Contemporary management issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contemporary management issues - Essay Example Taylor’s Scientific Management theory became popular not only in USA but also all over the world. But historians have shown the reaction of British engineers to the Scientific Management Theory in a wrong light (i.e. British engineers resented Taylor’s theory). In reality, British engineers did not completely disregard the theory and Taylor’s theory received praise and attention in Britain just like it had in America. This theory provided learning to British engineers and they greatly benefitted from it (Whitston, 1997). The crux of Taylor’s theory of Scientific Management is efficiency, which serves to be beneficial for the entrepreneur and the workers both. The logic behind this is quite simple as increased efficiency brings in more profits and the entrepreneur can give more wages to workers and will be left with a handsome amount after that. He also clarifies that the solution to inefficiency lies in systematic management, and searching for an extraordi nary man will not solve this problem. It was also claimed by him that management is a science confined within rules, laws and fundamentals (Jordan, 1994). But considering only the profits and wages dimensions of the benefits of efficiency is quite a narrow approach. Efficiency is far beyond both and it is achieved when each business unit is performing in the most efficient way possible and the workers are performing at the highest level of efficiency. Since efficiency has advantages to owners and workers both, it is also necessary that the goals of the two are in the same direction. There should be cooperation from the businessman’s end as well as the worker’s end. Taylor was ahead of his time and encouraged owners of businesses to have a democratic style, as opposed to an autocratic style. When owners let their employees voice their workplace problems, conflicts and opinions, a sense of belonging is instilled in employees and they work hard and own the organization. F rom the workers end, they should show diligence and honesty in work and negate the exaggerated notions of exploitation. Sometimes workers get the feeling that they are working hard so that the owner can make huge profits. What they fail to see is that their wages are linked to owner’s high profits. Efficiency in the production industry is not limited to the efficiency of workers only. In economics, productive efficiency is defined as producing a given output at the lowest cost possible or producing more output with the limited amount of resources. Taylor’s efficiency also incorporates minimum cost of machines, overheads, raw materials etc. When there is room for efficiency and an organization is not making use of it then it is only missing a profitable opportunity because higher efficiency leads to higher profits. Workers need to grow in order to attain efficiency. Workers grow and develop when owners invest in human capital through training, workshops and mentoring. T his empowers the workers and they are in a better position to be efficient. If Taylor’s Scientific Management is applied at macro level, then investment in human capital can increase the productive capacity of a nation because of higher overall efficiency. Sometimes efficiency does not increase even though a firm is investing in training. This is because workers deliberately loiter and there are hold-ups in the production process due to this. This term is known as ‘