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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Principles of Scientific Management
-    
-This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online
-at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
-you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
-before using this eBook.
-
-Title: The Principles of Scientific Management
-
-
-Author: Frederick Winslow Taylor
-
-Release date: September 1, 2004 [eBook #6435]
-                Most recently updated: November 4, 2011
-
-Language: English
-
-
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Charles E. Nichols
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The Principles of Scientific Management
-
-by
-
-FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR, M.E., Sc.D.
-
-1911
-
-
-
-INTRODUCTION
-
-President Roosevelt in his address to the Governors at the White House,
-prophetically remarked that "The conservation of our national resources
-is only preliminary to the larger question of national efficiency."
-
-The whole country at once recognized the importance of conserving our
-material resources and a large movement has been started which will be
-effective in accomplishing this object. As yet, however, we have but
-vaguely appreciated the importance of "the larger question of increasing
-our national efficiency."
-
-We can see our forests vanishing, our water-powers going to waste, our
-soil being carried by floods into the sea; and the end of our coal and
-our iron is in sight. But our larger wastes of human effort, which go on
-every day through such of our acts as are blundering, ill-directed, or
-inefficient, and which Mr. Roosevelt refers to as a, lack of "national
-efficiency," are less visible, less tangible, and are but vaguely
-appreciated.
-
-We can see and feel the waste of material things. Awkward, inefficient,
-or ill-directed movements of men, however, leave nothing visible or
-tangible behind them. Their appreciation calls for an act of memory, an
-effort of the imagination. And for this reason, even though our daily
-loss from this source is greater than from our waste of material things,
-the one has stirred us deeply, while the other has moved us but little.
-
-As yet there has been no public agitation for "greater national
-efficiency," no meetings have been called to consider how this is to be
-brought about. And still there are signs that the need for greater
-efficiency is widely felt.
-
-The search for better, for more competent men, from the presidents of
-our great companies down to our household servants, was never more
-vigorous than it is now. And more than ever before is the demand for
-competent men in excess of the supply.
-
-What we are all looking for, however, is the readymade, competent man;
-the man whom some one else has trained. It is only when we fully realize
-that our duty, as well as our opportunity, lies in systematically
-cooperating to train and to make this competent man, instead of in
-hunting for a man whom some one else has trained, that we shall be on
-the road to national efficiency.
-
-In the past the prevailing idea has been well expressed in the saying
-that "Captains of industry are born, not made"; and the theory has been
-that if one could get the right man, methods could be safely left to
-him. In the future it will be appreciated that our leaders must be
-trained right as well as born right, and that no great man can (with the
-old system of personal management) hope to compete with a number of
-ordinary men who have been properly organized so as efficiently to
-cooperate.
-
-In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be
-first. This in no sense, however, implies that great men are not needed.
-On the contrary, the first object of any good system must be that of
-developing first-class men; and under systematic management the best man
-rises to the top more certainly and more rapidly than ever before.
-
-This paper has been written:
-
-First. To point out, through a series of simple illustrations, the great
-loss which the whole country is suffering through inefficiency in almost
-all of our daily acts.
-
-Second. To try to convince the reader that the remedy for this
-inefficiency lies in systematic management, rather than in searching for
-some unusual or extraordinary man.
-
-Third. To prove that the best management is a true science, resting upon
-clearly defined laws, rules, and principles, as a foundation. And
-further to show that the fundamental principles of scientific management
-are applicable to all kinds of human activities, from our simplest
-individual acts to the work of our great corporations, which call for
-the most elaborate cooperation. And, briefly, through a series of
-illustrations, to convince the reader that whenever these principles are
-correctly applied, results must follow which are truly astounding.
-
-This paper was originally prepared for presentation to the American
-Society of Mechanical Engineers. The illustrations chosen are such as,
-it is believed, will especially appeal to engineers and to managers of
-industrial and manufacturing establishments, and also quite as much to
-all of the men who are working in these establishments. It is hoped,
-however, that it will be clear to other readers that the same principles
-can be applied with equal force to all social activities: to the
-management of our homes; the management of our farms; the management of
-the business of our tradesmen, large and small; of our churches, our
-philanthropic institutions our universities, and our governmental
-departments.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-FUNDAMENTALS OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
-
-The principal object of management should be to secure the maximum
-prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for
-each employee.
-
-The words "maximum prosperity" are used, in their broad sense, to mean
-not only large dividends for the company or owner, but the development
-of every branch of the business to its highest state of excellence, so
-that the prosperity may be permanent. In the same way maximum prosperity
-for each employee means not only higher wages than are usually received
-by men of his class, but, of more importance still, it also means the
-development of each man to his state of maximum efficiency, so that he
-may be able to do, generally speaking, the highest grade of work for
-which his natural abilities fit him, and it further means giving him,
-when possible, this class of work to do.
-
-It would seem to be so self-evident that maximum prosperity for the
-employer, coupled with maximum prosperity for the employee, ought to be
-the two leading objects of management, that even to state this fact
-should be unnecessary. And yet there is no question that, throughout the
-industrial world, a large part of the organization of employers, as well
-as employees, is for war rather than for peace, and that perhaps the
-majority on either side do not believe that it is possible so to arrange
-their mutual relations that their interests become identical.
-
-The majority of these men believe that the fundamental interests of
-employees and employers are necessarily antagonistic. Scientific
-management, on the contrary, has for its very foundation the firm
-conviction that the true interests of the two are one and the same; that
-prosperity for the employer cannot exist through a long term of years
-unless it is accompanied by prosperity for the employee, and vice versa;
-and that it is possible to give the workman what he most wants--high
-wages--and the employer what he wants--a low labor cost--for his
-manufactures.
-
-It is hoped that some at least of those who do not sympathize with each
-of these objects may be led to modify their views; that some employers,
-whose attitude toward their workmen has been that of trying to get the
-largest amount of work out of them for the smallest possible wages, may
-be led to see that a more liberal policy toward their men will pay them
-better; and that some of those workmen who begrudge a fair and even a
-large profit to their employers, and who feel that all of the fruits of
-their labor should belong to them, and that those for whom they work and
-the capital invested in the business are entitled to little or nothing,
-may be led to modify these views.
-
-No one can be found who will deny that in the case of any single
-individual the greatest prosperity can exist only when that individual
-has reached his highest state of efficiency; that is, when he is turning
-out his largest daily output.
-
-The truth of this fact is also perfectly clear in the case of two men
-working together. To illustrate: if you and your workman have become so
-skilful that you and he together are making two pairs of, shoes in a
-day, while your competitor and his workman are making only one pair, it
-is clear that after selling your two pairs of shoes you can pay your
-workman much higher wages than your competitor who produces only one
-pair of shoes is able to pay his man, and that there will still be
-enough money left over for you to have a larger profit than your
-competitor.
-
-In the case of a more complicated manufacturing establishment, it should
-also be perfectly clear that the greatest permanent prosperity for the
-workman, coupled with the greatest prosperity for the employer, can be
-brought about only when the work of the establishment is done with the
-smallest combined expenditure of human effort, plus nature's resources,
-plus the cost for the use of capital in the shape of machines,
-buildings, etc. Or, to state the same thing in a different way: that the
-greatest prosperity can exist only as the result of the greatest
-possible productivity of the men and machines of the establishment--that
-is, when each man and each machine are turning out the largest possible
-output; because unless your men and your machines are daily turning out
-more work than others around you, it is clear that competition will
-prevent your paying higher wages to your workmen than are paid to those
-of your competitor. And what is true as to the possibility of paying
-high wages in the case of two companies competing close beside one
-another is also true as to whole districts of the country and even as to
-nations which are in competition. In a word, that maximum prosperity can
-exist only as the result of maximum productivity. Later in this paper
-illustrations will be given of several companies which are earning large
-dividends and at the same time paying from 30 per cent to 100 per cent
-higher wages to their men than are paid to similar men immediately
-around them, and with whose employers they are in competition. These
-illustrations will cover different types of work, from the most
-elementary to the most complicated.
-
-If the above reasoning is correct, it follows that the most important
-object of both the workmen and the management should be the training and
-development of each individual in the establishment, so that he can do
-(at his fastest pace and with the maximum of efficiency) the highest
-class of work for which his natural abilities fit him.
-
-These principles appear to be so self-evident that many men may think it
-almost childish to state them. Let us, however, turn to the facts, as
-they actually exist in this country and in England. The English and
-American peoples are the greatest sportsmen in the world. Whenever an
-American workman plays baseball, or an English workman plays cricket, it
-is safe to say that he strains every nerve to secure victory for his
-side. He does his very best to make the largest possible number of runs.
-The universal sentiment is so strong that any man who fails to give out
-all there is in him in sport is branded as a "quitter," and treated with
-contempt by those who are around him.
-
-When the same workman returns to work on the following day, instead of
-using every effort to turn out the largest possible amount of work, in a
-majority of the cases this man deliberately plans to do as little as he
-safely can to turn out far less work than he is well able to do in many
-instances to do not more than one-third to one-half of a proper day's
-work. And in fact if he were to do his best to turn out his largest
-possible day's work, he would be abused by his fellow-workers for so
-doing, even more than if he had proved himself a "quitter" in sport.
-Under working, that is, deliberately working slowly so as to avoid doing
-a full day's work, "soldiering," as it is called in this country,
-"hanging it out," as it is called in England, "ca canae," as it is
-called in Scotland, is almost universal in industrial establishments,
-and prevails also to a large extent in the building trades; and the
-writer asserts without fear of contradiction that this constitutes the
-greatest evil with which the working-people of both England and America
-are now afflicted.
-
-It will be shown later in this paper that doing away with slow working
-and "soldiering" in all its forms and so arranging the relations between
-employer and employs that each workman will work to his very best
-advantage and at his best speed, accompanied by the intimate cooperation
-with the management and the help (which the workman should receive) from
-the management, would result on the average in nearly doubling the
-output of each man and each machine. What other reforms, among those
-which are being discussed by these two nations, could do as much toward
-promoting prosperity, toward the diminution of poverty, and the
-alleviation of suffering? America and England have been recently
-agitated over such subjects as the tariff, the control of the large
-corporations on the one hand, and of hereditary power on the other hand,
-and over various more or less socialistic proposals for taxation, etc.
-On these subjects both peoples have been profoundly stirred, and yet
-hardly a voice has been raised to call attention to this vastly greater
-and more important subject of "soldiering," which directly and
-powerfully affects the wages, the prosperity, and the life of almost
-every working-man, and also quite as much the prosperity of every
-industrial, establishment in the nation.
-
-The elimination of "soldiering" and of the several causes of slow
-working would so lower the cost of production that both our home and
-foreign markets would be greatly enlarged, and we could compete on more
-than even terms with our rivals. It would remove one of the fundamental
-causes for dull times, for lack of employment, and for poverty, and
-therefore would have a more permanent and far-reaching effect upon these
-misfortunes than any of the curative remedies that are now being used to
-soften their consequences. It would insure higher wages and make shorter
-working hours and better working and home conditions possible.
-
-Why is it, then, in the face of the self-evident fact that maximum
-prosperity can exist only as the result of the determined effort of each
-workman to turn out each day his largest possible day's work, that the
-great majority of our men are deliberately doing just the opposite, and
-that even when the men have the best of intentions their work is in most
-cases far from efficient?
