Organisation Studies - Scientific Management - 2

At Foxconn 14 workers

committed suicide in 2010

What does the legacy of Taylor and Ford involve?

deskilling, work intensification, the problem of morale in industry (absenteeism, sabotage, labour turnover), industrial action

Before Taylorism, workers were hired and controlled by?

gangmasters

Taylor believed the pre-Taylor labour process led to what?

systematic soldiering

Grey says scientific management promotes efficiency at

the expense of all else.

In Taylorism, 'fair' pay meant what?

the minimum amount that could be used to induce maximum effort

What happened when Taylor introduced his ideas at Bethlehem Steel?

wages were increased by 60% but productivity increased by 400%

Foxconn is what?

a Taiwanese-owned electronics company and China's largest public sector employer

One of the notions of Taylor's scientific management involves 'a fair day's work' for what?'

a fair day's pay

What are the four principles of Taylor's scientific management?

a science to each element of work; scientific selection and training of workers; division of labour between management and workers; co-operation between workforce and management (close surveillance of workers)

The pre-Taylor labour process involved gang masters as..

an intermediate stage between employer/employee

Before Taylorism, employers had little control over what?

how the job was done, could only agree price for output

When/how was Fordism introduced?

in 1913 Henry Ford introduced a moving production line in his factories

Public controversy in the USA meant that Foxconn was pressured into undergoing what?

inspection by the Fair Labour Association (a US sponsored non-governmental organisation

What was the reaction to scientific management at its introduction?

widespread strikes and industrial unrest often accompanied attempts to implement Taylor's ideas

The FLA investigation into Foxconn found what?

workers working very long hours, health and safety procedures routinely ignored, workers sometimes experiencing pain at the end of a working day, workers not receiving social security entitlements, workers underpaid for overtime, violations of laws about the use of interns