Lilian and Frank GILBRETH

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, who were immortalized in the book Cheaper by the Dozen, developed laws of human motion from which the principles of motion economy evolved. Their studies of efficiency resulted in a method for analyzing fundamental movements required to perform a job. Once the movements have been examined, the Gilbreths said, you can look for places to improve or lessen repetition.

F. Gilbreth founded his own construction company after working with a constructer as an apprentice. As a result of his analysis, he increased the number of bricks that a worker builds 200 percent from 120 to 350. Also, it does not require an extra attention; in contrast, his analyses increased productivity and decrease requirement of attention.

Their one of the most successful work was about hospitals. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, determined that there must be a standardized way to operate in any given hospital. They found a standardized way in hospital which resulted operating times dropping and survival rates increasing. This way was training doctors, nurses, technicians, and other healthcare professionals. The system that they made provides today’s engineers in lots of different areas.

These early ergonomists defined efficient, functional movements for laborers, which increased productivity and improved the health and safety of workers. Ergonomists still use a table developed by the Gilbreths to identify risk factors in the workplace.

Although the Gilbreths' work is often associated with that of Frederick Winslow Taylor, there was a substantial philosophical difference between the Gilbreths and Taylor. The symbol of Taylorism was the stopwatch, and Taylorism was primarily concerned with reducing the time of processes. The Gilbreths sought to make processes more efficient by reducing the motions involved. They saw their approach as more concerned with workers' welfare than was Taylorism, which workers often perceived as primarily concerned with profit. This led to a personal rift between Taylor and the Gilbreths, which after Taylor's death turned into a feud between the Gilbreths and Taylor's followers. After Frank's death, Lillian Gilbreth took steps to heal the rift, although some friction remains over questions of history and intellectual property.,

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gilbreth

metu library e resources

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=9&sid=b0c36458-d329-43d9-a1e7-1fe5fb1b03ef%40SRCSM1

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=9&sid=b0c36458-d329-43d9-a1e7-1fe5fb1b03ef%40SRCSM1

Henri FAYOL

HENRI FAYOL

Henrı Fayol(born in Istanbul in 1841) who has been described as the father of modern operational management theory was one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management.

His working life fell into four periods:

(1) his technical publications;

(2) publication of Administration Industrielle et Générale and its preceding

developmental speeches;

(3) the promotion of the Doctrine Administrative, and related publications;

(4) his management consulting reports.

Fayol proposed that there are five primary functions of management: (1) planning, (2) organizing, (3) commanding, (4) coordinating, and (5) controlling and he claimed that management theories can be developed as well as he started to work on it. Although his ideas have become a universal part of the modern management concepts, some writers continue to associate him with Frederick Winslow Taylor. One of the many areas that Fayol addressed to Taylor is the deal of the Taylor's scientific management and the efficient organization of production in the context of a competitive enterprise and a primary difference between Fayol and Taylor was that Taylor viewed management processes from the bottom up, while Fayol viewed it from the top down. The 14 principles of management were discussed in detail in his book published in 1917, Administration industrielle et générale. It was f published in English as General and Industrial Management in 1949 and is widely considered a foundational work in classical management theory.

References:

General and industrial management (book from metu library)

Wikipedia

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/1580010304.pdf

Henry FORD

Henry Ford was born in Dearborn, Michigan, USA in 1863. Since his childhood period he was really interested in machines. Owing to this interest and ambition, in 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company, and after his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he got enough time and money to give attention to his personal ideas about mass production. After a period of time with some experiments and founding of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford realized he'd need a more efficient way to mass produce cars in order to lower the price. He looked at other industries and found four principles that would further their goal: interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and reducing wasted effort. Ford put these principles into play gradually over five years, fine-tuning and testing as he went along. In 1913, they came together in the first moving assembly line ever used for large-scale manufacturing. Ford produced cars at a record-breaking rate. As with most great enterprises, Ford Motor Company's beginnings were modest. The company had anxious moments in its infancy. In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create "a motor car for the great multitude." At that time, automobiles were expensive, custom-made machines. Ford's engineers took the first step towards this goal by designing the Model T, a simple, sturdy car, offering no factory options not even a choice of color. The Model T, first produced in 1908, kept the same design until the last one, number 15,000,000, rolled off the line in 1927. The processes that he implemented come from Taylor’s studies such as time and motion which is also developed by Gilbreths. And by the persistence of one great idea, Ford’s affordable automobile transformed America into the industrial era. The power of one idea can definitely change the world.