-
-There are three causes for this condition, which may be briefly
-summarized as:
-
-First. The fallacy, which has from time immemorial been almost universal
-among workmen, that a material increase in the output of each man or
-each machine in the trade would result in the end in throwing a large
-number of men out of work.
-
-Second. The defective systems of management which are in common use, and
-which make it necessary for each workman to soldier, or work slowly, in
-order that he may protect his own best interests.
-
-Third. The inefficient rule-of-thumb methods, which are still almost
-universal in all trades, and in practicing which our workmen waste a
-large part of their effort.
-
-This paper will attempt to show the enormous gains which would result
-from the substitution by our workmen of scientific for rule-of-thumb
-methods.
-
-To explain a little more fully these three causes:
-
-First. The great majority of workmen still believe that if they were to
-work at their best speed they would be doing a great injustice to the
-whole trade by throwing a lot of men out of work, and yet the history of
-the development of each trade shows that each improvement, whether it be
-the invention of a new machine or the introduction of a better method,
-which results in increasing the productive capacity of the men in the
-trade and cheapening the costs, instead of throwing men out of work make
-in the end work for more men.
-
-The cheapening of any article in common use almost immediately results
-in a largely increased demand for that article. Take the case of shoes,
-for instance. The introduction of machinery for doing every element of
-the work which was formerly done by hand has resulted in making shoes at
-a fraction of their former labor cost, and in selling them so cheap that
-now almost every man, woman, and child in the working-classes buys one
-or two pairs of shoes per year, and wears shoes all the time, whereas
-formerly each workman bought perhaps one pair of shoes every five years,
-and went barefoot most of the time, wearing shoes only as a luxury or as
-a matter of the sternest necessity. In spite of the enormously increased
-output of shoes per workman, which has come with shoe machinery, the
-demand for shoes has so increased that there are relatively more men
-working in the shoe industry now than ever before.
-
-The workmen in almost every trade have before them an object lesson of
-this kind, and yet, because they are ignorant of the history of their
-own trade even, they still firmly believe, as their fathers did before
-them, that it is against their best interests for each man to turn out
-each day as much work as possible.
-
-Under this fallacious idea a large proportion of the workmen of both
-countries each day deliberately work slowly so as to curtail the output.
-Almost every labor union has made, or is contemplating making, rules
-which have for their object curtailing the output of their members,
-and those men who have the greatest influence with the working-people,
-the labor leaders as well as many people with philanthropic feelings who
-are helping them, are daily spreading this fallacy and at the same time
-telling them that they are overworked.
-
-A great deal has been and is being constantly said about "sweat-shop"
-work and conditions. The writer has great sympathy with those who are
-overworked, but on the whole a greater sympathy for those who are under
-paid. For every individual, however, who is overworked, there are a
-hundred who intentionally under work--greatly under work--every day of
-their lives, and who for this reason deliberately aid in establishing
-those conditions which in the end inevitably result in low wages. And
-yet hardly a single voice is being raised in an endeavor to correct this
-evil.
-
-As engineers and managers, we are more intimately acquainted with these
-facts than any other class in the community, and are therefore best
-fitted to lead in a movement to combat this fallacious idea by educating
-not only the workmen but the whole of the country as to the true facts.
-And yet we are practically doing nothing in this direction, and are
-leaving this field entirely in the hands of the labor agitators (many of
-whom are misinformed and misguided), and of sentimentalists who are
-ignorant as to actual working conditions.
-
-Second. As to the second cause for soldiering--the relations which exist
-between employers and employees under almost all of the systems of
-management which are in common use--it is impossible in a few words to
-make it clear to one not familiar with this problem why it is that the
-ignorance of employers as to the proper time in which work of various
-kinds should be done makes it for the interest of the workman to
-"soldier."
-
-The writer therefore quotes herewith from a paper read before The
-American Society of Mechanical Engineers, in June, 1903, entitled "Shop
-Management," which it is hoped will explain fully this cause for
-soldiering:
-
-"This loafing or soldiering proceeds from two causes. First, from the
-natural instinct and tendency of men to take it easy, which may be
-called natural soldiering. Second, from more intricate second thought
-and reasoning caused by their relations with other men, which may be
-called systematic soldiering."
-
-"There is no question that the tendency of the average man (in all walks
-of life) is toward working at a slow, easy gait, and that it is only
-after a good deal of thought and observation on his part or as a result
-of example, conscience, or external pressure that he takes a more rapid
-pace."
-
-"There are, of course, men of unusual energy, vitality, and ambition who
-naturally choose the fastest gait, who set up their own standards, and
-who work hard, even though it may be against their best interests. But
-these few uncommon men only serve by forming a contrast to emphasize the
-tendency of the average."
-
-"This common tendency to 'take it easy' is greatly increased by bringing
-a number of men together on similar work and at a uniform standard rate
-of pay by the day."
-
-"Under this plan the better men gradually but surely slow down their
-gait to that of the poorest and least efficient. When a naturally
-energetic man works for a few days beside a lazy one, the logic of the
-situation is unanswerable."
-
-"Why should I work hard when that lazy fellow gets the same pay that I
-do and does only half as much work?"
-
-"A careful time study of men working under these conditions will
-disclose facts which are ludicrous as well as pitiable."
-
-"To illustrate: The writer has timed a naturally energetic workman who,
-while going and coming from work, would walk at a speed of from three to
-four miles per hour, and not infrequently trot home after a day's work.
-On arriving at his work he would immediately slow down to a speed of
-about one mile an hour. When, for example, wheeling a loaded
-wheelbarrow, he would go at a good fast pace even up hill in order to be
-as short a time as possible under load, and immediately on the return
-walk slow down to a mile an hour, improving every opportunity for delay
-short of actually sitting down. In order to be sure not to do more than
-his lazy neighbor, he would actually tire himself in his effort to go
-slow."
-
-"These men were working under a foreman of good reputation and highly
-thought of by his employer, who, when his attention was called to this
-state of things, answered: 'Well, I can keep them from sitting down, but
-the devil can't make them get a move on while they are at work.'"
-
-"The natural laziness of men is serious, but by far the greatest evil
-from which both workmen and employers are suffering is the systematic
-soldiering which is almost universal under all of the ordinary schemes
-of management and which results from a careful study on the part of the
-workmen of what will promote their best interests."
-
-"The writer was much interested recently in hearing one small but
-experienced golf caddy boy of twelve explaining to a green caddy, who
-had shown special energy and interest, the necessity of going slow and
-lagging behind his man when he came up to the ball, showing him that
-since they were paid by the hour, the faster they went the less money
-they got, and finally telling him that if he went too fast the other
-boys would give him a licking."
-
-"This represents a type of systematic soldiering which is not, however,
-very serious, since it is done with the knowledge of the employer, who
-can quite easily break it up if he wishes."
-
-"The greater part of the systematic soldiering, however, is done by the
-men with the deliberate object of keeping their employers ignorant of
-how fast work can be done."
-
-"So universal is soldiering for this purpose that hardly a competent
-workman can be found in a large establishment, whether he works by the
-day or on piece work, contract work, or under any of the ordinary
-systems, who does not devote a considerable part of his time to studying
-just how slow he can work and still convince his employer that he is
-going at a good pace."
-
-"The causes for this are, briefly, that practically all employers
-determine upon a maximum sum which they feel it is right for each of
-their classes of employees to earn per day, whether their men work by
-the day or piece."
-
-"Each workman soon finds out about what this figure is for his
-particular case, and he also realizes that when his employer is
-convinced that a man is capable of doing more work than he has done, he
-will find sooner or later some way of compelling him to do it with
-little or no increase of pay."
-
-"Employers derive their knowledge of how much of a given class of work
-can be done in a day from either their own experience, which has
-frequently grown hazy with age, from casual and unsystematic observation
-of their men, or at best from records which are kept, showing the
-quickest time in which each job has been done. In many cases the
-employer will feel almost certain that a given job can be done faster
-than it has been, but he rarely cares to take the drastic measures
-necessary to force men to do it in the quickest time, unless he has an
-actual record proving conclusively how fast the work can be done."
-
-"It evidently becomes for each man's interest, then, to see that no job
-is done faster than it has been in the past. The younger and less
-experienced men are taught this by their elders, and all possible
-persuasion and social pressure is brought to bear upon the greedy and
-selfish men to keep them from making new records which result in
-temporarily increasing their wages, while all those who come after them
-are made to work harder for the same old pay."
-
-"Under the best day work of the ordinary type, when accurate records are
-kept of the amount of work done by each man and of his efficiency, and
-when each man's wages are raised as he improves, and those who fail to
-rise to a certain standard are discharged and a fresh supply of
-carefully selected men are given work in their places, both the natural
-loafing and systematic soldiering can be largely broken up. This can
-only be done, however, when the men are thoroughly convinced that there
-is no intention of establishing piece work even in the remote future,
-and it is next to impossible to make men believe this when the work is
-of such a nature that they believe piece work to be practicable. In most
-cases their fear of making a record which will be used as a basis for
-piece work will cause them to soldier as much as they dare."
-
-"It is, however, under piece work that the art of systematic soldiering
-is thoroughly developed; after a workman has had the price per piece of
-the work he is doing lowered two or three times as a result of his
-having worked harder and increased his output, he is likely entirely to
-lose sight of his employer's side of the case and become imbued with a
-grim determination to have no more cuts if soldiering can prevent it.
-Unfortunately for the character of the workman, soldiering involves a
-deliberate attempt to mislead and deceive his employer, and thus upright
-and straightforward workmen are compelled to become more or less
-hypocritical. The employer is soon looked upon as an antagonist, if not
-an enemy, and the mutual confidence which should exist between a leader
-and his men, the enthusiasm, the feeling that they are all working for
-the same end and will share in the results is entirely lacking.
-
-"The feeling of antagonism under the ordinary piece-work system becomes
-in many cases so marked on the part of the men that any proposition made
-by their employers, however reasonable, is looked upon with suspicion,
-and soldiering becomes such a fixed habit that men will frequently take
-pains to restrict the product of machines which they are running when
-even a large increase in output would involve no more work on their
-part."
-
-Third. As to the third cause for slow work, considerable space will
-later in this paper be devoted to illustrating the great gain, both to
-employers and employees, which results from the substitution of
-scientific for rule-of-thumb methods in even the smallest details of the
-work of every trade. The enormous saving of time and therefore increase
-in the output which it is possible to effect through eliminating
-unnecessary motions and substituting fast for slow and inefficient
-motions for the men working in any of our trades can be fully realized
-only after one has personally seen the improvement which results from a
-thorough motion and time study, made by a competent man.
-
-To explain briefly: owing to the fact that the workmen in all of our
-trades have been taught the details of their work by observation of
-those immediately around them, there are many different ways in common
-use for doing the same thing, perhaps forty, fifty, or a hundred ways of
-doing each act in each trade, and for the same reason there is a great
-variety in the implements used for each class of work. Now, among the
-various methods and implements used in each element of each trade there
-is always one method and one implement which is quicker and better than
-any of the rest.
-
-And this one best method and best implement can only be discovered or
-developed through a scientific study and analysis of all of the methods
-and implements in use, together with accurate, minute, motion and time
-study. This involves the gradual substitution of science for rule of
-thumb throughout the mechanic arts.
-
-This paper will show that the underlying philosophy of all of the old
-systems of management in common use makes it imperative that each
-workman shall be left with the final responsibility for doing his job
-practically as he thinks best, with comparatively little help and advice
-from the management. And it will also show that because of this
-isolation of workmen, it is in most cases impossible for the men working
-under these systems to do their work in accordance with the rules and
-laws of a science or art, even where one exists.
