Learn what Taylorism is, its emergence, and main characteristics!

During the 20th century, a great advance in the world of technology could be observed. Several innovations and methods that are still used today have been developed and put into practice during this time.

In addition to technological innovations, during the 20th century, the great rise of capitalist movements and issues arising from the Second Industrial Revolution make this time a great historical milestone for humanity.

Amid so many innovations, one draws attention, Taylorism, and it is about this term and method that we will learn a little more in this article.

In order for you to stay even more aware of this method, its emergence and what Taylorism means, we have separated, in this article, rich content. Check it out!

• What is Taylorism?
• How did Taylorism come about?
• Principles and characteristics of Taylorism;
• Taylorism, Fordism and Toyotism

What is Taylorism?

Taylorism is a term arising from a production method idealized by Frederick Winslow Taylor, considered by many as the father of Scientific Administration.

This is because, with the propositions and benefits demonstrated by several actions proposed by Taylor, it was possible to look at the productive part of an organization in a much more practical way that adds value and quality to the activities performed.

One of the main points of Taylorism is the rationalization of work, making production processes optimized, through the specialization of employees and their activities, for example.

This is due to the fact that before the implementation of the Taylorist method several employees performed different functions, without a more direct establishment of activities.

Taylor then proposed that the training and qualification of employees should be carried out for specific functions so that they develop more and more and become better in the performance of their activities.

We can consider this as the application of the scientific method in the organization of work. That's why the name "scientific administration". Therefore, each aspect of the work must be planned scientifically, with the aim of maximizing production.

In addition, Taylor's scientific administration also said that it was the task of the company's managers to develop appropriate production systems to achieve economic efficiency.

Although the terms "scientific administration" and "taylorism" are used as synonyms, it is more necessary to consider Taylorism as a first form of using scientific methods in administration.

Now that you know a little more about what Taylorism is and how the main points work, it's time to learn about its emergence.

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How did Taylorism come about?

The emergence of the Taylorism method happened in the United States, and as we have already learned, it was developed by Frederick Taylor, at the time, a mechanical engineer and who observed several points of improvement in production processes, proposing what it is today, one of the great methods in the area of Administration.

Much of Taylor's knowledge about the production process was observed due to his experience in the market as a factory engineer.

Such failures in production generate a certain administrative inefficiency, which harmed the profit gain of these companies.

Then he began to conduct research to discover ways to maximize the productivity of each worker. Therefore, Taylorism was a precursor management theory in the analysis and improvement of the pace of work.

Frederick Taylor was inspired to create his theories while working at Bethlehem Steel, a steel company. It was in this factory that he observed that managers had little knowledge about how the specific work performed worked.

In this work environment, he began to create experiments that influenced the famous principles of scientific administration.

One of these experiments, for example, was to improve the efficiency of the excavation process with the use of new blades that would be optimized for different materials.

Another famous example is a case in which Taylor used a stopwatch and biomechanical analysis to invent a better method for workers who carried iron to transport wagons.

On the first day using his method, the amount of iron taken to the wagons almost tripled. These, among other experiments, formed the foundations of his management theory.

Initially, Taylor baptized his method as "Store Management", but ended up adopting the term "scientific administration" in 1911, with the help of engineer Henry L. Gantt.

Principles and characteristics of Taylorism

There are some principles that govern the model proposed by Taylor, how the alliance between science and production, since the engineer argued that production methods should be adopted based on science and not on a "practical rule", such as doing things in a certain way simply because it has always been so.

With this process, it becomes even easier to dictate and prioritize activities within the production sector in a more automatic and standardized way.

The scientific method is used by the manager to determine the best way, instead of just letting employees perform their tasks in this way.

The second principle is to separate tasks according to the skills of workers. Instead of simply delegating activities randomly, you need to analyze which of the employees is best able to perform a job and train it to achieve its maximum efficiency.

The third principle is to monitor work performance. Thus, it is possible to evaluate the efficiency of employees and guide them whenever necessary, to ensure their productivity.

The fourth and final principle is the separation of functions between managers and workers. Managers should be in charge of planning and training, while workers need to implement what they have been trained to perform.

All these principles are applied to reduce process time, the main focus of Taylor's research and ideas. His idea is that reducing the time to complete a task was the main way to increase productivity and maximize profits.

Therefore, many of his experiments consist of dividing a job into specific tasks, using a stopwatch to measure the time spent on each and then organizing them to create an optimized sequence.

Taylorism, Fordism and Toyotism

Fordism is also a production system, designed by entrepreneur and mechanic Henry Ford in the early twentieth century, founder of Ford Motor Company.

It consists of a mass production method using assembly line technology. It was widely used by vehicle manufacturers, who placed the parts on a treadmill and, as the parts moved, employees stopped at specific points performed the assembly, step by step.

Therefore, it requires almost no qualification of the worker, with the elimination of unnecessary movements.

This is one of Taylor's main criticisms of Fordism, which said Ford took pride and humanity away from human labor, forcing a mass of unskilled workers to act as gears of a machine.

Toyotism, on the other hand, has a different focus on these two theories. It is a system that aggregates management philosophies and practices, giving rise to Lean Manufacturing.

Originally called "just-in-time" production, it was created in the middle of the 20th century by Japanese engineers Taiichi Ohno and Ejy Toyoda. Its principles can be found in The Toyota Way.

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