Scientific Management Essay Example for Free

Scientific Management Essay Representatives of capital supporter scientific management. It proposes to increase industrial output by managing labour scientifically. But organized labour does not want to be scientifically managed. It is not keen about being managed at all. It exists, in fact, to manage itself. Labour controversies, as carried on by the American Federation of Labour, are demands for a voice in the settlement of conditions of work. But this demand is not recognized by capital as a principle. It is only recognized as a necessity when labour, through superior strength, secures its demands in this trade and that. The concession to labour of a voice in determining conditions of work means by implication to capital that management as a whole is still in its own hands; it also means that its actual title to superior, or ownership rights, is not in question. The Industrial Workers of the World leaves no doubt in the mind of capital that it claims only a voice in the management of industry. It makes its fight on the grounds of labours sole ownership, as well as right, to sole management in all that labour produces. Every strike, every difference between organized labour and capital, is an attempt of the former to wrest management, or some degree of management, from the latter. Whether it is an A. F. of L. or an I. W. W. fights, there is in each and every one this issue of management. The question of management is, in fact, the labour movement. If production is to be scientifically managed, organized labour insists that it shall have a hand in the management, or it shall do the managing. It refuses to grow enthusiastic over propositions, which are worked out for it, or without its cooperation, by others who claim to know better than labour knows what is for its good. It was with something like pained surprise that the advocates of scientific management discovered that their propositions to manage labour more efficiently, and to lighten its burdens, met a cold reception at the hands of the conservative, as well as the radical, labour unions. It is conceivable that the efficiency systems of scientific management might admit the labour unions in conference in the settlement of conditions; but it is evident that nothing is further from the intention of the promoters of the science, and that such a proposition would quite seriously impair its purpose. Mr. Frederick W. Taylor, the leader of the movement, states: The greater advantage comes from the new and unheard-of burdens which are assumed by the men in the management, duties which have never been performed by the men or the management side.(1) These new duties Mr. Taylor divides into four large classes, calling them The Four Principles of Scientific Management, all of which, he says, are necessary to secure its object, which is the increased output per unit of human effort. The first of these four great duties (as he also names them), which are undertaken by the management, is to deliberately gather in all the rule of thumb knowledge, which is possessed, by all the twenty different kinds of tradesmen who are at work in the establishment. Knowledge, which has never been recorded, is in the heads, hands and bodies, in the knack, skill and dexterity, which these men possess. The second of the new duties assumed by the management is the scientific selection and then the progressive development of the workmen. The workmen are studied; it may seem preposterous, but they are studied just as machines have been studied. The third duty is to bring the scientifically selected workmen and the science together. They must be brought together; they will not come together without it. I do not wish for an instant to have any one think I have a poor opinion of a workman; far from it. I merely state a fact when I say that you may put your scientific methods before a workman all you are a mind to, and nine times out of ten he will do the same old way when I say, make the workman do his work in accordance with the laws of science I do not say make in an arbitrary sense I want to qualify the word make, it has rather a hard sound. Some one must inspire the man to make the change. The fourth principle is a deliberate division of the work, which was formerly done by the workman into two sections, one of which is handed over to the management. An immense mass of new duties is thrown on the management, which formerly belonged to the workmen requiring cooperation between the management and the workmen, which accounts more than anything else for the fact that there has never been a strike under scientific management. In one of our machine shops, for instance, where we do miscellaneous work there will be at least one man on the management side for every three workmen.(2) Each one of these scientific propositions is perfectly familiar to the workman in spite of the rather naive assurance of the efficiency engineers that they are new. He has known them in slightly different guise for a century past. The new thing is the proposition to develop what has been in the past the tricks of the trade into a principle of production. Scientific management logically follows and completes the factory process. The first and fourth of Mr. Taylors great duties or principles is to deliberately gather in all the rule of thumb knowledge of all workmen, and transfer this knowledge to the management. That is exactly what machinery did and is still doing to craft workers. It usurped the knowledge of the worker and transferred that knowledge to the management. The great discovery of scientific management is that machinery is not absorbing completely, or as completely as it should, a workmans trade knowledge. Mr. Taylor says: This knowledge is the greatest asset that a workman possesses. It is his capital.