urgency. This may well be seen by the A,B,C principle of file management. File ‘A’ Do it now, File ‘B’ of less importance but if left will become an ‘A’, File ‘C’, desirable but of low impact to the business and finally file WPB, waste paper basket, when combined with the theory that every piece of paper should be handled only one we have an effective working procedure. (This is why I have introduced a pre-submission document to my OU action plan and deferred all my work to the end of the course. I have clear objective for this course, one of which is to apply the theories of the masters.
This nicely lends it way into the works of Meredith Belbin who discusses team roles, Implementor, Coordinator, Shaper, Plant, Resource Investigator, Monitor / Evaluator, Team Worker, Completer Finisher and the work Rosemary Stewart who informed us about Demands and Constraints. All these factors affect the planning in order to achieve goals. To ignore one of these basic principles of management is criminal.
The age of information technology makes this easy, the modern project manager has to benefit of computing and volumes of facts and figures at his/her finger tips.
Solutions like PMW, (Project Managers Workbench), were once highly value pieces of software. Open Workbench is now Open Source. CA-Superproject, (Computer Associates) and MS-Project, (Microsoft) are other example of applications that have evolved from the fundamentals of the ‘strategic approach’.
The modern ‘Strategic Manager’ is only a click away from success. The evolution of review and evaluation will continue.
Word Count : 1000
Task 2
I have issues with education born about by a bad learning experience which has turned me into a maverick. The cost in terms of career opportunity is significant. The production of academic reports frustrates me. The help that I needed was not forthcoming, I now fear the system, I find it difficult to judge myself and almost impossible to submit work for assessment. The result of my failure to address this s has left me psychologically damaged with a far too large be perfect driver.
This is a major weakness in that I do not value my own work, it is immature, irrational. The very process of creating an academic piece of work is a very emotive subject. The realisation that I have a weakness is one that I am trying to address. I was damaged by a bad tutor and have not recovered. The resulting events took me out of the education system and, (to my loss), I have adopted my own personal style.
I will address my learning difficulties with the assistance of my Open University Tutor. I have purposely held back from submitting my work as the reflection on past experiences is emotionally upsetting. I have been very satisfied with the OU and will look forward to further learning experiences. Once I have ‘broken the mould’ and establish the correct learning methods I am certain that I will excel.
I can not support this work with evidence as I have no evidence to reflect upon.
Professor Henry Mintzberg, OC , OQ , Ph.D. , D.h.c. , FRSC (born September 2, 1939) is an internationally renowned academic and author on business and management. He is currently the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1968, after earning his Master's degree in Management (M.B.A.) and Ph.D. from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1965 and 1968 respectively.[1]
Henry Mintzberg writes prolifically on the topics of management and business strategy, with more than 140 articles and thirteen books to his name. His seminal book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, criticizes some of the practices of strategic planning today and is considered required reading for anyone who seriously wants to consider taking on a strategy-making role within their organization.
He recently published a book entitled Managers Not MBAs which outlines what he believes to be wrong with management education today and, rather controversially, singles out prestigious graduate management schools like Harvard Business School and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania as examples of how obsession with numbers and an over-zealous attempt at making management into a science actually can damage the discipline of management. He also suggests that a new masters program, targeted at practicing managers (as opposed to younger students with little real world experience), and emphasizing practical issues, may be more suitable.
Ironically, although Professor Mintzberg is quite critical about the strategy consulting business, he has twice won the McKinsey Award for publishing the best article in the Harvard Business Review.
In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1998 he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec.
He is married to Sasha Sadilova and has two children, Susie and Lisa.
The organizational configurations framework of Mintzberg is a model that describes six valid organizational configurations
According to the organizational configurations model of Mintzberg each organization can consist of a maximum of six basic parts:
According to the organizational configurations framework there are six valid coordinating mechanisms in organizations:
Categories: Canadian business theorists | McGill University faculty | Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada | Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni | MIT Sloan School of Management alumni | Officers of the National Order of Quebec | Officers of the Order of Canada | People from Montreal | 1939 births | Living people
Fayol's career began as a mining engineer. He then moved into research geology and in 1888 joined, Comambault as Director. Comambault was in difficulty but Fayol turned the operation round. On retirement he published his work - a comprehensive theory of administration - described and classified administrative management roles and processes then became recognised and referenced by others in the growing discourse about management. He is frequently seen as a key, early contributor to a classical or administrative management school of thought (even though he himself would never have recognised such a "school").
His theorising about administration was built on personal observation and experience of what worked well in terms of organisation. His aspiration for an "administrative science" sought a consistent set of principles that all organizations must apply in order to run properly.
F. W. Taylor published "The Principles of Scientific Management" in the USA in 1911, and Fayol in 1916 examined the nature of management and administration on the basis of his French mining organisation experiences..
