Management and Organizations in a Global Environment for Taylorism

Question: Discuss about theManagement and Organizations in a Global Environment for Taylorism. Answer: Introduction Taylorism is an effort to formulate business decisions on the grounds of data or information that is quantitatively studied and tested. Frederick Winslow Taylor advocated for Taylorism and regarded it as a management function to pinpoint methods in which expenses could be accounted for effectively to improve the functionality of an organization. Consequently, Fordism denotes the adoption of Henry Fords concept of mass production coupled with an autocratic management. In other words, this means limited democracy at the workplace and high labor division, but a considerable consolidation of huge salaries. On the other hand, Thomas Friedman defines globalization as the inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication systems to a degree never witnessed before (Lackner, 2017 p.60) This integration happens in a process that enables individuals. Countries, and corporations to spread across the globe cheaply, deeply, and faster than ever before. Key Ideas from Ford and Taylorism It was in 1908 when Henry Ford, in partnership with Alexander Malcomson, formulated visionary ideas which led to the launching of a car manufacturing company named The Ford Motor Company (Vidal, 2015 p.283) In essence, his idea was to produce cheap cars with the highest level of simplicity possible. This could be realized by innovating a new method of producing cars. With this burning desire in mind, Ford admired the efficiency of Fredrick Taylor. In brief, Taylors management theory was based on the concept that the productivity of an employee would be improved if he/she was assigned roles that perfectly match with their strengths and personal abilities (Mortenson, Doherty and Robinson, 2015 p.583). It must, however, be noted that this can only be attained if unnecessary physical movements are eliminated and the issue of time management is given the necessary attention. To clinch the desired production level, Ford then applied his groundbreaking concept, wherein, his employees would stay in the same position while the car bodies moved through the multiple workstations. As a result of the application of the assembly line automated technique, the time of production reduced significantly. Key Ideas from Thomas Friedman on Globalization According to Friedman, globalization is the interweaving of telecommunications, technology, markets, and information systems so as to compress the globe from a medium size to a considerably small size, and making it possible for people to navigate the world cheaply, deeply, and faster than ever seen before, and making it possible for the world to come closer to the people cheaply, deeply, and faster than ever seen before (Ezcurra and Rodrguez-Pose, 2013 p.100). Friedman further notes that globalization is an international system that was initiated to take over the Cold War system (Ritzer and Dean, 2015 p.33). Whereas the globalization system was based on one overarching characteristic which is integration, the Cold War system was grounded on one overarching characteristic which is division. Ford and Taylorism In the modern world, employees in the aforementioned nations would be skeptical about the idea of Taylorism in its initial form. This is so because technological innovations have changed the way things operate and adopting the theory would prove troublesome (Logue and Yates, 2001 p 59). For Taylorism to work in the current era, however, it needs to pass through a series of modifications. Considering the design of scripts for use in the call centers, it is evident that the theory of Taylorism has been applied, though partially as call centers operate in divided sections. With this in mind, the division of work is executable at the call centers depending on the job roles and area of specialization (Parker, 2005 p. 39). Notably, Taylors management theory was based on the concept that the productivity of an employee would be improved if he/she was assigned roles that perfectly match with their strengths and personal abilities. Indeed, it is not right to ignore ideas on the basis that they are out of date. Besides this, it is wrong to say that the world has moved on. There are many industries across the globe and definitely, a section of them might still need the ideas even if they were used many years ago. While the ideas in the clip were applied one hundred years ago, they still have a deep-rooted impact in the modern world. The concept of division of work, for instance, is widely accepted in many modern industries. In addition to this, many employers deem rewarding their excellently performing workers as essential to the success of their businesses (Pieterse, 2012 p.41). Taking a look at the start-up businesses, the launch of simple production methods keeps them afloat in the midst of the highly competitive market (Pieterse, 2012 p.43). Therefore, it is true to conclude that the age of the clip does not really matter. Rather, the thing matters is how these principles are utilized in the modern era. Thomas Friedman on Globalization Essentially, there are multiple notable risks of living in a flat world of globalization as explained by Friedman. According to Friedman, a flat world presents a platform devoid of barriers thus people have the freedom to unite, communicate, and work without boundary constraints (Friedman, 2005 p.33). However, Friedman submits that there are evident drawbacks associated with a flat world of Globalization 3.0. One of the disadvantages of living in such a world is that, as a consequence of business ethics, organizations face a lot of limitations and are forced to move to other nations, perhaps the developing ones, so as to cut on costs. The second drawback is that every person has his/her own thoughts; the thoughts of person A, for instance, are different from those of person B. As a result, conflicts may be witnessed. Third, in the absence of boundaries, people are given the freedom to formulate their own trade rules and this can be detrimental (Friedman, 2005 p.34). In addition to th is, terrorist attacks may become rampant as there is freedom of movement. I agree with Friedmans rules for reasons well explained in this section. In reference to the rule, when the world is flat, whatever can be done will be done (Friedman, 2005 p.33). And it will be done by only you. As a consequence of technological advancements, every person is free to execute his/her own actions. Looking at a recent development from the Southwest Airline, for instance, passengers can download and print their own air ticket online. In other words, the airline allowed people to act as their personal ticket agents. Therefore, it is upon each individual to come up with new concepts and have freedom do what they please (Friedman, 2005 p.35). I oppose the statement that the level of globalization is uniform across the world. Perhaps, it is worth mentioning that globalization is affected by multiple factors. Taking a look at developed countries, for instance, their level of technological advancement is far beyond the developing nations (Parker, 2005 p.26). As a result, the developed nations will globalize at a faster rate, leaving the others behind. Conclusion In conclusion, this paper has outlined the concepts of Ford and Taylorism and moved a step further to apply them in a real-life scenario. As seen in the paper, even though the clip was recorded 100 years ago, the underlying principles are still relevant in the modern era. In addition to this, Thomas Friedman presents some compelling arguments about globalization as outlined in this paper. References Ezcurra, R. and Rodrguez-Pose, A., 2013. Does economic globalization affect regional inequality? A cross-country analysis.World Development,52, pp.92-103. Friedman, T.L., 2005.The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. Macmillan. Lackner, H., 2017. Travel accounts from the United States and their influence on Taylorism, Fordism and Productivity in Austria. InThe Americanization/Westernization of Austria(pp. 38-60). Routledge. Logue, J. and Yates, J., 2001.The real world of employee ownership. Cornell University Press. Mortenson, M.J., Doherty, N.F. and Robinson, S., 2015. Operational research from Taylorism to Terabytes: A research agenda for the analytics age.European Journal of Operational Research,241(3), pp.583-595. Parker, B., 2005.Introduction to globalization and business: Relationships and responsibilities. Sage. Pieterse, J.N., 2012. Periodizing globalization: histories of globalization.New Global Studies,6(2). Ritzer, G. and Dean, P., 2015.Globalization: A basic text. John Wiley Sons. Vidal, M., 2015. Fordism and the Golden Age of Atlantic Capitalism.The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Work and Employment, p.283.