Influence of Taylorism on Deming’s Quality Management
Influence of Taylorism on Deming’s Quality Management

Summary/Abstract: Frederic W. Taylor’s principles of management is considered as the foundation of the modern management. Taylorism has been influential both in private and public sectors in many parts of the world. To increase efficiency and productivity Taylor scientifically studied the each element of work and discovered the best way of doing any task; scientifically selected and trained workers so that they could be hired for jobs that they were capable of; and closely monitored and evaluated the performance of workers through close supervision and a strict reward system. Many theories have been put forward to design more productive work environments since Taylorism. One of them is W. Edwards Deming’s quality management developed in Japan. Like Taylor’s ideas, quality management has spread to the world. Quality management also referred as Total Quality Management involves developing quality standards to eliminate inefficiency and increase customer satisfaction through Deming’s 14 principles. The paper discusses the similarities and differences in both theory based on the writings of Taylor and Deming. Results indicate that despite of some similarities, it is hard to describe Deming’s quality approach as another form of Neo-Taylorism or a form of democratic Taylorism. Moreover, governing values of each system is critically different.

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