Page 7 - DLIS104_MANAGEMENT OF LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION CENTRES

Management of Libraries and Information Centres

Notes Taylor started this paper by quoting then President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. The
President, in his address to the Governors at the White House, prophetically remarked that “The
conservation of our national resources is only preliminary to the larger question of national
efficiency.” Taylor pointed out that the whole country (USA) is suffering through inefficiency in
almost all of daily acts of Americans. He pointed this out through a series of simple illustrations.
He tried to convince the reader that the remedy for this inefficiency lays in systematic management,
rather than in searching for extraordinary people. Taylor tried to prove that the best management
is achieved through science and rests upon a foundation of clearly defined laws, rules, and principles.
He showed that the fundamental principles of scientific management are applicable to all kinds of
human activities, from simple individual acts to the work of huge corporations, and calls for the
most elaborate cooperation. Through a series of illustrations, Taylor tried to convince readers that
when these principles are correctly applied, astounding results are achieved. The paper was originally
prepared for presentation to The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The illustrations in
the paper were designed to appeal to people within industrial and manufacturing establishments.

Notes Taylor showed that his principles could be applied to the management of any social
enterprise, such as homes, farms, small businesses, churches, philanthropic institutions,
universities, and government.

The Principles of Scientific Management
In this section, Taylor explained his principles of scientific management. Taylor’s scientific
management consisted of four principles:
1. Replace rule of thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the workman, whereas in the past
the employee chose his own work and trained himself as best he could.
3. Provide “Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that
worker’s discrete task”.
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply
scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform
the tasks.
According to F. W. Taylor, the above combination of the initiative of the employee, coupled with
the new types of work done by the management that makes scientific management so much more
efficient than the old plans. Under the management of “initiative and incentive”, the first three
elements exist in many cases, but their importance is minor. However, under the scientific
management, they form the very essence of the whole system. According to Taylor, the summary
of the fourth element is: Under the management of “initiative and incentive” practically the whole
problem is “up to the workman,” while under scientific management fully one-half of the problem
is “up to the management.”

Fundamentals of Scientific Management

Taylor argued that the principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity
for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee. He also showed that
maximum prosperity can exist only as the result of maximum productivity. He argued that the
most important object of both the employee and the management should be in the training and
development of each individual in the establishment, so that he can do the highest class of work
for which his natural abilities fit for him.
Taylor was writing at a time when factories were creating big problems for the management.
Workmen were quite inefficient. According to Taylor, there were three reasons for the inefficiency.
They were the:
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