The really distinctive feature of Taylorism thus is not the fact that Taylor tried to
mechanize the organization of people and work, but the degree to which he was able to
do this. Taylor's workers were expected to be as reliable, predictable, and efficient as the
robots that are now replacing them. History may well judge that Taylor came before his
time. His principles of scientific management make superb sense for organizing
production when robots rather than human beings are the main productive force, and
organizations can truly become machines.
Strengths and limitations of the machine metaphor
"Set goals and objectives and go for them."
"Organize rationally, efficiently, and clearly."
"Specify every detail so that everyone will be sure of the jobs that they have to perform."
"Plan, organize, and control, control, control."
These and other similar ideas are often ingrained in our way of thinking about
organization and in the way we evaluate organizational practice. For many people, it is
almost second nature to organize by setting up a structure of clearly defined activities
linked by clear lines of communication, coordination, and control. Thus, when a manager
designs an organization he or she frequently designs a formal structure of jobs into which
people can then be fitted. When a vacancy arises in an organization, managers frequently
talk about having "a slot" to fill. Much of our training and education is often geared to
making us "fit in" and feel comfortable in our appointed place, so that organization can
proceed in a rational and efficient way.
Classical management theory and scientific management were each pioneered and
sold to managers as the "one best way to organize." The early theorists believed that they
had discovered the principles of organization, which, if followed, would more or less
solve managerial problems forever. Now, we only have to look at the contemporary
organizational scene to find that they were completely wrong on this score. Indeed, if we
look closely, we find that their management principles often he at the basis of many
modem organizational problems.
Images or metaphors only create partial ways of seeing, for in encouraging us to see
and understand the world from one perspective they discourage us from seeing it from
others. This is exactly what has happened in the course of developing mechanistic
approaches to organization. In understanding organization as a rational, technical process,
mechanical imagery tends to underplay the human aspects of organization and to
overlook the fact that the tasks facing organizations are often much more complex,
uncertain, and difficult than those that can be performed by most machines.
The strengths and limitations of the machine as a metaphor for organization are reflected
in the strengths and limitations of mechanistic organization in practice.
The strengths can be stated very simply. Mechanistic approaches to organization work
well only under conditions where machines work well: (a) when there is a
straightforward task to perform; (b) when the environment is stable enough to ensure that