Soc 180 - Lec 9

Training and Selection

- Selection should be based on qualifications for the job - Job training should detail formal duties, expectations, and the means of accomplishment (methods) *Taylor was one of the first to advocate for a "Human Resources Department" --- effective -- diff. from efficiency!-- how often you achieve your goal (workers needed to be chosen and trained for their abilities) -- carefully selected for those positions redesign, retain new workers to embody those things - workers as gorillas - F.T. --- piece of larger machine they manipulated - job criteria -- qualifications (payment reflect effort and expertise) -- pay less who have less than that -- effort and expertise all organizations have a human resources dept. ---- agency that selects and trains workers for positions based on skills division of labor and labor rights - workers perform better and happier if given work based on how hard that work was and the skills

Marx Review

"species being" - factory work alienating - not able to express themselves = whole people - psychically stifled - natural being (shelter, eat) non robotic --- Species being (express ourselves that makes us human or we get alienated nor ourselves) --- distinguished from other animals social media - ex. - hard to intend expressions - drawing up in head (making it and giving it away) -- sociability (human and whole) bur. context = never experience that -- destructive - Marx only owners experience that - feed workers what to do -- workers object of owner or capital subjectivity (humanity sustained for owners)

Divisions of Authority, Merit, Payment

1. Clear divisions of authority and jurisdiction 2. Advancement based on knowledge, skill, merit 3. Payment should reflect task-type and effort *Taylor was the first to advocate for middle managers controlling day-to-day production in industrial organizations - like Weber! --- observing it -- Taylor -- advocating it -- make this happen by applying science -- middle managers (owners, managers, workers) owners - engineers --- control day to day production of organizations (control of tools, reshaping labor process) -- lots of resistance to this --- owners and labor didn't want it -- more competitive and mechanized --- submit to engineers -- control and machine of industry engineers -> managers --- no longer own but run the firms owners -> benefit from investment financial managers ---running the firms

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)

F.W. Taylor sought to improve industrial organization by developing a set of management principles based on a "fact-finding" approach to administration that he labeled scientific management. - 1911 - book Principles of Scientific Management - aware of Karl Marx not Weber - dealing w/ some trends in USA as Weber was in Europe - industrial organizations - systematize fact finding and managing (scientific management -- inputs and outputs)

Outline

Part 1. A Managerial View (Part 2 will be after midterm) Frederick Taylor, 1856-1919 - From craft to factory production - The principles of scientific management Rationalizing production processes - Developing performance measures - Selecting and training employees - The division of authority, labor, and payment Taylor's contributions to organizational studies Engineer, Control! -- precise - F.T. Core at American management theory and thinking - management school - teach you Taylor - invented human resources dept. Marx - factory bur. - capitalism rises and becomes dominant --- surplus labor, huge $$$, power! Weber - bur. administration - European state, bur. - away from feudalism Marx and Weber -- both agreed rational tools - complex organizations invented by elites to achieve things (Marx - labor; Weber - commercial products) - proliferated in the 19th century - rational, instrumental intentions (refined and refined to do things) common sense - let's get organized! -- our repertoire Marx - sustained factory bur's (power achieved) -- tool of capitalism (oppression) -- destructive to humans - wealth of a few - alienation from self and others - private well being Weber -> ambivalent - bur. not bad or good - bad and good elements - iron cage - if you didn't adopt it, you're at a serious disadvantage to them (ex. a bur. or military) *bur. efficient and effective (Weber) --- bur. - dehumanizing (not recognize human needs) - rely on formal rational decision and goal making

Principles of "Scientific Management"

Specifically, Taylor sought to rationalize three arenas to improve organizational performance: I. Performance measures II. Training and employee selection III. Divisions of authority, merit, and payments NOTE: Taylor, Frederick Winslow. 1911. The principles of scientific management. New York ; London: Harper & Brothers. - rationalize processes - reorganization = efficient - observation - hypothesis - data collection - modification - replace craftsmanship -- wasteful, inefficient - replace "rules of thumb" - wanted to replace owners - control and management of shop floors - no longer based on tradition or personal 1,2,3 --- no communication w/ Weber --- but looks a lot like how Weber identified in Prussia bureaucracy

