Taylor’s scientific management

Harmony not discord stresses cordial relations. Exam tip: connect cordial relation with harmony.

High productivity and cooperation increase prosperity of both parties. Exam tip: connect maximum prosperity with both sides.

Training develops correct method and efficiency. Exam tip: connect training with worker development.

Training develops a person and improves work. Exam tip: treat fewer mistakes as a training benefit.

Standards make comparison and control of work easier. Exam tip: connect standards with control.

A uniform safe method shows scientific and standardised work. Exam tip: connect uniform method with Taylor.

The correct answer is option B: cost may decrease. Method study examines the different ways of doing a job and selects the best method. The selected method may use less time, fewer movements, less material, less energy or fewer unnecessary steps. These savings can reduce the cost of producing a good or completing a service. The word “may” is important: method study aims at improvement, but the exact result can depend on implementation and conditions. Option A is wrong because cost does not necessarily increase; the purpose is generally to remove waste. Option B is correct because choosing an efficient method can lower cost. Option C is wrong because method study has a direct connection with efficiency and resource use, which affect cost. Option D is meaningless and incorrect; cost is not hidden by studying a method. Do not confuse method study with merely working faster. It means finding the best way to perform the whole task. Memory cue: better method → less waste → possible cost saving.

Removing unnecessary motions saves time and energy. Exam tip: write efficiency as the benefit of motion study.

Fewer varieties may simplify purchasing and storage. Exam tip: connect simplification with operational ease.

Taylor stressed worker development and efficiency. Exam tip: understand worker development as a Taylor principle.

Scientific management is based on science standards cooperation and efficiency. Exam tip: connect Taylor with productivity improvement.

The governing concept is Taylor’s principle of ‘cooperation, not individualism’. Scientific management expects management and workers to work together rather than treating production as the concern of only one side. Jointly setting production targets shows that both groups participate in achieving organisational objectives and accept a coordinated plan. Hence option A is correct. Time study is a technique used to determine the standard time required for a task; it does not describe joint target setting. Differential wages relate payment to performance levels, while simplification reduces unnecessary varieties, sizes, or designs. Neither explains the cooperative relationship shown in the situation.

The governing concept is functional foremanship under Taylor’s scientific management. The speed boss is responsible for ensuring that workers maintain the prescribed pace of work and that the planned speed is achieved. Since the stated problem is specifically inadequate working speed, option D is correct. A route clerk determines the sequence or path of operations, and an instruction-card clerk provides written directions about how a job should be performed. A disciplinarian deals mainly with worker discipline and compliance. Although all functional specialists may support production, the speed boss has the most direct responsibility for correcting the particular difficulty described.

The governing concept is the division of supervisory responsibility in Taylor’s functional foremanship. The repair boss is responsible for keeping machines, equipment, and tools in proper working condition and arranging necessary repairs. A machine that repeatedly breaks down requires precisely this specialist’s attention, so option A is correct. The inspector checks whether the work meets the required quality or standard. The disciplinarian deals with order, conduct, and rule compliance among workers. The route clerk decides the sequence and movement of operations. Those roles may support production, but none is as directly connected with recurring machine failure as the repair boss.

The governing concept is Taylor’s principle of ‘science, not rule of thumb’. It requires managers to study work scientifically, identify the most efficient method, and standardise that method instead of allowing each worker to rely on personal habit, guesswork, or traditional practice. Since the manager discovers one best way and requires everyone to use it, option D is correct. Harmony, not discord concerns cooperation between management and workers. Simplification reduces unnecessary varieties or designs. Fatigue study examines rest pauses and the effects of tiredness. Those ideas may belong to scientific management, but they do not specifically express replacing informal rules of thumb with a scientifically determined best method.

The correct answer is Taylor because functional foremanship is a technique associated with Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific management. Taylor proposed that supervision should be divided among specialist foremen so that workers could receive expert guidance in different aspects of their work. This is different from Fayol’s administrative principles, which explain broad principles for managing an organisation. Mayo is associated with human-relations studies, especially the Hawthorne experiments, while Weber is linked with bureaucratic organisation. Thus, the phrase “specialist foremen” is the key clue for identifying Taylor.

Option A is correct because Taylor is recognised as the father of scientific management. His approach applied systematic observation, measurement, standardisation, work study, and scientifically selected methods to improve efficiency. The fourteen principles, including scalar chain and equity, were formulated by Henri Fayol, not Taylor. Scalar chain concerns the formal line of authority, and equity concerns fairness in treatment; both belong to Fayol’s administrative principles. The question therefore tests the basic distinction between Taylor’s scientific, shop-floor-oriented approach and Fayol’s broader administrative approach. The direct association is Taylor–scientific management.

Option A identifies the mistake correctly: functional foremanship belongs to Taylor’s scientific management, not to Fayol’s administrative principles. Taylor suggested that supervision could be divided among specialist foremen, allowing different experts to guide workers on instruction, speed, maintenance, discipline, and related matters. Fayol’s contribution was a set of broad principles such as unity of command, division of work, scalar chain, and equity. Functional foremanship is neither a banking rule nor an advertising method, so options C and D are unrelated. Option B repeats the incorrect attribution rather than correcting it. The essential correction is Taylor, not Fayol.