How Toyota has used the Scientific Management in the organisation

Executive Summary:

In the Early 1900 Frederick Taylor worked at Bethlehem Steel and found out the ways how
to improve the production process. He stressed on the division of labour and reduction of
wastage. Taylors’s scientific management was imbibed by Henry Ford in his motor car
company and later found a great exponent in Taiichi Ohno of Toyota. Though the countries
are different, US and Japan, Taylor’s right exponent is said to be found in Taiichi Ohno of the
president of Toyota, who shaped the world of manufacturing the Toyota way. Our study
deals with how the scientific management of Taylor has impacted Toyotism.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary 1

Introduction 2

What is Taylorism 2

General approach of the Scientific Management 3

Contributions of the Scientific Management 3
Elements of the Scientific Management 4
Toyota imbibing Scientific Management 4

References 6

1
Introduction

Frederick W. Taylor created a term in 1910 to describe the process of industrial

management which he propagated. He called it Scientific Management and the same was
followed by his followers. Initially Taylor’s methods were an alternative to railroad price
increase in a rate case as the preparation went for the interstate Commerce Commission.
The term also was used to mean the systems of the organisations that made the functions
for groups or individuals. More generically it means a system where jobs are divided out into
smaller divisions and the individual labour makes more repetitive task.

What is Taylorism

Company which was later called Bethlehem Steel. This was the place where
Taylor researched and put into practice all his robust plans of engineering
re-search which was to improve productivity in the different fields in an industry.
He is known for two remarkable inventions. One is the discovery of
“high-speed steel” which was used by him Between 1898 to 1901,Taylor worked
as a consultant to the Bethlehem to improve the work of metal cutting tools .
The second was the systematic methods which was signature or his innovation for
managerial context. In the year 1901 scientific management was propagated from
systematic management. The Scientific management confirmed the introduction
of systems in accounts that enabled the accountants to perform calculations
and operate records with more effectiveness, production system enabled a
thorough knowledge of the managers about the happenings on the gamut of
the shop floor, time studies enabled what workers were capacitated at doing
and the piece –rate system to ensure that the instructions are followed by
the employees. The systematic management and the scientific management, the two
events of Taylors work are intimately related. They had common base and the people drawn
towards had the same purpose. Their distinction also is quite palpable. However the work at
Bethlehem Steel of Taylor proved to be more fruitful and Taylor devoted his time and money
for propagating scientific management. In the journal of American Society of Mechanical
Engineers , Taylors extensive work called shop management came up as a report . The
complex system of Scientific management which is also called the Classical perspective of
more known Taylorism is a method in the theory of management which came up in the
journal. It vouches to improve the shop floor management and labour management. This is

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in short how came out The Principles of Scientific Management. The rules of thumb were
replaced by the carefully studied precise procedures which were developed by watching an
individual at work.

In the literature of management today, Taylorism has come as a way of doing improved
business by adhering to a better system. It is by job distribution to the most and doing
division of labour and engaging workers for repetitive works. Political proponents find it has
the consequence of de-skilling the work-force and depriving them of the greater skill as a

General approach of the Scientific Management

 Find out workers who are suitable for a particular task

 Train on the general work
 Plan the work and crop out disruptions at work place
 Incentivise the increased work efforts
 SOP or standard of performance for each job

Contributions of the Scientific Management

 Process Improvement
 Scientific methods of managing the business
 Importance of incentives and pay
 Tasks and jobs to be carefully studied and piece mealed
 Importance of selecting the right candidate
 Training of the workforce is imperative

Elements of the Scientific Management

 Authority is official
 Labour has to be defined
 Positions are placed according to the hierarchy and authority level
 Selection of labour is based on the technical competency, experience and skill sets
 Actions are allowed and decisions followed to have continuity and memory
 Management of the organisation falls on the hired staff which is different from
ownership
 Rules and regulations are followed by managers to enforce predictable behaviour

3
Toyota’s imbibing Scientific Management

Toyota Motors Corporation is the greatest vehicle maker in the Universe that has imbibed
the Scientific Management principles of Taylor. It has derived a system of its own called
Toyotism which was created by Taiichi Ohno the former president of Toyota which has been
termed as the Toyota Production System or TPS . We shall first see what is Toyotism and
then analyse how it is similar to the Scientific method of Management. According to
Professor Bob Emilani, “Taylor’s Scientifc management had profound impact on the
Toyotism”.

Toyotism has major rules the : the “merely in clip” system and along with that the”
Autonomation” system. The” merely in clip” system means that production will be in a
condition to consume the stock listed. In fact the stocks are necessary for a company to
stay in good form and require a particular system in saving which can be won rarely. There
needs to be payment for the stock of goods. The kanban method insists on bringing stock
when the goods and services demand the same.