(3) The task, which efficiency engineers have set, themselves is to gather up the last vestiges of capital possessed by the workingman, and place it for safe keeping and efficiency under The Management. There is an impression that all efficiency methods originate in the brains of efficiency engineers, or with the management. Mr. Taylor is not alone in assuring us that the methods are discovered in the heads and in the hands of the workers, that they are the result of the workers experience in very great degree. A manufacturer as an illustration told the following story: A shoe manufacturer told one girl that he wanted to see how much she could do. She said: Well, there is a certain kind of a filler that I used in another factory. If you will use that kind of filler I can do my work so much more quickly. Another thing, the paper you are using on that tip is too coarse. If you will use a finer paper I wont have to use so much filler. The story concluded: So that girl and this manufacturer worked out a condition that made it easier for her to perform more work.(4) Scientific management is a good scavenger. It is out for every scrap of trade knowledge. Following the machine, it proposes to clean up the last vestige of craftsmanship and to put the shipshape touches to modern industry. There are to be no chance bits of capital lying around loose in the hands of this man and that when the efficiency engineers have finished their job. The second and third of the Four Principles show how this is done. Mr. Taylor says: The workmen are studied just as machines have been studied. And, finally, it is necessary to bring the scientifically selected workman and the science together by inspiring the workman. The workman is to be scientifically selected by a teacher instead of by a foreman; he is to be studied by this teacher, as well as taught, and the unit of human effort is to be squeezed out of him by observing the law of rest and fatigue. He is to be inspired by the same old bonus of the same old task system in which he has served his time. But the bonus or rate, according to efficiency engineers, is never to be cut, as employers who speeded up their workers have cut it in the past. If the old-time employer ever made so gentlemanly a promise regarding the continuous payment of a bonus, he knew he could not keep it. He knew that even out of the goodness of his heart he could not indefinitely continue a bonus or a rate, which his competitors did not pay. But apparently scientific management requires of industry certain ethical standards. Mr. Taylor says that scientific management involves a complete revolution, both on the part of the management and of the men; a complete change in the mental attitude on both sides. Labour would agree with Mr. Taylor, and add that it would require as well a mental revolution in Wall Street. Apparently this is what the New Capitalism, of which scientific management is a part, does require. New Capitalism proposes to disregard the law of wages, and to substitute a beneficent law, which pays better wages, also better profits. But the results have not as yet justified the workers in surrendering their own agencies for self-protection. As yet labour is unconscious of any sloughing off in hardships under the law of supply and demand. It is not conscious that the introduction of methods, which have, for their object the increased output of human effort has had any appreciable connection with wages or wage rates. Union men cite numberless cases where efficiency methods have been introduced, like the task and bonus systems, the stop watch, the observation of the laws of rest and fatigue, and yet wage rates were not increased, but were, in the course of time, reduced. The efficiency engineer answers: Ah, then that is not scientific management! But he will state in conventions to other efficiency engineers that he has great trouble in getting the management to carry out the end of their program, which will insure the worker, the receipt of his bonus. An efficiency promoter observed on one of these occasions: I have had so many letters from people who look on scientific management as a new instrument by which they could squeeze a little more out of the workman and give him no return. I do not want to have anything to do with them. We must share what we get.(5) Organized labour appreciates the wish, but recognizes the difficulty for an efficiency engineer to be an engineer and a financier in action at one and the same time. It is not the efficiency engineer who can fulfil his own promise. He must leave it to the capitalists to share what they get of the new capital which the engineer has collected out of the hands or brains of the workers. In scientifically managed plants there is no change whatever in the status of capital and labour, except the extended enslavement of the latter. Efficiency engineers might successfully promote scientific management by advertising their hope that the management will share what it gets if the factory system had been a less efficient teacher. But the factory system has taught the workers by a series of object lessons. Labour unions represent those workers who have learned that they must rely on schemes for relief, which they themselves initiate, or control. The rest and fatigue schemes of scientific management are especially worthy of suspicion. These schemes propose to finish the job of reducing the labour to a machine attachment, to rob him of what little initiative may be left him in a certain freedom of motion. Mr. Taylor defines his idea of initiative. He says: The manufacturer who has any intelligence must realize that his first duty should be to obtain the initiative of all these tradesmen who are working under him; to obtain their hard work, their good will, their ingenuity, their determination to treat the employers business as if it were their own. And in this connection I wish to strain the meaning of the word initiative to indicate all of these good qualities.