Saturday, January 28, 2012

Deception #17 Definitive Method Management - Taylorism (One Best Way)


Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) was a mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded by some as the father of scientific management and was one of the first to participate in the then new role of management consultant.

Taylor had very precise ideas about the way manufacturing should be performed with regard to both men and machines. He believed there was always “One Best Way” to do anything and that “Best Way” should always be employed. Taylor would break each individual manufacturing task down to it’s smallest component part and then in his famous stop-watch studies, time measure it to a hundredth of a minute. He decided that the most efficient shovel scoop weighed exactly 21.5 pounds and had shovels manufactured so that they would systematically scoop that amount.

Taylor also believed in transferring control from workers to management. He set out to increase the distinction between mental (planning work) and manual labor (executing work). Detailed plans specifying the job, and how it was to be done, were to be formulated by management and communicated to the workers.

I would argue that Taylor’s elitist thinking eventually led to America’s manufacturing decline. Compare this with Toyota’s management philosophy. Toyota grew on the belief that “there is always a new and better way”. And they believed that this new and better way would consistently come from the lowest level workers on the shop floor. Toyota consistently implemented over 1 million new ideas each year.

Although his own focus was on manufacturing, Taylor’s disregard for the individual spread to management outside of the manufacturing world as well. Sales organizations would adopt this philosophy teaching precisely scripted selling presentations. And we are still ridding ourselves of “One Best Way” thinking well into the knowledge, information, and creative economies of today.

Virginia Satir was one of the leading therapists in America for many years. She maintained that there existed 250 different ways to wash the dishes. I am the dishwasher in our family fallowing in the footsteps of my Grandpa Cobb who washed the dishes for my grandmother every night. I don’t know about 250 ways but I do know there are many ways to succeed at this task in a reasonably efficient manner. Anyone’s best way may depend on a lot of factors.

Most workplace training and development programs are built around what is theoretically “universal”. The strengths revolution is finally moving us toward training and development built around what makes us “unique”. This is a giant step forward with regard to both our success and satisfaction at work.

Your Moment of Truth: Replace “the best way” with “your best way”.

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