chapter 10
....................................................................................................................................................WORK
ORGANIZATION
....................................................................................................................................john cordery
sharon k. parker
10.1 Introduction
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Thegreatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the
greater part of the skill, dexterity and judgement with which it is any
where directed, or applied, seem to have been the eVects of the division
of labour.
(Adam Smith 1776 , quoted in Davis and Taylor 1972 : 25 )
Perhaps the most prominent single element in modern scientiWc man
agement is the task idea. The work of every workman is fully planned out
by the management at least one day in advance, and each man receives in
most cases complete written instructions, describing in detail the task
which he is to accomplish, as well as the means to be used in doing the
work... the average workman will work with the greatest satisfaction,
both to himself and his employer, when he is given each day a deWnite
task which he is to perform in a given time.
(Taylor 1947 : 297 , 300 )... workers respond best and most creatively not when they are
tightly controlled by management, placed in narrowly deWned jobs,
and treated like an unwelcome necessity, but, instead, when they are
given broader responsibilities, encouraged to contribute, and helped to
take satisfaction in their work.
(Walton 1985 : 77 )