Frederick Taylors Scientific Management - Free Essay Example

Shannon Crilly13321480 Q.2 Frederick Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ was for a different time and a different place. Discuss. I agree that Frederick Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ undoubtedly belonged to a different time and place. In this essay I will express why I believe this to be true. To do so, I will begin by outlining where the idea originated from, and what exactly Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ consists of. Following this I will discuss the reasons why I believe that this system was indeed for a different time and place, and I will compare it with systems that I believe to be more applicable to modern managerial work, for example Henry Mintzbergà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s views on the Managerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s roles. I do however, also believe that there are aspects of Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scienti fic managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ which can be seen to operate well in managerial work today, and so I will also discuss the ways that I see this to be true. A manager is a person who is in charge of an organization or one of an organizationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sub-units. They are responsible for controlling or overseeing a group of individuals, and they allocate, direct and account for resources. Their main duties are to plan, organise, lead, and control. The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum propensity for the employer, as well as the maximum propensity for each employee (Taylor, 1911). Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s analysis of management revealed that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"unscientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ was the fundamental problem of the late years of the 19th century, around the time of the end of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Long Depressionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. At this time Taylor was working as a machine-shop labourer at the Midvale Steel Company of Philadelp hia, and his studies were based on his personal observations of the organization and execution of daily work tasks here (Fulop and Linstead, 1999). He realised that maximum efficiency wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t being achieved by workers as employers were paying the lowest wages they could and in return the employees was doing as little work as they could (Taylor, 1911). The majority of workers believed that the fundamental interests of the workman and the management were antagonistic (Taylor, 1911). Taylor believed that the greatest obstacle to cooperation between the workman and the management was the ignorance of the management as to what the workmanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s daily endeavour actually consisted of (Taylor, 1911). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ was developed on the contrary to this, where the interests of both the management and the workman needed to be viewed as one and the same à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" where prosperity for the employer cannot be achieved i n the long run unless it is accompanied by prosperity for the employee (Taylor, 1911). Taylor came up with a systematic approach to the study and design of work (Fulop and Linstead, 1999). There were four fundamental elements of this idea of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ outlining the new duties of the management. The first being that they develop a science for each element of a workmanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s work, where before they simply used a general rule of thumb method (Taylor, 1911). Secondly the management themselves scientifically select and train the workmen. In the past the workman appointed his own work and trained himself to the best of his capabilities (Taylor, 1911). Thirdly the management heartily cooperate with the workmen, insuring that all the work is being done in accordance with the developed principles of the science (Taylor, 1911). Fourthly and finally, that there is an essentially equal division of both work and responsibility between the workmen and the management. The management take on the work for which they are better suited, where in the past the majority of the responsibility and virtually all of the workload were thrown upon the workmen (Taylor, 1911). At the time the system of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ was adopted by numerous companies in the United States, and it worked very well. Daily wages rose from 33% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 100 % higher than surrounding companies who were still operating under ordinary management, and average output per man per machine doubled (Taylor, 1911). As time progressed however, flaws to the system surfaced, and what seemed to be more appropriate management systems were developed. One element of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ was that work activities were standardized and formalized to optimize execution of finely subdivided repetitive tasks (Fulop and Linstead, 1999), for example Henry Fordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s assembly lin e that was developed after 1914 is an extension of this principle (Drucker, 1999). In their book, Liz Fulop and Stephen Linstead point out how this isolating and repetitive nature of work tasks was seen by the workmen and the trade unions as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"the ultimate dehumanizing and alienation approach to workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Fulop and Linstead, 1999). Workmen became dissatisfied, increasingly careless, and more frequently absent from their employment. Working in these in humane working conditions, caused many workers to suffer extensive psychological trauma and poor work life quality (Fulop and Linstead, 1999). Managers could see that demotivation from the never-ending monotony of the factory was bound to emerge in the long run (Fulop and Linstead, 1999). In todayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s society employeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s average intelligence has risen greatly, and people have become more aware of their value as human beings (Priestly, 2005). While à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific manag ementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ workers were viewed as working solely for economic reward, today people are no longer satisfied with receiving only fiscal reward for their work (Priestly, 2005). It was clear that managers needed to look for ways to make jobs more intrinsically rewarding à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" so that the actual work itself would bring a reward of