INSTRUCTIONS:
Frederick Taylor is widely considered to be the father of Scientific Management and he has spent a considerable amount of time developing a standardized and rational approach to managing the work process. Taylor claims that his approach dramatically improves the efficiency of all employees. You are unconvinced, and in 1911, you decided to send a 1,200 (4 page) letter to the editor of the Journal of Scientific Management in which you assail Taylor's rationalistic and dehumanizing thinking about people and work. You take particular issue with his narrow view of efficiency and waste and the way his thinking promotes an understanding of workers as little more than machines. The letter has to be well thought out because Taylor is an icon and not someone who takes kindly to criticism, especially if it is based on sloppy scholarship or misrepresentation of his work. As you build your argument, be sure to reference the work of Taylor's contemporaries like Max Weber and Franz Kafka as well as to speculate how future writers may relate to Taylor's ideas and legacy.