-
-The writer asserts as a general principle (and he proposes to give
-illustrations tending to prove the fact later in this paper) that in
-almost all of the mechanic arts the science which underlies each act of
-each workman is so great and amounts to so much that the workman who is
-best suited to actually doing the work is incapable of fully
-understanding this science, without the guidance and help of those who
-are working with him or over him, either through lack of education or
-through insufficient mental capacity. In order that the work may be done
-in accordance with scientific laws, it is necessary that there shall be
-a far more equal division of the responsibility between the management
-and the workmen than exists under any of the ordinary types of
-management. Those in the management whose duty it is to develop this
-science should also guide and help the workman in working under it, and
-should assume a much larger share of the responsibility for results than
-under usual conditions is assumed by the management.
-
-The body of this paper will make it clear that, to work according to
-scientific laws, the management must take over and perform much of the
-work which is now left to the men; almost every act of the workman
-should be preceded by one or more preparatory acts of the management
-which enable him to do his work better and quicker than he otherwise
-could. And each man should daily be taught by and receive the most
-friendly help from those who are over him, instead of being, at the one
-extreme, driven or coerced by his bosses, and at the other left to his
-own unaided devices.
-
-This close, intimate, personal cooperation between the management and
-the men is of the essence of modern scientific or task management.
-
-It will be shown by a series of practical illustrations that, through
-this friendly cooperation, namely, through sharing equally in every
-day's burden, all of the great obstacles (above described) to obtaining
-the maximum output for each man and each machine in the establishment
-are swept away. The 30 per cent to 100 per cent increase in wages which
-the workmen are able to earn beyond what they receive under the old type
-of management, coupled with the daily intimate shoulder to shoulder
-contact with the management, entirely removes all cause for soldiering.
-And in a few years, under this system, the workmen have before them the
-object lesson of seeing that a great increase in the output per man
-results in giving employment to more men, instead of throwing men out of
-work, thus completely eradicating the fallacy that a larger output for
-each man will throw other men out of work.
-
-It is the writer's judgment, then, that while much can be done and
-should be done by writing and talking toward educating not only workmen,
-but all classes in the community, as to the importance of obtaining the
-maximum output of each man and each machine, it is only through the
-adoption of modern scientific management that this great problem can be
-finally solved. Probably most of the readers of this paper will say that
-all of this is mere theory. On the contrary, the theory, or philosophy,
-of scientific management is just beginning to be understood, whereas the
-management itself has been a gradual evolution, extending over a period
-of nearly thirty years. And during this time the employees of one
-company after another, including a large range and diversity of
-industries, have gradually changed from the ordinary to the scientific
-type of management. At least 50,000 workmen in the United States are now
-employed under this system; and they are receiving from 30 per cent to
-100 per cent higher wages daily than are paid to men of similar caliber
-with whom they are surrounded, while the companies employing them are
-more prosperous than ever before. In these companies the output, per man
-and per machine, has on an average been doubled. During all these years
-there has never been a single strike among the men working under this
-system. In place of the suspicious watchfulness and the more or less
-open warfare which characterizes the ordinary types of management, there
-is universally friendly cooperation between the management and the men.
-
-Several papers have been written, describing the expedients which have
-been adopted and the details which have been developed under scientific
-management and the steps to be taken in changing from the ordinary to
-the scientific type. But unfortunately most of the readers of these
-papers have mistaken the mechanism for the true essence. Scientific
-management fundamentally consists of certain broad general principles, a
-certain philosophy, which can be applied in many ways, and a description
-of what any one man or men may believe to be the best mechanism for
-applying these general principles should in no way be confused with the
-principles themselves.
-
-It is not here claimed that any single panacea exists for all of the
-troubles of the working-people or of employers. As long as some people
-are born lazy or inefficient, and others are born greedy and brutal, as
-long as vice and crime are with us, just so long will a certain amount
-of poverty, misery, and unhappiness be with us Also. No system of
-management, no single expedient--within the control of any man or any
-set of men can insure continuous prosperity to either workmen or
-employers. Prosperity depends upon so many factors entirely beyond the
-control of any one set of men, any state, or even any one country, that
-certain periods will inevitably come when both sides must suffer, more
-or less. It is claimed, however, that under scientific management the
-intermediate periods will be far more prosperous, far happier, and more
-free from discord and dissension. And also, that the periods will be
-fewer, shorter and the suffering less. And this will be particularly
-true in any one town, any one section of the country, or any one state
-which first substitutes the principles of scientific management for the
-rule of thumb.
-
-That these principles are certain to come into general use practically
-throughout the civilized world, sooner or later, the writer is
-profoundly convinced, and the sooner they come the better for all the
-people.
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT
-
-The writer has found that there are three questions uppermost in the
-minds of men when they become interested in scientific management.
-
-First. Wherein do the principles of scientific management differ
-essentially from those of ordinary management?
-
-Second. Why are better results attained under scientific management than
-under the other types?
-
-Third. Is not the most important problem that of getting the right man
-at the head of the company? And if you have the right man cannot the
-choice of the type of management be safely left to him?
-
-One of the principal objects of the following pages will be to give a
-satisfactory answer to these questions.
-
-
-THE FINEST TYPE OF ORDINARY MANAGEMENT
-
-Before starting to illustrate the principles of scientific management,
-or "task management" as it is briefly called, it seems desirable to
-outline what the writer believes will be recognized as the best type of
-management which is in common use. This is done so that the great
-difference between the best of the ordinary management and scientific
-management may be fully appreciated.
-
-In an industrial establishment which employs say from 500 to 1000
-workmen, there will be found in many cases at least twenty to thirty
-different trades. The workmen in each of these trades have had their
-knowledge handed down to them by word of mouth, through the many years
-in which their trade has been developed from the primitive condition, in
-which our far-distant ancestors each one practiced the rudiments of many
-different trades, to the present state of great and growing subdivision
-of labor, in which each man specializes upon some comparatively small
-class of work.
-
-The ingenuity of each generation has developed quicker and better
-methods for doing every element of the work in every trade. Thus the
-methods which are now in use may in a broad sense be said to be an
-evolution representing the survival of the fittest and best of the ideas
-which have been developed since the starting of each trade. However,
-while this is true in a broad sense, only those who are intimately
-acquainted with each of these trades are fully aware of the fact that in
-hardly any element of any trade is there uniformity in the methods which
-are used. Instead of having only one way which is generally accepted as
-a standard, there are in daily use, say, fifty or a hundred different
-ways of doing each element of the work. And a little thought will make
-it clear that this must inevitably be the case, since our methods have
-been handed down from man to man by word of mouth, or have, in most
-cases, been almost unconsciously learned through personal observation.
-Practically in no instances have they been codified or systematically
-analyzed or described. The ingenuity and experience of each
-generation--of each decade, even, have without doubt handed over better
-methods to the next. This mass of rule-of-thumb or traditional knowledge
-may be said to be the principal asset or possession of every tradesman.
-Now, in the best of the ordinary types of management, the managers
-recognize frankly the fact that the 500 or 1000 workmen, included in the
-twenty to thirty trades, who are under them, possess this mass of
-traditional knowledge, a large part of which is not in the possession of
-the management. The management, of course, includes foremen and
-superintendents, who themselves have been in most cases first-class
-workers at their trades. And yet these foremen and superintendents know,
-better than any one else, that their own knowledge and personal skill
-falls far short of the combined knowledge and dexterity of all the
-workmen under them. The most experienced managers therefore frankly
-place before their workmen the problem of doing the work in the best and
-most economical way. They recognize the task before them as that of
-inducing each workman to use his best endeavors, his hardest work, all
-his traditional knowledge, his skill, his ingenuity, and his
-good-will--in a word, his "initiative," so as to yield the largest
-possible return to his employer. The problem before the management,
-then, may be briefly said to be that of obtaining the best initiative of
-every workman. And the writer uses the word "initiative" in its broadest
-sense, to cover all of the good qualities sought for from the men.
-
-On the other hand, no intelligent manager would hope to obtain in any
-full measure the initiative of his workmen unless he felt that he was
-giving them something more than they usually receive from their
-employers. Only those among the readers of this paper who have been
-managers or who have worked themselves at a trade realize how far the
-average workman falls short of giving his employer his full initiative.
-It is well within the mark to state that in nineteen out of twenty
-industrial establishments the workmen believe it to be directly against
-their interests to give their employers their best initiative, and that
-instead of working hard to do the largest possible amount of work and
-the best quality of work for their employers, they deliberately work as
-slowly as they dare while they at the same time try to make those over
-them believe that they are working fast.*
-
-[*Footnote: The writer has tried to make the reason for this unfortunate
-state of things clear in a paper entitled "Shop Management," read before
-the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.]
-
-The writer repeats, therefore, that in order to have any hope of
-obtaining the initiative of his workmen the manager must give some
-special incentive to his men beyond that which is given to the average
-of the trade. This incentive can be given in several different ways, as,
-for example, the hope of rapid promotion or advancement; higher wages,
-either in the form of generous piece-work prices or of a premium or
-bonus of some kind for good and rapid work; shorter hours of labor;
-better surroundings and working conditions than are ordinarily given,
-etc., and, above all, this special incentive should be accompanied by
-that personal consideration for, and friendly contact with, his workmen
-which comes only from a genuine and kindly interest in the welfare of
-those under him. It is only by giving a special inducement or
-"incentive" of this kind that the employer can hope even approximately
-to get the "initiative" of his workmen. Under the ordinary type of
-management the necessity for offering the workman a special inducement
-has come to be so generally recognized that a large proportion of those
-most interested in the subject look upon the adoption of some one of the
-modern schemes for paying men (such as piece work, the premium plan, or
-the bonus plan, for instance) as practically the whole system of
-management. Under scientific management, however, the particular pay
-system which is adopted is merely one of the subordinate elements.
-
-Broadly speaking, then, the best type of management in ordinary use may
-be defined as management in which the workmen give their best initiative
-and in return receive some special incentive from their employers. This
-type of management will be referred to as the management of "initiative
-and incentive" in contradistinction to scientific management, or task
-management, with which it is to be compared.
-
-The writer hopes that the management of "initiative and incentive" will
-be recognized as representing the best type in ordinary use, and in fact
-he believes that it will be hard to persuade the average manager that
-anything better exists in the whole field than this type. The task which
-the writer has before him, then, is the difficult one of trying to prove
-in a thoroughly convincing way that there is another type of management
-which is not only better but overwhelmingly better than the management
-of "initiative and incentive."
-
-The universal prejudice in favor of the management of "initiative and
-incentive" is so strong that no mere theoretical advantages which can be
-pointed out will be likely to convince the average manager that any
-other system is better. It will be upon a series of practical
-illustrations of the actual working of the two systems that the writer
-will depend in his efforts to prove that scientific management is so
-greatly superior to other types. Certain elementary principles, a
-certain philosophy, will however be recognized as the essence of that
-which is being illustrated in all of the practical examples which will
-be given. And the broad principles in which the scientific system
-differs from the ordinary or "rule-of-thumb" system are so simple in
-their nature that it seems desirable to describe them before starting
-with the illustrations.