(6) All propositions to increase wealth make an appeal to imagination. No one, certainly not organized labour, doubts the ability of American capitalists to discover new schemes neither for increasing the output, nor of the American workman to produce it. It has been reported that the labour cost of production in England, with its lower wage rates, is higher than the cost in America, because the American workmen, through the pressure of management, yield an amount per worker unknown to English labour. Scientific management proposes to increase this yield by several hundred percent. Workers looking back a generation or two may admit that with the introduction of machine processes they have here and there reaped a harvest of several cotton shirts instead of one woollen, a standing lamp instead of the ancestral candlestick, and, as clear gain, a Victor talking machine. But no one is ever jubilant over luxuries, which they have bought with their lives. It is organized labour alone that remembers the ghastly price paid for increased consumption; the generations of men, women, and children who have been maimed and murdered in the process. Greed and desire, not the well being of labour, are still the motive forces back of increased wealth production. If we are about to enter upon an era of a New Capitalism which recognizes that it will pay to increase the number of cotton shirts without exacting so heavy a toll as has been exacted in the past, organized labour still demands that it shall determine, or have a voice in determining, what that toll shall be and what shall be the reward. Scientific management, the promoters say, recognizes no difference in determining standards of efficiency between management, capital goods and labour. Well and good; labour does. Organized labours observations of a worker do not end with the days work. They extend over the wear and tear of a lifetime. They take into consideration a workers ability to react after work, mentally as well as physically. They take into consideration the workers ability to realize his maximum in his non-labouring hours. And they would also consider his ability to realize his maximum in his labouring hours if labour had an opportunity to fix a maximum consistent with the life interests of labour as a whole. The difference between scientific management and organized labour is that the aim of the latter is to make men, the aim of the former is to make goods.

Binge Drinking Essay example -- Drugs Alcohol Alcoholism Essays

Binge Drinking On a wet, dark, and snowy Sunday night an outsider wouldn't expect a Northeastern University campus bar to be crowded. In fact, most students can't even leave their dorms because there is too much snow. Yet a tiny pub, located barely off campus on Gainesboro Street, is packed wall to wall with students. A small community is drinking away their problems while discussing the probability of school being canceled. Many experts would describe this act as binge drinking, but any student would prefer to describe it as just a regular Sunday night. The Harvard School of Public Health has done numerous studies on college binge drinking. These studies are known as the standard for binge drinking data. They define binge drinking for men as the consumption of five or more drinks in a row at least once in the past two weeks. Women are considered binge drinkers when they consume four or more drinks in a row. This is a growing problem among college students throughout the country. According to the Harvard study, in 1999, 44 percent of college students were binge drinkers. Results of the survey prove that drinking is the most serious drug problem on college campuses. Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., was the doctor who authored the Harvard study. The term â€Å"binge drinking† was used by Wechsler and colleagues in Massachusetts several years before the study. The term is now a mainstream term used to describe drinking among college students that leads to serious problems. "Binge Drinking has so many negative effects on students, and I see it first hand. Students should be careful they don’t develop alcoholism, because then you have a serious problem,† said Danna Kobo a sophomore at Northeastern. A study by the federally appoin... ...â€Å"A lot of students tell me their depressed, and then they tell me that they’ve been drinking a lot more often lately. Since alcohol is a major depressant, this is usually where I begin in terms of helping them,† said Birnberg. The counseling center is also loaded with useful pamphlets and handouts discussing the negative effects of drinking. The U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Center for Alcohol and Drug Prevention is actively trying to fight binge drinking by students. They recommend restricting marketing and promotion of alcoholic beverages both on and off campus. They also encourage colleges to create a social, academic, and residential environment that supports health-promoting tactics. Drinking on college campuses has always been an issue, and the truth is, it will continue to be an issue for as long as young adults continue to attend college.

