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Frederick Taylor’s
Principles of Scientific Management
and the Multiple Frames for Viewing
Work Organizations Offered by
Bolman & Deal, Carlson, and Pfeffer
Victor A. Montemurro
EDU 5571
Administrative Leadership
St. John’s University
Professor Frank Smith, Ed. D
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Dr. Frederick Winslow Taylor in a speech called "The Principles of Scientific
Management" delivered on March 3, 1915 to the Cleveland Advertising Club exhorts his
audience to take on a new, revolutionary view of the way work should get done. To combat
the time-ingrained attitude of workmen throughout the world that "it is in their best interest to
go slow instead of fast," Taylor proposes four principles of the scientific management of
work. He asserts that even though the average businessman believes that if workers were to
go fast, thus increasing efficiency resulting in a money saving decrease of workforce, just the
opposite would be true. Taylor believes increasing the efficiency of the workman
scientifically would increase the not only the opportunity for more work, but also the real
wealth of the world, happiness, and all manner of worthwhile improvements in the life of the
working person. For Taylor, increased workman output will result in improved quality of life.
Taylor, a mechanical engineer, seeks to apply a positivistic, rational perspective to the
inefficient work organization. A second "misfortune of industry" that impedes the progress of
improving work is what Taylor refers to as the "soldiering" of the worker, which essentially
means to make a show of work not necessarily doing one's best. The worker tries to balance
the inner conflict he feels as a result of worry about job security versus expectations of