The Classical vs. Managerial Views

Taylor focused on improving efficiency and effectiveness of production by improving labor process and making them more factory-like. Rationalizing production involved systematizing production into factory- like conditions in order to improve efficiency, predictability, calculability, and therefore assert greater control over members, environments, and events... - greater control on workers and persons engaged in production processes - improved productivity not well being - labor process perspective of owners and managers* - cottage industry (putting out system) - rationalize production process - systematize -- logically more consistent -- through standardization 20th century - standardization -- before -- everything was made by hand - standardization improved way you make things - reorganizing production -- assembly line - greater control over workers (measuring motions and productivity) = efficient, calculable, exert greater control like them as parts of machine = workers Charlie Chaplin - people small pieces in a large machine (modernity) - fix by rationalization to be more effective --- organizations as rational tools (giant tools, tinker w/ to make better) -- not concerned about anything but the engineering of organizational life -- not a social theorist b/c of that

Scientific Management

Taylor sought to rationalize actual firm practices through scientific studies of machinery, tools, and the laboring process... 1850s - competition in putting out system - large scale capital enterprise took off - w/o preordering - heightened performance - rationalize operations - capitalists -> guild (waste process) - rationalized factory production - high yields, low cost (redesign floor plans and machinery setup) --- base on how workers move --- time and work studies 1881 - shoveling of coal -- coke into furnace to create heat -- 24 hrs a day --- more heat w/ less effort (burns hotter) 500 shovelers -- in a circle -- constant coke in furnace (Taylor redesigned the shovel = reduced labor pool to 140 -- retaining same heat (72% down - labor force - cost for workers drops dramatically --- same level of furnace heat - Taylor - this launched his work design study --- wages reflect task difficulty

Example: Time Studies

Taylor was the first to use "time studies" (using stop-watches) to measure worker performance He measured work pace and worker motions to asses worker and production process efficiency ... UPS --- core of time studies -- routes completed in certain time effect -- Amazon --increase in automation

Example: payment schemes

Taylor's assumed worker expertise and effort should be directly proportional to the amount paid for their work... *Taylor was one of the first to devise such precise payment schemes such as more expertise, more pay; more effort, more pay... - pay based on what you did (effort vs. skill) -- payment system -- related to pay - think about technicality units -> rate of payment - Taylor's piece rate system of payment (for what people did - paid for each part)

Taylor's Contributions

Taylor's impact on the our understanding and indeed the shape of formal organizations is reflected in his Principles of Scientific Management ... - Systematized hiring and training - Systematized work-design and production - Priority on measuring input and output - Priority on standardization - heart of American management - systematize (Amazon or GM or McDonalds) - core principles -- continue to drive mass production and consumption - make organizations what Amazon or Walmart is

Taylor's Scientific Organizations

Through scientific management, Taylor believed optimal cooperation between workers and owners could be achieved in industrial organizations *The old-fashioned dictator does not exist under scientific management. The new dictator is science!" Frederick Taylor - workers and owners motivated -- piece rate payments - management -> mediator b/w owners and labor - objective means --- management and payments occur - made happier for it dictator --- science (fair means)