Accounting-Financial Statements Essay

Introduces the four financial statements–Income Statement, Statement of Retained Earnings, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Cash Flows. Accounting as the language of business is discussed along with an introduction of the various users of accounting information. Financial and Managerial accounting are compared. The four ways to organize a business – proprietorship, partnership, limited – liability company, and corporation, are discussed. An introduction and contrast of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is done. The Entity Assumption, Continuity (Going Concern) Assumption, Historical Cost Principle, and Stable – Monetary – Unit Assumption are explained. The accounting equation – Assets = Liabilities + Stockholder’s Equity is presented along with definitions and explanations of each component of the equation. A detail presentation of each of the four previously mentioned financial statements is given. Each account classification of the financial statements – assets, liabilities, stockholder’s equity, revenue, and expenses are thoroughly explained and examples of common account titles used are given. The process of evaluating a company through the use of the financial statements is shown. A discussion of business ethics in accounting decisions is done. An end of chapter summary problem emphasizes the preparation as well as understanding of the financial statements. An accounting vocabulary section explains all the new accounting terms. The End of Chapter Access Your Progress allows the student to determine how well he grasped the information presented in the chapter. Traditional exercises and problems solidify the student’s understanding of the material. Teaching Outline . Define a. Financial Accounting b. Managerial Accounting c. Contrast Financial and Managerial Accounting 2. Describe the users of financial information: a. Individuals b. Business Managers c. Investors d. Creditors e. Government Regulatory Agencies f. Taxing Authorities g. Nonprofit Organizations h. Other Organizations 3. Explain a. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) i. Generally Accepted Account ing Principles (GAAP) b. International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) i. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) c. Compare GAAP and IFRS 4. Define and discuss Accounting Principles, Assumptions and Concepts a. Entity Assumption b. Continuity (Going Concern) Assumption c. Historical Cost Principle d. Stable Monetary Unit Assumption 5. Introduce the Accounting Equation a. Define and discuss common account titles: i. Assets ii. Liabilities iii. Stockholder’s Equity b. Define and discuss common account titles; i. Revenue ii. Expense iii. Retained Earnings c. Discuss Paid in Capital and Dividends 6. Explain and Prepare the Financial Statements a. Income Statement b. Statements of Retained Earnings c. Balance Sheet d. Statement of Cash Flows 7. Use Financial Statements to evaluate business performance a. Explain the relationship among the financial statements 8. Ethics in Business and Accounting Decisions a. The role of judgment in making decisions b. Economic factors c. Legal factors d. Ethical factors Key Topics The financial statements are actually reports on how well or poorly a business performed during a specified period of time. Chapter one actually presents the four basic financial statements and other relevant information that is needed to adequately prepare the financial statements. First one must understand that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) develops the rules and guidelines in the United States that must be adhered to in preparing the financial statements. These guidelines are known as the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) develops the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) which are the international or global standards. Exhibit 1-3 gives an overview of the joint conceptual framework of accounting developed by the FASB and the IASB. However, the SEC announced that it will soon require all American companies to adopt the IFRS. This adoption is currently slated to begin the initial phase in 2014 with all companies on board by 2016. The adoption of the IFRS by all American companies will facilitate the process of comparing financial statements of like industries globally. Also, it will eliminate the need of many companies to prepare several sets of financial statements. Accounting is often labeled as the language of business and there are external as well as internal users of accounting information. Individuals, investors and creditors, regulatory bodies as well as nonprofit organizations are just some of the noted users of the accounting information. The accounting information is expected to be accurate as well as timely in order to satisfy the need of the users. There are two different types of accounting that is needed by the users. They are Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting. Financial Accounting primarily provides information to the external users and managerial primarily serves the internal users. This information is used in each and every type of business organization. There is the sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, and the corporation. Each of these businesses differs as far as the form of ownership and other accounting details however, each is dependent on accurate and timely information in order to operate at the optimum level. There are some key accounting principles, assumptions, and concepts used in adequately preparing the accounting records. The first one discussed in this chapter is the assumption entity. This is the underlying assumption, which can be taken by the users of the financial statements, that a business is a separate economic entity. Each business is treated as a separate and distinct entity to enable the accountant to adequately measure the financial performance of the business. The Continuity (Going Concern) Assumption is also discussed here. This is the assumption that the business will continue to exist long enough to use the existing assets for their intended purpose. If the business does intend to continue to operate and employ the assets as intended, it does not have to be disclosed in the financial statements. However, if there is an intention not to continue to operate it must be disclosed somewhere in the financial statements. The Historical Cost Principle is presented such that one will understand that actual cost is used as the valuing system for all accounting transactions. Actual cost is verifiable as well as unbiased and therefore used to insure that the accounting records are prepared in a relevant as well as reliable manner. The Stable Monetary Unit Assumption is also presented in this chapter. This is the assumption that the purchase power of a dollar does not fluctuate. That is, one can purchase the same amount with a dollar today that he/she could a year ago. This assumption allows the accountant to ignore inflation and add or subtract dollars from varying years without adjusting for inflation. This is sometimes difficult for students to understand because they have seen inflation as well as lagging economies however, the professor can assure the student that if needed