Fayol synthesised various tenets or principles of organisation and management and Taylor on work methods, measurement and simplification to secure efficiencies. Both referenced functional specialisation.
Both Fayol and Taylor were arguing that principles existed which all organisations - in order to operate and be administered efficiently - could implement. This type of assertion typifies a "one best way" approach to management thinking. Fayol's five functions are still relevant to discussion today about management roles and action.
Fayol also synthesised 14 principles for organisational design and effective administration. It is worthwhile reflecting on these are comparing the conclusions to contemporary utterances by Peters, Kanter and Handy to name but three management gurus. Fayol's 14 principles are:
The R = A correspondence is important to understand. R = A enables accountability in the delegation process. Who do we cope with situations where R > A? Are there work situations where our R< A?
"judgement demands high moral character, therefore, a good leader should possess and infuse into those around him courage to accept responsibility. The best safeguard against abuse of authority and weakness on the part of a higher manager is personal integrity and particularly high moral character of such a manager ..... this integrity, is conferred neither by election nor ownership. " 1916
A manager should never be given authority without responsibility--and also should never be given responsibility without the associated authority to get the work done.
"in an essence - obedience, application, energy, behaviour and outward marks of respect observed in accordance with standing agreements between firms and its employees " 1916
" the price of services rendered. " 1916
The general principle is that levels of compensation should be "fair" and as far as possible afford satisfaction both to the staff and the firm (in terms of its cost structures and desire for profitability/surplus).
In the same way that Alfred P Sloan, the executive head of General Motors reorganised the company into semi-autonomous divisions in the 1920s, corporations undergoing reorganisation still apply "classical organisation" principles - very much in line with Fayol's recommendations.
(© Chris Jarvis) Last updated on: 09/09/2005 16:37:30
Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 to March 21, 1915) was an American engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. A management consultant in his later years, he is sometimes called "The Father of Scientific Management." He was one of the intellectual leaders of the Efficiency Movement and his ideas, broadly conceived, were highly influential in the Progressive Era.
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Taylor was born in 1856 to a wealthy Quaker family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He wanted to attend Harvard University, but poor eyesight forced him to consider an alternative career. In 1874, he became an apprentice patternmaker, gaining shop-floor experience that would inform the rest of his career. He obtained a degree in Mechanical Engineering through a highly unusual (for the time) series of correspondence courses at Stevens Institute of Technology where he was a Brother of the Gamma Chapter of Theta Xi, graduating in 1883 (Kanigel 1997:182-183,199). He and Maunsel White (with a team of assistants) developed high speed steel. He eventually became a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Taylor believed that the industrial management of his day was amateurish, that management could be formulated as an academic discipline, and that the best results would come from the partnership between a trained and qualified management and a cooperative and innovative workforce. Each side needed the other, and there was no need for trade unions.
Louis Brandeis, who was an active propagandist of Taylorism (Montgomery 1989: 250), coined the term scientific management in the course of his argument for the Eastern Rate Case, which Taylor used in the title of his monograph The Principles of Scientific Management, published in 1911. His approach is also often referred to, as Taylor's Principles, or frequently disparagingly, as Taylorism. Taylor's scientific management consisted of four principles:
Taylor had very precise ideas about how to introduce his system:
"It is only through enforced standardization of methods, enforced adaption of the best implements and working conditions, and enforced cooperation that this faster work can be assured. And the duty of enforcing the adaption of standards and enforcing this cooperation rests with management alone."
(Taylor, Principles of Scientific Management, cited by Montgomery 1989:229, italics with Taylor)
Workers were supposed to be incapable to understand what they were doing. According to Taylor this was true even for rather simple tasks. "'I can say, without the slightest hesitation,' Taylor told a congressional committee, 'that the science of handling pig-iron is so great that the man who is ... physically able to handle pig-iron and is sufficiently phlegmatic and stupid to choose this for his occupation is rarely able to comprehend the science of handling pig-iron."
(Montgomery 1989:251)
The introduction of his system was often resented by workers and provoked numerous strikes. The strike at Watertown Arsenal led to the congressional investigation in 1912.