The "Putting-out System" & Cottage Industry

Until the 19th century, production we organized by a workshop based putting out system in which the tools, methods, and control over production was seated in craft-based-guilds that reflected traditional relations and practices - product assembly = craft production - end of 19th century -> capitalism central -- (urban and rural) == cottage industry --- halfway b/w putting out and capitalism - assembly line - in process of being invented merchant - no control over production -- go to craft person --- "putting it out" -- I need a wagon -- we put out a wagon ; let me gather parts and people - $500 in advance - craft person --- contacts journeymen & novices -> his network he trains or trainees of another master craftsman (work at homes, shared shop floor) -- on way to being a master - ex. leather worker, smith (homes or shop floors) --- preordered - payed for -- not sold in front of homes (most stuff created on order) --- by tradition and networks (journeymen and novices) -- worked for them - controlled by you and your guild (master craftsman) -- approve them (control, not passive) -- the guild says you could approve them (regulations, standards, trainings) -- guilds and craftspersons control knowledge, training, and hierarchies - parochial, nepotistic?, patrimony (male centered network) ---- no efficiency or measurements northern Italy - textile industry -- putting out systems (craft still carried in household)

Performance Measures

Using performance measures involved re-designing firms in ways that reflected ... 1. Clear responsibilities 2. Clear expectations 3. Clear compensation and penalty --- organizations are social inventions, tech's -- measurable things Taylor --- measure organizations (performance metrics--- to redesign a firm to increase efficiencies) -- scales! -- rules (ex) - standardize work! 1. clear expectations for the worker to do to create units of production to compensate or penalize those that didn't follow though (standardize and exchangeable) - if it breaks -> go to the organization --- find and replace parts! - 1920 - everything 2. expectations - measures in performance (metrics -- compare what persons are doing) - that unit is doing how well and the workers taking care of their responsibilities (ability to compare) --- good/ bad --- extrapolate -- build the organization better -- scales and metrics -- good, bad as far as productivity goes (targets, expectations, achieve things and feed them back to improve overtime) - quick improvement over short time - accumulating knowledge and put into machines (embodied labor) time watch and motion studies -- compare and contrast worker performance and organizational performance - compare coffee shops - time watches -> compare productivity access individuals and organizations - control how you are interfering w/ your job - planned and designed in (watch worker work and see how fast or well they do) -- design into the apparatus -- face the worker into it -- ex. cubicles

Time and Motion Studies - Vid.

objects of his subjectivity (F.T.) --- commoditizing their labor and manipulated labor - embodied labor (ex. robots -- replaces workers -- computer that moves things -- all knowledge in machines that don't need a workers -- never sick -- low cost and effective - embodiment of generations of experience machines - little supervision (quiet and efficient) 19th century --- noisy, clustered, and chaotic - thousands under 1 roof --- craftsmen decide best tools and how used planning and production -- shop floor -- little coordination foremen - hire or fire, but not control how fast they work - lack of control --- uneconomical - reducing reliance on workers -- greater control on production - lower task complexity -- lower wages tech. --- reduce labor (craftsman needed to build and operate them) - function w/ prediction of clockwork Aristocrat -- F.T. (one best way to do things) - apprentice in pump factory --- manager --- engineering degree in spare time control -- craftsman --- intolerable Schmidt --- iron work (when to walk, lift, rest) 12 -> 47 tons (400% increase) - not keep up = fired - workers resisted -- concentrated knowledge in owners (told only what's nec. for a simple task) stop watch -> everything in motions -- standards set for every task slide rules --- how long it should take to do a job - tested all combo's - Taylor - conceptual work - management - orders --- workers (scientific management) motion pic camera --- added to time motion studies (eliminate wasteful motions) lights - workers hands - motions leave a path -- wire models - studied, simplified, controlled - confine to repetitive tasks -- increase wages for increase in productivity WWI - workers efficiency increases labor conflict -- unnecessary -- Taylor human labor - mechanical -- replace workers entirely -- Milwaukee factory --- only lift parts from one machine to the next - only simple jobs -- workers - command performance -- survival of industry increased output --- automatically (machines) automation -> improves management and quality assurance - you don't know the product your making just the part - cheaper caliber -> machines smarter - pay less to workers --- less skilled workers - -replace by efficient machines - quotas -- when high enough -- can be automated vanished skills ... - computerized factory - free mental labor tech. that takes over thinking positions Means to the ends (what are you trying to achieve? -- goals)