Paper Summary:

This paper considers how the modern researcher of organisations can use both critical perspectives and post modern interpretations to gain an understanding of the workings of the contemporary organisation. The first part of the paper considers how Taylor and the principals of scientific management fit into the critical perspective model and how such principals are applied in the context of the contemporary organisation. The later part of the paper considers the absence of a universal truth as outlined in the post modernist literature and attempts to contrast this with the principles of scientific management as well as demonstrate how the concept can be applied within the context of a modern organisation. The paper concludes that these two perspectives contribute to a greater understanding of how an organisation works, with elements of both being present in most organisations today.

Outline:
Critical Perspectives
Post Modern Perspectives
Conclusions

From the Paper:

"In the first instance, Taylor carried out much of his work in heavy industry, most notably the steel industry within the US (Mullins 2009). Taylor's principals of scientific management saw significant improvements in productivity at companies such as the Bethlehem Steel Company (Handy 1999) and the eventual acceptance that significant improvements could be made by reorganising the physical make up of a job design and retraining works.
"Despite the fact that the principals of scientific management and Taylor are around a century old, one consideration is that these principals are still being used within the modern day organisation. Surprisingly, the use of this perspective is not limited to that of the heavy industrial or manufacturing environment. The modern day call centre may be seen as the ultimate manifestation of the critical perspective made possible by the extreme application of the principals of Taylor and scientific management (Jones 2000). In the modern call centre, control is one of the key features with employees being given small deskilled tasks to carry out to exacting specifications. Such levels of control go as far as to scripting what an individual must say and the tone of voice to be used when dealing with a customer. Motivation is linked to the critical perspective with a crude financial reward being seen as the primary motivator, employees in the modern call centre are often paid with the prospect of bonuses for activities such as increased sales or the meeting of productivity based bonuses such as achieving call quotas (Huczynski and Buchananan 2007)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cassey, C. 2002. Critical analysis of organisations. London: Sage.
• Grey, C, Willmott, H. 2009. Critical management studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Handy, C. 1999. Understanding organizations. 4th ed. London: Penguin Books.
• Huczynski, A, A, Buchananan, D, A. 2007. Organizational Behaviour. 6th ed. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.
• Jones, O. 2000. Scientific management, culture and control: A first-hand account of Taylorism in practice. Human Relations, 53(5), 631-653.

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