there is a system developed to reliably compare statements from varying years. That system, however, is taught in upper level accounting courses. After developing an understanding of this material the student is then introduced to the Accounting Equation. That is: Assets = Liabilities + Owners’ Equity. It is imperative that the student understand the importance that this equation plays in preparing the financial statements. This equation presents the resources of a company as well as the claims on those resources. One must also note that this equation must be kept in balance at all times. Assets are presented as economic resources of the entity that are expected to be of future benefit. These resources have two types of claims against them: liabilities – outside claims and owners’ equity – insider claims. See exhibit 1-4 to help present the fact that the two sides must equal. The influence on stockholders’ equity by, paid-in capital, and retained earnings must be explained. Also, the manner in which revenue, expenses and dividends effect retained earnings should be explained. Remember to stress that dividends do not affect net income. They are not subtracted from revenue to determine the net income. Rather, they are subtracted from retained earnings. The financial statements are now to be presented. The Income Statement is the also referred to as the statement of operations because it measures the operating performance. It reports the revenues earned as well as the expenses incurred during a specified period of time. The expenses are subtracted from the revenue to determine the net income/loss for the accounting period. Net income is said to be the single most important item in the financial statements. The Statement of Retained Earnings is prepared after the Income Statement because the net income/loss from the Income Statement is needed to prepare the Statement of Retained Earnings. Retained earnings are simply the portion of the net income that the company has kept in the business. The Statement of Retained Earnings shows the changes that occurred in the retained earnings during the accounting period. Be sure to note that the net income is added to the beginning retained earning balance and the dividends are subtracted in order to determine the ending retained earnings balance. The Balance Sheet is prepared after the Statement of Retained Earnings because the ending retained earnings balance is needed to prepare the Balance Sheet. Statement of Financial Position is another name given to the Balance Sheet because it actually measures the financial position of a company. This statement reports on the assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity of a company. A good way to help the students understand the information given by the Balance Sheet is to tell them that it gives a quick snapshot view of the financial status of the company on one day. That day is generally the end of the accounting period. The sum of the assets is expected to equal the sum of the liabilities and the stockholders’ equity. See exhibit 1-9. The Statement of Cash Flow measures the cash receipts and payments. This statement reports on cash flows from three major activities: operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities. The net increase/decrease in cash from these three activities is then determined and added to the beginning cash balance to get the ending cash balance. In the financial statement conclusions it is important make sure the students know the purpose of each financial statement. It is also important that the students know the order of preparation as well as the formulas for each financial statement. Good business requires decision making, which in turn requires the exercise of good judgment. Making good judgments in business in general and accounting in particular should take into account not only economic, but legal and ethical dimensions as well. The last section of the chapter presents an ethical decision making model that is used consistently throughout the rest of the book. Use of the model emphasizes that good decisions are not always based just on the basis of how much money a company can make immediately.

Surveillance The Act Of Surveillance - 1526 Words

The act of Surveillance refers to continuous monitoring of activities of a particular area or a person. Mass Surveillance refers to monitoring activities of a sample population or target group. The video monitoring at malls or stores and the installed CCTV at traffic signals is also an act of mass surveillance. However, such surveillance has become important part of business operation or road safety management due to video recorded proof in case of any crime. We stand at an age where nothing is anymore private or personal in terms of data and information confidentiality. The world is torn apart in two, one who supports Mass Surveillance in the name of security and the other despises such surveillance as it is harmful to right to privacy. However, there has been cases where Mass Surveillance has been misused, especially by the government, and have caused intrusion of privacy of the public in general. Mass Surveillance gained its rise post 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. I t was used in high frequency in order to monitor activities of suspected population and the act seems justified in a way as it was expected from the government to implement drastic scrutiny to prevent such grave attacks in the future. However, the secretive nature of such programs were exposed by Edward Snowden, a former contractor at National Security Agency in United States. The reaction of citizens and media were not favorable to the secretive programs of global surveillance as theyShow MoreRelatedThe Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Essay795 Words   |  4 PagesThe Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) was created by Congress in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. The role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is to provide judicial oversight of Intelligence Community activities in a classified setting. It is composed of federal judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 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The secreting or hoarding of knowledge or information may be an act of tyranny camouflaged as humility.† - Robin Morgan With all the atrocities unfolding around us from the rise of ISIL to the recent Parliament Hill Shootings in Ottawa, it is easy for us to think - on impulse - that we need to do more to keep ourselves safe. It is easy for spy agencies to operate on the belief that they need to collect more of our information to fulfill their responsibilitiesRead MoreThe Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Analysis, Pros and Cons1767 Words   |  8 PagesTHE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT: ANALYSIS, PROS AND CONS INTRODUCTION The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is an Act of Congress passed in 1978 and signed by the then President Jimmy Carter. The Act stipulates the procedures to be followed when obtaining intelligence from foreign powers and agents of foreign powers both physically and electronically. The Act has been amended severally. 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