In 1890's Mr. Fredrick Winslow Taylor invented a new system at work, where work was broken down into small repetitive elements and workers were timed with stop watches. What was this system called?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Scientific Management/Industrial Engineering
Note: The paragraph on Frederick Winslow Taylor’s ‘Scientific Management’, in the chapter ‘Change and Development in Industrial Society’, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This paragraph has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter is still there and still speaks of ‘Taylorist labour processes’.
NCERT (2025-26): “5.4 How is work carried out? … The basic task of a manager is to control workers and get more work out of them. There are two main ways of making workers produce more. One is to extend the working hours. The other is to increase the amount that is produced within a given time period. Machinery helps to increase production, but it also creates the danger that eventually machines will replace workers. Both Marx and Mahatma Gandhi saw mechanisation as a danger to employment.” “Now let us look at the services sector. Software professionals are middle class and well educated. Their work is supposed to be self-motivated and creative. But, as we see from the box, their work is also subject to Taylorist labour processes.…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “5.4 How is Work Carried Out? … Another way of increasing output is by organising work. An American called Frederick Winslow Taylor invented a new system in the 1890s, which he called ‘Scientific Management’. It is also known as Taylorism or industrial engineering. Under his system, all work was broken down into its smallest repetitive elements, and divided between workers. Workers were timed with the help of stopwatches and had to fulfil a certain target every day. Production was further speeded up by the introduction of the assembly line. Each worker sat along a conveyor belt and assembled only one part of the final product. The speed of work could be set by adjusting the speed of the conveyor belt.…” |