References:

http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/ford.htm

http://www.usdreams.com/Ford18.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

MAX WEBER

THE SOCIOLOGIST OF EMPIRE: MAX WEBER

Max Weber described himself as “A class conscious burgeois” in a letter to his friend and fellow sociologist Robert Michels. After his childhood period he leaned towards the lifestyle of his father who was a descendant of Westphalian linen merchants and rose from being a salaried city magistrate to becoming a deputy of the National Liberal Party in the Prussian and Imperial parliament. His research on the ‘social question’ brought him into the orbit of organizations that offered an alternative to the growing influence of the Marxist Social Democracy Party (SDP). One of these was the Evangelical Social Congress which Weber came into contact with Friedrich Naumann, who was at the time a chaplin and known as the ‘poor people’s pastor’. He sought to develop a social Christian party that would offer an alternative to the SDP. Naumann became Weber’s closest political collaborator as they both shared a strong conviction in remedying the defects of capitalism from within and winning the workers movement to liberal imperialism. The other organization that Weber joined in 1893 was the Pan German League, which one writer has described as ‘the voice of Germany’s most vicious nationalism, well endowed with money and media influence. Weber’s attitude to the SDP and its particular brand of Marxism played a decisive influence on his sociology. He had no sympathy with the SPD’s goal of socialism and saw the advocacy of an equal society as utopian. He believed that workers would always be submissive to demagogic leaders and so real decision-making rested with a small number of people.

Weber linked an imperialist foreign policy with the need to promote industry above agriculture. He countered that the capitalist development of Germany was ‘unavoidable and it is only possible to economically influence the course which it takes’. Any attempt to restrict industrial expansion would lead to a stagnant form of capitalism based on ‘lazy rentiers and a dull traditional mass’. He acknowledged that a pro-industry policy was more risky as it depended on export markets. However, he argued that ‘we are not pursuing a policy of national comfort but rather one of greatness, hence we must take this burden upon our shoulders if we wish to have a national existence other than that of Switzerland, for example’. However, promoting industry did not mean that Weber ignored developments in agriculture.

References:

metu library books

MAX WEBER:a critical introduction by kıeran allen

Max weber by bendix.r.

Abraham Harold MASLOW

Abraham Harold Maslow, father of humanistic physiology, was an American psychologist. He is noted for his best known work “hierarchy of human needs” which has conceptualization of the needs of a human by a pyramid that low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfillment on it.

Maslow was repulsed by the negative implications of psychoanalysis and behaviorism for human potential, because of their focus on psychopathology and he responded by formulating a psychology that includes higher levels of human function. The result is a humanistic approach to psychology. Maslow assumes that the individual is an integrated and organic whole. A theory of motivation must include the study of ultimate human needs and goals appropriate to humanity. Maslow asserts that the fundamental desires of human beings are similar despite the huge number of conscious desires.

Fundamental of Maslow’s theory of motivation is that human needs are hierarchical—that displeased lower needs dominate one’s thinking, actions, and being until they are satisfied. Once a lower need is fulfilled, a next level surfaces to be addressed or expressed in everyday life. Once all of the basic or deficiency needs are satisfied, then human beings tend to pursue the higher needs of self-actualization.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be understood easily by the pyramid below.

.

There are some important implications of Maslow’s theory for management. There are opportunities to motivate employees through management style, job design, company events, and compensation packages, some examples of which follow:

· Physiological needs: Provide lunch breaks, rest breaks, and wages that are sufficient to purchase the essentials of life.

· Safety Needs: Provide a safe working environment, retirement benefits, and job security.

· Social Needs: Create a sense of community via team-based projects and social events.

· Esteem Needs: Recognize achievements to make employees feel appreciated and valued. Offer job titles that convey the importance of the position.

· Self-Actualization: Provide employees a challenge and the opportunity to reach their full career potential.

However, not all people are driven by the same needs, at any time different people may be motivated by entirely different factors. It is important to understand the needs being pursued by each employee. To motivate an employee, the manager must be able to recognize the needs level at which the employee is operating, and use those needs as levers of motivation.

