No more cogs: ending the reign of scientific management
Danielle Lord, PhD- May 7
- 3 min read
The history of organizations is really quite fragmented. One could make an argument that the original organizations were the feudal manor – a system that actually relied on people to exist. The medieval feudal manors often get a bad rap for being punitive, with little compassion for its human resources. One often over-looked fact about the feudal system is that most feudal lords knew that without its people, the manor itself would cease to exist.
Feudal Manors and Early Organizations
The manorial system was a hierarchical, self-sufficient organizational structure centered on the manor estate, with the lord at the top and peasants, serfs, and free laborers working the land. While often harsh, many lords understood that the manor’s survival depended on its people, so there was a pragmatic, interdependence.
As cities emerged along with the development of machinery to modernize contemporary organizations that lead to mass production, we saw a significant shift in efficiency and mechanistic productivity, overlooking human needs.
Industrial Revolution and Scientific Management
The rise of industrialization shifted the focus from people to machinery and efficiency, leading to the emergence of the "rational" or "classical" school of organization theory. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s scientific management (Taylorism) became prominent from about 1910–1920, emphasizing time and motion studies, standardized tasks, and productivity as the ultimate goal. Taylor’s four principles included scientific job analysis, scientific selection and training, cooperation between management and workers, and equal division of work and responsibility.
There are many limitations of Scientific Management. While Taylorism improved productivity, it often reduced workers to mere cogs in a machine, focusing on economic incentives and efficiency over individual satisfaction, it overlooked the social and psychological needs of employees. Its believed that the saying, “culture eats strategy” may have been the result of implementing Taylorism, with people revolting by through acts of passive aggression. Many ideas of Taylorism are heavily rooted in todays engineering principles as well.
The Hawthorne Studies and Human Relations
The Hawthorne Studies (1924–1932) created a pivotal shift in thinking. They revealed that social factors, group dynamics, and worker satisfaction significantly influenced productivity, challenging the purely rational, mechanistic view of organizations. This led to the "human relations" movement, emphasizing organizations as social systems and the importance of psychological safety, belonging, and communication. This was also known as the natural era of organizational theory, resulting in new people or human centered strategies.
Consulting Firms and the Persistence of Rational Systems
The rise of large consulting firms, grounded in cost-saving and efficiency principles of scientific management, reinforce rational, productivity-first approaches in many organizations. This has led to a renewed focus on machinery and processes over people, echoing earlier industrial-era priorities. As I have been told by many employees in industrial settings, “the equipment is better cared for than the people.”
I believe this is why so many large organizations continue to struggle with engagement and great leadership. Many lean into the belief that the approach of scientific management principles as a management paradigm must be better as it is the cornerstone of the large consultants.
It's time to shelve the idea that scientific management is the best approach to the contemporary Human-Centered needs in organizations.
Modern management knowledge increasingly recognizes the value of human-centered leadership, which boosts engagement, innovation, and organizational health. The best-performing organizations today balance efficiency with a strong emphasis on trust, psychological safety, and meaningful human connection. With broader human connections we can:
improve our creativity and innovation through a culture that promotes psychological safety,
foster collaboration through enhanced trust and professional relationships,
reduce organizational silos and improve communication through relationships,
raise our employee engagement through thoughtful and meaningful interactions,
help the next generation learn, not just how to do the work, but how to create a more tolerant workplace where everyone is appreciated,
foster healthier, big C communities with happier people.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater however:
Ironically a phrase believed to have originated from the medieval era, we cannot ignore the important operational aspects of scientific management. Afterall, these very ideas have brought us very relevant operational basics like efficient scheduling practices and quality assurance.
At Archetype Learning Solutions, we help you build a truly human-centered culture-one where your people feel valued, engaged, and inspired to do their best work. Explore our engagement tools, integration toolkits, and transformative retreats designed to help you attract, train, and retain top talent.
Visit archetypelearningsolutions.com to get your complimentary copy of “12 Heart-Centered Engagement Strategies” and start your journey toward a more inclusive, innovative workplace today, by putting people at the heart of your strategy.
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