what is funtional foremenship?

Functional foremanship is a management technique that spreads the duties of a traditional industrial foreman among several different individuals. Frederick Winslow Taylor, a pioneer in the study of industrial efficiency, developed the technique after concluding that it would be expecting too much of one person to be an expert in all areas of foremanship -- from timekeeping and scheduling to discipline and quality control.

How It Works

A factory under a traditional foremanship system might have 150 workers divided into five units of 30 workers, with each unit having a single foreman. Each 30-person crew would report to its foreman on all matters. In a functional foremanship system, workers are supervised by specialized foremen, each with a specific function or area of interest.

Dividing the Functions

A business can separate foremen by function in whatever manner it sees fit. Taylor proposed eight roles, separated into planning and production functions. The four planning foremen were an instruction card clerk, whose job it is to divide up workers' responsibilities; a time and cost clerk for scheduling; a route clerk for work flow; and a disciplinarian. The productivity foremen were a gang boss for direct crew supervision, a repair boss overseeing maintenance, a speed boss to eliminate production delays and an inspector for quality control.

Functional foremanship is a management technique that spreads the duties of a traditional industrial foreman among several different individuals. Frederick Winslow Taylor, a pioneer in the study of industrial efficiency, developed the technique after concluding that it would be expecting too much of one person to be an expert in all areas of foremanship -- from timekeeping and scheduling to discipline and quality control.