-
-Under the old type of management success depends almost entirely upon
-getting the "initiative" of the workmen, and it is indeed a rare case in
-which this initiative is really attained. Under scientific management
-the "initiative" of the workmen (that is, their hard work, their
-good-will, and their ingenuity) is obtained with absolute uniformity and
-to a greater extent than is possible under the old system; and in
-addition to this improvement on the part of the men, the managers assume
-new burdens, new duties, and responsibilities never dreamed of in the
-past. The managers assume, for instance, the burden of gathering
-together all of the traditional knowledge which in the past has been
-possessed by the workmen and then of classifying, tabulating, and
-reducing this knowledge to rules, laws, and formulae which are immensely
-helpful to the workmen in doing their daily work. In addition to
-developing a science in this way, the management take on three other
-types of duties which involve new and heavy burdens for themselves.
-
-These new duties are grouped under four heads:
-
-First. They develop a science for each element of a man's work, which
-replaces the old rule-of.-thumb method.
-
-Second. They scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop
-the workman, whereas in the past he chose his own work and trained
-himself as best he could.
-
-Third. They heartily cooperate with the men so as to insure all of the
-work being done in accordance with the principles of the science which
-has been developed.
-
-Fourth. There is an almost equal division of the work and the
-responsibility between the management and the workmen. The management
-take over all work for which they are better fitted than the workmen,
-while in the past almost all of the work and the greater part of the
-responsibility were thrown upon the men.
-
-It is this combination of the initiative of the workmen, coupled with
-the new types of work done by the management, that makes scientific
-management so much more efficient than the old plan.
-
-Three of these elements exist in many cases, under the management of
-"initiative and incentive," in a small and rudimentary way, but they
-are, under this management, of minor importance, whereas under
-scientific management they form the very essence of the whole system.
-
-The fourth of these elements, "an almost equal division of the
-responsibility between the management and the workmen," requires further
-explanation. The philosophy of the management of initiative and
-incentive makes it necessary for each workman to bear almost the entire
-responsibility for the general plan as well as for each detail of his
-work, and in many cases for his implements as well. In addition to this
-he must do all of the actual physical labor. The development of a
-science, on the other hand, involves the establishment of many rules,
-laws, and formulae which replace the judgment of the individual workman
-and which can be effectively used only after having been systematically
-recorded, indexed, etc. The practical use of scientific data also calls
-for a room in which to keep the books, records*, etc., and a desk for
-the planner to work at.
-
-[*Footnote: For example, the records containing the data used under
-scientific management in an ordinary machine-shop fill thousands of
-pages.]
-
-Thus all of the planning which under the old system was done by the
-workman, as a result of his personal experience, must of necessity under
-the new system be done by the management in accordance with the laws of
-the science; because even if the workman was well suited to the
-development and use of scientific data, it would be physically
-impossible for him to work at his machine and at a desk at the same
-time. It is also clear that in most cases one type of man is needed to
-plan ahead and an entirely different type to execute the work.
-
-The man in the planning room, whose specialty under scientific
-management is planning ahead, invariably finds that the work can be done
-better and more economically by a subdivision of the labor; each act of
-each mechanic, for example, should be preceded by various preparatory
-acts done by other men. And all of this involves, as we have said, "an
-almost equal division of the responsibility and the work between the
-management and the workman."
-
-To summarize: Under the management of "initiative and incentive"
-practically the whole problem is "up to the workman," while under
-scientific management fully one-half of the problem is "up to the
-management."
-
-Perhaps the most prominent single element in modern scientific
-management is the task idea. The work of every workman is fully planned
-out by the management at least one day in advance, and each man receives
-in most cases complete written instructions, describing in detail the
-task which he is to accomplish, as well as the means to be used in doing
-the work. And the work planned in advance in this way constitutes a task
-which is to be solved, as explained above, not by the workman alone, but
-in almost all cases by the joint effort of the workman and the
-management. This task specifies not only what is to be done but how it
-is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it. And whenever the
-workman succeeds in doing his task right, and within the time limit
-specified, he receives an addition of from 30 per cent to 100 per cent
-to his ordinary wages. These tasks are carefully planned, so that both
-good and careful work are called for in their performance, but it should
-be distinctly understood that in no case is the workman called upon to
-work at a pace which would be injurious to his health. The task is
-always so regulated that the man who is well suited to his job will
-thrive while working at this rate during a long term of years and grow
-happier and more prosperous, instead of being overworked. Scientific
-management consists very largely in preparing for and carrying out these
-tasks.
-
-The writer is fully aware that to perhaps most of the readers of this
-paper the four elements which differentiate the new management from the
-old will at first appear to be merely high-sounding phrases; and he
-would again repeat that he has no idea of convincing the reader of their
-value merely through announcing their existence. His hope of carrying
-conviction rests upon demonstrating the tremendous force and effect of
-these four elements through a series of practical illustrations. It will
-be shown, first, that they can be applied absolutely to all classes of
-work, from the most elementary to the most intricate; and second, that
-when they are applied, the results must of necessity be overwhelmingly
-greater than those which it is possible to attain under the management
-of initiative and incentive.
-
-The first illustration is that of handling pig iron, and this work is
-chosen because it is typical of perhaps the crudest and most elementary
-form of labor which is performed by man. This work is done by men with
-no other implements than their hands. The pig-iron handler stoops down,
-picks up a pig weighing about 92 pounds, walks for a few feet or yards
-and then drops it on to the ground or upon a pile. This work is so crude
-and elementary in its nature that the writer firmly believes that it
-would be possible to train an intelligent, gorilla so as to become a
-more efficient pig-iron handler than any man can be. Yet it will be
-shown that the science of handling pig iron is so great and amounts to
-so much that it is impossible for the man who is best suited to this
-type of work to understand the principles of this science, or even to
-work in accordance with these principles without the aid of a man better
-educated than he is. And the further illustrations to be given will make
-it clear that in almost all of the mechanic arts the science which
-underlies each workman's act is so great and amounts to so much that the
-workman who is best suited actually to do the work is incapable (either
-through lack of education or through insufficient mental capacity) of
-understanding this science. This is announced as a general principle,
-the truth of which will become apparent as one illustration after
-another is given. After showing these four elements in the handling of
-pig iron, several illustrations will be given of their application to
-different kinds of work in the field of the mechanic arts, at intervals
-in a rising scale, beginning with the simplest and ending with the more
-intricate forms of labor.
-
-One of the first pieces of work undertaken by us, when the writer
-started to introduce scientific management into the Bethlehem Steel
-Company, was to handle pig iron on task work. The opening of the Spanish
-War found some 80,000 tons of pig iron placed in small piles in an open
-field adjoining the works. Prices for pig iron had been so low that it
-could not be sold at a profit, and it therefore had been stored. With
-the opening of the Spanish War the price of pig iron rose, and this
-large accumulation of iron was sold. This gave us a good opportunity to
-show the workmen, as well as the owners and managers of the works, on a
-fairly large scale the advantages of task work over the old-fashioned
-day work and piece work, in doing a very elementary class of work.
-
-The Bethlehem Steel Company had five blast furnaces, the product of
-which had been handled by a pig-iron gang for many years. This gang, at
-this time, consisted of about 75 men. They were good, average pig-iron
-handlers, were under an excellent foreman who himself had been a
-pig-iron handler, and the work was done, on the whole, about as fast and
-as cheaply as it was anywhere else at that time.
-
-A railroad switch was run out into the field, right along the edge of
-the piles of pig iron. An inclined plank was placed against the side of
-a car, and each man picked up from his pile a pig of iron weighing about
-92 pounds, walked up the inclined plank and dropped it on the end of the
-car.
-
-We found that this gang were loading on the average about 12 and a half
-long tons per man per day. We were surprised to find, after studying the
-matter, that a first-class pig-iron handler ought to handle between 47,
-and 48 long tons per day, instead of 12 and a half tons. This task
-seemed to us so very large that we were obliged to go over our work
-several times before we were absolutely sure that we were right. Once we
-were sure, however, that 47 tons was a proper day's work for a
-first-class pig-iron handler, the task which faced us as managers under
-the modern scientific plan was clearly before us. It was our duty to see
-that the 80,000 tons of pig iron was loaded on to the cars at the rate
-of 47 tons per man per day, in place of 12 and a half tons, at which
-rate the work was then being done. And it was further our duty to see
-that this work was done without bringing on a strike among the men,
-without any quarrel with the men, and to see that the men were happier
-and better contented when loading at the new rate of 47 tons than they
-were when loading at the old rate of 12 and a half tons.
-
-Our first step was the scientific selection of the workman. In dealing
-with workmen under this type of management, it is an inflexible rule to
-talk to and deal with only one man at a time, since each workman has his
-own special abilities and limitations, and since we are not dealing with
-men in masses, but are trying to develop each individual man to his
-highest state of efficiency and prosperity. Our first step was to find
-the proper workman to begin with. We therefore carefully watched and
-studied these 75 men for three or four days, at the end of which time we
-had picked out four men who appeared to be physically able to handle pig
-iron at the rate of 47 tons per day. A careful study was then made of
-each of these men. We looked up their history as far back as practicable
-and thorough inquiries were made as to the character, habits, and the
-ambition of each of them. Finally we selected one from among the four as
-the most likely man to start with. He was a little Pennsylvania Dutchman
-who had been observed to trot back home for a mile or so after his work
-in the evening about as fresh as he was when he came trotting down to
-work in the morning. We found that upon wages of $1.15 a day he had
-succeeded in buying a small plot of ground, and that he was engaged in
-putting up the walls of a little house for himself in the morning before
-starting to work and at night after leaving. He also had the reputation
-of being exceedingly "close," that is, of placing a very high value on a
-dollar. As one man whom we talked to about him said, "A penny looks
-about the size of a cart-wheel to him." This man we will call Schmidt.
-
-The task before us, then, narrowed itself down to getting Schmidt to
-handle 47 tons of pig iron per day and making him glad to do it. This
-was done as follows. Schmidt was called out from among the gang of
-pig-iron handlers and talked to somewhat in this way:
-
-"Schmidt, are you a high-priced man?"
-
-"Vell, I don't know vat you mean."
-
-"Oh yes, you do. What I want to know is whether you are a high-priced
-man or not."
-
-"Vell, I don't know vat you mean."
-
-"Oh, come now, you answer my questions. What I want to find out is
-whether you are a high-priced man or one of these cheap fellows here.
-What I want to find out is whether you want to earn $1.85 a day or
-whether you are satisfied with $1.15, just the same as all those cheap
-fellows are getting."
-
-"Did I vant $1.85 a day? Vas dot a high-priced man? Vell, yes, I vas a
-high-priced man."
-
-"Oh, you're aggravating me. Of course you want $1.85 a day--every one
-wants it! You know perfectly well that that has very little to do with
-your being a high-priced man. For goodness' sake answer my questions,
-and don't waste any more of my time. Now come over here. You see that
-pile of pig iron?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"You see that car?"
-
-"Yes."
-
-"Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will load that pig iron on that
-car tomorrow for $1.85. Now do wake up and answer my question. Tell me
-whether you are a high-priced man or not."
-
-"Vell, did I got $1.85 for loading dot pig iron on dot car to-morrow?"
-
-"Yes, of course you do, and you get $1.85 for loading a pile like that
-every day right through the year. That is what a high-priced man does,
-and you know it just as well as I do."
-
-"Vell, dot's all right. I could load dot pig iron on the car to-morrow
-for $1.85, and I get it every day, don't I?"
