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Taylorism

  • Writer: Ade McCormack
    Ade McCormack
  • Jul 28
  • 1 min read

What is Taylorism?

Taylorism is a management philosophy developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor that seeks to maximise efficiency by breaking work into standardised, repeatable tasks. It assumes that work can be analysed scientifically, optimised centrally and performed consistently by following prescribed methods.


Taylorism transformed industrial productivity by making routine work more efficient. However, it assumes a relatively stable and predictable environment. Intelligent organisations recognise that many forms of modern work are knowledge-intensive and take place in uncertain, rapidly changing environments. Rather than optimising for compliance with predefined processes, they optimise for awareness, judgement, adaptation and continuous learning.


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