Taylor-Mart

Maybe Frederick Taylor’s real last name was Walton. Or perhaps he had a distance cousin names Sam Walton. Either way, Taylor’s ideas on scientific management have truly become part of the American culture: “(Taylor) helped instill in us the fierce, unholy obsession with time, order, productivity, and efficiency that marks our age.” As Barbara Ehrenreich [...]

Efficiently Inefficient

Frederick Taylor, the father of scientific management, would be perplexed to look at Wal-Mart as an organization. Taylor believed an organization could scientifically analyze the tasks of its workers to streamline processes to maximize output and minimize input. Wal-Mart strategy of low-cost goods using new technology to minimize costs, including its economies of scale and [...]

Explaing Our Economy in “-isms” and “-izations”

Thanks to Henry Ford and his meticulous methods to increase the productivity of workers on his assembly line, the economy transformed from one of craft production to one of mass production. In addition to “Fordism,” the past 100 years in the US economy can be explained by using “Levittownization,” “McDonaldization,” and “WalMartization.” Ford perfectly implemented [...]

Commercialization of Human Feeling

Drawing on concepts from Chapter 1 in our text, Organizations and Organizing, I would like to draw attention to a specific topic Scott and Davis address.  The two authors cite information on the “commercialization of human feeling” (found on page 4-5 of the text).  This idea has had an increasing importance with the dominance of [...]