-
-"Certainly you do--certainly you do."
-
-"Vell, den, I vas a high-priced man."
-
-"Now, hold on, hold on. You know just as well as I do that a high-priced
-man has to do exactly as he's told from morning till night. You have
-seen this man here before, haven't you?"
-
-"No, I never saw him."
-
-"Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will do exactly as this man
-tells you tomorrow, from morning till night. When he tells you to pick
-up a pig and walk, you pick it up and you walk, and when he tells you to
-sit down and rest, you sit down. You do that right straight through the
-day. And what's more, no back talk. Now a high-priced man does just what
-he's told to do, and no back talk. Do you understand that? When this man
-tells you to walk, you walk; when he tells you to sit down, you sit
-down, and you don't talk back at him. Now you come on to work here
-to-morrow morning and I'll know before night whether you are really a
-high-priced man or not."
-
-This seems to be rather rough talk. And indeed it would be if applied to
-an educated mechanic, or even an intelligent laborer. With a man of the
-mentally sluggish type of Schmidt it is appropriate and not unkind,
-since it is effective in fixing his attention on the high wages which he
-wants and away from what, if it were called to his attention, he
-probably would consider impossibly hard work.
-
-What would Schmidt's answer be if he were talked to in a manner which is
-usual under the management of "initiative and incentive"? say, as
-follows:
-
-"Now, Schmidt, you are a first-class pig-iron handler and know your
-business well. You have been handling at the rate of 12 and a half tons
-per day. I have given considerable study to handling pig iron, and feel
-sure that you could do a much larger day's work than you have been
-doing. Now don't you think that if you really tried you could handle 47
-tons of pig iron per day, instead of 12 and a half tons?"
-
-What do you think Schmidt's answer would be to this?
-
-Schmidt started to work, and all day long, and at regular intervals, was
-told by the man who stood over him with a watch, "Now pick up a pig and
-walk. Now sit down and rest. Now walk--now rest," etc. He worked when
-he was told to work, and rested when he was told to rest, and at
-half-past five in the afternoon had his 47 and a half tons loaded on the
-car. And he practically never failed to work at this pace and do the
-task that was set him during the three years that the writer was at
-Bethlehem. And throughout this time he averaged a little more than $1.85
-per day, whereas before he had never received over $1.15 per day, which
-was the ruling rate of wages at that time in Bethlehem. That is, he
-received 60 per cent. higher wages than were paid to other men who were
-not working on task work. One man after another was picked out and
-trained to handle pig iron at the rate of 47 and a half tons per day
-until all of the pig iron was handled at this rate, and the men were
-receiving 60 per cent. more wages than other workmen around them.
-
-The writer has given above a brief description of three of the four
-elements which constitute the essence of scientific management: first,
-the careful selection of the workman, and, second and third, the method
-of first inducing and then training and helping the workman to work
-according to the scientific method. Nothing has as yet been said about
-the science of handling pig iron. The writer trusts, however, that
-before leaving this illustration the reader will be thoroughly convinced
-that there is a science of handling pig iron, and further that this
-science amounts to so much that the man who is suited to handle pig iron
-cannot possibly understand it, nor even work in accordance with the laws
-of this science, without the help of those who are over him.
-
-The writer came into the machine-shop of the Midvale Steel Company in
-1878, after having served an apprenticeship as a pattern-maker and as a
-machinist. This was close to the end of the long period of depression
-following the panic of 1873, and business was so poor that it was
-impossible for many mechanics to get work at their trades. For this
-reason he was obliged to start as a day laborer instead of working as a
-mechanic. Fortunately for him, soon after he came into the shop the
-clerk of the shop was found stealing. There was no one else available,
-and so, having more education than the other laborers (since he had been
-prepared for college) he was given the position of clerk. Shortly after
-this he was given work as a machinist in running one of the lathes, and,
-as he turned out rather more work than other machinists were doing on
-similar lathes, after several months was made gang boss over the lathes.
-
-Almost all of the work of this shop had been done on piece work for
-several years. As was usual then, and in fact as is still usual in most
-of the shops in this country, the shop was really run by the workmen,
-and not by the bosses. The workmen together had carefully planned just
-how fast each job should be done, and they had set a pace for each
-machine throughout the shop, which was limited to about one-third of a
-good day's work. Every new workman who came into the shop was told at
-once by the other men exactly how much of each kind of work he was to
-do, and unless he obeyed these instructions he was sure before long to
-be driven out of the place by the men.
-
-As soon as the writer was made gang-boss, one after another of the men
-came to him and talked somewhat as follows:
-
-"Now, Fred we're very glad to see that you've been made gang-boss. You
-know the game all right, and we're sure that you're not likely to be a
-piece-work hog. You come along with us, and every-thing will be all
-right, but if you try breaking any of these rates you can be mighty sure
-that we'll throw you over the fence."
-
-The writer told them plainly that he was now working on the side of the
-management, and that he proposed to do whatever he could to get a fair
-day's work out of the lathes. This immediately started a war; in most
-cases a friendly war, because the men who were under him were his
-personal friends, but none the less a war, which as time went on grew
-more and more bitter. The writer used every expedient to make them do a
-fair day's work, such as discharging or lowering the wages of the more
-stubborn men who refused to make any improvement, and such as lowering
-the piece-work price, hiring green men, and personally teaching them how
-to do the work, with the promise from them that when they had learned
-how, they would then do a fair day's work. While the men constantly
-brought such pressure to bear (both inside and outside the works) upon
-all those who started to increase their output that they were finally
-compelled to do about as the rest did, or else quit. No one who has not
-had this experience can have an idea of the bitterness which is
-gradually developed in such a struggle. In a war of this kind the
-workmen have one expedient which is usually effective. They use their
-ingenuity to contrive various ways in which the machines which they are
-running are broken or damaged--apparently by accident, or in the regular
-course of work--and this they always lay at the door of the foreman, who
-has forced them to drive the machine so hard that it is overstrained and
-is being ruined. And there are few foremen indeed who are able to stand
-up against the combined pressure of all of the men in the shop. In this
-case the problem was complicated by the fact that the shop ran both day
-and night.
-
-The writer had two advantages, however, which are not possessed by the
-ordinary foreman, and these came, curiously enough, from the fact that
-he was not the son of a working man.
-
-First, owing to the fact that he happened not to be of working parents,
-the owners of the company believed that he had the interest of the works
-more at heart than the other workmen, and they therefore had more
-confidence in his word than they did in that of the machinists who were
-under him. So that, when the machinists reported to the Superintendent
-that the machines were being smashed up because an incompetent foreman
-was overstraining them, the Superintendent accepted the word of the
-writer when he said that these men were deliberately breaking their
-machines as a part of the piece-work war which was going on, and he also
-allowed the writer to make the only effective answer to this Vandalism
-on the part of the men, namely: "There will be no more accidents to the
-machines in this shop. If any part of a machine is broken the man in
-charge of it must pay at least a part of the cost of its repair, and the
-fines collected in this way will all be handed over to the mutual
-beneficial association to help care for sick workmen." This soon stopped
-the willful breaking of machines.
-
-Second. If the writer had been one of the workmen, and had lived where
-they lived, they would have brought such social pressure to bear upon
-him that it would have been impossible to have stood out against them.
-He would have been called "scab" and other foul names every time he
-appeared on the street, his wife would have been abused, and his
-children would have been stoned. Once or twice he was begged by some of
-his friends among the workmen not to walk home, about two and a half
-miles along the lonely path by the side of the railway. He was told that
-if he continued to do this it would be at the risk of his life. In all
-such cases, however, a display of timidity is apt to increase rather
-than diminish the risk, so the writer told these men to say to the other
-men in the shop that he proposed to walk home every night right up that
-railway track; that he never had carried and never would carry any
-weapon of any kind, and that they could shoot and be d------.
-
-After about three years of this kind of struggling, the output of the
-machines had been materially increased, in many cases doubled, and as a
-result the writer had been promoted from one gang-boss-ship to another
-until he became foreman of the shop. For any right-minded man, however,
-this success is in no sense a recompense for the bitter relations which
-he is forced to maintain with all of those around him. Life which is one
-continuous struggle with other men is hardly worth living. His workman
-friends came to him continually and asked him, in a personal, friendly
-way, whether he would advise them, for their own best interest, to turn
-out more work. And, as a truthful man, he had to tell them that if he
-were in their place he would fight against turning out any more work,
-just as they were doing, because under the piece-work system they would
-be allowed to earn no more wages than they had been earning, and yet
-they would be made to work harder.
-
-Soon after being made foreman, therefore, he decided to make a
-determined effort to in some way change the system of management, so
-that the interests of the workmen and the management should become the
-same, instead of antagonistic. This resulted, some three years later, in
-the starting of the type of management which is described in papers
-presented to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers entitled "A
-Piece-Rate System" and "Shop Management."
-
-In preparation for this system the writer realized that the greatest
-obstacle to harmonious cooperation between the workmen and the
-management lay in the ignorance of the management as to what really
-constitutes a proper day's work for a workman. He fully realized that
-although he was foreman of the shop, the combined knowledge and skill of
-the workmen who were under him was certainly ten times as great as his
-own. He therefore obtained the permission of Mr. William Sellers, who
-was at that time the President of the Midvale Steel Company, to spend
-some money in a careful, scientific study of the time required to do
-various kinds of work.
-
-Mr. Sellers allowed this more as a reward for having, to a certain
-extent, "made good" as foreman of the shop in getting more work out of
-the men, than for any other reason. He stated, however, that he did not
-believe that any scientific study of this sort would give results of
-much value.
-
-Among several investigations which were undertaken at this time, one was
-an attempt to find some rule, or law, which would enable a foreman to
-know in advance how much of any kind of heavy laboring work a man who
-was well suited to his job ought to do in a day; that is, to study the
-tiring effect of heavy labor upon a first-class man. Our first step was
-to employ a young college graduate to look up all that had been written
-on the subject in English, German, and French. Two classes of
-experiments had been made: one by physiologists who were studying the
-endurance of the human animal, and the other by engineers who wished to
-determine what fraction of a horse-power a man-power was. These
-experiments had been made largely upon men who were lifting loads by
-means of turning the crank of a winch from which weights were suspended,
-and others who were engaged in walking, running, and lifting weights in
-various ways. However, the records of these investigations were so
-meager that no law of any value could be deduced from them. We therefore
-started a series of experiments of our own.
-
-Two first-class laborers were selected, men who had proved themselves to
-be physically powerful and who were also good steady workers. These men
-were paid double wages during the experiments, and were told that they
-must work to the best of their ability at all times, and that we should
-make certain tests with them from time to time to find whether they were
-"soldiering" or not, and that the moment either one of them started to
-try to deceive us he would be discharged. They worked to the best of
-their ability throughout the time that they were being observed.
-
-Now it must be clearly understood that in these experiments we were not
-trying to find the maximum work that a man could do on a short spurt or
-for a few days, but that our endeavor was to learn what really
-constituted a full day's work for a first-class man; the best day's work
-that a man could properly do, year in and year out, and still thrive
-under. These men were given all kinds of tasks, which were carried out
-each day under the close observation of the young college man who was
-conducting the experiments, and who at the same time noted with a
-stop-watch the proper time for all of the motions that were made by the
-men. Every element in any way connected with the work which we believed
-could have a bearing on the result was carefully studied and recorded.
