Padres de la administración: Frederick Taylor

Summary

The video script delves into the life and work of Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific management. Born in 1856 and passing in 1915, Taylor revolutionized administrative theory by advocating for the scientific method over empirical work. His principles, outlined in his 1911 book, include planning, preparation, control, and execution to increase efficiency. Taylor's methods, such as time studies and task specialization, have been influential yet controversial, with critics arguing they treat humans as machines. His work laid the foundation for modern organizational efficiency and operational management.

Takeaways

• 📚 Frederick Taylor is known as the father of scientific administration due to his contributions to administrative theory, particularly in the scientific method.
• 👶 Born in 1856 in Pennsylvania, USA, Taylor had a lifelong struggle with his eyesight and physical strength, which led him to focus on the study of efficiency in work.
• 🛠 Taylor's work emphasized the operational aspects of organizations, including the tools and methods used, to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
• 🏗️ He believed that workers are naturally lazy and would perform work slowly, necessitating the study of their movements and the optimization of their tasks.
• 🔍 Taylor introduced the idea of dividing labor into those who think (planning the work) and those who have the physical strength to execute it (performing the work).
• 🕒 He developed a systematic approach to scientific management, which included analyzing tasks, defining movements, timing them with a stopwatch, and eliminating unnecessary movements.
• 🏗️🔧 Taylor's famous experiment in a steel company demonstrated that by applying scientific methods, a worker's daily output could be significantly increased from 12.5 tons to 48 tons of steel ingots.
• 📐 His work with shovels showed that the optimal load per shovel should be 21 pounds, and the size of the shovel should be adjusted based on the weight of the material being moved.
• 📖 Taylor's book, 'The Principles of Scientific Management,' published in 1911, outlines the four fundamental principles of scientific management: planning, preparation, control, and execution.
• 🔄 Taylor's principles led to the standardization and mechanization of jobs, making them more repetitive and efficient, but also drawing criticism for treating humans as machines.
• 't🔄 The criticism of Taylor's approach paved the way for subsequent theories that placed a greater emphasis on the human aspect of work, such as the Hawthorne studies by Elton Mayo.

Q & A

Who is Frederick Taylor and why is he significant in the field of administrative theory?

Frederick Taylor is known as the father of scientific administration. He was an engineer, industrialist, and economist from the USA who made significant contributions to administrative theory by introducing the scientific method to replace the empirical method in work, aiming to increase efficiency and effectiveness in organizations.

When and where was Frederick Taylor born, and when did he pass away?

Frederick Taylor was born in 1856 in Pennsylvania, USA, and he passed away in 1915 at the age of 59.

What were the challenges that Frederick Taylor faced in his personal life?

From his adolescence, Taylor began to lose his eyesight and had a weak complexion, which prevented him from participating in sports or any activity requiring a lot of strength. These challenges led him to focus on studying physical movements and work processes to increase efficiency.

How did Frederick Taylor's approach differ from Henri Fayol's?

While Henri Fayol focused his theory on the managerial part of organizations, Frederick Taylor focused on the operational part, specifically on tools and work methods, to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

What was Taylor's view on human nature in relation to work?

Taylor believed that man is by nature lazy and tends to perform work slowly. Therefore, he emphasized the need to study the times and movements of workers to find the best combination of muscular movements to increase production and give uniformity to processes.

What were the stages Frederick Taylor proposed to implement scientific work organization?

Taylor proposed several stages: 1) Find 10-15 skilled workers, 2) Define the exact series of elementary movements, tools, and materials used for the work, 3) Time each movement with a stopwatch and choose the simplest execution mode, 4) Eliminate all wrong, slow, and useless movements, and 5) Gather the most rapid movements into a sequence.

Can you describe the experiment Frederick Taylor conducted at the steel company?

At the steel company, Taylor observed that workers were transporting an average of 12.5 tons of steel ingots daily. He believed this could be increased to 48 tons per day using the scientific method. He selected a worker named Schmidt, provided incentives, and measured the time and speed of movements, including rest periods, to achieve the goal.

