Nursing Management

Nursing Management

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Institution

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Abstract

The principles of scientific management presented by Fredericks Winslow Taylor        that includes the assigning any job to the workers that motivate them, give rewards to them according to their efficiency, allocate the task between workers and managers to ensure managers give time to the workers to train them, and the monitoring of the performance of each worker. Moreover, the Taylor’s guiding principles are associated Ontology, epistemology and methodologies as they relates to the real world and the answers different questions that contributes to increase the worker’s efficiency. In addition, the theory is equally applied to the oncology nurses which is also based on the scientific management principles that helps the nurses to increase the efficiency of nurses.

Table of Contents

Introduction        

Fredericks Winslow Taylor Theory        

Ontology, epistemology and methodologies associated with the theory        

Practical Application of Fredericks Winslow Taylor Theory in Nursing        

Conclusion        

References        

Introduction

        The principles of scientific management laid by the Fredericks Winslow Taylor have proved to be efficient in the work life due to which they are widely recognized, accepted and implemented. In addition, the theory of Fredericks Winslow Taylor is also applied to the field of oncology which has proved to be successful.

        This paper will initially discuss the theory of scientific management by Fredericks Winslow Taylor and the associated Ontology, epistemology and methodologies. The later section of the paper discusses the practical application in the field of nursing where in particular the oncology nursing practice is discussed.

Fredericks Winslow Taylor Theory

The theory by Fredericks Winslow Taylor is one of the oldest theories when he started the movement of “Scientific Management” where his associates worked along with him to study the process of work scientifically. Fredericks Winslow Taylor and his associates studied how task was performed by the workers and how this has an effect on the productivity of the workers (Finkleman, 2008). The philosophy of Taylor is focused more on the belief that by making workers to work hard as they can is insufficient to optimize the way the work is done.

Fredericks Winslow Taylor has published "The Principles of Scientific Management" in year 1909 in which he had proposed that through simplifying and optimizing jobs, the productivity of the workers could be increased (Boykin, Schoenhofer, and Valentine, 2013). In addition, he was of the view that the managers and workers both need to cooperate with each other to get the work done in an efficient way (Hickman, 2011). This view was quite different from the previous traditional method of getting the work done by workers. The managers in the factory do not spend much time workers, and neither have they contacted them which have made the workers on their own to work and produce the required product (Allen, 2011). Moreover, there as a lack of standardization and the main motivation of the worker were to remain employed that has resulted in no incentive to complete the task as efficiently or as quickly as possible.

Fredericks Winslow Taylor believed that all the employees are motivated by the money (Boykin, Schoenhofer, and Valentine, 2013). Therefore he encouraged the different idea to increase efficiency i.e., "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work" i.e., if the worker is less efficient at work, than he does not deserve the pay that is deserved by the other worker who has showed greater efficiency and productivity at work (Rigolosi, 2013).

As Fredericks Winslow Taylor had a background in the field of mechanical engineering, therefore he was much interested in increasing efficiency at work. As he was advancing his career by working at a steel manufacturer in US, Fredericks Winslow Taylor designed different workplace experiments that were aimed to find out the level of optimal performance (DeNisco and Barker, 2012). For instance, he experimented with a shovel design which was designed by him to make workers to use shovel for many hours. Similarly, he experimented with bricklayers where he came up with different motions that are required to develop an effective way for bricklaying (Fitzpatrick and Kazer, 2011). Finally, he has applied the scientific method in which he studied the optimal way to perform any kind of workplace activity. In scientific management, he found that through calculating the required time for different elements of a work, one can develop the "best" approach to complete that work.

Thus, these studies on "time and motion" has led Fredericks Winslow Taylor to draw conclusion the specific number of people can work in a more efficient way as compared to other workers and therefore they should receive incentives on the basis of it (Boykin, Schoenhofer, and Valentine, 2013). These most efficient workers must be searched by the managers to hire for the company where possible. By selecting the best people for the task is another important feature of the workplace efficiency (Allen, 2011). By understanding what Fredericks Winslow Taylor learned from his different workplace experiments, the following four principles are concluded which are often known as "Taylorism" (Boykin, Schoenhofer, and Valentine, 2013).

• Instead of simply assigning any job to the workers, the jobs must be assigned on the basis of their motivation and capability while giving them training to work with their maximum efficiency.
• By replacing the "rule of thumb" i.e., one work or all, the scientific method must be applied to analyze task and find out the best way to perform the task.
• By allocating the task between workers and managers which will ensure that the managers are spending their time in training and planning which will allow the workers to carry out their work efficiently.
• By monitoring the performance of each worker and providing supervision and instruction to make sure that the workers are using the best and most efficient way of completing the given task.

Ontology, epistemology and methodologies associated with the theory

There are different foundations on the basis of which the political scientists work. In addition, these foundations are their epistemological and ontological positions (Hickman, 2011). These positions and foundations are not necessarily spelt out as they are more implicit than explicit; however they show themselves through the approach and methodology (Rigolosi, 2013).

Ontology, a philosophy considers the different assumptions regarding the different types of phenomena that exist in the real world. Moreover, the ontology is a theory of the nature and theory of being which is more concerned with the different problems that exists and often refers to the argument of a specific paradigm regarding the truth or reality (Basavanthappa, 2003). In simple terms, it is regarding what exists, what different components are engaged to make it, how it looks like and how the different components interact with one another in the real world.  On the other hand, epistemology refers to the study that investigates the truthfulness, methods, structure, origin, limits and possibility of knowledge and it can be achieved, applied and validated (Lynn and Warsh, 2010). Moreover, epistemology deals with the fact that can be informed to the researcher as it also refers to the inquiry process regarding the differences in the belief of opinion. Moreover, the epistemology often has impact on the choices of data collection and on the methodology that is selected for the process of research (Houston and Bove, 2007). Lastly, the methodology is referred to the guiding principles that are acquired by the researcher for research purposes. The methodology is a different way of acquiring educational research along with the comprehension of data, analysis, focus, purpose, focus and the association between data.