-What we hoped ultimately to determine was what fraction of a horse-power
-a man was able to exert, that is, how many foot-pounds of work a man
-could do in a day.
-
-After completing this series of experiments, therefore, each man's work
-for each day was translated into foot-pounds of energy, and to our
-surprise we found that there was no constant or uniform relation between
-the foot-pounds of energy which the man exerted during a day and the
-tiring effect of his work. On some kinds of work the man would be tired
-out when doing perhaps not more than one-eighth of a horse-power, while
-in others he would be tired to no greater extent by doing half a
-horse-power of work.
-
-We failed, therefore, to find any law which was an accurate guide to the
-maximum day's work for a first-class workman.
-
-A large amount of very valuable data had been obtained, which enabled us
-to know, for many kinds of labor, what was a proper day's work. It did
-not seem wise, however, at this time to spend any more money in trying
-to find the exact law which we were after. Some years later, when more
-money was available for this purpose, a second series of experiments was
-made, similar to the first, but some what more thorough.
-
-This, however, resulted as the first experiments, in obtaining valuable
-information but not in the development of a law. Again, some years
-later, a third series of experiments was made, and this time no trouble
-was spared in our endeavor to make the work thorough. Every minute
-element which could in anyway affect the problem was carefully noted and
-studied, and two college men devoted about three months to the
-experiments. After this data was again translated into foot-pounds of
-energy exerted for each man each day, it became perfectly clear that
-there is no direct relation between the horse-power which a man
-exerts (that is, his foot-pounds of energy per day) and the tiring effect
-of the work on the man. The writer, however, was quite as firmly
-convinced as ever that some definite, clear-cut law existed as to what
-constitutes a full day's work for a first-class laborer, and our data
-had been so carefully collected and recorded that he felt sure that the
-necessary information was included somewhere in the records. The problem
-of developing this law from the accumulated facts was therefore handed
-over to Mr. Carl G. Barth, who is a better mathematician than any of the
-rest of us, and we decided to investigate the problem in a new way, by
-graphically representing each element of the work through plotting
-curves, which should give us, as it were, a bird's-eye view of every
-element. In a comparatively short time Mr. Barth had discovered the law
-governing the tiring effect of heavy labor on a first-class man. And it
-is so simple in its nature that it is truly remarkable that it should
-not have been discovered and clearly understood years before. The law
-which was developed is as follows:
-
-The law is confined to that class of work in which the limit of a man's
-capacity is reached because he is tired out. It is the law of heavy
-laboring, corresponding to the work of the cart horse, rather than that
-of the trotter. Practically all such work consists of a heavy pull or a
-push on the man's arms, that is, the man's strength is exerted by either
-lifting or pushing something which he grasps in his hands. And the law
-is that for each given pull or push on the man's arms it is possible for
-the workman to be under load for only a definite percentage of the day.
-For example, when pig iron is being handled (each pig weighing 92
-pounds), a first-class workman can only be under load 43 per cent of the
-day. He must be entirely free from load during 57 per cent of the day.
-And as the load becomes lighter, the percentage of the day under which
-the man can remain under load increases. So that, if the workman is
-handling a half-pig, weighing 46 pounds, he can then be under load 58
-per cent of the day, and only has to rest during 42 per cent. As the
-weight grows lighter the man can remain under load during a larger and
-larger percentage of the day, until finally a load is reached which he
-can carry in his hands all day long without being tired out. When that
-point has been arrived at this law ceases to be useful as a guide to a
-laborer's endurance, and some other law must be found which indicates
-the man's capacity for work.
-
-When a laborer is carrying a piece of pig iron weighing 92 pounds in his
-hands, it tires him about as much to stand still under the load as it
-does to walk with it, since his arm muscles are under the same severe
-tension whether he is moving or not. A man, however, who stands still
-under a load is exerting no horse-power whatever, and this accounts for
-the fact that no constant relation could be traced in various kinds of
-heavy laboring work between the foot-pounds of energy exerted and the
-tiring effect of the work on the man. It will also be clear that in all
-work of this kind it is necessary for the arms of the workman to be
-completely free from load (that is, for the workman to rest) at frequent
-intervals. Throughout the time that the man is under a heavy load the
-tissues of his arm muscles are in process of degeneration, and frequent
-periods of rest are required in order that the blood may have a chance
-to restore these tissues to their normal condition.
-
-To return now to our pig-iron handlers at the Bethlehem Steel Company.
-If Schmidt had been allowed to attack the pile of 47 tons of pig iron
-without the guidance or direction of a man who understood the art, or
-science, of handling pig iron, in his desire to earn his high wages he
-would probably have tired himself out by 11 or 12 o'clock in the day. He
-would have kept so steadily at work that his muscles would not have had
-the proper periods of rest absolutely needed for recuperation, and he
-would have been completely exhausted early in the day. By having a man,
-however, who understood this law, stand over him and direct his work,
-day after day, until he acquired the habit of resting at proper
-intervals, he was able to work at an even gait all day long without
-unduly tiring himself.
-
-Now one of the very first requirements for a man who is fit to handle
-pig iron as a regular occupation that he shall be so stupid and so
-phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental make-up the ox
-than any other type. The man who is mentally alert and intelligent is
-for this very reason entirely unsuited to what would, for him, be the
-grinding monotony of work of this character. Therefore the workman who
-is best suited to handling pig iron is unable to understand the real
-science of doing this class of work. He is so stupid that the word
-"percentage" has no meaning to him, and he must consequently be trained
-by a man more intelligent than himself into the habit of working in
-accordance with the laws of this science before he can be successful.
-
-The writer trusts that it is now clear that even in the case of the most
-elementary form of labor that is known, there is a science, and that
-when the man best suited to this class of work has been carefully
-selected, when the science of doing the work has been developed, and
-when the carefully selected man has been trained to work in accordance
-with this science, the results obtained must of necessity be
-overwhelmingly greater than those which are possible under the plan of
-"initiative and incentive."
-
-Let us, however, again turn to the case of these pig-iron handlers, and
-see whether, under the ordinary type of management, it would not have
-been possible to obtain practically the same results.
-
-The writer has put the problem before many good managers, and asked them
-whether, under premium work, piece work, or any of the ordinary plans of
-management, they would be likely even to approximate 47 tons* per man per
-day, and not a man has suggested that an output of over 18 to 25 tons
-could be attained by any of the ordinary expedients. It will be remembered
-that the Bethlehem men were loading only 12 1/2 tons per man.
-
-[*Footnote: Many people have questioned the accuracy of the statement
-that first-class workmen can load 47 1/2 tons of pig iron from the ground
-on to a car in a day. For those who are skeptical, therefore, the following
-data relating to this work are given:
-
-First. That our experiments indicated the existence of the following
-law: that a first-class laborer, suited to such work as handling pig
-iron, could be under load only 42 per cent of the day and must be free
-from load 58 per cent of the day.
-
-Second. That a man in loading pig iron from piles placed on the ground
-in an open field on to a car which stood on a track adjoining these
-piles, ought to handle (and that they did handle regularly) 47 1/2 long
-tons (2240 pounds per ton) per day.
-
-That the price paid for loading this pig iron was 3.9 cents per ton, and
-that the men working at it averaged $1.85 per day, whereas, in the past,
-they had been paid only $1.15 per day.
-
-In addition to these facts, the following are given:
-
-  47 1/2 long tons equal 106,400 pounds of pig iron per day.
-  At 92 pounds per pig, equals 1156 pigs per day.
-  42 per cent. of a day under load equals 600 minutes; multiplied by
-  0.42 equals 252 minutes under load.
-  252 minutes divided by 1156 pigs equals 0.22 minutes per pig under
-  load.
-
-A pig-iron handler walks on the level at the rate of one foot in 0.006
-minutes. The average distance of the piles of pig iron from the car was
-36 feet. It is a fact, however, that many of the pig-iron handlers ran
-with their pig as soon as they reached the inclined plank. Many of them
-also would run down the plank after loading the car. So that when the
-actual loading went on, many of them moved at a faster rate than is
-indicated by the above figures. Practically the men were made to take a
-rest, generally by sitting down, after loading ten to twenty pigs. This
-rest was in addition to the time which it took them to walk back from
-the car to the pile. It is likely that many of those who are skeptical
-about the possibility of loading this amount of pig iron do not realize
-that while these men were walking back they were entirely free from
-load, and that therefore their muscles had, during that time, the
-opportunity for recuperation. It will be noted that with an average
-distance of 36 feet of the pig iron from the car, these men walked about
-eight miles under load each day and eight miles free from load.
-
-If any one who is interested in these figures will multiply them and
-divide them, one into the other, in various ways, he will find that all
-of the facts stated check up exactly.]
-
-To go into the matter in more detail, however: As to the scientific
-selection of the men, it is a fact that in this gang of 75 pig-iron
-handlers only about one man in eight was physically capable of handling
-47 1/2 tons per day. With the very best of intentions, the other seven
-out of eight men were physically unable to work at this pace. Now the
-one man in eight who was able to do this work was in no sense superior
-to the other men who were working on the gang. He merely happened to be
-a man of the type of the ox,--no rare specimen of humanity, difficult to
-find and therefore very highly prized. On the contrary, he was a man so
-stupid that he was unfitted to do most kinds of laboring work, even. The
-selection of the man, then, does not involve finding some extraordinary
-individual, but merely picking out from among very ordinary men the few
-who are especially suited to this type of work. Although in this
-particular gang only one man in eight was suited to doing the work, we
-had not the slightest difficulty in getting all the men who were
-needed--some of them from inside of the works and others from the
-neighboring country--who were exactly suited to the job.
-
-Under the management of "initiative and incentive" the attitude of the
-management is that of "putting the work up to the workmen." What
-likelihood would there be, then, under the old type of management, of
-these men properly selecting themselves for pig-iron handling? Would
-they be likely to get rid of seven men out of eight from their own gang
-and retain only the eighth man? No! And no expedient could be devised
-which would make these men properly select themselves. Even if they
-fully realized the necessity of doing so in order to obtain high wages
-(and they are not sufficiently intelligent properly to grasp this
-necessity), the fact that their friends or their brothers who were
-working right alongside of them would temporarily be thrown out of a job
-because they were not suited to this kind of work would entirely prevent
-them from properly selecting themselves, that is, from removing the
-seven out of eight men on the gang who were unsuited to pig-iron
-handling.
-
-As to the possibility, under the old type of management, of inducing
-these pig-iron handlers (after they had been properly selected) to work
-in accordance with the science of doing heavy laboring, namely, having
-proper scientifically determined periods of rest in close sequence to
-periods of work. As has been indicated before, the essential idea of the
-ordinary types of management is that each workman has become more
-skilled in his own trade than it is possible for any one in the
-management to be, and that, therefore, the details of how the work shall
-best be done must be left to him. The idea, then, of taking one man
-after another and training him under a competent teacher into new
-working habits until he continually and habitually works in accordance
-with scientific laws, which have been developed by some one else, is
-directly antagonistic to the old idea that each workman can best
-regulate his own way of doing the work. And besides this, the man suited
-to handling pig iron is too stupid properly to train himself. Thus it
-will be seen that with the ordinary types of management the development
-of scientific knowledge to replace rule of thumb, the scientific
-selection of the men, and inducing the men to work in accordance with
-these scientific principles are entirely out of the question. And this
-because the philosophy of the old management puts the entire
-responsibility upon the workmen, while the philosophy of the new places
-a great part of it upon the management.
