This systematic analysis of the workplace (work and worker), with the result of developing
standards and procedures in an effort to reorganize work (worker and workplace), was the focal point of Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management. Scientific Management was (however, it may
be more appropriate to say Scientific Management still is, as it has reared it’s head in new
incarnations; such as quality assurance (QA), total quality management (TQM);) an attempt
to apply the rigorous systematic analysis of the scientific method to all aspects of the work
process. Taylor felt that there was an optimum, effective, and efficient way for work to be conducted (including the worker’s role). All facets of the work process were to be fragmented and reduced to the smallest denominator. Work motions were scrutinized in an attempt to isolate the specific component movements of the work process in order to reconstruct a work process that included only the most necessary movements to accomplish the task. All movements/motions that were deemed extraneous, wasteful, or those not directly contributing to the accomplishment of the “work task“ were removed from the reconstituted work process.