Organisations To Services Is, Despite Its Limitations, Inevitable andIrreversibleThe Increasing Application of Scientific Management Principles Of WorkOrganisations To Services Is, Despite Its Limitations, Inevitable andIrreversible. IIntroductionFrom the outset of this essay it is necessary to define the basic principles ofScientific Management in order for the statement to be fully understood and whyif at all such a practice is inevitable’ and indeed irreversible’ within aservice industry context. The underlying belief that scientific management, or rationalisation= , is ableto provide the basis for separating management from the execution of work. Therationalisation of work has the effect of transferring functions of planning,allocation and co-ordination to managers, whilst reinforcing the managerialmonopoly of decision-making, motivation and control’.
Hales (1994). Taylor (1856-1915) has been referred to as the father of Scientific Management. He believed that management, not labour, was the cause of and potential solutionto problems in the industry. Taylor concluded that workers systematically soldiered’ because they believed that faster work would put them out of a joband because hourly or daily wages destroyed individual incentive. Taylorbelieved that in order to discourage, and indeed halt, this soldiering’ a mental revolution’ was required.
He believed this could be achieved via fourvital principles: (1) the development of the best work method, via systematicobservation, measurement and analysis; (2) the scientific selection anddevelopment of workers; (3) the relating and bringing together of the best workmethod and the developed and trained worker; (4) the co-operation of managersand non-managers which includes the division of work and the managersresponsibility of work. From this five key facets have evolved that lie at the foundation of scientificmanagement. Hales (1994) has summarised these as follows:- systematic standardised work methods via mechanisation and standardtimes. – a clean functional division between managers and non-mangers.
Braverman (1974) described this as the separation of conception fromexecution’. – centralised planning and control. – an instrumental, low-involvement employment relationship due to therequirement of the individual employee being that of just carrying out theirspecified low-skilled task. – an ideology of neutral technical efficiency.
Industries that have embraced such scientific management methods haveessentially deskilled the workforce, often by menial, repetitive tasks, and haveattempted to replace workers with machines wherever technically feasible andeconomic. A classic example of such an application is the Fordist principle ofthe production line. The remainder of the essay concentrates on the two keyaspects of the statement, i. e. that of inevitability and irreversibility. II Are Scientific Management principles inevitable and irreversible withinthe service industry ?It has been suggested that the principles of scientific management have beenwidely adopted throughout industry.
“The orientation of larger firms towards professional managers,engineers and consultants additionally provided a supportive framework for therise of Taylorism”. Thompson and Hugh (1990)Although this rise has certainly been evident within manufacturing industriesthe service industry has been slower to utilise the principles ofrationalisation. The question must therefore be asked why has the sector beenslow on the uptake of these beliefs and could the reason for this provide anargument against the suggestion of the inevitability’ of the principles withinthe service industries. For rationalisation to be applied three prerequisite conditions are required:clear and single objective (for example maximising profit); hard data ( forexample accounting information); and no more than limited and measurableuncertainties (for example normally distributed machine parts). In general thesethree conditions do not hold in the service sector. Furthermore the quantitiesand the types of resources differ greatly from manufacturing industries.
Withinthe service sector there is often more labour and less capital. This humanemphasis’ greatly limits the application of scientific management principles. Targett (1995) has identified seven distinctive characteristics that highlightthe limitations of applying scientific management principles and thereforeraising doubts over the inevitability’ of such management practices being usedin the service sector. – Measurement of output and performance is difficult.
Quality of servicecannot be measured solely by easily quantifiable data, such as revenue and salesvolume alone. For example, the performance of a health care organisation is acombination not only of financial results and patient throughput but also ofquality of care, the effectiveness of preventative measures and many otherfactors- The “product” is not tangible. Amongst the many effects of this arethat quality control is not straight forward. For example checking the qualityof car manufacture is a lot clearer task than checking the quality of servicegiven at a hotels reception desk.
– Production and consumption are usually simultaneous. A particularimplication of this is that there can be no inventory of the service itself,therefore not allowing systematic observation’ nor measurement. For example, ashop assistant’s advice to a customer cannot be stored. Hales (1994) hassuggested that where the end-product is tailored to specific customer wants, theoption of one best way’ is even more difficult to sustain. – The “product”is time perishable.
If a service is not used it is likelyto be wasted, again making systematic observation’ very difficult. – Site selection is governed by customers demand. This means thatoperations tend to be decentralised therefore preventing the scientificmanagement belief that planning and control should be centralised. – The industry is labour-intensive. This is a key characteristic andespecially important due to consumer/ employee contact in the delivery of aservice. Consequently this makes if very difficult to replace people withmachines.
In addition people tend to be more unpredictable than machines and aretherefore harder to encapsulate in a rationalisation model. These distinctive features somewhat limit the usefulness and effectiveness ofscientific management in the service sector as opposed to other sectors. Thistherefore questions the assumption of the inevitability’ of the managementpractices being applied in the sector. In contrast it can be argued that the service sector can embrace scientificmanagement successfully and indeed may well be unavoidable. Two central elementsto this ideology is the MacDonaldisation’ of society and the trend offranchising within the sector.
