Industrial Revolution Essay Example

Industrial Revolution Essay: Introduction

The development of operations management, which started in the late 18th century and developed further in the 19th century, led to significant increases in production and was defined as a revolution in the industry, as well as having a significant impact on businesses as well as on economic life in general. This economic development has led to the rapid growth of enterprises, as organizations that pursue the aim of generating a profit by producing goods and services, in countries where it first emerged, thereby increasing their place and importance in the society as an economic power.

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In some countries, some big businesses have gone beyond being a national business and turned into an international business, and some have become a global business, causing managers to deal with more complex problems. In parallel with the growth of businesses and the increase in their activities in society, developments in the social field also interacted with economic developments. With this change, the concept of "social responsibility" has gained importance in businesses. Although the organization reached a certain level in ancient Egypt, Babylonian and Hebrew civilizations and later in Greek and Roman ages, the first developments regarding business management manifested in 16.-18. Centuries; but the real important steps have emerged with the historical phenomenon called the industrial revolution. From the middle ages until the 19th century, writers in various countries, especially France and Germany, studied business problems. Also in Italy and European countries, handbooks based on their own experiences, which provide practical information about traders' business life and traders have been published. The invention of steam machines and their application to the industry in the late 18th and 19th centuries resulted in the replacement of small-scale workshop-type enterprises, first by large workshops producing machines, and then by increasingly mass-producing factories.

The developments, known as the “Industrial Revolution”, which have been supported by various inventions and have led to large production increases, have affected the entire economic and social life as well as business management, which is our subject in the countries where it is located. Taken as a long process, it can be seen better that the industrial revolution has led to significant changes in businesses and management problems of businesses. The possibility of a confrontation between the producer and the consumer has decreased, the master-apprentice relationship has disappeared between the managers and workers, and the working class has become a member of a large group, not a narrow environment. The concept of a union has emerged. With the development of the capital companies, the ownership and management of the business are separated from each other. The various features and major effects of the Industrial Revolution can be stated as follows: 1. With the discovery of steam, production for the market with the machine has entered the economic life. 2. Division of labour has become imperative. 3. The skill of handicraft has been replaced by increasing production efficiency by using machinery. 4. The work of many people in the factories brought forward management and organization problems. 5. Wage systems have emerged. Various people have contributed to the historical development of business management. Among these, two practitioner writers, Taylor and Fayol, who stand out with serious and scientific studies, are considered among the founders of modern business science.

Although some principles have been developed in business management before, the view that modern management started with Frederick Winslow Taylor has been generally accepted. Taylor's scientific approach started in 1911 when he published his work titled "Principles of Scientific Management", which gained a great reputation in management. In his many years of work, he spent a great deal of his time studying the production activities at the workshop, and found that he was largely wasted on workmanship, raw materials and materials; it has explored ways to increase productivity by preventing this. He observed that ignorance, and productivity in terms of both workers and managers prevented the increase in production so that employees were unwittingly aware of low wages while there was an opportunity to receive more wages. (Frederick Winslow Taylor: Father of Scientific Management Thinker 2016) It went to measure the way workers use materials and machines and their movements with measuring instruments. For example, he tried to identify the factors affecting the activities by measuring and analyzing the arrival of metal until the workbench in front of a lathe worker, starting to be processed and cut by the worker and the end of the work. (Caramela, 2018) It has minimized the waste of unnecessary time and material with the studies it has done with a stopwatch and various engineering measurement tools.

By increasing the quality and quantity of the work done, it has developed methods for earning higher wages as well as more production. Especially with the studies called “time study”, with the development of incentive wage systems in which overpayers are rewarded with high wages with the application of wage per piece, it has been able to achieve an increase in productivity in industrial production exceeding 400%. However, this situation brought him against the labour union. Although Taylor was mainly interested in production activities, he made great contributions to management.

Industrial Revolution Essay: Conclusion

The industrial revolution has contributed greatly to the world in many ways, and operations management is one of the most affected areas. Contributions of Frederick Taylor to operations management cannot be ignored. Harmonizing both the industrial revolution and the scientific management of Frederick Winslow Taylor has created a great relativeness in this essay.

References

Caramela, S. (2018, February 13). The Management Theory of Frederick Taylor. https://business.com/articles/management-theory-of-frederick-taylor/.

Frederick Winslow Taylor: Father of Scientific Management Thinker. (2016, January 19). https://bl.uk/people/frederick-winslow-taylor.