Mr Taylor, the author of Principles of Scientific Management and the father of management, lived in the second half of the19th century. In order to maximize profits, employers always ask employees to produce as many products as possible, and employees' dissatisfaction with employers gradually evolved into labor-capital confrontation, that is, strikes. But the strike is a double-edged sword, which will not only harm the interests of employers, but also make the lives of employees unsustainable. In this context, workers collectively choose "loafing" for passive confrontation. Of course, the reason for "laziness" is not just the confrontation between employers and employees. Based on this phenomenon, Taylor put forward scientific management methods that can effectively improve production efficiency after in-depth research.

Taylor believes that besides the obvious reason of "natural laziness", there are three other reasons for "idleness".

First, the working class has an inherent thought for a long time, that is, too actively fulfilling the requirements of employers will harm the interests of the working class and themselves, and may eventually affect their work. This seemingly absurd theory is actually very popular among ordinary workers, who generally have a strong sense of group. They think that the more they do, the more people will lose their jobs. Once the number of workers in this industry declines, not only will their workload increase, but the prospects of the industry will become increasingly bleak. Ironically, this idea of unity is usually actively advocated by trade unions that protect workers' interests.

Second, the unscientific management system urges workers to choose "being lazy" in order to protect their best interests. At that time, many enterprises implemented the hourly wage system. No matter how much work is done, everyone's salary is the same every day, which inevitably leads to people with strong ability to be lazy on purpose and maintain the same work efficiency as the lowest-level workers. Anyway, the salary is the same. Of course, this kind of situation rarely happens in enterprises now, but it is quite common in our government organs, institutions and military institutions.

Third, the productivity of acting only by experience is low, which leads workers to waste a lot of labor. Before Taylor put forward this question, all factories and workers produced according to their own experience, but experience is mysterious. Although it is very useful, it can only exist in people's minds. How much work to do in a day and when to do it are all decided by people subjectively, which is not convenient for management and quantification and is not suitable for mass production. This is the starting point of Taylor's scientific management theory. Taylor particularly stressed: in all walks of life, even those trivial details, using scientific methods instead of relying solely on experience will bring great benefits.

Second, there is no zero-sum game between employers and employees, and a win-win situation can be achieved.

In the minds of most people at that time, the fundamental interests between employers and employees were opposite, and there was a more cruel struggle between employers and employees' organizations than sincere cooperation. It is conceivable that people who hate each other, how to maximize each other's interests? This was also a difficult problem in the management field at that time.

Taylor deeply realized that the fundamental reason for this situation is people's ideas. They always think that interest is quantitative, just like fighting for a piece of cake, which can only be a zero-sum game. So Taylor proposed that employees and employers should have an "ideological revolution" and everyone should have a win-win idea. Taylor expounded his management philosophy through observation and thinking: scientific management firmly believes that the real interests of employers and employees are the same, and it is impossible to maximize employers' wealth permanently unless employees' wealth is maximized, and vice versa; It is possible to meet the maximum demand of workers for high wages and the goal of employers for low product hours at the same time. Maximizing wealth can only be the result of maximizing productivity. Close and personal cooperation between managers and staff is the essence of modern scientific disaster task management. Win-win thought is the ideological basis of Taylor's scientific management theory.

Third, the management mode of "enthusiasm plus motivation" is not scientific enough.

For enterprise managers, the most important issue is to mobilize the "enthusiasm" of each worker to the maximum extent. But the so-called enthusiasm depends entirely on the workers themselves. If they think that their positive work has not been properly reported, their enthusiasm will soon disappear, and even deliberately try to slow down. At the same time, they will try to convince their boss that they are working very fast. In order to give full play to the "enthusiasm" of workers, managers must give workers "special incentives" that ordinary enterprises do not have. The best management mode usually adopted can be defined as: giving full play to the "enthusiasm" of workers, which is a management system that can obtain "special incentives" from employers. This kind of management is called "enthusiasm plus motivation" management. Under this management system, what you want to achieve depends almost entirely on the full mobilization of workers' "enthusiasm". However, in practice, it is difficult to maintain the enthusiasm of workers for a long time only by relying on incentives.

