Scientific Management in France and China

Scientific management How was Taylorism received outside the USA? Contrast the reception of Taylorism in two different countries, one Western, one Asian, in your answer. Introduction Frederick W. Taylor with a group of followers who rallied alongside with him examines management in the late ninetieth and early twentieth century.

Scientific management then came along from Taylor’s studies of time management and productivity in an organization. It had made its first appearance in the USA which aims to improve workers wage, status and productivity (Wren and Bedeian 2009). However it faced acute rejections from the people.Despite of such skeptics, the group pressed on to spread the “gospel of such efficiency” worldwide, while others debating over the applicability of such efficiency. Nevertheless, Taylorism was widely used in many different countries up to today (Mullins 2007). In this essay, i will touch on how Taylorism was brought into France and China, and the acceptance of Taylorism in these countries, reflecting on the impacts it creates economically and socially.

France In the early years of twentieth century, many prominent French were on close relationships with Taylor (Walter-busch 2006).A portion of them were businessmen, scientists, sociologists and politicians. And amongst were Albert Thomas, France Minister for Munitions and a core committee member in the establishment of International Management Institute(IMI), and Henri Le Chateier, a scientist on industrial production. These two main men contributed much to the dissemination of Taylorism across the borders into France (Wren and Bedeian 2009).

Since their realization of such effective management style from Taylor, they introduced it to various business people in France whom sees the applicability of Taylorism to their companies.To name a few; Louis Ranault, Andre Michelin and Edouard, and these people eventually became the pioneer users of scientific management in France. By 1910 these companies had already put a substantial amount of such management methods into use (Wren and Bedeian 2009). And with words of compliment spreading across the country, other industrialists and private sectors like the managements of Compagnie Genarale Electricite, a French electricity company also sees the benefits of Taylorism soon after.

They employed some art of it, such as the usage of time-keeping equipments in the work units, and applying the “piece-rate” incentives method on the production line (Merkle 1980). Michelin the philanthropistic founder of Michelin tyres, along with other first few who learnt about Taylorism not only put such efficiency into use, they went through tireless effort to advocate others about it. Efforts such as setting up of committees to promote Taylorism, creating of Propaganda Campaigns and public advertisements on scientific managements were also printed on national magazines (Tesi 2009).There are no doubts about the benefits Taylorism had brought along. However on the other hand, substantive rejections were also present during earlier times. Le Chateier’s movements to introduce scientific management were at the dismay of many.

Since then, a series of strikes and protests by mainly workers broke out (Merkle 1980). After analysis carried out, it was evident that the introductions of certain scientific management methods were adopted prematurely that eventuated such violent condemnations (Merkle 1980).It was Albert Thomas who cannot stand the anti-Taylorist protest movements that again came into the picture that did much to salvage the situation. He collected information on the strikes that broke out at Renault in 1912 by personally contacting labor unions and Louis Renault. Addressing the issue to those partisans of revolutionary syndicalism, concluded that the more efficient methods of scientific management are adopted, it will leads to higher worker wages, shorter working hours and lower product prices (Walter-busch 2006).And further emphasized that Taylorism is fully at the interest of the both capitalists and workers.

With such high words from a person of his eminence, it overcomes the skepticism of the workers. To the addendums, with his usual practice of directing his orders by dictating through dozens of daily memos, he included numerous ideas and methods to introduce certain scientific management methods and also pen down various ways in dealing with problems of industrial and human relations in French industry of war (Walter-busch 2006).These further assisted to improve the reception of Taylorism in France. Although, initial introduction of Taylor’s idea were unwelcoming, nevertheless it was still employed by many industrialists in later years.

By 1930s, majority of the industrial sectors had already adopted scientific management to a very high extent (Kipping 1997). And distinctively, the success of the rebuilding French industrial bases was because of it (Hopf 1932). And it leads to the massive applications of Taylorism across the country up till today, examples will be Airbus and Carrefour.China On the other hand, China’s reception of Scientific management into the country were relatively more welcoming as compared to France. Chinese industrialists, government officials, business academics and all along the hierarchy of organization structures were attracted to the ideas of Western Management and invited the introduction of it (Morgan 2006).

People from china are generally more appreciative of scientific management. And it was the inter-war years when Taylorism (kexue guanli fa) first grew roots on china land.However one major problem encountered on the introduction of Taylorism into the country is the language barrier. Progressive measures are taken but it did not entire eradicate the issue. Along with many Chinese interpreters of scientific management, members of international movement for industrial efficiency joined force to resolving of this issue (Merkle 1980). Mu xiangyu, an established businessman who went to USA to obtain his degree and masters stumble across scientific management.

