Class 12 Business Administration Notes · GSEB
Frederick W. Taylor — Scientific Management
Frederick W. Taylor — Scientific Management: meet the father of scientific management, study the eight principles and apply the three techniques. GSEB Class 12 Commerce notes with rule cards, a definition box and worked workplace examples.
Last updated: 23 Oct 2026
Notes
Taylor and the Rule of Thumb
Notes — the key lines
- F. W. Taylor — American engineer at Bethlehem Steel — is the father of scientific management.
- The old method was the rule of thumb: work by order, no worker voice, owners dominant.
- Taylor replaced it with a scientific approach that sought harmony between owners and workers.
In any business unit, normally two classes are important, i.e. owners and workers. Owner means managers whose main purpose is optimization of profit and wealth, while employees are interested in higher wages and job satisfaction. As a result, conflict arises in maintaining harmony between two groups. Frederick Taylor challenged this traditional method and started to develop a new method.
Workers were asked to do work as per order in the traditional method. This is called rule of thumb. There was no voice of workers. Dominance of owners increased. This time Taylor presented a new concept with a scientific approach instead of rule of thumb, which is known as scientific management.
| Aspect | Rule of Thumb | Scientific Management |
|---|---|---|
| Basis of work | Work as per order | Work analysed scientifically |
| Worker voice | No voice of workers | Work assigned as per mental and physical ability |
| Balance of power | Dominance of owners increased | Harmony sought between owners and workers |
| Wage link | Not systematically linked to productivity | Efficient workers paid 30% to 100% more |
Trap — Taylor did not invent "harder work" — the point is studied work, standard time and efficiency-linked pay.
Scientific Management Defined
Notes — the key lines
- Scientific management is a mental revolution by employees towards their tasks, colleagues and owners.
- Taylor's definition: know exactly what you want done, and see that it is done in the best and cheapest way.
- Three commitments: work as per ability, maximum output per category, 30%–100% more pay for efficient work.
Taylor defined scientific management as "Knowing exactly what you want your man to do, and then see to it that they do it in the best and the cheapest way."
Since Frederick Taylor himself was an engineer, he found that till workers do not get a higher and motivated wage rate, they will not work efficiently. Without getting work done in the traditional way, to get higher productivity, scientific methods should be used to have lower production cost. As managers do not lower wage rate and employees may not work, he suggested adopting a scientific approach.
As a challenge to the traditional approach he presented scientific management as a revolutionary thought, where the following matters were considered:
Key Takeaways
- Each worker should be assigned work as per his mental and physical ability.
- Each worker should be instructed to perform maximum work as per category.
- Each worker doing efficient work rapidly should be paid more wage, i.e. more than 30% to 100%.
Workers were asked to do work as per order in the traditional method. This is called rule of thumb.
Trap — "Mental revolution" is Taylor's own phrase — an answer that gives only time and motion study has missed the definition.
Eight Principles of Scientific Management
Notes — the key lines
- Eight principles: scientific method · planning separated from implementation · job analysis · standardisation.
- Then scientific selection and training, financial motivation, economy, mental revolution.
- They end in harmony between owners and workers.
Frederick Taylor's scientific approach was a revolutionary act. He was far from the traditional method so that workers and owners may work with harmony. He provided scientific management principles, which are as under:
Scientific method — To do work, scientific method should be adopted, abandoning traditional methods and thinking how best work can be done by analyzing work scientifically.
Planning and implementation — Instead of workers doing planning and implementation, it should be like experts make planning and workers should follow it.
Job analysis — Job analysis is the best way to get work done speedily with lower cost. Increased productivity can reduce cost of production after studying time study, motion study and fatigue study.
Standardisation — Standardisation and simplicity are scientific processes, which should be done in advance. Equipment, time, situation of work, resources etc. matters are considered for standardisation.
Scientific selection and training — Selection of workers should be done appropriately and scientifically. For scientific standards, benchmarks like education of employees, skill, guts, physical strength, training, etc. can be considered. Moreover, an employee should be assigned such work that must be according to his education, study and skill. There should be use of training to increase efficiency of workers from time to time. Also different kinds of scientific tests should be used to know their work interest.
Financial motivation — Skilled workers should be given financial and other kinds of motivations. Different kinds of motivated wage schemes have been recommended for that. This wage system must be adopted on the basis of individual productivity of employee. Their wage rate should be decided not as per speculation, but should only be by scientific study.
Economical — During the implementation of scientific management, scientific and technical base are not only considered but emphasis on low production cost is also there. Cost estimation and cost control methods should be considered, deviations should be found and correct action should be taken.
Mental revolution — There should be mental revolution for achievement between owners and workers. Mental revolution reduces stress between owners and workers and achievement of goals becomes easy.
Trap — Planning is separated from implementation in Taylor — that is a principle, not a management function; do not conflate it with Chapter 1.
Three Techniques of Scientific Management
Notes — the key lines
- Time study fixes the standard time for a task and helps use equipment optimally.
- Motion study removes wasteful, unproductive movement of people and material.
- Differential wage rate pays more to the efficient, less to the inefficient — wages linked to output.
Time study means scientific study being done for time required to complete certain part of task. Whatever time is decided to finish this work in normal circumstances is called standard time. As per Taylor, a task should be finished in prescribed time and its careful study is time study. Time study is useful for making optimum use of production equipments and achieving aims timely.
Motion study means method of removing wastage of resources due to unnecessary and unproductive movement of men and material. If careful study is made when worker is doing movement at the time of working, then industrial fatigue of worker can be removed by removing wrong process of movement, and productivity can be increased. Main object of motion study is to find out a method which results in to minimum wastage of worker and its implementation.
Differential wage rate study means wage given through wage related motivation based on time of work to workers. Frederick Taylor favoured this motivational wage method. Each worker working in factory have different work efficiency. Considering this fact, efficient worker should get more wages, and worker having less efficiency should get lower wage in terms of more production. Considering this fact Frederick Taylor has given different wage rates.
Trap — Motion study is about movement, not time — the two technique names are the easiest pair to swap in an exam.
60-Second Recap
Key Takeaways
- Rule of thumb → scientific study → harmony → higher wages for efficiency.
- Mental revolution → know the task → best and cheapest → pay for efficiency.
- Study → plan → analyse → standardise → select → motivate → economise → harmonise.
- How long (time) → how moved (motion) → how paid (differential).
Exam Questions
Exam Questions
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