Doing versus Thinking: John Dewey

1
Doing versus Thinking John Deweys Forgotten
Critique of Scientific Management

• Shane J. Ralston, Ph.D.
• Penn State University-Hazleton

2
Outline of the Paper

• Frederick Winslow Taylor Father of
  Scientific Management (SM)
• John Dewey Philosopher of Science and
  Management
• Similarities/differences between their two
  accounts of SM
• -Dewey, various texts on logic/inquiry/education
  
• -Taylor,The Principles of Scientific Management
  (PSM) (1911)
• - Deweys critique of Taylorism/SM in
  Democracy and Education (DE) (1916)
• Q What are the implications of the
  Dewey-Taylor comparison for organizational
  theory/human resource administration/industrial
  relations?

3
The Dewey-Taylor Comparison

• Initial points of comparison
• Emphasis on experimental inquiry
• Faith in technological progress
• Professed commitment to industrial democracy,
  worker welfare
• Belief that scientific method should be extended
  into all areas of life
• No consensus among commentators (Patricia
  Shields, Keith Snider, G. Alan Tarr)
• Deweys trenchant critique of Taylorism in
  DE weakens the comparison
• Nevertheless, the implications of the
  comparison could prove fruitful

4
Deweyan Inquiry and SM

• Deweys 5 Stages of Inquiry
• Felt difficulty
• Locate and define problem
• Suggest possible solution(s)
• Refine suggestion(s)
• Test suggestion(s)
• Dewey Management . . .
• amounts to rule-of-thumb
• procedure, to routine. If
• circumstances resembled the past,
• it might work well enough . . . (DE)

Dewey Democracy is a way of life
controlled by a working faith in the
possibilities of human nature
5
Taylor and the One Best Way

• Taylorism management consulting (Kanigel,
  Lepore)
• SM philosophy in industrial management
• Four principles
• One best way
• Workers selected scientifically
• Worker pay is a function of worker efficiency
• Congenial worker-management relations
• Taylors time-motion studies
• Catalogue basic movements
• Establish baseline data for time each movement
  takes
• Experimentally determine standard time, quickest
  time quota

6
Deweys Critique of Taylorism

• Concedes that the division of
  labor/standardized work procedures are necessary
  for industrial efficiency, but ...
• Workers must derive intrinsic rewards from
  work
• - Extrinsic rewards favor physical
  efficiency, end is independent of
• action
• - Social efficiency also matters
• - Latent mind/body dualism in Taylors
  account
• No one best way
• - Always multiple methods for increasing
  productivity
• - Different conception of the labor
  problem
• - Better to empower employees by discovering
  what individually
• motivates them, rather than construct
  blanket systems of reward and
• punishment

7
Scientific Management in the Modern Workplace
From Taylor to Dewey

• Widespread use of time studies and efficiency
  consultants, esp. in fast food industry ?
  McDonaldization of many employment sectors (auto,
  healthcare, bicycles)
• Deweys approach closer to Human Relations
  Theory than SM
• 1) Emphasizes intrinsic (not
  extrinsic) rewards, generate a positive work
  environment (similar To Elton Mayo)
• 2) Supervisors should form supportive
  relationships with subordinates, empower,
  not command (similar to Fritz Roethlisberger)
• 3) Develop informal/collaborative
  groups, promote workplace democracy (similar to
  Mary Parker Follet)
• 4) Motivational strategy that
  integrates the end into the action, cultivates
  moral imagination

8
Conclusion

• Danger Treating Taylorism as synonymous
  with SM
• Key difference between Taylor and Dewey
• Prospect of a joint Taylor-Dewey approach to
  human resource management and industrial
  relations

9
Questions?