What was the outcome of the shovel experiment conducted by Frederick Taylor?

Taylor noticed that workers used the same size of shovel regardless of the material's weight. He determined that the optimal load per shovel should be 21 pounds and that the size of the shovel should depend on the weight of the material being handled.

What are the four fundamental principles of scientific management as outlined in Taylor's book?

The four principles are: 1) Planning, which involves substituting the empirical method with the scientific method, 2) Preparation, which includes scientifically selecting workers and providing necessary tools and machinery, 3) Control, which ensures work is done according to regulations, and 4) Execution, which involves properly distributing functions and responsibilities among workers.

How did Frederick Taylor's contributions impact the field of management?

Taylor's contributions led to the foundation of the rational organization of work, the replacement of empirical methods with scientific ones, the introduction of incentive systems to increase worker motivation and productivity, and the standardization of jobs, making them more mechanical and repetitive.

What criticism did Frederick Taylor's theories receive?

One of the main criticisms of Taylor's theories is that he considered humans as machines, suggesting that with proper incentives, they would perform better, which led to a more human-focused approach in later theories, such as Elton Mayo's.

Outlines

00:00

🔬 Introduction to Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management

This paragraph introduces Frederick Taylor, known as the father of scientific administration, and outlines his background and contributions to administrative theory. Born in 1856 in Pennsylvania, USA, Taylor was an engineer, industrialist, and economist who focused on improving efficiency through scientific methods. His work led to the publication of 'The Principles of Scientific Management' in 1911. Taylor's approach was to study and optimize physical movements and tools to increase productivity, contrasting with Henri Fayol's managerial focus. Taylor believed in the inherent laziness of workers and advocated for the division of mental and physical labor, with thinkers determining the best work methods and physically strong workers executing them. His method involved analyzing tasks, defining movements, timing them with a stopwatch, and eliminating unnecessary actions to create efficient work sequences.

05:01

🏗️ Taylor's Experiments and Principles of Scientific Management

This paragraph delves into specific experiments conducted by Taylor, such as increasing the daily steel ingot handling from 12.5 tons to 48 tons by applying scientific methods and selecting the right worker with proper incentives. It also discusses Taylor's work with shovels, where he determined the optimal load per shovel based on the material's weight. The paragraph summarizes Taylor's four fundamental principles of scientific management: planning, preparation, control, and execution. These principles emphasize the substitution of empirical work with scientific methods, the scientific selection and training of workers, the control of work to ensure adherence to regulations, and the disciplined distribution of functions and responsibilities. Taylor's contributions are significant in the rational organization of work and the introduction of incentive systems to boost worker motivation and productivity. However, his theories have been criticized for treating humans as machines, leading to the emergence of more human-focused theories, such as Elton Mayo's.

Keywords

💡Frederick Taylor

Frederick Taylor was an American engineer, industrialist, and economist who is widely recognized as the father of scientific management. His work focused on improving efficiency and productivity in the workplace through systematic methods. In the video, Taylor's contributions to administrative theory are highlighted, particularly his development of the scientific method in administration, which aimed to replace the empirical method with a more systematic approach to work.

💡Scientific Management

Scientific management is a theory of management that focuses on improving efficiency and productivity through the scientific study of work methods. It was pioneered by Frederick Taylor and involves the systematic study of work to find the best methods to accomplish tasks. In the video, Taylor's work in scientific management is discussed, emphasizing his efforts to standardize work processes and improve worker efficiency.

💡Empirical Method

The empirical method refers to a system of knowledge based on observation and experience rather than theory. In the context of the video, the empirical method is contrasted with Taylor's scientific method, which sought to replace the trial-and-error approach of the empirical method with a more systematic and analytical approach to work processes.