Furthermore Targett (1995) has identifiedtechniques now being employed to help apply rationalisation within serviceindustries, such as Data Envelope Analysis (DEA), enabling efficiency of staffto be measured. MacDonalds has successfully taken the rationalisation concept, down to a production line’ of burgers level, and successfully applied these within aservice industry context. MacDonalds scientific management style is apparent inthat it offers:- efficiency. – food and service that can be easily quantified and calculated. Ritzer(1993) suggests that some MacDonaldised institutes have come to combine theemphases on time and money.
For example Pizza Hut will serve a personal panpizza within five minutes or the pizza is free. Taylor would have surely eatenin a such a restaurant. – predictability of the food and service due to standardisation- control through the substitution of non-human for human technology. The humans who work in fast-food restaurants are trained to do a limited numberof tasks in precisely the way they are told to do them. Managers impose theircontrol by ensuring these tasks are carried out correctly. MacDonalds hassuccessfully introduced mechanisation so as to reduce the unpredictability ofthe human element.
Ritzer (1993) has argued that the success of MacDonalds”has influenced a wide range of undertakings, indeed the way of life, of asignificant portion of the world. And that influence is destined to continue toexpand in the foreseeable future”. Such a statement therefore appears to add weight to the argument of inevitability’. MacDonaldisation can now be seen in many service industriesincluding retailing, for example Toys R Us, or budget hotels, for example Motel6. Additionally scientific management is being applied by the franchiser sectorwithin the hospitality industry.
Franchisers stress the importance instandardised work methods, via centralised control, so as to ensure that eachfranchisee provides the same product and service. Some hotels, such as ChoiceHotels, have installed front desk computers that provides the receptionist withinformation that can be supplied to the guest, thereby standardising the serviceoffered and reducing staff training, thereby reducing costs. This is especiallyuseful in hotels whereby high turnover of labour often results in high stafftraining costs. From such an example it can be seen that the technologicalrevolution’ has greatly aided, and indeed encourages, the application ofscientific management in the service sector implying that such management isinevitable. Turning to the irreversibility’ aspect of the statement the motives of wantingto reverse rationalisation must be questioned. Ritzer (1993) has argued that thecritics of rationalisation within the service sector view the past with rosetinted spectacles with an impossible desire to return to world that no longerexists.
Such critics conveniently forget the liabilities associated with a pre-MacDonalds world. Furthermore Ritzer (1993) states”The increase in the number of people, the acceleration intechnological change, the increasing pace of life – all this and more make itimpossible to go back to a non-rationalised world, if it ever existed”. p. 13MacDonaldisation has become so entrenched in society that customers expectationshave risen to such a high level that certain sectors of the service industry,such as fast food outlets, could not be decentralised. Other factors that could prevent companies reversing rationalisation include theenormous costs involved in demechanising’ the company.
For example anincreasing amount of budget hotels are introducing costly automated self check-in consoles. Additionally decentralising companies would also involve massivemanagement engineering. Therefore, in light of such factors, the statement canbe partially supported in that it would be unlikely that rationalisation couldbe reversed. On the other hand some industries have reversed scientific management principlesto relieve monotony, improve morale, job satisfaction and ultimately increaseefficiency. Hales (1994) has noted that there has been a growing trend indecentralisation via job rotation, enlargement and enrichment as well as taskforces’ and project teams being more widely established. There has also beenincreasing emphasis on increased employee participation in companies.
Such anotion has been further developed and supported by the ideology behind Blair’sStakeholder Society. Therefore such change suggests that it is possible to reverse the application ofscientific management principles. III ConclusionTo conclude it can be suggested that scientific management, in its extreme form,applied in a hospitality context would result in something of a MacDonalds’experience. For example receptionists dealing with guests’ enquiries would beunable to treat them on a personal level as they would almost be reading somescript pre-written by central office.
My own belief is that this could not beapplied in the luxury end of the market as this undermines the actual productthat is expected. This therefore opposes the ideology that scientific managementis inevitable to the whole service industry. There is also a growing awareness of the dehumanising experience of a fast-foodrestaurant or budget hotel. This has resulted in an increased desire for a morepersonalised service and therefore an indication that some industries coulddecentralise. Furthermore the service sector, most notably hospitality, thrives on the multi-faceted individuals that are attracted to the industry.
But the deskilling dueto rationalisation means that such people are strait-jacketed into onedimensional jobs’ (Hales 1994) stifling variety and creativity. Therefore such asentiment tends to argue against the notion that scientific managementprinciples are inevitable. In summary to return to the original statement it can be argued against thebelief that scientific management is inevitable and irreversible throughout theentire service industry, although certainly some areas of the industry couldbenefit from utilising such a management strategy – notably in the budget sector. BibliographyHales, C. (1994) Managing Through Organisation, Routledge, London.
Peters, T. & Waterman, R. , In Search of excellence, Harper & Row, New York. Ritzer, G.
(1993) The MacDonaldization of Society. Targett, D. (1995) Management Science in service industries’, in Schmenner, R. W. (ed.
) Service Operations Management, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Taylor, F. W. (1984) Scientific Management’, in Pugh, D.
Organisation Theory,Penguin, Harmondsworth. Thompson, P. & McHugh, D. (1990) Work Organisations: A critical introduction,Manmillan, London.
