The Management Myth.

How scientific is Scientific Management?

We can say that Scientific Management can be part of Human Science because it main focus is to study human behavior for a management decision.

Taylor’s rationalism vs. Mayo’s humanism.

The article basically is an ongoing debate between the two ideas of scientific management.

Taylor: increase work load and work time -> efficient results.

Mayo: increase fluid job and teamwork for workers -> efficient results. Both of these ideas are all effective in it own sense.

Observation:

In Taylor case, he did some observation of the workers those undergo the pig iron lifting experiment. In which, he then gives a statement about it, therefore we can say that it can be scientific. However, we had to consider that Taylor only observe the behaviors/actions of the workers to determine the result. Whether he didn’t consider the thought and feeling that the workers might undergo when he did this experiment, which result in the flaw in his ‘scientific management’

As well as the idea of falsification, even though Taylor did falsify his idea of “prosaic activities such as iron lifting” this makes his idea to increase it popularity in the university. However, this falsification did not base on any scientific context, which was merely his owns interpretation.

Measurement:

Taylor only measure the working force of the workers, however, he didn’t consider factor that can also be measured. Such as what Mayo said about motivation as a way for the workers can increase productivity. Therefore there are flaws in Taylor ‘scientific management’.

Human Science vs. Natural Science:

Human Science and Natural Science are basically the same in the context that both of them are seeking the truth about a curtain subject. Some of the ways of approaching this are similar as well. Such as observation and falsification, this is shown through what Taylor ‘scientific management’. However, the different is natural science is consistent therefore observations and falsification can be repetition in many situations, but in human sciences, the varies of human nature and emotion play the role, which makes it harder to determine through observation when “you cannot directly observe their minds”. As well as for measurement, in natural science it is consistent in what to measure. However, in human science there are some that can measure quite easily like population, but there are some that just that is immeasurable such as consciousness.