Final answer:
Scientific management focuses on improving productivity using industrial engineering methods.
Step-by-step explanation:
The best description of scientific management is option a. It focuses on how jobs, work, and incentive schemes could be designed to improve productivity using industrial engineering methods.
Fredrick Taylor, a mechanical engineer, developed scientific management in the early 20th century. He believed that by redesigning the workplace and implementing time and motion studies, productivity and wages could be increased for both the company and workers.