Taylor promised to reconcile labour and capital. "With the triumph of scientific management, unions would have nothing left to do, and they would have been cleansed of their most evil feature: the restriction of output. To underscore this idea, Taylor fashioned the myth that 'there has never been a strike of men working under scientific management', trying to give it credibility by constant repetition. In similar fashion he incessantly linked his proposals to shorter hours of work, without bothering to produce evidence of "Taylorized" firms that reduced working hours, and he revised his famous tale of Schmidt carrying pig iron at Bethlehem Steel at least three times, obscuring same aspects of his study and stressing others, so that each successive version made Schmidt's exertions more impressive, more voluntary and more rewarding to him that [sic!] the last. Unlike [Harrington] Emerson, Taylor was not a charlatan, but his ideological message required the suppression of all evidence of worker's dissent, of coercion, or of any human motives or aspirations other than those his vision of progress could encompass." (Montgomery 1989:254)[1]
Taylor thought that by analysing work, the "One Best Way" to do it would be found. He is most remembered for developing the time and motion study. He would break a job into its component parts and measure each to the hundredth of a minute. One of his most famous studies involved shovels. He noticed that workers used the same shovel for all materials. He determined that the most effective load was 21½ lb, and found or designed shovels that for each material would scoop up that amount. He was generally unsuccessful in getting his concepts applied and was dismissed from Bethlehem Steel. It was largely through the efforts of his disciples (most notably H.L. Gantt) that industry came to implement his ideas. Nevertheless, the book he wrote after parting company with Bethlehem Steel, Shop Management, sold well.
Taylor was president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) from 1906 to 1907. While president, he tried to implement his system into the management of the ASME but was met with much resistance. He was only able to reorganize the publications department and then only partially. He also forced out the ASME's long-time secretary, Morris L. Cooke, and replaced him with Calvin W. Rice. His tenure as president was trouble-ridden and marked the beginning of a period of internal dissension within the ASME during the Progressive Era (Jaffe 1957:34).
In 1912, Taylor collected a number of his articles into a book-length manuscript which he submitted to the ASME for publication. The ASME formed an ad hoc committee to review the text. The committee included Taylor allies such as James Mapes Dodge and Henry R. Towne. The committee delegated the report to the editor of the American Machinist, Leon P. Alford. Alford was a critic of the Taylor system and the report was negative. The committee modified the report slightly, but accepted Alford's recommendation not to publish Taylor's book. Taylor angrily withdrew the book and published Principles without ASME approval (Jaffe 1957:36-40; Nelson 1980:181-184)...
In France, Le Chatelier translated Taylor's work and introduced scientific management throughout government owned plants during World War I. This influenced the French theorist Henri Fayol, whose 1916 Administration Industrielle et Générale emphasized organizational structure in management.
In Switzerland, the American Edward Albert Filene established the International Management Institute to spread information about management techniques.
In the USSR, Lenin was very impressed by Taylorism, which he and Stalin sought to incorporate into Soviet manufacturing. Taylorism and the mass production methods of Henry Ford thus became highly influential during the early years of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless "[...] Frederick Taylor's methods have never really taken root in the Soviet Union." (Atta 1986: 335). The voluntaristic approach of the Stakhanovite movement in the 1930s of setting individual records was diametrically opposed to Taylor's systematic approach and proved to be counter-productive. (Atta 1986: 331). The stop-and-go of the production process - workers having nothing to do at the beginning of a month and 'storming' during illegal extra shifts at the end of the month - which prevailed even in the 1980s had nothing to do with the successfully taylorized plants e.g. of Toyota which are characterized by continuous production processes which are continuously improved (Head 2005: 38-59).
"The easy availability of replacement labor, which allowed Taylor to choose only 'first-class men,' was an important condition for his system's success." (Atta 1986: 329) The situation in the Soviet Union was very different. "Because work is so unrythmic, the rational manager will hire more workers than he would need if supplies were even in order to have enough for storming. Because of the continuing labor shortage, managers are happy to pay needed workers more than the norm, either by issuing false job orders, assigning them to higher skill grades than they deserve on merit criteria, giving them 'loose' piece rates, or making what is supposed to be 'incentive' pay, premia for good work, effectively part of the normal wage. As Mary Mc Auley has suggested under these circumstances piece rates are not an incentive wage, but a way of justifying giving workers whatever they 'should' be getting, no matter what their pay is supposed to be according to the official norms." (Atta 1986: 333)
Taylor and his theories are also referenced (and put to practice) in the 1921 dystopian novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
Taylor's life and work was discussed in Cynthia Crossen's "Deja Vu" column in the Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2006.
Rosemary Stewart widely known for her extensive writings on managerial work and behaviour. Her career has been in management research and teaching, along for seven years with managing. Her doctorate was at the London School of Economics and she has an Hon DPhil from Uppsala University, Sweden.
She was a Fellow in Organisational Behaviour at Templeton College, Oxford, and she is now an Honorary Fellow and Co-director of the Oxford Health Care Management Institute at Templeton College. Her research has covered a wide range of subjects and organisations in industry, commerce, local government and the NHS. Her main research interests are in managerial work and behaviour and management in the NHS. She has run workshops for many years for NHS chief executives and, currently, for chairs. She has lectured in many parts of the world.
Rosemary Stewart is author of more than a dozen books: Author of 12 books on management and edited books and numerous articles in academic and practitioner journals. Areas: general management, managerial behaviour, health care management. Winner John Player Award for best management book in 1976.