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Doing versus Thinking: John Dewey

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Refining the suggestion 5. Testing ... rather than construct blanket systems of reward and punishment Scientific Management in the Modern Workplace ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Doing versus Thinking: John Dewey


1
Doing versus Thinking John Deweys Forgotten
Critique of Scientific Management
  • Shane J. Ralston, Ph.D.
  • Penn State University-Hazleton

2
Outline of the Paper
  • Frederick Winslow Taylor Father of
    Scientific Management (SM)
  • John Dewey Philosopher of Science and
    Management
  • Similarities/differences between their two
    accounts of SM
  • -Dewey, various texts on logic/inquiry/education
  • -Taylor,The Principles of Scientific Management
    (PSM) (1911)
  • - Deweys critique of Taylorism/SM in
    Democracy and Education (DE) (1916)
  • Q What are the implications of the
    Dewey-Taylor comparison for organizational
    theory/human resource administration/industrial
    relations?

3
The Dewey-Taylor Comparison
  • Initial points of comparison
  • Emphasis on experimental inquiry
  • Faith in technological progress
  • Professed commitment to industrial democracy,
    worker welfare
  • Belief that scientific method should be extended
    into all areas of life
  • No consensus among commentators (Patricia
    Shields, Keith Snider, G. Alan Tarr)
  • Deweys trenchant critique of Taylorism in
    DE weakens the comparison
  • Nevertheless, the implications of the
    comparison could prove fruitful

4
Deweyan Inquiry and SM
  • Deweys 5 Stages of Inquiry
  • Felt difficulty
  • Locate and define problem
  • Suggest possible solution(s)
  • Refine suggestion(s)
  • Test suggestion(s)
  • Dewey Management . . .
  • amounts to rule-of-thumb
  • procedure, to routine. If
  • circumstances resembled the past,
  • it might work well enough . . . (DE)

Dewey Democracy is a way of life
controlled by a working faith in the
possibilities of human nature
5
Taylor and the One Best Way
  • Taylorism management consulting (Kanigel,
    Lepore)
  • SM philosophy in industrial management
  • Four principles
  • One best way
  • Workers selected scientifically
  • Worker pay is a function of worker efficiency
  • Congenial worker-management relations
  • Taylors time-motion studies
  • Catalogue basic movements
  • Establish baseline data for time each movement
    takes
  • Experimentally determine standard time, quickest
    time quota

6
Deweys Critique of Taylorism
  • Concedes that the division of
    labor/standardized work procedures are necessary
    for industrial efficiency, but ...
  • Workers must derive intrinsic rewards from
    work
  • - Extrinsic rewards favor physical
    efficiency, end is independent of
  • action
  • - Social efficiency also matters
  • - Latent mind/body dualism in Taylors
    account
  • No one best way
  • - Always multiple methods for increasing
    productivity
  • - Different conception of the labor
    problem
  • - Better to empower employees by discovering
    what individually
  • motivates them, rather than construct
    blanket systems of reward and
  • punishment

7
Scientific Management in the Modern Workplace
From Taylor to Dewey
  • Widespread use of time studies and efficiency
    consultants, esp. in fast food industry ?
    McDonaldization of many employment sectors (auto,
    healthcare, bicycles)
  • Deweys approach closer to Human Relations
    Theory than SM
  • 1) Emphasizes intrinsic (not
    extrinsic) rewards, generate a positive work
    environment (similar To Elton Mayo)
  • 2) Supervisors should form supportive
    relationships with subordinates, empower,
    not command (similar to Fritz Roethlisberger)
  • 3) Develop informal/collaborative
    groups, promote workplace democracy (similar to
    Mary Parker Follet)
  • 4) Motivational strategy that
    integrates the end into the action, cultivates
    moral imagination

8
Conclusion
  • Danger Treating Taylorism as synonymous
    with SM
  • Key difference between Taylor and Dewey
  • Prospect of a joint Taylor-Dewey approach to
    human resource management and industrial
    relations

9
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