Taylorism

How a Progressive idea
can have unintended consequences

Taylorism

  • Named after the US industrial engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor who wrote Principles Of Scientific Management in 1911.
  • Emphasized gaining maximum efficiency from both machine and worker, and maximization of profit for the benefit of both workers and management.
  • Taylorism was criticized for alienating workers by treating them as mindless, emotionless, and easily replicable factors of production.
  • Taylorism was a critical factor in the unprecedented scale of US factory output that led to US dominance of the industrial world.


 

Taylorism (cont.)

Production efficiency methodology that breaks every action, job, or task into small & simple segments which can be easily analyzed and taught.

  • Aims to achieve maximum job fragmentation to minimize skill requirements and job learning time
  • Separates execution of work from work-planning
  • Separates direct labor from indirect labor
  • Replaces rule of thumb productivity estimates with precise measurements
  • Introduces time and motion study for optimum job performance, cost accounting, tool and work station design
  • Makes possible payment-by-result method of wage determination

Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/Taylorism.html

Taylorism in Education

Taylorism found its way into many aspects of life during and after the Progressive Era, including education. 

Reading this article to learn more: 

https://tinyurl.com/yanaa3m9

What aspects of Taylorism can you identify in your own educational experience?

What changes can be made to address the unintended negative impacts of Taylorism in education?

Try to predict any unintended negative consequences of your own proposals over time.