Upon realizing the benefits of it, he seeked permission from Taylor to translate the book- the Principles of Scientific Management, and he was enthusiastically responded with invitations to his house and provision of additional information by Taylor (Morgan 2006). Soon after, Chinese books of Scientific management were published. Apart from the introduction of Taylorism by book, Mu also employed these management styles in his cotton production factories. However during 1910s, all these initiatives did not attract much interest from other industrialists (Morgan 2006).But the irony back then is, Chinese were already utilizing managerial practices from the Soviet-planning model that took lessons from Taylorism (Merkle 1980).

It was when people felt the detriments world war one brought, there was a sudden surge in demand for higher wages and better conditions. Benefits of Scientific Management were then looked into again (Liu citied in Morgan2006). Several enterprises like Rong family cotton mill, Kangyuan Can factory and Shanghai Huasheng electrical company experimented with Taylorist-inspired methods claimed to have raised productivity and yield a 20%-30% increment of wages.China press also carried many articles on scientific management and discussion of Henry Ford’s personnel management (Morgan 2006). Furthermore, the Chinese Scientific Management Association was also set up to emphasize the promotion of scientific management. All this initiatives brought substantial introduction and adoption of Taylorism to china, workers resistance to it were minimal.

However, one major constraint faced by Chinese was the communication of Scientific management. It is difficult to translate from English to Chinese to pin-point the message taylor wanted to convey.And it resulted in several unorthodox methods being used. The historiography of Chinese business shows a poor understanding and use of the theory (Brown 1996). This affected the reception of the theory in the country causing a certain degree of skepticism towards the application of scientific management.

Other than that, China which has been part of networks based on dialect and native-place affiliation (Chan 2000), posted much problems to herself. It greatly hindered towards the sharing and disseminating of information between firms and across states/provinces.Resulting of Taylorism not being disseminated as desired. Nevertheless, china being a fast developing country is still heavily utilizing Taylorism.

There are still on-going promoted of scientific management during recently years by Chinese enterprise management association (Warner citied in Morgan 2006). In 2000 former president, Jiang Zeming also spoke highly of it. Conclusion As a comparison between France and China on the reception of Taylorism, I can conclude that Chinese were highly receptive of this western management style but impeded by their English language proficiency.Conversely, French were relatively less receptive. However French officials were still successful in introducing Taylorism to the nation. It is seen that receptions of such efficiency were less appreciated in the past.

However Taylorism which brought many benefits to the societies, nowadays are being advocated and utilized heavily all around the world. Countries integrated Taylorism into their own management styles to better serve their situations. And through the mental revolution, workers and managers are less resistive to many scientific management methods.With the fast moving economy, Taylorism will still continue to evolve as individuals and ideas come-fourth in the ever-changing environment (Wren and Bedeian 2009) Reference list Brown, RA 1996, ‘Chinese Business Enterprise’, Critical Perspectives in Business and Management, Vol.

4, Routledge, London Chan, KB 2000, ‘Chinese Business Networks: State, Economy and Culture’, Prentice-Hall, Singapore. Hopf, HA 1932, ‘The Management Movement at the Cross-Roads’, Hopf Institute of Management, no. Kipping, M 1997, ‘Consultancies, Institutions and the Diffusion of Taylorism in Britain, Germany and France, 1920s to 1950s’, Business History, vol. 30, no. 4, pp.

67-83. Merkle, JA 1980, ‘Management and ideology: The Legacy of the International Scientific Management Movement’, University of California Press Ltd, London. Morgan, SL 2006, ‘Transfer of Taylorist ideas to China, 1910-1930s’, Journal of Management History, Vol 12, No. 4, pp408-424, viewed 5 September 2011, Emerald Database Mullins, LJ 2007, ‘Management and Organisational Behaviour’, Prentice-Hall, Harlow.Tesi, F 2009, ‘The Application of Taylorism in France: The Role of the Michelin Family in the Rationalization of French Work’, Business and Economic History, vol.

7, pp. 1-22. Walter-Busch, E 2006, ‘Albert Thomas and scientific management in war and peace, 1914-1932’, Journal of Management History, Vol 12, No. 2, pp. 212-231, viewed 08 September 2011, Emerald Database Wren, DA & Bedeian, AG 2009, ‘The Evolution of Management Thought’, 6th edn, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.

Additional Readings Taylor, FW 1911,‘The Principles of Scientifc Management’, Harper & Row Publisher, New York.