💡Efficiency

Efficiency in the video refers to the degree to which a system or worker performs a task with the least waste of time and effort. Taylor's work aimed to increase efficiency by studying and optimizing the way work is done, as illustrated by his experiments with workers and the use of scientific methods to improve productivity.

💡Specialization of Tasks

Specialization of tasks is the division of work into specific, distinct tasks, each assigned to a particular worker. Taylor believed that by dividing work into specialized tasks, workers could become more skilled and efficient in their specific roles. The video mentions Taylor's advocacy for task specialization as a way to increase productivity.

💡Incentive Systems

Incentive systems are methods used to motivate workers by offering rewards for increased productivity or performance. Taylor introduced incentive systems to encourage workers to perform at their best, as demonstrated in the video by his experiment with Schmidt, where a higher wage was offered as an incentive to increase the amount of steel ingots transported.

💡Standardization

Standardization in the context of Taylor's work refers to the process of setting uniform standards for methods, tools, and processes to ensure consistency and efficiency. The video discusses Taylor's efforts to standardize work processes and the use of standardized tools, such as shovels of optimal size for different materials.

💡Scientific Selection

Scientific selection is the process of choosing workers based on specific criteria or skills required for a job. Taylor believed in selecting workers scientifically to ensure they were well-suited for their tasks, as mentioned in the video in relation to his principles of scientific management.

💡Principles of Scientific Management

The principles of scientific management are a set of four fundamental principles introduced by Taylor in his book published in 1911. These principles include planning, preparation, control, and execution. The video outlines these principles.

Highlights

Frederick Taylor, known as the father of scientific administration, contributed greatly to administrative theory with his scientific method.

Born in 1856 and died in 1915, Taylor was an engineer, industrialist, and economist from the USA.

Taylor's work focused on substituting the empirical method with a more scientific approach to increase efficiency in work.

His book, 'The Principles of Scientific Management,' published in 1911, outlines his foundational principles.

Taylor's early life was marked by physical limitations, leading him to focus on studying physical movements for efficiency.

He emphasized the importance of tools and work methods in operational aspects of organizations.

Taylor believed that workers are naturally lazy and need to be incentivized to perform better.

He introduced the concept of dividing thinkers from doers to optimize work performance.

Taylor's method involved analyzing workers' movements with a stopwatch to find the most efficient techniques.

His work at a steel company demonstrated a significant increase in productivity by applying scientific methods.

Taylor's experiment with shovels showed the importance of matching shovel size to the weight of the material being moved.

His four fundamental principles of scientific management are planning, preparation, control, and execution.

Taylor's principles laid the foundation for the rational organization of work.

His theories introduced scientific selection of workers and incentive systems to increase motivation and productivity.

Taylor's approach led to standardized and repetitive jobs, which became more mechanical in nature.

Criticism of Taylor's work includes the perception of humans as machines, which influenced later theories focusing more on human aspects.

Taylor's principles remain significant in operational workshops and have had a lasting impact on management practices.