References:

http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/

http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow

metu library e-resources

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=16&sid=f68570c1-9d92-4c3b-bfca-40889be79e4c%40SRCSM1

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5&hid=3&sid=caa01b09-cb0d-49ef-9ff8-cfdc1364d2d7%40sessionmgr3

www.sciencedirect.com

metu library books

The third force: the psycology of abraham maslow by Goble, Frank G

http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/

Frederick Winslow Taylor

One of the pioneers of industrial engineering whose work had a great impact on the profession was Frederick Winslow Taylor the "Father of Scientific Management. His innovations in industrial engineering, particularly in time and motion studies, paid off in dramatic improvements in productivity. At the same time, he has been credited with destroying the soul of work, of dehumanizing factories, making men into automatons. Under Taylor's management system, factories are managed through scientific methods.

The main elements of the Scientific Management are : "Time studies Functional or specialized supervision, Standardization of tools and implements, Standardization of work methods Separate, Planning function, Management by exception principle, The use of "slide-rules and similar time-saving devices", Instruction cards for workmen, Task allocation and large bonus for successful performance, The use of the 'differential rate,' Mnemonic systems for classifying products and implements, A routing system, A modern costing system etc. " Taylor called these elements "merely the elements or details of the mechanisms of management" He saw them as extensions of the four principles of management:

Taylor's 4 Principles of Scientific Management

After years of various experiments to determine optimal work methods, Taylor proposed the following four principles of scientific management:

1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each worker rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
3. Cooperate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.

These principles were implemented in many factories, often increasing productivity by a factor of three or more. Henry Ford applied Taylor's principles in his automobile factories, and families even began to perform their household tasks based on the results of time and motion studies.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor

http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/taylor.asp

http://www.protech-ie.com/trivia.htm

http://www.alexisleon.com/art/2006/11/15/introduction-to-ie.html

http://ibiblio.org/eldritch/fwt/taylor.html

metu library resources

primer of scientific management by f.gilbreth

Division of labor

THE DIVISION OF LABOR

What I understand from the division of labor is that it is such a privatization of cooperative works, bounded by tasks, in order to develop productivity. It became more and more complex with increase of capitalism, liberalism and complexity of industrialization and with Taylorism it reached a scientific based management level.

According to the resources that I have researched, the very first comment can be told is that the manufacturing division of labor was the earliest innovative principle of the capitalist mode of production, and in one form or another it has remained the fundamental principle of industrial organization. In capitalist industry the division of labor is not same as the phenomenon of the distribution of tasks, crafts, or specialties of production all over society, no societies before capitalism systematically subdivided the work of each productive specialty into limited operations. This form of the division of the labor becomes generalized only with capitalism.

In order to make clear this distinction we can give Herskovits’ description of the division of labor in primitive societies:

“Only rarely is any division of labor within an industry (or as it might be termed, subdivision of labor) encountered among nonliterate folk. Such intra-industrial specialization would be encountered only in the production of such larger capital goods as houses, canoes, or fish-weirs. Even here, it is the rule in such cultures that an arrangement of this sort is temporary; moreover, each worker devoting himself to a part of a specific task is most often competent to perform other phases of the work besides that on which he may at the moment be engaged. Thus in groups where the primary division of labor is along sex lines, every man or woman not only will know how to do all those things that men or women habitually do among them, but must be able to do them efficiently. As we move to societies of somewhat greater economic complexity, we find that certain men may spend a larger proportion of their time than others doing wood-carving or iron –working, or certain women making pots or weaving cloth; but all the members of the groups will have some competence in the techniques controlled by those of a given sex. In still other nonliterate societies certain men and women specialize not only in one technique, but in a certain type of product, as, for instance, where one woman will devote her time to the production of pots for everyday use and another make pottery exclusively for religious rites. It must again be stressed that, except under the most unusual circumstances, we do not find the kind of organization where one woman characteristically specializes in gathering the clay, another in fashioning it, and a third in firing the pots; or, where one man devotes himself to getting wood, a second to roughly blocking out the proportions of a stool or figure, and a third to finishing it”

This is a good definition of division of labor into crafts which can be found in the book “LABOR AND MONOPOLY CAPITAL” originally. He says while men or women may habitually be connected with the making of certain products, they do not divide up the separate operations involved in the making of each product.

This form of division of labor is called social division of labor which depends on sex roles and is a characteristic of all known societies because of inheritance of human being. On the other hand, the other form of division of labor “manufacturing division of labor” stands against the social division of labor in general. This is the breakdown of the process of making of the product into variety or manifold operations done by different workers. The social division of labor divides society among occupations, but the detailed or manufacturing division of labor destroys occupations. In capitalism, the social division of labor is enforced chaotically and anarchically by the market, while the manufacturing division of labor is imposed by planning and control. Moreover, the division of labor in production begins with the analysis of the labor process, the separation of the work of production into its constituent elements. But this is not what brings into being the detailed worker. Such an analysis is characteristic in every labor process organized by workers to suit their own needs.

