Riassunto
Trama e riassunto di I principi dell’organizzazione scientifica del lavoro
A chi è rivolto
For managers, students of business and history, and anyone curious about where time studies and process improvement began. For readers who enjoy factory-floor stories and debates about work, wages and the role of management.
Che cos’è questo libro
The Principles of Scientific Management is a short book by the American engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor, published in 1911. Taylor had spent decades in steel works and machine shops, and he wrote it to argue that factory work could be studied and improved by measurement instead of habit and guesswork. He wanted employers, workers and the public to see waste as the common enemy.
You meet the pig iron handlers, the shovellers and the bricklayers who made his case. You also meet the ideas that shaped modern offices and factories, and the arguments that still surround them. Let us begin with the goal Taylor says management should serve.
In questo riassunto
- 1Management should serve both employer and workerFree
- 2Soldiering is the hidden waste in every workplace
- 3Study each task and find the one best way
- 4Pick the right person and train them well
- 5Managers must plan, and work must be shared
- 6Praised for results, attacked for treating people as parts
Punto chiave 1 di 6
Management should serve both employer and worker
Taylor opens with a plain claim. The main object of management, he says, is to secure the greatest prosperity for the employer together with the greatest prosperity for each worker. He does not treat these two as enemies. In his view they depend on each other, and quarrels over how to divide a fixed sum miss the point.
He argues that the real task is to make the sum larger. If a company produces more with the same effort, there is more to share as wages and profit. Taylor says many workers wrongly believe that higher output will put people out of work.
He also describes a national problem. The country, he says, wastes huge amounts of human effort through clumsy and inefficient work. A movement to conserve natural resources is under way, yet wasted human effort draws little attention. He calls for the same care to be given to the way people do their tasks.
For a reader today, this opening shows the spirit of the book. Taylor sees himself as a reformer, not a boss squeezing labor.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 37,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about I principi dell’organizzazione scientifica del lavoro
What is The Principles of Scientific Management about?
It argues that factory work should be studied with measurement and experiment, so that managers can find the best method for each task, train workers well, and raise both output and wages.
What is soldiering in Taylor's book?
Soldiering is Taylor's word for workers deliberately or naturally working below their ability. He blames fear of job loss, fear of pay cuts and managers' lack of knowledge about how long tasks take.
Who was Schmidt in Scientific Management?
Schmidt is the name Taylor gives to a pig iron handler at Bethlehem Steel. He was trained to follow set movements and rests, and his daily loading rose from about twelve and a half to forty-seven tons.
When was The Principles of Scientific Management written?
Taylor published it in 1911, drawing on experiments from his years in American steel works in the 1880s and 1890s. It is based on real cases, although he used a pseudonym for some workers.
Why is Taylorism criticised?
Critics say it treats workers as machine parts, speeds up work, removes craft skill and gives people little say. Supporters reply that it raised productivity and pay and brought fair measurement into management.