TAYLORISM IN EDUCATION AND BUSINESS
Topics on the Page
TAYLORISTIC POLICIES APPLIED IN A MAJOR AMERICAN COMPANY
STORE POLICY FOR SALES COUNSELORS
TAYLORISTIC
POLICIES APPLIED IN A MAJOR AMERICAN COMPANY
Job Insecurity. Job insecurity abounds in America. This is self-evident because of technological advances replacing more and more workers everyday in addition to jobs which are lost due to fierce competition with other countries. This can be expected since technology is making the world smaller and smaller everyday.
Be that as it may, job insecurity in America is also directly precipitated by Tayloristic leadership. As before stated, under this type of management the employee is made to understand that they are "not to think" or make any intellectual or experiential contributions to their job—only do what they are told! After all, the managers are the intellectuals with the experience and training; thus they know what’s best regarding company policy. If an employee disagrees, then they should be out looking for other employment.
This type of leadership is unacceptable, since elitists’
conduct is a controllable behavior for society. America’s
strongest competition for jobs is with Japan and Germany. And yet,
both of these countries have virtually 100% job security. So why does
America put up with Tayloristic leadership, placing many families
at risk of losing their jobs for disagreement and thoughtful
deliberation? Is it because we tolerate Taylorism and look
the other way when employees are fired for the wrong reasons?
Far-reaching insecurities develop for the unconventional employee when companies hire managers with a Tayloristic philosophy of leadership-management. This style of management creates an environment which guarantees huge conflicts will eventually develop between elitist supervisors and the experienced employees who are specialists in their field. Research indicates that conflict occurs when one or both parties express hostility and interfere with each other’s efforts to accomplish objectives (Yukl, p. 111).
Case Study. A case in hand has to do with the nation’s largest electronic consumer retailer with over 600 stores in the U.S. Reaching market saturation with their Superstores in the larger cities a few years back, the company has since been actively constructing micro stores in mid-size cities with floor space that is 60-75% smaller. This reduction in size and inventory (which is stocked at bare minimum) was enacted with several changes taking place—many of them being very unfavorable for the sales counselors in the micro stores.
For example, all of the major retailer’s sales counselors are compensated on a "commission-only" basis. This means that their entire income is wholly contingent upon the total sales they individually make. However, the sales counselors in the micro stores are discriminated against and limited in their income potential when compared to the sales counselors in the Superstores.
To increase profits for the company, corporate management made a decision to cut labor costs to a minimum in the micro stores. Consequently, sales counselors in these smaller stores are required to spend about 25% of their work week pulling inventory for customers, setting up and configuring floor products, pricing, tagging, customer service, and janitorial work—for which they receive no compensation. Whereas, in the Superstores, additional employees are hired to do these jobs. When compared to the micro stores, this amounts to about 10 more hours-per-week on the floor for sales counselors in the Superstores to do what they were hired to do—sell!
STORE POLICY FOR SALES COUNSELORS
This electronic retail giant has three principal policies in place which are required for all their sales counselors:
| 1. During every sale, execute a literal write-down on paper as the tool for selling the company’s extended service contracts |
| 2. Immediately greet every customer entering the store by passing out a hard copy of the store’s Low Price Guarantee (LPG), using a canned speech stipulated by management |
| 3. Carry a 3-ring binder at all times |
There is a rationale for these three company policies,
and on the surface they appear harmless. But in actuality, they have
a negating and demoralizing affect upon every store’s sales counselors.
Write-Down Policy. Since the company makes an undisclosed profit on their self-funded extended service contracts, management wants to make sure every customer has been given the opportunity to purchase the store’s insurance protection for their product.
Sales counselors are also nicely compensated for selling these extended protection contracts, increasing their paychecks as much as 30-50%! A large conflict with this store policy occurs, however, because most all sales counselors quickly learn to be much more effective at selling extended service contracts without spending the extra time it takes to write everything down on paper. For the professional sales person, they understand that the customer is a busy person, who only wants to hear a quick summary on two issues:
- What does this do for me?
- How much does it cost?
The professional sales counselor is not always opposed to doing write-downs, explaining in detail the extended service contracts. Some customers simply need to be convinced in writing. In these rare instances the sales counselors are more than happy to comply.
For the anti-Taylorist manager, he or she rarely
enforces the write-down policy unless the sales counselor’s
numbers are low for the month in that category. But for the Taylorist
manager, he or she constantly uses coercive power (Yukl, p.
178) and threaten termination if the sales counselor refuses to comply
with the store policy in this regards.
Low Price Guarantee (LPG) Policy. The LPG store policy is in place because it promises peace of mind for the customer. If the consumer becomes aware of a legitimate lower price for their product from one of their competitors (within 30-60 days of purchase), they have the opportunity to come back into the store and receive compensation for the difference.
For over a decade now every major retailer in the U.S. has advertised this same LPG policy. Unless a consumer has been isolated for 10-years, they already know about universal LPG’s.
But store policy for the nation’s largest electronic retailer states that the sales counselors must literally hand out a hard copy of the LPG guarantee to the customer when they first enter their department, using a predetermined verbal presentation. Again, this policy creates a conflict for most sales counselors because they have their own comfort zone on how to approach customers without making them feel threatened or angry.
