Hoxie's investigation What did it consist of?

The first serious criticism of Taylorism was the Hoxie investigation, organized by the commission on industrial relations of the united states (in the united states senate). The research was led by Robert Franklin Hoxie (1868-1916), economist, professor at the University of Chicago, and associate editor of the journal of political economy.

Taylor began working as an independent consultant and his business card presented him as a "specialist in the systematization of manufacturing costs and factory management." Between 1901 and 1912, his new working methods were applied in various companies, with the support of his team of followers. Possibly, Taylorism raised the performance of companies. In factories, where these ideas were practiced, production doubled or even tripled. As a result, earnings also skyrocketed.

At the same time, superfluous stages of work were eliminated, companies became more productive and workers earned higher wages. Even with good results, the introduction of new forms of work often led to problems and strikes. In general, the

scientific management approach he conceived the organization within a mechanical pattern, using techniques that created the ideas of the dehumanization of work.

What was Hoxie's investigation?

Between 1914 and 1915, Hoxie studied the problems with worker strikes and riots in American factories. The investigation was considered one of the main warnings and an opposition to the “Tyranny of the system Taylor ”by demonstrating the moral, psychological and social inconveniences caused by the method solely based on in the performance and the efficiency.

The workers were unable to work according to the preset standard time rhythm and began to complain about a subtle new form of exploitation: high performance standards favorable only to the company. Therefore, justified the workers' reaction with strikes and protests.

According to the findings of the Hoxie survey, published in 1915, Taylorism did not prove to be scientific in nature and each company did what it considered best. The only point of convergence was in relation to the increase in the workload of workers with the loss of knowledge about their own work.

The efficiency of scientific management indicated the worker specialization through the division and subdivision of all operations (task and subtask). The simplest tasks, the result of subdivision, could easily be taught by increasing the worker's specialization and production.

However, the results obtained by the companies, in terms of productivity Y cost effectiveness, soon led to the oblivion of Hoxie's research work. Scientific management is still around, used in business, and taught in management and engineering schools.

The origin

Workers saw overspecialization as degrading and humiliating because of its monotony, automatism, less demand for reasoning and the total removal of any psychological meaning from work. Man must produce like a machine (microscopic vision of man).

For the criticisms made by the Watertown workers (civilians and unions), Taylor was brought to testify before the congressional committee in 1912 on several occasions for the use of his methods (which ended up taking a toll on his health). As late as 1912, the committee reported and concluded that scientific management brought some useful techniques and valuable suggestions to business. But despite the payment of the bonus, the system forced the worker at an abnormal rate, with severe and arbitrary discipline with the use of the stopwatch.

In a later session, Congress prohibited the use of the stopwatch and the payment of bonuses or bonuses to workers in establishments of the United States government.

In conclusion, he outlawed scientific management in government facilities and broke the Taylorism system in Watertown. At the end of the trial, Taylor was sentenced "moderately." The final report recommended the need for mutual consent between workers and companies before applying any management system.

The change

Even with the problems identified by Robert Hoxie in his research, scientific management was expanding. Taylor's ideas continued to spread, at a time when companies were looking to move from artisan production to a more agile and profitable way of working.

The prohibition of the stopwatch and the payment of incentives did not prevent the other techniques of the scientific management, with great results in terms of efficiency and production, which contributed to the development 20th century. Scientific management was also of great value to the United States. During the first world war in 1917.

The weight of American industry it was fundamental for the victory. The French were amazed by the number and means available to the American troops, their speed in the construction of roads, piers, communication lines, etc.

After 1918, the United States became the world's greatest economic power, which was only possible because its industrial methods were able to satisfy all its conflict needs.