This post is part of a series called “Evidence-Based Management.” Read the introduction to the series here.

Scientific management (or Taylorism) is the first major theory of management. This theory analyzes and synthesizes workflows, with the objective of improving labor productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his monographs, Shop Management and The Principles of Scientific Management. While he served as a foreman at Midvale Steele Company in 1875, Taylor was seeking a way for workers to increase their efficiency. Taylor believed that decisions based upon tradition and rules of thumb should be replaced by precise procedures developed after careful study of an individual at work. Its application is contingent on a high level of managerial control over employee work practices.

Taylor conducted the now famous time motion studies. Taylor would break the actions of a worker into a series of movements and then, using a stopwatch, time the most efficient worker going through the motions. The goal was to discover a “one best way” for workers to operate in order to achieve maximum productivity.

In management literature today, Taylorism is most often discussed in contrast to a new, improved ways of managing. However, Taylor’s effect on management thinking is undeniable. Peter Drucker saw Frederick Taylor as the creator of knowledge management, as the aim of scientific management is to produce knowledge about how to improve work processes. With his work on scientific management, Taylor essentially founded the management theory movement.