The merely in clip position replicates the idea of Taylor of the continuous
uninterrupted job forced on the labour to decrease the stock list through though-
put. It advocates the bringing of merchandises and stuffs necessary for the
production only when they are required . It ensures that there is no waste and
there are no holds. It reduces the costs. The JIT helps in curtailing the cost by
diminishing the waste materials and taking variableness and bettering
throughput

The second rule is the Autonomation ( liberty +mechanization) which is the

second rule of Toyotism. The kaizen is for the better ment of system. The
Kaizen has ways to make the standard production process split up to make the
diverse and varied production making more steps in operation. The system is
done to complete the word efficaciously. This has also similarity with Taylorism.
The workers are empowered to de-specialise and be flexible though. Examples
may be given of preventive maintenance routines where simple halt devices are
equipped on the machines which allow the supervising of the machine by the

4
same operator. In the event of a dislocation or a defect the worker will stop the
job and assembly and will work out the job for himself.

Like Taylorism, Toyotism consists in the bringing down of the cost of

production , avoiding of the overrun and curtailing the holds. Thus it ensures to
make the best quality possible.

The five condition of Toyotism are as follows

– 0 hold ( Production which is just in time. This methods reduces the time of
taking an order and the delivery of the same without the hoarding of stock)

– 0 stock ( No overflow of the stock )

– 0 paper (Reduction of paper-work and shortening of intime process. )

– 0 default (There should not be any defective goods that the client has to be
paid with penalty)

– 0 weakening (With preventive maintenance there should be no defect of

machine)

Any activity or work that is non-value added is a waste and the client determines
the cost of the goods and services delivered. Waste is reduced to zero to
increase profitability. There are seven types of waste which has been described
by Taiichi Onho.

– Overproduction (excess in the stock-list which is a blockage and wastage of

money

– Wait ( If an employee has to wait for his goods to be got, if there is gap in
transportation of if there is time of waiting between the order got and delivered it
is termed as wait. This wait is wastage convertible in money. )

– Transportation system (goods may be damaged or lost in transit and the cost
incurred is a wastage or loss to the organism).

5
– Inventory (unrealised or unsold stock-list even when the work is in progress
and the goods are not sold and realised in the market is a wastage).

– Gesture ( the equipment of people which are not required )

– Defective merchandises (With defects in the merchandise got one has to incur
losses of time and money even if claims are made . This calls for waste in time
labour and money. )

– Over-processing (Working in a pattern in which no value addition has been

made for the client. )

Conclusion

Toyotism thus has similarity with the Scientific Management of Taylor which has
stressed on the reduction of wastage, division of labour and implementation of
standard work as piece-meal, preventive maintenance and repletion of tasks to
make the management on the production house better. Both the processes
discard the lengthy paperwork and red-tape and propagates in faster movement
of man and machine. Important here to say here is that before Toyotism,
Fordism had developed and the concepts of Ford were bettered by Toyota in the
manufacturing of cars or rather in a manufacturing industry.

References :

Japanese Language Institute. 2012. Toyota Production System. [ONLINE] Available

at: https://www.slideshare.net/NewGene_International/toyota-production-system-14050304.
[Accessed 21 November 2018].

Alek Kiennar. 2011. Neo-Taylorism vs Toyota Production System vs Human Relations

Movement for Knowledge Work. [ONLINE] Available
at: https://foliovision.com/2011/07/taylorism-vs-hrm-vs-tps. [Accessed 21 November 2018].

Bob Emiliani. 2017. On Scientific Management and Toyota. [ONLINE] Available

at: http://janhoglund.eu/bob-emiliani-on-scientific-management-and-toyota-management/.
[Accessed 21 November 2018].

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David a. Hounshell. 1988. The Same Old Principles in the New Manufacturing. [ONLINE]
Available at: https://hbr.org/1988/11/the-same-old-principles-in-the-new-manufacturing.
[Accessed 21 November 2018].

Sudhir Kabra et al. 2017. Thoughts and Theories of Scientific Management. [ONLINE]

Available at: https://www.appreciatingsystems.com/.../7368448-Thoughts.... [Accessed 21
November 2018].

Rohleder, E., 1999. Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management and the Implications for
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Business Dictionary. 2016. scientific management Read more:

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Smriti Chand. 2018. Scientific Management: it’s Meaning and Definition – Explained!.

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meaning-and-definition-explained/25841. [Accessed 21 November 2018].

Mindtools. 2018. Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management. [ONLINE] Available

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