Page 20 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

6 B u s i n e s s - I n t e g r a t e d Q u a l i t y S y s t e m s O r g a n i z a t i o n a l S t r u c t u r e s 7

Top boss

Staff assistant

Top boss of accounting Top boss of engineering Top boss of quality

Boss of division A engineering Boss of division B engineering

Division A engineer #1 Division A engineer #2
Figure 1.2 Functional/hierarchical organization chart.

tasks performed by the workers to get the job done. Management could
improve the efficiency of work, to the benefit of both management and
workers, by applying the methods of science in (1) selecting the individuals
best suited to a particular job and (2) identifying the optimal way in which
the jobs could be performed. Henry Ford further advanced this de-skilling
of the workforce through production mechanization.
In spite of resis tance from craftsmen and machinists, who understood
the value of their knowledge and skill in terms of monetary rewards and
job securi ty, the reduction of work to a series of simple tasks done with
relatively small investment in training is one of the major results of scien-
tific management. The ramifications of these efforts includes better man-
agement oversight, reduced investment in worker training, and easier
replacement of those who did unsatisfactory work (with employee incen-
tives to improve performance). Unfortunately, the de-skilled work is usu-
ally far more boring, leading to a variety of problems such as high levels
of stress and employee turnover.
The legacy of de-skilling is that the workforce is less able to change as
new conditions arise. Whereas a machinist could work for any number of
compa nies in many industries, machine loaders had limited mobility out-
side their current employer, thus increasing worker demands for job secu-
rity. In the modern era, lack of generalized employee skills can be a major
impediment to a quick reaction to rapidly changing market conditions.
When rapid change creates new tasks, the workers’ previous experience
does not help them adapt to the new circumstance; they must be con-
stantly “retrained.”
Organizationally, the introduction of scientific management perpet-
uated the growth of the bureaucratic form, and increasingly led to larger
and larger organizational support structures. On the technical side,
organiza tional units were formed to codify the detailed knowledge of
necessary work practices, including manufacturing engineering, industrial

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