1. It is criticized for the weakening of trade unions. It gives no place to the feeling of workers. A differential piece-rate system of wage payment weakens the solidarity of workers and give rise to conflicting interest. Trade unions’ opposition to Taylorism also led to an investigation conducted by Professor Robert Hoxie for the United States Commissions on Industrial Relations. Professor Hoxie, in his report, criticized scientific Management and Taylor’s approaches as they were concerned only with mechanical aspects and not with human aspects of production. The report also stated that the fundamental ideals of scientific Management and labor unionism were incompatible.
  2.  Scientific Management over-simplified worker motivation. To argue, as Taylorism did, that an employee is motivated by high wages is grossly to underestimate the meaning of human motivation. Likewise, the assumption that an individual existed in isolation from his social environment is erroneous.
  3.  Taylorism, in its pure form, focuses entirely on the ‘mechanics of work’ and fails to ‘value workers’ – as the key element for efficiency and productivity in the workflow process… Taylorism is often a condition ‘of the job, rather than the worker.” (Brown1954)
  4.  criticized for giving Management an extreme form of domination over workers, which leads to repression in some workplaces – it tracks every worker’s motion in work’ – watch, study, control… The basic tenets of Taylorism are centered on the belief that ‘maximum efficiency is the primary goal… To achieve this end, workers are viewed as replaceable ‘parts’ in workflow, and each ‘part’ performs a specific task… When the ‘part’ slows down or breaks down, it must be immediately replaced with another ‘part’ in order to maintain maximum efficiency.
  5.  Scientific Management is also called the “Physiological Organization Theory.” It is concerned only with the range of human behavior which relates to production. It completely neglects the psychological aspects.
  6.  Elton Mayo, through his classic Hawthorne investigations, conclusively proved that it is not the structural arrangements of the organization which lead to increased productivity and efficiency. But it is the emotional attitude of the worker towards his work and his colleagues that leads to efficiency and productivity.
  7.  Taylor’s philosophy that men were generally lazy and tried to avoid work has also been disputed. It is evident from Brown’s analysis that “work is an essential part of man’s life since it is that aspect of life which gives him status and binds him to the society… When
  8. they do not like it the fault lies in the psychological and social conditions of the job, rather than the worker.” (Brown 1954)
  9.  His critics objected to the ‘speed up’ & ‘conditions’ that placed undue pressures on employees to perform at faster and faster levels. The emphasis on productivity and, by extension, profitability led some managers to exploit both workers and customers. This condition created mistrust / suspicious relationships between labor and supervisor or Management. ‘The main argument against Taylor is this reductionist approach to work dehumanizes the worker. The allocation of work “specifying not only what is to be done but how it is to done and the exact time allowed for doing it” is seen as leaving no scope for the individual worker to excel or think.
  10.  According to Peter Drucker, the organization becomes a piece of poor engineering judged by the standards of human relations, as well as by those of productive efficiency and output.
  11.  Taylor’s functional foremanship is criticized for dividing planning and executive functions. It makes it challenging to develop team spirit and secure the participation of workers.
  12.  It has also been argued that Taylor overlooked the fact that the principle of division and sub-division of work into minutest parts is subject to the law of diminishing returns. (Sapre 1970). Thus, Taylor’s philosophy was summarized in the following words: “First, he confuses the principle of analysis with the principle of action, and Second, planning and doing are separate parts of the same job; they cannot be totally divorced.”
  13.  Scientific Management addressed itself to the problems of the ‘shop floor.’ As it is the bottom part of an organization where the work performed is of a repetitive and routine nature. It is only concerned with the organizational efficiency that is interpreted. Mechanistic terms viewed man as but an adjunct of the machine.

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