... consequently not all of its tenants are applicable to modern organisations. Scientific Management is perhaps best seen as an evolutionary stage in managements ever developing history. This essay will attempt to highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of Scientific Management in context of the 21st Century through examination of its application in several modern organisations. Scientific Management was developed in the first quarter of the 20th Century; its father is commonly accepted to be F.W. Taylor although variations of the theory have been developed by Gantt and Gilbreth. Taylor recognized labour productivity was largely inefficient due to a workforce that functioned by 'rules of thumb' and a mentality that equated increased productivity with a cutting down of the labour force. Against the backdrop of Bethlehem Steel plant Taylor carried out studies to insure that factual scientific knowledge would replace the traditional 'rules of thumb'. The backbone of this was ...

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