-
-With most readers great sympathy will be aroused because seven out of
-eight of these pig-iron handlers were thrown out of a job. This sympathy
-is entirely wasted, because almost all of them were immediately given
-other jobs with the Bethlehem Steel Company. And indeed it should be
-understood that the removal of these men from pig-iron handling, for
-which they were unfit, was really a kindness to themselves, because it
-was the first step toward finding them work for which they were
-peculiarly fitted, and at which, after receiving proper training, they
-could permanently and legitimately earn higher wages.
-
-Although the reader may be convinced that there is a certain science
-back of the handling of pig iron, still it is more than likely that he
-is still skeptical as to the existence of a science for doing other
-kinds of laboring. One of the important objects of this paper is to
-convince its readers that every single act of every workman can be
-reduced to a science. With the hope of fully convincing the reader of
-this fact, therefore, the writer proposes to give several more simple
-illustrations from among the thousands which are at hand.
-
-For example, the average man would question whether there is much of any
-science in the work of shoveling. Yet there is but little doubt, if any
-intelligent reader of this paper were deliberately to set out to find
-what may be called the foundation of the science of shoveling, that with
-perhaps 15 to 20 hours of thought and analysis he would be almost sure
-to have arrived at the essence of this science. On the other hand, so
-completely are the rule-of-thumb ideas still dominant that the writer
-has never met a single shovel contractor to whom it had ever even
-occurred that there was such a thing as the science of shoveling. This
-science is so elementary as to be almost self-evident.
-
-For a first-class shoveler there is a given shovel load at which he will
-do his biggest day's work. What is this shovel load? Will a first-class
-man do more work per day with a shovel load of 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 15
-pounds, 20, 25, 30, or 40 pounds? Now this is a question which can be
-answered only through carefully made experiments. By first selecting two
-or three first-class shovelers, and paying them extra wages for doing
-trustworthy work, and then gradually varying the shovel load and having
-all the conditions accompanying the work carefully observed for several
-weeks by men who were used to experimenting, it was found that a
-first-class man would do his biggest day's work with a shovel load of
-about 21 pounds. For instance, that this man would shovel a larger
-tonnage per day with a 21-pound load than with a 24-pound load or than
-with an 18-pound load on his shovel. It is, of course, evident that no
-shoveler can always take a load of exactly 21 pounds on his shovel, but
-nevertheless, although his load may vary 3 or 4 pounds one way or the
-other, either below or above the 21 pounds, he will do his biggest day's
-work when his average for the day is about 21 pounds.
-
-The writer does not wish it to be understood that this is the whole of
-the art or science of shoveling. There are many other elements, which
-together go to make up this science. But he wishes to indicate the
-important effect which this one piece of scientific knowledge has upon
-the work of shoveling.
-
-At the works of the Bethlehem Steel Company, for example, as a result of
-this law, instead of allowing each shoveler to select and own his own
-shovel, it became necessary to provide some 8 to 10 different kinds of
-shovels, etc., each one appropriate to handling a given type of material
-not only so as to enable the men to handle an average load of 21 pounds,
-but also to adapt the shovel to several other requirements which become
-perfectly evident when this work is studied as a science. A large shovel
-tool room was built, in which were stored not only shovels but carefully
-designed and standardized labor implements of all kinds, such as picks,
-crowbars, etc. This made it possible to issue to each workman a shovel
-which would hold a load of 21 pounds of whatever class of material they
-were to handle: a small shovel for ore, say, or a large one for ashes.
-Iron ore is one of the heavy materials which are handled in a works of
-this kind, and rice coal, owing to the fact that it is so slippery on
-the shovel, is one of the lightest materials. And it was found on
-studying the rule-of-thumb plan at the Bethlehem Steel Company, where
-each shoveler owned his own shovel, that he would frequently go from
-shoveling ore, with a load of about 30 pounds per shovel, to handling
-rice coal, with a load on the same shovel of less than 4 pounds. In the
-one case, he was so overloaded that it was impossible for him to do a
-full day's work, and in the other case he was so ridiculously
-underloaded that it was manifestly impossible to even approximate a
-day's work.
-
-Briefly to illustrate some of the other elements which go to make up
-the science of shoveling, thousands of stop-watch observations were made
-to study just how quickly a laborer, provided in each case with the
-proper type of shovel, can push his shovel into the pile of materials
-and then draw it out properly loaded. These observations were made first
-when pushing the shovel into the body of the pile. Next when shoveling
-on a dirt bottom, that is, at the outside edge of the pile, and next
-with a wooden bottom, and finally with an iron bottom. Again a similar
-accurate time study was made of the time required to swing the shovel
-backward and then throw the load for a given horizontal distance,
-accompanied by a given height. This time study was made for various
-combinations of distance and height. With data of this sort before him,
-coupled with the law of endurance described in the case of the pig-iron
-handlers, it is evident that the man who is directing shovelers can
-first teach them the exact methods which should be employed to use their
-strength to the very best advantage, and can then assign them daily
-tasks which are so just that the workman can each day be sure of earning
-the large bonus which is paid whenever he successfully performs this
-task.
-
-There were about 600 shovelers and laborers of this general class in the
-yard of the Bethlehem Steel Company at this time. These men were
-scattered in their work over a yard which was, roughly, about two miles
-long and half a mile wide. In order that each workman should be given
-his proper implement and his proper instructions for doing each new job,
-it was necessary to establish a detailed system for directing men in
-their work, in place of the old plan of handling them in large groups,
-or gangs, under a few yard foremen. As each workman came into the works
-in the morning, he took out of his own special pigeonhole, with his
-number on the outside, two pieces of paper, one of which stated just
-what implements he was to get from the tool room and where he was to
-start to work, and the second of which gave the history of his previous
-day's work; that is, a statement of the work which he had done, how much
-he had earned the day before, etc. Many of these men were foreigners and
-unable to read and write, but they all knew at a glance the essence of
-this report, because yellow paper showed the man that he had failed to
-do his full task the day before, and informed him that he had not earned
-as much as $1.85 a day, and that none but high-priced men would be
-allowed to stay permanently with this gang. The hope was further
-expressed that he would earn his full wages on the following day. So
-that whenever the men received white slips they knew that everything was
-all right, and whenever they received yellow slips they realized that
-they must do better or they would be shifted to some other class of
-work.
-
-Dealing with every workman as a separate individual in this way involved
-the building of a labor office for the superintendent and clerks who
-were in charge of this section of the work. In this office every
-laborer's work was planned out well in advance, and the workmen were all
-moved from place to place by the clerks with elaborate diagrams or maps
-of the yard before them, very much as chessmen are moved on a
-chess-board, a telephone and messenger system having been installed for
-this purpose. In this way a large amount of the time lost through having
-too many men in one place and too few in another, and through waiting
-between jobs, was entirely eliminated. Under the old system the workmen
-were kept day after day in comparatively large gangs, each under a
-single foreman, and the gang was apt to remain of pretty nearly the same
-size whether there was much or little of the particular kind of work on
-hand which this foreman had under his charge, since each gang had to be
-kept large enough to handle whatever work in its special line was likely
-to come along.
-
-When one ceases to deal with men in large gangs or groups, and proceeds
-to study each workman as an individual, if the workman fails to do his
-task, some competent teacher should be sent to show him exactly how his
-work can best be done, to guide, help, and encourage him, and, at the
-same time, to study his possibilities as a workman. So that, under the
-plan which individualizes each workman, instead of brutally discharging
-the man or lowering his wages for failing to make good at once, he is
-given the time and the help required to make him proficient at his
-present job, or he is shifted to another class of work for which he is
-either mentally or physically better suited.
-
-All of this requires the kindly cooperation of the management, and
-involves a much more elaborate organization and system than the
-old-fashioned herding of men in large gangs. This organization
-consisted, in this case, of one set of men, who were engaged in the
-development of the science of laboring through time study, such as has
-been described above; another set of men, mostly skilled laborers
-themselves, who were teachers, and who helped and guided the men in
-their work; another set of tool-room men who provided them with the
-proper implements and kept them in perfect order, and another set of
-clerks who planned the work well in advance, moved the men with the
-least loss of time from one place to another, and properly recorded each
-man's earnings, etc. And this furnishes an elementary illustration of
-what has been referred to as cooperation between the management and the
-workmen.
-
-The question which naturally presents itself is whether an elaborate
-organization of this sort can be made to pay for itself; whether such an
-organization is not top-heavy. This question will best be answered by a
-statement of the results of the third year of working under this plan.
-
-
-                                   Old Plan           New Plan Task Work
-  The number of yard laborers
-  was reduced from between         400 & 600 down to about 140
-  Average number of tons per
-  man per day                      16                       59
-  Average earnings per man
-  per day                          $1.15                 $1.88
-  Average cost of handling a
-  ton of 2240 lbs                  $0.072               $0.033
-
-And in computing the low cost of $0.033 per ton, the office and
-tool-room expenses, and the wages of all labor superintendents, foremen,
-clerks, time-study men, etc., are included.
-
-During this year the total saving of the new plan over the old amounted
-to $36,417.69, and during the six months following, when all of the work
-of the yard was on task work, the saving was at the rate of between
-$75,000 and $80,000 per year.
-
-Perhaps the most important of all the results attained was the effect on
-the workmen themselves. A careful inquiry into the condition of these
-men developed the fact that out of the 140 workmen only two were said to
-be drinking men. This does not, of course, imply that many of them did
-not take an occasional drink. The fact is that a steady drinker would
-find it almost impossible to keep up with the pace which was set, so
-that they were practically all sober. Many, if not most of them, were
-saving money, and they all lived better than they had before. These men
-constituted the finest body of picked laborers that the writer has ever
-seen together, and they looked upon the men who were over them, their
-bosses and their teachers, as their very best friends; not as nigger
-drivers, forcing them to work extra hard for ordinary wages, but as
-friends who were teaching them and helping them to earn much higher
-wages than they had ever earned before.
-
-It would have been absolutely impossible for any one to have stirred up
-strife between these men and their employers. And this presents a very
-simple though effective illustration of what is meant by the words
-"prosperity for the employee, coupled with prosperity for the employer,"
-the two principal objects of management. It is evident also that this
-result has been brought about by the application of the four fundamental
-principles of scientific management.
-
-As another illustration of the value of a scientific study of the
-motives which influence workmen in their daily work, the loss of
-ambition and initiative will be cited, which takes place in workmen when
-they are herded into gangs instead of being treated as separate
-individuals. A careful analysis had demonstrated the fact that when
-workmen are herded together in gangs, each man in the gang becomes far
-less efficient than when his personal ambition is stimulated; that when
-men work in gangs, their individual efficiency falls almost invariably
-down to or below the level of the worst man in the gang; and that they
-are all pulled down instead of being elevated by being herded together.
-For this reason a general order had been issued in the Bethlehem Steel
-Works that not more than four men were to be allowed to work in a labor
-gang without a special permit, signed by the General Superintendent of
-the works, this special permit to extend for one week only. It was
-arranged that as far as possible each laborer should be given a separate
-individual task. As there were about 5000 men at work in the
-establishment, the General Superintendent had so much to do that there
-was but little time left for signing these special permits.
