Final answer:
True, Frederick Winslow Taylor, the creator of scientific management, believed in maximizing worker productivity by applying scientific principles to labor processes. His emphasis on time-motion studies and efficiency sometimes led to workers feeling more like parts of a machine, sparking criticism from those who favored a more human-centric approach.
Step-by-step explanation:
True, the creator of scientific management, Frederick Winslow Taylor, indeed believed that worker productivity was governed by scientific laws. Taylor was an engineer from Pennsylvania whose methods, often referred to as Taylorism, were based on the careful study of every aspect of the production processes with the goal to improve efficiency by eliminating unnecessary steps and wasted motions. In his influential 1911 book, The Principles of Scientific Management, Taylor introduced concepts such as time-motion studies to optimize labor efficiency and argued that management's main goal should be to maximize profits for the employer and ensure the best outcome for the employee. This outcome was to be achieved by training and development for high efficiency, leading to growth in the company and better wages for the workers.
Taylor's approach was aimed at restructuring the workplace to increase both company output and worker wages. It encouraged factory owners to seek efficiency and profitability, often at the cost of the personal interaction or well-being of workers. This led to workplaces where tasks were divided into short, repetitive segments in what was also called "stop-watch management." Despite its success in increasing productivity, Taylor's method was met with criticism from unions and some workers who felt dehumanized by the mechanical and impersonal nature of their work.