Between the things and the water

Author: Ze Zhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-08-01
Features: Modern Western management theories, starting a century ago and continuing to the present, have formed several major schools, each contributing to management practices. This book focuses on organizing management schools but emphasizes cultural elaboration, analyzing the cultural foundations of management theories and dissecting the differences between Eastern and Western management practices from the perspective of cultural differences. The book is written in a fluent and engaging style.
Excerpt: Scientific Management Then and Now
A century ago, there were no modern business books in the sense we know today. Books like The Art of War and The Prince, which contain management ideas, were only about 70 in all languages, not enough to fill a small bookshelf. It wasn’t until 1899 that management became a formal field of study, contrasting with learning management through intuition, experience, and family guidance. Today, there are countless books on management. Looking back at the many corporate management philosophies of the 20th century, one would not forget Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856–1915), an engineer at a foundry in Philadelphia, USA. He led the management philosophy of the 20th century by timing how workers shoveled pig iron into trains with a stopwatch. A great idea emerged in an unlikely place. Taylor called it "Scientific Management" and published The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911, which was immediately translated into ten languages. He was called the "father of Scientific Management," the pioneer of modern management consulting, and Management Drucker regarded him as one of the three great architects of the modern world.
"Manhan Quanxi" and Hamburger Buns
Taylor discovered that inefficiency was spreading in the workplace and believed that science (stopwatch measurement) could eliminate it. Kelvin once said, "Science begins with measurement." Driven by the pursuit of an ideal Platonic steel production, Taylor did something extremely simple—breaking down the time and frequency workers spent on each action, observing their operations, and gathering first-hand data, which inspired him to develop a set of "the best" operational methods. From then on, time-motion studies entered the realm of modern management. Taylor’s scientific management was hailed as a leap. The genius of Taylor was using his mind to find a way to make complex work simpler, faster, and better. A rough look at the evolution of American management can locate the place of scientific management: from 1870 to 1900, it was the period of industrial improvement; from 1900 to 1923, it was scientific management; from 1923 to 1955, it was the period of welfare and interpersonal improvement; from 1955 to 1980, it was systematic rationalization; the 1980s emphasized corporate culture, and the 1990s involved large-scale restructuring. But no matter how it changes, modern management cannot do without the cornerstone of scientific management.
The influence of scientific management in the United States is pervasive. A fascinating example is why Americans invented fast food. Comparing the production processes of "Manhan Quanxi" and hamburgers can help you feel the difference between scientific management and traditional methods. The former requires the skill of chefs to ensure quality, while the latter can be mass-produced according to standardized procedures. No wonder Drucker praised it as "the only basic American idea that the world has accepted and been influenced by," and as one of the most powerful contributions of the United States to Western thought since the Federalist Papers.