The rise of taylorism in knowledge management

Interviews with engineers near retirement suggest that engineering work has become more prescriptive over the span of their careers. Work is now highly controlled by procedures and increased approvals from senior management. This approach to work is paralleled by Frederick Taylor developing scientific management at the turn of the 20th century. Drivers for regimented processes may be higher employee turnover and lower knowledge retention in modern workplaces. A seven year old organization is studied. Problems with the quality of past engineering work were highlighted by senior management and tight controls were implemented as a means to improve operations. The workflow for a typical project is tracked, demonstrating the effort required to move it through the various gates established to control the final product. Middle management acknowledges that executing any project is unacceptably slow and the costs are too high. Establishing clearly defined roles and responsibilities hinders effective project management as identified by best practices. As the tight control on the work hinders the engineers' sense of accomplishment, turnover remains high. This justifies the need for higher levels of documentation to assure smooth transitions during handover to the new employee, and the cycle continues.