Taylorism: Scientific Management, also called Taylorism,[1] is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management.
Its development began with Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s within the manufacturing industries. Its peak of influence came in the 1910s;[2] by the 1920s, it was still influential but had entered intocompetition and syncretism with opposing or complementary ideas.
Although scientific management as a distinct theory or school of thought was obsolete by the 1930s, most of its themes are still important parts of industrial engineering and management today. These include analysis; synthesis; logic; rationality; empiricism; work ethic; efficiency and elimination of waste; standardization of best practices; disdain for tradition preserved merely for its own sake or to protect the social statusof particular workers with particular skill sets; the transformation of craft production into mass production; and knowledge transfer between workers and from workers into tools, processes, and documentation. wikipedia
Hawthorne Experiments: The Hawthorne effect (also referred to as the observer effect) is a type of reactivity in which individuals modify or improve an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.[1][2] The original "Hawthorne effect" study at the Hawthorne Works suggested that the novelty of being research subjects and the increased attention from such could lead to temporary increases in workers' productivity.
Participatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is an economic system based on participatory decision making as the primary economic mechanism for the allocation of the factors of production and guidance of production in a given society. Participatory decision-making involves the participation of all persons in decision-making on issues in proportion to the impact such decisions have on their lives. Participatory economics is a form of decentralized economic planning and socialism involving the common ownership of the means of production. The participatory economic system is proposed as an alternative to contemporary capitalism, as well as an alternative to central planning. This economic model is primarily associated with the proposals put forth by the political theorist Michael Albert and economist Robin Hahnel, who describe participatory economics as an anarchistic economic vision.[1]
The underlying values that parecon seeks to implement are equity, solidarity, diversity, workers' self-management and efficiency (defined as accomplishing goals without wasting valued assets). The institutions of parecon include workers' and consumers' councils utilizing self-managerial methods for making decisions, balanced job complexes, remuneration based on individual effort, and participatory planning.
Albert and Hahnel stress that parecon is only meant to address an alternative economic theory and must be accompanied by equally important alternative visions in the fields of politics, culture and kinship. The authors have also discussed elements of anarchism in the field of politics, polyculturalism in the field of culture, and feminism in the field of family and gender relations as being possible foundations for future alternative visions in these other spheres of society. Stephen R. Shalom has begun work on a participatory political vision he calls "par polity". Both systems together make up the political philosophy ofParticipism. Participatory Economics has also significantly shaped the interim International Organization for a Participatory Society.
Behaviorism (or behaviourism) is a behavioral approach to psychology that combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and theory. It emerged methodologically in the early twentieth century as a reaction to "mentalistic" psychology, which often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested using rigorous experimental methods. The primary tenet of methodological behaviorism, as expressed in the writings of John B. Watson and others, is that psychology should have only concerned itself with observable events. There has been a drastic shift in behaviorist philosophies throughout the 1940s and 1950s and again since the 1980s. Radical behaviorism is the conceptual piece purposed by B. F. Skinner that acknowledges the presence of private events—including cognition and emotions—but does not actually prompt that behavior to take place.[1]
