Research and critically discuss the impact of Taylorism and Fordism on Essay

Research and critically discuss the impact of Taylorism and Fordism on contemporary management approaches and practices - Essay Example For instance, one of the limitations of Taylorism is the absence of autonomy and â€Å"lack of flexibility† (Fruijt, 2003, p. 4) which can make jobs become â€Å"repetitive† and â€Å"boring† (Lucey, 2005, p. 65). On the other hand, Fordism is being criticized for being ineffective when managing business organizations during slow economic growth (Amin, 2003). Even though a lot of modern companies have decided to move away from the use of Taylorism and Fordism when managing people, it is assumed that some forms of management practices and approaches that were introduced under the models of Taylorism and Fordism are still very much applicable in today’s management approaches and practices. To help the readers gain a better understanding of the subject matter, the similarities and differences between Taylorism and Fordism will first be tackled followed by critically analyzing the effects of Taylorism and Fordism on the present-day management approaches and practices. The models of Taylorism and Fordism were very much applicable in managing large-scale manufacturing firms back in 1980s (Henderson, 2011, p. 8). Furthermore, both models of Taylorism and Fordism focused on how to increase mass production efficiency (Tatli, 2008; Amin, 2003, p. 6; Fruijt, 2003). Considered as a traditional strategy used in management planning, Fordism introduced the concept of â€Å"just in case† approach (Alfasi & Portugali, 2004; Amin & Tomaney, 1995, p. 206). In line with this, Fordists’ â€Å"just in case† approach is all about stockpiling either parts or finished goods (Waters, 2013, pp. 80 – 81). Likewise, to reduce employees’ turnover rate and work resistance, Henry Ford decided to introduce the need to pay employees a higher wage for their services (i.e. â€Å"five dollar day†) (Vidal, 2011). Fordism also requires the need to separate business ownership with management control, decentralization, acknowledgement of lab our unions, collective bargaining, and the