Taylor still believed in the importance of individual character and skills. Taylor used the term "first-class man" to refer to the kind of person you could trai

Taylor still believed in the importance of individual character and skills. Taylor used the term "first-class man" to refer to the kind of person you could train to do high-quality work in scientific management. But he was careful to say that someone else (ie a manager armed with scientific methods) should determine what the optimal amount of work such a man should do. Today, Taylor is mostly remembered for the tactics he emphasized: time and motion studies, the separation of planning from working, etc. But that overlooks his lasting contribution, which is that the systems that are used to do work could be studied and scientifically improved. His 1911 "Principles of Scientific Management" is actually a very short read, is in the public domain, and is quite fun. You can get it for free for your Kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Scientific-Management-ebook/dp/B000JQUO5G/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Scientific-Management-ebook...