FW TAYLOR:
BUILDING A BETTER APARTMENT THROUGH SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
Frederick Winslow Taylor was an early twentieth century American mechanical engineer whosought to improve national efficiency.
As one of the world’s first management consultants and an intellectual leader of the EfficiencyMovement, Taylor advanced the notion that “scientific management” could not only increasetheefficiencies of production, but also lead to better working conditions and more leisure timeforworkers. In this way, he hoped to maximize individual prosperity and counter Marxistargumentsthat capitalist systems were inherently inhumane and unjust.
Not surprisingly, Taylor’s ideas were not limited to the workplace. They were adopted rapidlyand extended to nearly every facet of American life such that Americans are now identified asbeing obsessed with efficiency.
ASSIGNMENT
1) Describe Taylor’s “scientific management,” the impact it had on American business, and howit was extended to interior home design.
2) Then, imagine you are an employee of a design firm that has been solicited by a builder tosubmit a proposal for the interior design of a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 1,000 sq. ft. apartment withwindows in the living room and bedroom in a new high-rise apartment building. The ownerswant the apartment to include the following amenities:
- a) At least two closets.
- b) A bathroom with shower/bathtub (can be separate items), toilet, and sink.
- c) A kitchen containing a sink, refrigerator, range, dishwasher, and microwave.
- d) A washer and dryer.
3) To generate your model, use graph paper or computer software and note all proportions.
4) Finally, describe ten (10) cost or movement efficiency elements in your design.
Recommendations:
Video: Kikim Media and Quest Productions. Stopwatch. Produced by Bill Jersey and MichaelSchwarz.1999.
Summary available at: KQED. Stopwatch: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the “Taylorization” of
America. KQED, 2007. Accessed 4 August 2018. Internet.
http://www.kqed.org/w/collaborations/stopwatch/stopwatch2.html
Mashpedia. “Episode 143: Frederick Winslow Taylor’s Scientific Management.” Mashpedia,2015. Accessed 4 August 2018. Internet. Available from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C6RJl2RWOw
