The Management Myth - Notes

Links between the article and the knowledge issues identified in the hand out

Scientific management can be classified as human science, as in the hand out; it is exploring the idea of human behaviours and management of labour to its most efficient level.

- In the article, Frederic Winslow Taylor came up with a new idea of management. He claimed that his idea was an efficient method of solving business problems. He had started to claim the theory as “scientific management.” The theory sprouted from observing. Observation is a component of science, therefore management can be said to be scientific. However, in this circumstances, there may be observer effect, which a person may change their behaviour due to the presence of another person.

- However, as the theory became famous, people started to notice a flaw in Taylor’s theory – there was barely any science involved. Taylor barely eliminated inscrutable variables in his calculation. In some aspects, Taylor’s results may have been affected by choices or “judgements” he made about the experiment.

- Another idea, by Karl Popper, is that a fundamental feature of science is that it must produce falsifiable propositions. Natural science can be falsified through mixture of experiments and observation. However, Taylor’s theory could not be falsified in all circumstances. Therefore, the theory lacked a scientific feature.

- Measurement also plays an important role in science. In Taylor’s theory, there were variables which could be measured. However, these were not fixed. In Taylor’s experiment, he would not be able to measure human minds or actions mathematically. Therefore, the result of the experiment will never produce a definitive answer.

- In addition, as management is the study of humans, the outcome may be affected by the choices made by humans. Again, this cannot be measured or observed, which eliminates its possibility of being a natural science.

Links/ comparisons between Human Science and Natural science

- Human science is nearly purely based on the human action and mind. Therefore, to falsify and experiment human science may be difficult. On the other hand, natural science has a more concrete result and ways of identifying it. In addition, natural science can be falsified in a way which would bring knowledge closer.