ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, reference was made to the scientific management of F W Taylor. The managerialist restructuring of the public sector has spawned a huge literature on the extent to which Taylorism is characteristic of the latter and related issues of TQM (total quality management) and organisational culture generically. Ackroyd and Bolton’s (1999) study of the mechanisms of work intensification in the provision of gynaecological services in an NHS hospital concluded that such mechanisms are not Taylorist. The authors accept that some deskilling has occurred, alongside grade dilution and the employment of increasing numbers of nurses on non-standard contracts and the use of bank and nursing agencies. Furthermore, they note that those managerialist nostrums such as management by objectives (MBO), performance management (PM) and total quality management (TQM) have obvious points of continuity with Taylorism.