Four, the content of scientific management principles

In view of the above points, Taylor put forward scientific management, also known as task management. Under this management system, not only the workers have improved, but the most important thing is that managers have to take on new responsibilities that they never dreamed of in the past. These new features can be summarized as the following four aspects:

First, form a real science to study every movement of workers' work, instead of the rough rules of past experience. Using scientific methods, we can reasonably match workers' operation methods, tools used, labor and rest time, improve machine arrangement and working environment, eliminate all kinds of unreasonable factors, and combine the best factors to form a standard working state. Taylor believes that in the case of scientific management, a very important measure to replace personal experience with scientific knowledge is to implement standardized management such as tool standardization, operation standardization and labor action standardization. Only by carrying out standardization can workers use more effective tools and adopt more effective working methods, thus maximizing labor productivity.

Second, scientifically select workers, conduct training and education, and make them grow; In the past, workers chose jobs at will and trained themselves according to their respective possibilities. In Taylor's view, everyone has different talents and abilities. As long as the job suits him, he can become a first-class worker. Taylor found through observation that the main difference between people is not intelligence, but will. Some people are suitable for these jobs, while others are not. A first-class worker is a person who is suitable for his job and works hard. Therefore, workers in all industries should be the most suitable people for this job. This reflects Taylor's "professional division of labor" thought.

Third, work closely with workers to ensure that all work is carried out in accordance with established scientific principles. In Taylor's view, managers can't just be high-ranking supervisors, let alone let workers do it by their own experience. Instead, we should have heart-to-heart and sincere cooperation and exchanges with workers, and strive to let them produce according to established scientific methods. At the same time, it is also necessary for workers to better understand managers, create a relaxed and happy working environment, reduce unnecessary barriers and misunderstandings, and let workers think that they and managers are working hard for the future of the factory. This should be the process management in the current management theory.

Fourth, the work and responsibilities between managers and workers are almost equally divided, and managers bear the part of the work that they are more competent than workers. In the past, almost all the work and most of the responsibilities were put on the workers. It is generally believed that managers are bosses and supervisors, whose main job is to supervise workers to work hard and not to be lazy. I think this is also Taylor's greatness, clearly emphasizing that managers should not be shopkeepers, but should plan the development of enterprises. Taylor suggested separating the planning function from the execution function. Taylor believes that labor productivity is not only influenced by workers' labor attitude, labor quota, working methods and wage system, but also by managers' organization and command. To this end, Taylor advocated a clear division of planning functions and implementation functions. This kind of planning work must be made by managers according to scientific laws. Therefore, we need someone to make a work plan in advance. That is, the establishment of a special planning department. Its main tasks are: first, to conduct investigation and study to provide a basis for formulating quotas and operating methods. The second is to formulate scientific quotas and standardized operating methods and tools. The functions performed are performed by workers and foremen on the job site. They use standard tools and engage in practical operation according to the operation methods and instructions formulated by the planning department.

Definition of verb (abbreviation of verb) scientific management

Taylor believes that scientific management is the "integration" of various elements that existed in the past. It is to collect, analyze, combine and classify the original knowledge into laws and rules, thus forming a science. Through the implementation of scientific management, workers and managers live in harmony, they have completely changed their respective responsibilities and mental outlook, and their responsibilities have a new division of labor. The degree of close and friendly cooperation could not be achieved under the previous management system.

Taylor summed up these factors as follows:

Science, not empirical method;

Coordination, not disagreement;

Cooperation, not individualism;

Maximum output, unlimited output;

Maximize everyone's productivity and wealth, not poverty.

This definition not only clarifies the true connotation of scientific management, but also fully reflects Taylor's scientific management thought.

Intransitive verbs tasks and rewards

The two core elements of scientific management are tasks and rewards. These two points, one is the goal and the other is the motivation.

