Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Standardization is a core technique of Scientific Management that involves establishing norms or benchmarks for every business activity.
It ensures that products, processes, and tools are uniform across the organization.
By setting standards, a company can guarantee quality, interchangeability of parts, and consistency in service delivery.
Taylor believed that standardization was necessary to eliminate the variety of ways a task could be performed, which often led to waste and confusion.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The technique of "Standardisation of Work" encompasses several dimensions aimed at industrial efficiency:
1. Standardization of Products: This involves reducing a product line to a few necessary types and sizes. For example, instead of making shoes in every possible millimeter increment, a firm standardizes on specific sizes (6, 7, 8, etc.). This reduces the cost of machinery and inventory.
2. Standardization of Raw Materials: Ensuring that every batch of input meets specific chemical or physical quality standards to prevent defects in the final product.
3. Standardization of Methods: Using "Method Study" to identify the best way of doing a job and then making that the standard for all workers.
4. Standardization of Tools: Providing workers with the specific tools determined by science to be the most efficient for the task.
The specific goal mentioned in the question—reducing products to "fixed types, sizes and characteristics"—is a primary objective of standardization.
Let's analyze why other options do not fit:
- Method Study (A): Focuses on finding the sequence of steps to minimize costs.
- Time Study (B): Focuses on measuring the duration of a task to determine labor requirements.
- Functional Foremanship (D): Focuses on specialized supervision by eight different foremen.
Therefore, standardization is the only technique that specifically deals with fixing the characteristics and varieties of products.
Step 4: Final Answer:
The technique used to fix product types and sizes is "Standardisation of work." Hence, the correct answer is (C).