And lastly advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

1. More efficient in terms of time.
2. Reduces the time needed for training because the task is simplified.
3. Increases productivity because training time is reduced and the worker is productive in a short amount of time.
4. Concentration on one repetitive task makes workers more skilled at performing that task.
5. Little time is spent moving between tasks so overall time wasted is reduced.
6. The overall quality of the product will increasingly bring welfare gains to the consumer

Disadvantages

1. Lack of motivation: the quality of labour decreases while absenteeism may rise.
2. Growing dependency: a break in production may cause problems to the entire process.
3. Loss of flexibility: workers have limited knowledge while not many jobs opportunities are available.
4. Higher start-up costs: high initial costs necessary to buy the specialist machinery lead to a higher break-even point.

References:

http://www.jstor.org/view/00335533/di976340/97p0073d/0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_labor

Labor and monopoly capital(book from metu library)

Scientific Management

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

What is scientific management?

Scientific management for Frederick W. Taylor is “the art of management has been defined as knowing exactly what you want men to do and then seeing that they do it in the best and cheapest way; furthermore, the principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee”.

For Theodore Roosevelt it is the application of the conservation principle to production. It does not concern itself with the ownership of our natural resources.

For Brandeis scientific management means universal preparedness, the same kind of preparedness that secured to Prussia a victory over France and to Japan a victory over Russia. In scientific management nothing is left o chance; all is carefully planned in advance.

For Cleveland Moffat, the basis of scientific management, as it is of art, is the rigorous cutting away of superfluities, not one wasted motion, and not one wasted a minute.

What I understand is that scientific management is an attempt to apply the methods of science to the complex problems of the control of labor in developing capitalist enterprises.

Scientific management needs true science concepts because of its assumptions which show nothing more than the viewpoint of the capitalist conditions of production. It starts from the capitalist viewpoint and from the point of view of the management of a refractory work force in a setting of antagonistic social relations, not from the human point of view. It does not try to discover the cause of this condition, but accepts it as a natural condition. It investigates the adaptation of labor to the needs of capital, not labor in general. It enters the workplace not as the representative of science, but as the management masquerading in the trappings of science.

A comprehensive and detailed explanation of Taylorism is essential in order to understand scientific management clearly because there is a strong connection between them and wrongly the Taylor plan of management is generally known as scientific management, but there are many plans of management formulated by scientists that do not conform to the laws of management as discovered by Taylor.

Frederick Taylor’s functional leader plan of management founded upon time study is the basis for all scientific management, for types of management where scientific laboratory methods of analysis are substituted for the rule of “thumb methods” that have been handed down by word of mouth.

Taylor's 4 Principles of Scientific Management

After years of various experiments to determine optimal work methods, Taylor proposed the following four principles of scientific management:

1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each worker rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
3. Cooperate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.

These principles were implemented in many factories, often increasing productivity by a factor of three or more. Henry Ford applied Taylor's principles in his automobile factories, and families even began to perform their household tasks based on the results of time and motion studies.

Drawbacks of Scientific Management

Although scientific management principles developed productivity and had a substantial impact on industry, they also increased the monotony of work. The core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback all were missing from the picture of scientific management.

While in many cases the new ways of working were accepted by the workers, in some cases they were not. The use of stopwatches often was a protested issue and led to a strike at one factory where "Taylorism" was being tested. Complaints that Taylorism was dehumanizing led to an investigation by the United States Congress. Despite its controversy, scientific management changed the way that work was done, and forms of it continue to be used today.

References:

Book: Labor and monopoly capital

Wikipedia

Mtmb

Jstor

My preference

If I was one of these persons, I would like to be Frank Gilbreth, because his stopwatch like lifestyle is the lifestyle that I want to have. According to my perspective time is the most valuable thing. By using time efficiently, nothing can be unresolved or impossible to do. On the hand, his management genius can be seen on his family which includes a dozen of children. Controlling children especially in high numbers can be harder than managing a big factory. Hence, he was the one who is most impressed me and become one of my idols.