In the past experience-based management methods, only incentives were emphasized to improve the enthusiasm of workers. Taylor believes that under this management system, neither employers nor workers know how much work a worker should do in a day. The regulations of employers or managers on workers' daily workload are determined by experience. Moreover, this kind of reward without task goal will only encourage workers to think hard about how to get the most reward with the least workload. In his view, scientific methods must be adopted to determine the workload of workers in one day. That is, select suitable and skilled workers, study their working hours and actions, and determine a "reasonable daily workload". That is, the implementation of labor quotas. Once the workload is scientifically set, no one can cheat or play tricks.

Implement an incentive wage system. It includes three parts: ① observing and analyzing working hours, and determining the "wage rate" that is, the wage standard. (2) differential piece-rate wage system, that is, different wage rates are adopted according to whether the workers have completed the quota. If the workers meet or exceed the quota, they will be paid at a high wage rate to show encouragement; If workers fail to meet the production quota, they will pay all the workload at a low wage rate and issue a yellow work ticket as a warning. If they don't improve, they will be fired. (3) Pay remuneration in time, that is, pay remuneration immediately after the work is completed. Doing so can arouse workers' enthusiasm for production and overcome the phenomenon of workers' "muddling along". This salary system is still effective in many enterprises.

Seven, love and persistence

It is important for Taylor to love and persist in making such great achievements in the field of management.

Taylor is very interested in how to manage enterprises and how to improve their production efficiency. He is not afraid of being vilified, and even willing to give his life. After Taylor's scientific management theory was put forward, the workers' union began to organize the struggle against Taylor. Trade unions believe that Taylor system is a modern slavery system and a new way for capitalists to exploit workers, which affects workers' health and wages and improves their work intensity. So some workers threatened to give him some color to see see, but Taylor was not afraid of the intimidation of secular people. He still walks home from the path next to the railway every night without any weapons.

In addition, it should be noted that Taylor's series of studies did not take one or two months, but took several years or even more than ten years. Taylor has investigated and studied the five examples mentioned in this paper, such as pig iron handling, shovel transportation, bricklaying, steel ball inspection and metal cutting, for more than ten years, thus putting forward his own theoretical system and providing strong evidence for this system. This also enlightens us that if we want to achieve something, we must persist, have a peaceful mind and not be eager for quick success. In this way, after vertical and horizontal comparison and comprehensive comparison, our conclusion will be more convincing.

Eight. abstract

In the book Principles of Scientific Management, Taylor systematically put forward the basic ideas, contents and specific methods of scientific management. Among the basic ideas of scientific management, Taylor put forward management ideas such as professional division of labor, standardization and optimization. In the basic content of scientific management, Taylor comprehensively expounded enterprise management. These measures include the selection and training of workers, standard working conditions, clearly defined workload and the establishment of an incentive differential wage system. In terms of scientific management methods, Taylor put forward a series of specific steps and methods, such as quota management, differential piece-rate wage system, selection and rational use of first-class workers and how to carry out standard management.

Taylor's scientific management theory has made great contributions to management science. For the first time in history, he raised management from experience to science, and his thought of efficiency optimization and scientific investigation and research methods were also valued by later generations. Many enterprises use this method to double the production efficiency. Taylor's scientific management has unveiled the "mysterious veil" that has enveloped management for thousands of years and has become a milestone in the history of human management thought. People call Taylor's era "Taylor era" and his management theory "Taylor system".

In fact, as early as 19 16, China already had a Chinese version of this book. At that time, it was translated as "factory applicability principle management law" and Taylor was translated as "Daler". The translator is Mu Ouchu, the pioneer of modern enterprise management system reform in China, but only 800 copies were sold in the ten years after publication. I really lamented that the pioneers of China's reform at that time were advanced in thought and knowledgeable, but unfortunately lacked the soil for the theory to take root.

In addition, at the forefront, Taylor has a few words that I like very much and think deserve serious consideration by many managers.

We are all looking for trained, ready-made and talented people, but our vocation and opportunity is to systematically cultivate and bring up such talents, rather than hunting for people trained by others. Only by fully realizing this, can we walk on the right road to improve national efficiency.

People used to be the first; In the future, the system comes first.

The primary goal of any advanced system is to cultivate first-class talents.