Most consumers are intimidated by sales people because of some bad experience with them in the past. And many customers just want to be left alone when shopping, and explore the store on their own. They certainly don’t want to tie their hands up by being forced to hold a piece of paper which is going into a waste basket (or the store’s parking lot) ASAP.
Again, for the anti-Taylorist manager, total
flexibility is given to the sales counselors regarding the LPG
policy as long as the LPG message is clearly articulated to the
customer before they leave the store. But for the Taylorist
manager, unless they see a LPG piece of paper in every customer’s
hands, they get paranoid and angry at sales counselors for disregarding
company policy. Taylorist managers view their principal duty as
enforcing company policy without question or reason from the employee.
3-Ring Binder Policy. The 3-ring binder policy is given because the sales counselors need to have a place to stash the write-down sheets as well as the LPG’s. These binders can also be used to store technical specifications for products. Because sales counselors are always using their hands to demonstrate products, the binder is a constant nuisance. Since it has to be laid down somewhere in order to show how a product works, sales counselors seem to spend a lot of time hunting for their binders, since a lot of time usually elapses before they realize it is missing.
However, sales counselors are very creative and smart. It doesn’t take them long to figure out that write-down and LPG sheets can be stacked neatly within arm’s reach throughout the store, easily and quickly accessed when needed. Most technical specifications are internally memorized by the sales counselors after some time on the floor. But if needed, a booklet detailing every product is always available at the nearest kiosk desk.
As before, anti-Taylorist managers rarely even
mention enforcing the carting of 3-ring binders on the person. They
would rather train their sales counselors to have knowledge of their
product memorized internally, and professionally endowed with verbal sales
skills—not relying on written material which is often bulky and
confusing. But for the Taylorist managers, they seem only to
be able to have faith and assurance in their sales counselors if they can
visually see the 3-ring binder being carried around in their hands at all
times.
Coercive Power. How do employees respond to a Tayloristic manager’s exercise of power? People are not by nature compliant. Therefore, it seems reasonable, if a given behavior is not something employees would voluntarily engage in, then efforts by Tayloristic managers to have them engage in that behavior would be met with resistance (Ratzburg, p. 2).
Tayloristic management is directly linked to the autocrat style of leadership. The autocratic leader dominates team-members, using unilateralism to achieve a singular objective. This approach to leadership generally results in passive resistance from team-members and requires continual pressure and direction from the leader in order to get things done (Leadership Styles).
Coercive power is the capacity Tayloristic managers use to dispense punishments to those who do not comply with their requests or demands (Leadership Styles, p. 9). To remain in power, a Tayloristic manager must use this type of power, which involves forcing employees to comply with their wishes. A prison best exemplifies an example of a coercive organization (Leadership Styles, p. 8).
Insight of Sales Counselors.
For the Taylorist managers, sales counselors can immediately
recognize their lack of people-skills, not to mention less than average
sales abilities. Having difficulty adapting quickly to spontaneous
situations, Taylorist managers require rigid structure to keep them
on track. Out of fear of losing control, they demand their
employees abide by laws, rules, and policies which were written by someone
with similar philosophical personalities as themselves.
On the flip side, sales counselors can readily perceive that anti-Taylorist managers possess sensational sales and people skills. Over time these highly competent and respected leaders eventually convey earlier frustrations with these three company policies when they were sales counselors on the floor.
Karlan Witt, with Intelliquest, states, "It’s always cheaper to keep a customer than to acquire a new one" (PC Computing, July, 1999, p. 152). Analogously, a parallel motto for an anti-Taylorist manager would be, "It’s always cheaper to retain a good employee than to hire and train a new one." In opposition, the Taylorist manager would say without hesitation, "In order to preserve the letter of the law as written, it’s always better to fire a good employee than to retain them and corrupt the established policies of the company."
Sales counselors are not robots, even though Taylorist managers treat them as if they were. Every successful sales person has their own unique gifts and forte in sales, either naturally endowed or acquired. If mandated to sell utilizing only one method (translated means "what works for someone else"), it has several negative affects upon a professional sales person. First, it decreases their sales, because a extrinsic method of selling takes them out of their element no matter how many times they use it. It doesn’t fit and throws them off balance in their sales presentation.
Shakespeare counseled, "To thine own self be true." Ralph Waldo Emerson’s counterpart for that was his famous words, "Know thyself." A professional sales person does indeed know himself or herself—including what their strengths and weaknesses are. When selling a new product, they quickly learn to adapt their strengths by acquiring new vocabulary and presentation techniques relating to the merchandise. Half of sales are made by knowing your product. The other half is in believing wholeheartedly in the value of your product, so that it convincingly flows out of you in a natural and smooth way.
Therefore, when a professional sales person is mandated to give a rote extrinsic sales presentation which they have to memorize, it disables their creativity, imagination, people-skills, believability, and motivation. It might even make some sales counselors sound impaired and insincere.
Wrapping-up, the three Binding Policies mentioned above for sales counselors employed by the nation’s largest electronic retail chain might be warranted—if all their sales counselors were teenagers without any sales experience, and their turnover rate was high. Otherwise, these Tayloristic policies should be viewed as discriminatory against original and natural professionalism for sales counselors.