Transcripts

How about friends in this program company let's talk about the

parents of the administration and we'll talk

about Frederick Taylor which is

known for his great contributions to administrative theory

specifically in the scientific method

or in scientific administration

in subtitution of empirical work so

today the company

we will talk then about the father of scientific administration Frederick Taylor

Frederick Taylor was born in the year 1856

in Pennsylvania USA and dies in the year 1915

at the age of 59

he was an engineer industrialist and economist from the USA

and contributed great knowledge in the subtitution

and contributed great knowledge in the subtitution

of the empirical method by the method scientist

for which is known as the father of scientific administration

for which is known for the father of scientific administration

for the publication of his book in 1911

as the principles of the administration scientific

Taylor since her adolescence began to losing his eyesight

and his complexion weak

could not participate in sport or

any activity that will need a lot

strength that marked him for life so

that was dedicated to study

the effort physical movements the places of i work

to get information and increase efficiency in any activity

both in sport and in the production

Frederick Taylor unlike others

focused on the tools and the work methods

that is to say it was focused in the operational part

of the organizations to increase their efficiency and effectiveness

unlike others as in case of Henri Fayol

that focused all his theory on the part managerial

for Taylor man is by nature lazy

and therefore performs slowly his work

making the enterpreneur who is giving his best

for this reason the times and the movements of these workers

to study them and find the best combination

of muscular movements

to raise production and also

give uniformity to processes

what is not happened in the old empirical system

for this it was necessary to divide between who think

the best ways to do the work

and who have the physical strengths to excute it

to the first ones were given the responsibility to train the seconds

until get them the highest performance

that his body could

also give speech of the specialization of tasks

then of this way the worker earns more time

and dexterity doing the same every day

Taylor explained the stages to put in operation your new organization scientific work

first find 10 - 15 skilled workers at word analyze

2 define the exact series of elementary movements of each of

the workers carries out to execute

the analyzed work as well as the tools

and materials used

3 to finish with a stopwatch the

time necessary to perform each one of these movements and choose the mode

simplest execution

4 delete all the wrong movements

conceived the slow and the useless and

finally after having deleted thus

all the useless movements gather in

a sequence the most movements rapid

one of the great contributions of Frederick Taylor

Was given in the steel company

where he observed that each worker

on average daily I was transporting near

12.5 tons of steel ingots

and considered that it could be increased up to 48 tons per day

through the scientific method

for it Frederick Taylor chose a worker with the

proper physical conditions a strong person with ambition to love

earn much more in that time then a

worker earned $1.15 a day

and Taylor offered this person to win

1.85 everything that was said to him was done

this person was a well-known Dutchman like Schmidt

this person was told that he had to

lift the ingots by bending or

flexing the knees will also be

he said he had to lift them with the

straight legs was also told to be

was going to measure time or speed in

that he did the movements as well as

rest periods then to

select the right person in the right place and with a system

of incentives with the

useful tools to be able to do the

work then achieved the goal of

increase the number of ingots to 48

tons daily other experiments of

Taylor hit the shovels he observed

that all workers used the

same size of shovel regardless of the

weight of the material so Taylor

considered that the size of the shovel

should depend on the weight of the

material that is rising like this

determined that the optinum size at

lift by shovel should be 21

pounds also based on it determined

to the extent that material is collected

lightweight with a shovel set in size

large and if the material is heavy it should

to be picked up with a much more shovel

litle the great contributions of Frederick Taylor

are contained in your book the principles of administration scientific

published in the year 1911 of which are the four

fundamental principles of scientific administration of which

we can observe the first principle of

planning which consists of the

substitution of the empirical method for the

scientific method is to say the

replacement work improvised

work according to the criterion of the worker

by much more scientific methods and

much more studied the second

principle is the principle of

preparation wich consists of

scientifically select

worker according to certain skills needed to play very

well work well also be able

provide you with the tools and the

machinery needed to and be able to do the work according to

the objetives raised the third

principle we can observe that it is the

control principle which consists of

control to certify that the work

is being done according to the

regulations and finally the principle of

the execution which consists of

properly distribute the functions and

the responsibilities of each worker

to carry out the work of form

disciplined then we could summarize

all the contributions of Frederick Taylor

as the father of the administration

scientific in five important points

in the first place he contributed to the

creation of the foundation of the

rational organization of work in

second place the administration

scientits replacing the method

empirical in third place the selection

adequate and scientific human resource

fourth the introduction of

incentive systems

to increase motivation and

productivity of workers and in

last place for jobs

standardized from there the

jobs became mechanics and

repetitive

well friends these were the

great contributions from Frederick Taylor

considered as the father of the

scientific administration its principles

currently they are of great importance in

the workshops or in the works

operational one of the great critics

that this author received is that

considered the human being as a

machine is to say that with a system of

adequate incentive

I was going to perform better

subsequently to his theories then

others emerged a much more focus

human within them is the theory

for example Elton Mayor we're going to

see much later so remember

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