Question

The Factory Manager of Manik Steel Plant, Mussadi Lal, was in a dilemma over workers shirking work. It was becoming difficult for him to identify the workers who sometimes faked illness to skip work and, at various other times, intentionally wasted time, which led to underutilisation of resources. The job of the workers was complex and intricate. He discussed the problem with one of his retired friends, Kantilal, who suggested him to appoint eight supervisors who would be specialists in their own fields and would be assigned work according to his/her qualities. Identify and explain the technique of scientific management discussed above.

Answer 1

Functional Foremanship: Taylor advocates separation of planning and execution functions. This concept is extended to the lowest level of the shop floor. Under the factory manager there is a planning in-charge and a production in-charge. Under the planning in-charge, four personnel, namely the instruction card clerk, the route clerk, the time and cost clerk and a disciplinarian, work. These four personnel would draft instructions for the workers, specify the route of production, prepare time and cost sheets, and ensure discipline, respectively. Under the production in charge, the personnel who work are the speed boss, gang boss, repair boss, and inspector. These, respectively, are responsible for the timely and accurate completion of jobs, keeping machines and tools etc. ready for operation by workers, ensuring the proper working condition of machines and tools and checking the quality of work. Each worker has to take orders from these eight foremen.