Origins of engineering and beginning of engineering education

Military engineering is the oldest of the engineering skills and was precursor of civil engineering. Evidence of the work of the earliest military engineers can be found in the hill forts constructed in Europe during the late Iron Age, and later in the massive fortresses built by the Persians. The military engineers learned the art and practice of designing and building military works and of building and maintaining lines of military transport and communications.

The first electrical engineer is considered to be William Gilbert, with his 1600 publication of De Magnate. The first steam engine was built in 1698 by mechanical engineer Thomas Savery. The development of this device gave rise to the industrial revolution in the coming decades, triggering the beginning of mass production. With the rise of engineering as a profession in the nineteenth century the term became more narrowly applied to many fields such as mathematics and science. Similarly, in addition to military and civil engineering the fields then known as the mechanic arts became incorporated into engineering. Chemical engineering developed in the nineteenth century during the Industrial Revolution. In late ninetieths, computer engineering has developed rapidly after the invention of computer. Electrical and Electronic engineering which can trace its origins in the experiments of Alessandro Volta in the 1800s, the experiments of Michael Faraday, Georg Ohm and the invention of the electric motor in 1872 and also the work of James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz is one of the most popular engineerings in these days. Moreover, Industrial engineering has been realized with Frederick Taylor.

Engineering was born in military so its education also born with it as educating the officers. However, the first schools of engineering were founded in France in the middle of the 18th Century and the first PhD in engineering awarded in the United States went to Willard Gibbs at Yale University in 1863 for the purpose of promoting "the application of science to the common purposes of life" and its entire history parallels the changing needs of a growing nation for scientifically and technically trained manpower.

References:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/7/4102314/04102331.pdf?tp=&isnumber=&arnumber=4102331

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering#History

http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=rOg6B38bunIC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=%22beginning+of+engineering+education%22&source=web&ots=0WD4Eqczyt&sig=pfnhivI9M2dZqjvIoDmc4IGW4Q8&hl=tr

Engineering as a profession

Engineering is seen as a profession nowadays but in my opinion it is not just a profession. Thinking it as a like that narrows his meaning and characteristic because engineering is using science for the good of humanity. Engineering profession differs form others by using the knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences for use of economics and benefit of people. when engineering is done not for the purpose of earning money only for the benefit of humanity, it gets its real and holy meaning. Shortly, engineering and engineering as a profession is completely different from each other.

Types of engineers and the role of Industrial engineers regarding other types

Civil Engineering is related to the buildings we use during our lives.

Electrical Engineering, is related to electrical devices, and systems.

Mechanical Engineering is one of the oldest area of engineering, is related to machinary, power, and manufacturing..

Chemical Engineering is related to of chemistry, physics, and engineering to design and operation of plants for production of materials.

Aerospace Engineering is related to all aspects of flight at all speeds and altitudes.

Agriculture Engineering is related to applying engineering principles to the agriculture.

Matallurgical Engineering is related to the production of metals.

Petroleum Engineering is related to the exploration, extracktion, storage, and transportation of crude petroil and natural gas.

Mining Engineering related to with the exploration, location, development, and operation of mines.

Plastic Engineering involves the formulation, manufacture, and aplications of materials.

Chemical Engineering is related to of chemistry, physics, and engineering to design and operation of plants for production of materials.

Architectural Engineering works with architects.

Biomedical Engineering works with biomedical and biological specialists.

Oceanographic Engineering works to explore and study the oceans and develop ways to utilize them for human benefits.

System Engineering uses advanced mathematics and compute-based techniquesto predict the behavior of large systems.

Nuclear Engineering applies engineering princples to the design, development, and use of nuclear power systems.

Textile Engineering related to the planning, design, and operation of manufacturing plants in the textiles industry.

Industrial engineering uses the principles and methods of engineering analysis as well as mathematical, physical and social sciences and aims to specify, predict and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems. Industrial engineers work to eliminate waste of time, money, materials, energy and other resources. Industrial engineering has a different style among other engineering branches. The most important difference is that industrial engineers are concerned with the whole rather than the pieces. Also, human factor is very important for industrial engineers for any applications; hence, there is a strong relationship with industrial engineering and social sciences

What engineers do

Engineers use the science for the good and benefit of humanity, to develop new and better applications and businesses and to solve existing problems. Also, engineering can be thought as a connection between sciences like mathematics and physics to create a machine, economics to balance the financial contribution of devices, and social sciences to better understand the needs of people and the effect of their inventories on society. Shortly, engineers design, develop, produce and test whatever human needs.