significance or trial (Boddy, 2005). Most early job redesign strategies were concerned with reversing the effects the over-specified, inflexible jobs that stemmed from Scientific Management, emphasizing making jobs more satisfying and challenging (Fulop and Linstead, 1999). The 21st Century has seen significant increases in access to technology and information. This is another reason why it is difficult to apply à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ to modern organizations. Organizations today process huge amounts of input, provided by satellite link-ups and the Internet, and employees no longer work in isolated uni ts but are literally connected to the organization in its whole (Priestly, 2005). With this swift technological growth the importance of reacting quickly to developments that may affect the organizationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s welfare is rising, and managers realise that it is not possible for them to control every aspect of employeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s functions, making it imperative for the employees to use their own initiative (Priestly, 2005). This flexibility that must be sustained by modern companies does not comply with Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, which required the work of every workman to be entirely planned out by the management at least one day in advance (Boddy, 2005). Lack of flexibility of workers can also be seen under à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ when workers became too highly specialized in their specific task, prohibiting their capability to adapt to new situations. Managers in the 21st centu ry require their workers exhibit flexibility as well as efficiency (Priestly, 2005). Henry Mintzberg also tackles many principles of Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ by comparing what he believes to be à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"folkloreà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ and what he believes to be fact about the managerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s job, from his point of view in 1990. The first principle he deals with is that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"the manager is a reflective, systematic plannerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Mintzberg, 1990). He countered this by explaining how instead numerous studies have shown that the manager works at an inexorable pace, and that their activities are characterized by brevity, variety and discontinuity (Mintzberg, 1990). He backs up his claim with evidence from studies of U.S. foremen and of British top and middle managers, where his beliefs, which contradict Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, can be seen to be true in these modern work organizations. Mintzber g also opposes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ as a whole by saying that it is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"folkloreà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ that management is a science and a profession (Mintzberg, 1990). What Mintzberg suggests to be true today is that the managerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s programs, including decision making and so on, are rooted deep with their brains (Mintzberg, 1990). With organizations becoming much more complex today, the managerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s job is increasingly more difficult. Managers are overburdened with obligations and are forced to overwork and do many of their task superficially (Mintzberg, 1990). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ concentrated on specialized functions of the organization, but Mintzberg saw that the characteristics required of effective managerial work are brevity, fragmentation and verbal communication (Mintzberg, 1990). As these are not what à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ was primarily co ncerned with, these characteristics have in fact impeded any scientific attempts to improve the managerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s job (Mintzberg, 1990). Peter Drucker had a great amount of respect for Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. In his article in the California Management Review, he declared that no matter how loudly Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s antagonists tried to proclaim their differences with him, every method during the past one hundred years that has shown any success in raising manual works productivity and real wages, has in fact been based on Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s principles (Drucker, 1999). This can been seen in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"work enlargementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"work enrichmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"job rotationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ for example (Drucker, 1999). Despite this, Drucker did agree that in entering the 21st Century we needed to move past à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ â„ ¢. He expressed the factors which he considered to be successful in determining the knowledge-workerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s productivity. One of them being that the responsibility for knowledge worker productivity must lie with the individual knowledge workers themselves. They have to manage themselves; have autonomy (Drucker, 1999). Another being that continuous innovation must to be part of the work, and a third is that productivity of the knowledge worker does not solely depend on quantity; quality is at least equally as important (Drucker, 1999). Each of these are almost the complete opposite of the factors emphasized by Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Druckerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s knowledge worker system has proved to work effectively in the modern workplace, and an example of where its success can be seen is with a group of orthopaedic surgeons in a Mid-western city in the United States (Drucker, 1999). One of the principles of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ that I previously mentioned that it was heavily oriented to turning everything work-related into quantifiable dimensions, rather than relying on the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"rule of thumbà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ method (Ritzer, 1983). Fordismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s roots are based on Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s management model (Priestly, 2005). I will use the example that I previously mentioned of the assembly line. This is similarly oriented to a variety of quantifiable dimensions such as optimizing the speed of the line, and decreasing the price of the finished product (Ritzer, 1983). General Motors received increased sales and ultimately increased profits from the employment of this system. Although his theory retained the faults of Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s; little workplace democracy and alienation, after 16 years of implementing Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s scientific approach, Ford skilfully managed to sell more than 10 million cars, proving the success of the system (The Saylor Foundation, 2005). The auto industry has continued to thrive into the 21st Century, making use of new efficiencies and cost reductions (The Saylor Foundation, 2005). There are many other organizations today where elements of Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ can be seen to be employed effectively. Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s system strived for rationality and maximum efficiency. A typical example of an organization employing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ in its production is the fast food chain McDonalds. The McDonalds workerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s manual includes every step-by-step detail that the staff must follow, from the precise cooking times and temperature settings for all products and equipment, to that precise instruction that the Grill men must put hamburgers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"on the grill moving left to right, creating six rows of six patties eachà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Pri estly, 2005). Speed, convenience and standardization are set in place of any creation in cooking or variety in choice (Ritzer, 1983). Uniformity is complete in every McDonaldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s restaurant, meaning that no matter what country in the world you are in, each on is using the same standard method to prepare food, promote the staff, and clean the floors (Priestly, 2005). This scientific system of managing every aspect of working life in this fast food chain is what has given them the ability to efficiently supply standard food and service around world and lead them to become the biggest restaurant chain on Earth (Priestly, 2005). While there is no doubt that it is this scientifically managed system that has led to McDonaldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s worldwide triumph, the flaws of the system are still to be seen. George Ritzer introduces the idea of the irony of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"irrationality of rationalityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ that is found in the workplace of McDonalds (Ritzer, 2 011). This means that what appears to be an extremely rational and efficient system, does in fact lead inefficiency, loss of control, and other irrationalities in the long run. Employeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"McJobsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ are deemed dehumanizing, and provide little satisfaction or stability, and so it is no surprise that alienation, resentment and absenteeism are present (Ritzer, 2011). The fast-food industry have an enormous turnover rate of 300%, meaning that the average workers only lasts for approximately 4 months (Ritzer, 20011). This high turnover rate is of course inadmissible for any organization, as there is the increased costs of constantly hiring and training new staff. Also, the lack of workerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s skill required for their à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"McJobsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ in inefficient for the organization. Managers could be obtaining much more from their workers for the money they are paid (Ritzer, 2011), but as they operate under a scientifi c system of management, there is no diversity or flexibility in the workerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s jobs, and therefore they can only do the exact tasks that they are asked to do in the exact manner that they are asked to do them. To conclude, I would say that it is evidently clear that Frederick Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ was developed for a different time and a different place. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ seemed like a simple result to managerial problems at the end of the 19th Century, but modern organizations of the 21st, being much more complex, require more than a systematic approach to managers. There is no doubt that Taylorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ideas have dramatically shaped modern methods of mass production and structural organization (The Saylor Foundation, 2005), and it is true that there are elements to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ which cooperate well today with some or ganizations management systems and continue to work effectively, however in general, our industry and society today have moved on and left à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ in the past where it belongs. Bibliography Boddy, D. (ed.) 2005. Management: An Introduction, 3rd edition. Harlow, Pearson Education. Drucker, F. P. 1999. Knowledge-Worker Productivity: The Biggest Challenge. In Introduction to Organisation and Management, 3rd edition. (Quilliam J., ed.), Harlow, Pearson Education, pp. 247-262. Fulop, L. and Linstead, S. 1999. Management: A Critical Text. South Yarra, Macmillan Publishers Australia. Mintzberg, H. 1990. The Managerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Job: Folklore and Fact. In Introduction to Organisation and Management, 3rd edition. (Quilliam J., ed.), Harlow, Pearson Education, pp. 53-68. Priestley, S. 2005. Scientific Management in 21st Century. Available online at: www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article4161.shtml [Acces sed 31st January 2014]. Ritzer, G. 1983. The McDonaldization of Society. Journal of American Culture, 6(1), 100-107. Available online at: https://antropologi.fib.ugm.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/George-Ritzer-The-McDonaldization-of-Society.pdf [Accessed 31st January 2014]. Ritzer, G. 2011. The McDonaldization of Society 6. California, SAGE Publications, pp. 141-160. Available online at: https://engl101-mlady.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Chpt+7+-+Irrationality+of+Rationality.pdf [Accessed 12th February 2014]. Taylor, W. F. 1911. The Fundamentals of Scientific Management. New York, Harper Brothers. Available online at: www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/taylor/principles/ch01.htm [Accessed 3rd January 2014]. Taylor, W. F. 1911. The Principles of Scientific Management: Part I. In Introduction to Organisation and Management, 3rd edition. (Quilliam J., ed.), Harlow, Pearson Education, pp. 32-51. The Saylor Foundation, 2005. Scientific Management Theory and the Ford Motor Company. Available online at: https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Saylor.orgs-Scientific-Management-Theory-and-the-Ford-Motor-Company.pdf [Accessed February 7th 2014].

