Sociology of Organizations
Week 1
Article Taylor: The Principles of Scientific Management
Most workers firmly believe that it is for their interest to give as little work in return for the money
that they get as is practical. The main goal for workingman is to work as efficient as possible.
The effect of labor-saving devices
The result of labor-saving devices has universally been to make work for more men in that trade, not
work for less man. The real meaning of this is that all you have to do is bring wealth into this world
and the world uses it. Most of the real wealth of this world is used by the poor people, and not the
rich, so that the workingman who sets out as a steady principle to restrict output is merely robbing
his own kind. That group of manufacturers which adopts as a permanent principle restriction of
output, in order to hold up prices, is robbing the world. The one great thing that marks the
improvement is the enormous increase in output of the individuals in the world.
The development of soldiering
The second reason why the workman deliberately restrict output is a very simple one. They double
the output, while they have to manufacture less. Due to competition, the labor market is ruined,
because there is so much output. As a result, the price has to be reduced, and thus the wage of the
workingman also has to be cut.
Characteristics of the union workman
There seem to be two divergent opinions about the workman of this country. One is that a lot of the
trade unions’ workmen particularly in this country, have become brutal, dominating, careless of any
interest but their own, and are a pretty poor lot. And the other opinion is that they are pretty close to
little gods. Soldiering is the absolute rule with all workmen who know their business.
The development of scientific management
Scientific management has been an evolution, not a theory. The very first step that was taken toward
that development, was to overcome the evil of soldiering. All the elements of scientific management
are an evolution, not an invention. Scientific management is in use in an immense range and variety
of industries. When this was introduced, the average workman is turning out double the output he
was before.
The workmen: the chief beneficiaries
The increasing of the output per individual in the trade, results, in cheapening the product, that
results in, larger profit to the owners of the business, it results in, lowering the selling price. In the
end, the public gets good. Especially the workman, with their increasing wages. The great good
comes from the fact that, the workman look upon their employers as the best friends they could have
in the world. There is no more antagonism between workmen and employers.
What scientific management is
Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main
objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. The new outlook that comes
1
,under scientific management is this: the workmen, after many object lessons, come to see and the
management come to see that this surplus can be made so great, providing both sides will stop their
pulling apart, will stop their fighting and will push as hard as they can to get as cheap an output as
possible, that there is no occasion to quarrel.
What will scientific management do
There’re thing which make scientific management a success. These new duties, new burdens,
undertaken by the management have been divided into four groups, and have been called the
principles:
- The first is the deliberate gathering together of the great mass of traditional knowledge
- The selection of the workman
o Take a great deal in selecting the workman
- Bringing together the science and the man
o They don’t come together, until you bring them
- The principle of the division of work
o Complete re-division of the work of establishment
Scientific management represents a democracy, co-operation, a genuine division of work which never
existed before in this world.
The proof of the theory
Taylor gives a lot of examples to proof his theory works and is valid.
The science of shoveling
In the past, shoveling was a lot of hard work. Under scientific management everything becomes the
subject of the experiment. The experiment develops in a law, to save money, increase the output of
the individual and make the thing worthwhile.
Teaching the man
In the old way, people who did their job wrong, were fired. In the ‘new’ system, the bosses easily
teach the men to do stuff. If they do something wrong, the boss will slowly explain how the workman
can do it better. There is a difference in mental attitude of the men who are teaching under the new
system. Under the new system, if a man falls down, the presumption is that it is our fault at first, that
we probably have not taught the man right, have not given him a fair show, have not spent enough
time in showing him how to do his work. Also, under the new system, the teacher is welcomed; he is
not an enemy, but a friend. It is a great mental change.
Does scientific management pay?
There was made a careful investigation, which shows that almost everyone was saving money, living
better and were happier. Workers under the scientific management system, are the most contented
set of laborers to be seen anywhere.
The effect on the workman
So it is a good thing for the manufacturer, but how about the workman? The workman is seen as a
true scientist, and as a very highly skilled mechanic. We make progress with scientific management. It
makes a true initiative. Most of our progress comes through our workmen but comes in a legitimate
way.
2
, Watson H1: Studying work, society and organization
Introduction
Sociology is distinctive in showing us how issues at the global level of changing societies and
economies interlink with matters relating to the lives and experiences of each one of us. We switch
between applying the word to who a person things they are (self-identities), identities available to us
in the world around us (social-identities) and how people present themselves to others (personas).
People, work and society
Sociology is a resource which people can use to understand better how the social world ‘works’, so
that they can act more effectively in the various social spheres in which they lead their lives. Work is
one of those words that is used in many different ways. There are two main aspects of work. The first
is the task-related aspect of work, and the second is the part played by work in the way people make
a living.
Work = the carrying out of tasks which enable people to make a living within the
social and economic context in which they are located.
The work people do becomes closely bound up with their conception of self. Work is a social,
economic and cultural phenomenon. It is nog simply a matter of behavior. Work occurs in societies.
Society = the broad pattern of social, economic, cultural and political
relationships within which people lead their lives, typically but not exclusively in
the modern world as member of the same nation state.
Social organization, work organizations and thinking about work sociologically
Sociology provides us with a range of insights, concepts, theories and research findings which help us
understand the wide range of work and work-related activities that occur in the context of the
broader social and cultural arrangements.
Sociology = the study of the relationships which develop between human beings
as they organize themselves and are organized by others in societies and how
these patterns influence and are influenced by the actions and interactions of
people and how they make sense of their lives and identities.
Social life is organized. For this reason, we can identify various patterns of social organization existing
throughout human history. In the societies in which we currently live, there is general social
organization. Within there is a set of work organizations that operate to produce and provide goods
and services and administer social, political and economic aspects of life. The essential characteristic
of the sociological perspective is that it ultimately relates whatever it studies back to the way society
as a whole is organized. It is always linked back to the wider culture, social structure and processes of
the society in which it takes place. These structures are the source of both constraints and
opportunities which people meet in conducting their lives. The better we understand these, then the
3