Gender Matters Why Achebe and Jung Chang Have Opposing Interpretations of Western Influence - Literature Essay Samples

Gender Matters: Why Achebe and Jung Chang Have Opposing Interpretations of Western Influence While neither Wild Swans nor Things Fall Apart was entirely positive or entirely negative toward the societal change brought about by imperialism and Western influence, imperialism was certainly more condemned in Things Fall Apart than in Wild Swans.[i] Okonkwo, the main character in Achebe’s novel based in an Igbo community in Africa, struggled to come to terms with the changes colonialism brought to his village. By detailing the lives of three generations of women in her family, Jung Chang, the author and narrator of Wild Swans, demonstrated the progress that Westernization introduced to patriarchal China. The two figures viewed imperialism differently because their pre-imperialism statuses were entirely dissimilar: Okonkwo’s life was happy and prosperous before Western intervention, whereas the narrator of Wild Swans and her ancestors were subjugated to harsh Japanese rule and an incredibly patriarchal society before the adaptation of Western ideology. For Okonkwo, i mperialism exchanged his freedom for European domination, while Western influence freed Jung Chung from the yoke of Japanese and male oppression. Okonkwo was very resistant to the new politics and religion of the European-based society because he placed a high value on his status and position in society before the European conquest. In the first fourteen chapters, nearly two-thirds of the novel, the narrator painted an image of what Okonkwo’s life was like in traditional Igbo society. The in-depth explanations about cultural practices, such as tribal rituals and ceremonies for the gods, introduced readers to the wonders and uniqueness of Igbo identity and culture to show what colonialism later destroyed. The narrator chose to retell stories of Okokwo’s wrestling successes and crop harvest miracles to exemplify the successes Okonkwo had achieved early in his life. Young Okonkwo, with his three lives and expansive farm, was seen by his village as â€Å"one of the greatest men of his time. Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered.†[ii] Okonkwo’s personal achievements set him apar t from the other men in his village and allowed him to rise to a privileged position in his community. The introduction of Western imperialism in Okonkwo’s village dissolved the preexisting village identity and centuries of traditions, reversing Okonkwo’s social status. When Okonkwo returned from exile to find his village taken over by white Christian missionaries, he resisted the new politics and religion of the society for fear of losing his position, as he was zealously concerned with his image and societal perception of himself. Christianity, forced on the village by the missionaries, undermined the native religion around which political and societal structures were based. In a partial realization of Okonkwo’s biggest fear—being a failure like his father—Christianity upended the social system, privileging believers over Igbo traditionalists. Though the converted villagers at first refused to let the outcasts into their church, the outcasts â€Å"were the strongest adherents of the new faith† and even â€Å"brought the church into serious conflict with the clan a year later by killing the sacred python.†[iii] The importance of this event is twofold: by admitting the outcasts into the church, the missionaries removed the inequalities that existed between pre-colonial Igbo social classes, erasing the importance of Okonkwo’s successes. Additionally, the killing of the python is symbolic in that it signified the death of the traditional Igbo religion and the impending death of Igbo culture as a whole. In a way, this death also reflected Okonkwo’s death in the end of the book, as both the python and Okonkwo died in part because they no longer had any special worth in society. The title of the book is in and of itself a hint at the narrator’s view of imperialism in Africa. â€Å"Things Fall Apart† is a line in William Butler Yeats’ poem â€Å"The Second Coming†, written shortly after World War I, in which Yeats alluded to the collapse of tradition systems and the clash between ancient and modern world order. The loss of control poeticized in Yeats’ piece is mirrored in Okonkwo’s experiences; in his early life, he thrived by maintaining meticulous control over his farm and his family. When the white men arrived, they â€Å"put a knife on the things that held [the village] together and [the village] has fallen apart.†[iv] The Westerners and their religion are the superior force that Yeats predicts will destroy tradition and ancient cultures, and they also destroy Okonkwo’s reputation and, ultimately, his life. For Jung Chang and her female ancestors in Wild Swans, with the influx of Western influence and ideology came liberation from female oppression and emperor-style rule. Though modernization certainly did improve the role of women in society, the greatest transformation for women came under Communist rule. As is shown in the beginning of the novel, women in the late 1800s and early 1900s were treated as secondary citizens in China. Women were seen as so inferior to men that the authors great-grandmother wasnt even given a name; she was simply called Number Two Girl. Chinese tradition required that women be subservient to men, their primary responsibility being taking care of the house and serving their husband and his family. The authors grandmother, whose greatest asset were her bound feet not her intelligence or her talents was essentially treated as property; her father practically sold her off to a general who used her only for pleasure. Even after World War II freed the nativ e Manchurians from Japanese rule, the author’s mother still resented the â€Å"powerlessness of women, the barbarity of age-old customs.†[v] Women were still seen as inferior to men and as property, as they were often sold or trafficked to rich men. Because of this, the idea of basic gender equality promised by the Communist party was extremely appealing. The Communist system also appealed to Jung Chang’s mother because it called for a radical change in the Chinese social structure. Industrialization and modernization created a new class, the lower class workers, who were in search of a political ideology that supported them instead of the elites. It also brought about new definitions of the state—citizens wanted a responsive nation-state that prioritized the will and needs of the people. Jung Chang’s mother witnesses first hand how disadvantaged the lower classes were in China under the emperor, as she recalled being â€Å"appalled by the casual extravagance of the Kuomintang elite while people were starving to death in the streets.†[vi] The economic inequality was just one of many factors that caused the Chinese government to lose legitimacy—another would be the Opium Wars triggered by Western imperialism—but it is one strong example of how a weak Chinese society was the perfect bree ding ground for Western Communist ideology. The evaluation in Wild Swans on the benefits of Communist rule was mixed; initially, this governmental system, developed in Europe, proved to be a great solution for China’s struggling economy and social problems. Immediately after the Communists seized control of Jinzhou, they â€Å"issued relief grain, salt, and coal to the destitute. The Kuomintang had never done anything like this, and people were hugely impressed.†[vii] Whereas Okonkwo saw Western values as detrimental to well-functioning and culturally important Igbo traditions, the Chinese quality of life was much improved for the average working-class citizen. The Party also established the Women’s Federation, which â€Å"supervised the freeing of concubines and shutting down brothels, organized women to make shoes for the army, organized their education and their employment, [and] informed them of their rights.†[viii] For Jung Chang’s mother, the ability to choose whom she wanted to mar ry, to not only have but also invoke her rights, and to work for the Communist party signified a monumental step in women’s freedoms. Of course, once Mao’s dictatorial rule intensified, the public became disillusioned toward communism. However, modernization and the spread of Western ideology were initially heralded by Jung Chang’s family for liberating women from the chains of the patriarchy. Because the pre-colonial conditions in Okonkwo’s village were much better than those in pre-revolutionary China, it makes sense that Okonkwo resented the shift away from traditions, while Jung Chang and her ancestors embraced the change. Another important factor that likely shaped each individual’s response to Western influence was his or her gender. As a respected leader in a male-dominated society, Okonkwo had much more to lose from colonialism and societal transformations than Jung Chang and her ancestors did, as they were among the lowliest class of people in China, being both female and under the harsh Japanese occupation. Had Okonkwo been a woman, Achebe’s novel might have played out much differently; the same can be said for the women in Wild Swans. Because of this, and because the Western imperialism was much more prevalent and dominating in Africa, it is impossible to equate and adequately compare the two experiences. Ultimately, Achebe wrote a strong critique of colonialism that aimed to capture the flourishing side of African culture, while Jung Chang authored a familial biography and autobiography that shed light on the female struggle in pre-revolutionary China and the progress that Communism brought to women. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1992. Chang, Jung. Wild Swans. London: Harper Collins Publishers. 2003. [i] For the purpose of this paper, it is important to note that â€Å"imperialism† will not be used to refer to Japanese rule in Manchuria, but rather on western influence and ideological exchange with China. [ii] Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992), 5. [iii] Ibid, 138. [iv] Ibid, 152. [v] Jung Chang, Wild Swans, (London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2003), 91. [vi] Ibid, 98. [vii] Ibid, 113. [viii] Ibid, 129.