-
-After gang work had been by this means broken up, an unusually fine set
-of ore shovelers had been developed, through careful selection and
-individual, scientific training. Each of these men was given a separate
-car to unload each day, and his wages depended upon his own personal
-work. The man who unloaded the largest amount of ore was paid the
-highest wages, and an unusual opportunity came for demonstrating the
-importance of individualizing each workman. Much of this ore came from
-the Lake Superior region, and the same ore was delivered both in
-Pittsburgh and in Bethlehem in exactly similar cars. There was a
-shortage of ore handlers in Pittsburgh, and hearing of the fine gang of
-laborers that had been developed at Bethlehem, one of the Pittsburgh
-steel works sent an agent to hire the Bethlehem men. The Pittsburgh men
-offered 4 9/10 cents a ton for unloading exactly the same ore, with the
-same shovels, from the same cars, that were unloaded in Bethlehem for 3
-2/10 cents a ton. After carefully considering this situation, it was
-decided that it would be unwise to pay more than 3 2/10 cents per ton
-for unloading the Bethlehem cars, because, at this rate, the Bethlehem
-laborers were earning a little over $1.85 per man per day, and this
-price was 60 per cent more than the ruling rate of wages around
-Bethlehem.
-
-A long series of experiments, coupled with close observation, had
-demonstrated the fact that when workmen of this caliber are given a
-carefully measured task, which calls for a big day's work on their part,
-and that when in return for this extra effort they are paid wages up to
-60 per cent beyond the wages usually paid, that this increase in wages
-tends to make them not only more thrifty but better men in every way;
-that they live rather better, begin to save money, become more sober,
-and work more steadily. When, on the other hand, they receive much more
-than a 60 per cent increase in wages, many of them will work irregularly
-and tend to become more or less shiftless, extravagant, and dissipated.
-Our experiments showed, in other words, that it does not do for most men
-to get rich too fast.
-
-After deciding, for this reason, not to raise the wages of our ore
-handlers, these men were brought into the office one at a time, and
-talked to somewhat as follows:
-
-"Now, Patrick, you have proved to us that you are a high-priced man. You
-have been earning every day a little more than $1.85, and you are just
-the sort of man that we want to have in our ore-shoveling gang. A man
-has come here from Pittsburgh, ho is offering 4 9/10 cents per ton for
-handling ore while we can pay only 3 9/10 cents per ton. I think,
-therefore, that you had better apply to this man for a job. Of course,
-you know we are very sorry to have you leave us, but you have proved
-yourself a high-priced man, and we are very glad to see you get this
-chance of earning more money. Just remember, however, that at any time
-in the future, when you get out of a job, you can always come right back
-to us. There will always be a job for a high-priced man like you in our
-gang here."
-
-Almost all of the ore handlers took this advice, and went to Pittsburgh,
-but in about six weeks most of them were again back in Bethlehem
-unloading ore at the old rate of 3 2/10 cents a ton. The writer had the
-following talk with one of these men after he had returned:
-
-"Patrick, what are you doing back here? I thought we had gotten rid of
-you."
-
-"'Well, Sir, I'll tell you how it was. When we got out there Jimmy and I
-were put on to a car with eight other men. We started to shovel the ore
-out just the same as we do here. After about half an hour I saw a little
-devil alongside of me doing pretty near nothing, so I said to him, 'Why
-don't you go to work? Unless we get the ore out of this car we won't get
-any money on pay-day.' He turned to me and said, 'Who in ------ are
-you?'
-
-"'Well,' I said, 'that's none of your business'; and the little devil
-stood up to me and said, 'You'll be minding your own business, or I'll
-throw you off this car!' 'Well, I could have spit on him and drowned
-him, but the rest of the men put down their shovels and looked as if
-they were going to back him up; so I went round to Jimmy and said (so
-that the whole gang could hear it), 'Now, Jimmy, you and I will throw a
-shovel full whenever this little devil throws one, and not another
-shovel full.' So we watched him, and only shoveled when he shoveled.
-
-"When pay-day came around, though, we had less money than we got here at
-Bethlehem. After that Jimmy and I went in to the boss, and asked him for
-a car to ourselves, the same as we got at Bethlehem, but he told us to
-mind our own business. And when another pay-day came around we had less
-money than we got here at Bethlehem, so Jimmy and I got the gang
-together and brought them all back here to work again."
-
-When working each man for himself, these men were able to earn higher
-wages at 3 2/10 cents a ton than they could earn when they were paid 4
-9/10 cents a ton on gang work; and this again shows the great gain which
-results from working according to even the most elementary of scientific
-principles. But it also shows that in the application of the most
-elementary principles it is necessary for the management to do their
-share of the work in cooperating with the workmen. The Pittsburgh
-managers knew just how the results had been attained at Bethlehem, but
-they were unwilling to go to the small trouble and expense required to
-plan ahead and assign a separate car to each shoveler, and then keep an
-individual record of each man's work, and pay him just what he had
-earned.
-
-Bricklaying is one of the oldest of our trades.
-
-For hundreds of years there has been little or no improvement made in
-the implements and materials used in this trade, nor in fact in the
-method of laying bricks. In spite of the millions of men who have
-practiced this trade, no great improvement has been evolved for many
-generations. Here, then, at least one would expect to find but little
-gain possible through scientific analysis and study. Mr. Frank B.
-Gilbreth, a member of our Society, who had himself studied bricklaying
-in his youth, became interested in the principles of scientific
-management, and decided to apply them to the art of bricklaying. He made
-an intensely interesting analysis and study of each movement of the
-bricklayer, and one after another eliminated all unnecessary movements
-and substituted fast for slow motions. He experimented with every minute
-element which in any way affects the speed and the tiring of the
-bricklayer.
-
-He developed the exact position which each of the feet of the bricklayer
-should occupy with relation to the wall, the mortar box, and the pile of
-bricks, and so made it unnecessary for him to take a step or two toward
-the pile of bricks and back again each time a brick is laid.
-
-He studied the best height for the mortar box and brick pile, and then
-designed a scaffold, with a table on it, upon which all of the materials
-are placed, so as to keep the bricks, the mortar, the man, and the wall
-in their proper relative positions. These scaffolds are adjusted, as the
-wall grows in height, for all of the bricklayers by a laborer especially
-detailed for this purpose, and by this means the bricklayer is saved the
-exertion of stooping down to the level of his feet for each brick and
-each trowel full of mortar and then straightening up again. Think of the
-waste of effort that has gone on through all these years, with each
-bricklayer lowering his body, weighing, say, 150 pounds, down two feet
-and raising it up again every time a brick (weighing about 5 pounds) is
-laid in the wall! And this each bricklayer did about one thousand times
-a day.
-
-As a result of further study, after the bricks are unloaded from the
-cars, and before bringing them to the bricklayer, they are carefully
-sorted by a laborer, and placed with their best edge up on a simple
-wooden frame, constructed so as to enable him to take hold of each brick
-in the quickest time and in the most advantageous position. In this way
-the bricklayer avoids either having to turn the brick over or end for
-end to examine it before laying it, and he saves, also, the time taken
-in deciding which is the best edge and end to place on the outside of
-the wall. In most cases, also, he saves the time taken in disentangling
-the brick from a disorderly pile on the scaffold. This "pack" of bricks
-(as Mr. Gilbreth calls his loaded wooden frames) is placed by the helper
-in its proper position on the adjustable scaffold close to the mortar
-box.
-
-We have all been used to seeing bricklayers tap each brick after it is
-placed on its bed of mortar several times with the end of the handle of
-the trowel so as to secure the right thickness for the joint. Mr.
-Gilbreth found that by tempering the mortar just right, the bricks could
-be readily bedded to the proper depth by a downward pressure of the hand
-with which they are laid. He insisted that his mortar mixers should give
-special attention to tempering the mortar, and so save the time consumed
-in tapping the brick.
-
-Through all of this minute study of the motions to be made by the
-bricklayer in laying bricks under standard conditions, Mr. Gilbreth has
-reduced his movements from eighteen motions per brick to five, and even
-in one case to as low as two motions per brick. He has given all of the
-details of this analysis to the profession in the chapter headed "Motion
-Study," of his book entitled "Bricklaying System," published by Myron C.
-Clerk Publishing Company, New York and Chicago; E. F. N. Spon, of
-London.
-
-An analysis of the expedients used by Mr. Gilbreth in reducing the
-motions of his bricklayers from eighteen to five shows that this
-improvement has been made in three different ways:
-
-First. He has entirely dispensed with certain movements which the
-bricklayers in the past believed were necessary, but which a careful
-study and trial on his part have shown to be useless.
-
-Second. He has introduced simple apparatus, such as his adjustable
-scaffold and his packets for holding the bricks, by means of which, with
-a very small amount of cooperation from a cheap laborer, he entirely
-eliminates a lot of tiresome and time-consuming motions which are
-necessary for the brick-layer who lacks the scaffold and the packet.
-
-Third. He teaches his bricklayers to make simple motions with both
-hands at the same time, where before they completed a motion with the
-right hand and followed it later with one from the left hand.
-
-For example, Mr. Gilbreth teaches his brick-layer to pick up a brick in
-the left hand at the same instant that he takes a trowel full of mortar
-with the right hand. This work with two hands at the same time is, of
-course, made possible by substituting a deep mortar box for the old
-mortar board (on which the mortar spread out so thin that a step or two
-had to be taken to reach it) and then placing the mortar box and the
-brick pile close together, and at the proper height on his new scaffold.
-
-These three kinds of improvements are typical of the ways in which
-needless motions can be entirely eliminated and quicker types of
-movements substituted for slow movements when scientific motion study,
-as Mr. Gilbreth calls his analysis, time study, as the writer has called
-similar work, are, applied in any trade.
-
-Most practical men would (knowing the opposition of almost all tradesmen
-to making any change in their methods and habits), however, be skeptical
-as to the possibility of actually achieving any large results from a
-study of this sort. Mr. Gilbreth reports that a few months ago, in a
-large brick building which he erected, he demonstrated on a commercial
-scale the great gain which is possible from practically applying his
-scientific study. With union bricklayers, in laying a factory wall,
-twelve inches thick, with two kinds of brick, faced and ruled joints on
-both sides of the wall, he averaged, after his selected workmen had
-become skilful in his new methods, 350 bricks per man per hour; whereas
-the average speed of doing this work with the old methods was, in that
-section of the country, 120 bricks per man per hour. His bricklayers
-were taught his new method of bricklaying by their foreman. Those who
-failed to profit by their teaching were dropped, and each man, as he
-became proficient under the new method, received a substantial (not a
-small) increase in his wages. With a view to individualizing his workmen
-and stimulating each man to do his best, Mr. Gilbreth also developed an
-ingenious method for measuring and recording the number of bricks laid
-by each man, and for telling each workman at frequent intervals how many
-bricks he had succeeded in laying.
-
-It is only when this work is compared with the conditions which prevail
-under the tyranny of some of our misguided bricklayers' unions that the
-great waste of human effort which is going on will be realized. In one
-foreign city the bricklayers' union have restricted their men to 275
-bricks per day on work of this character when working for the city, and
-375 per day when working for private owners. The members of this union
-are probably sincere in their belief that this restriction of output is
-a benefit to their trade. It should be plain to all men, however, that
-this deliberate loafing is almost criminal, in that it inevitably
-results in making every workman's family pay higher rent for their
-housing, and also in the end drives work and trade away from their city,
-instead of bringing it to it.
-
-Why is it, in a trade which has been continually practiced since before
-the Christian era, and with implements practically the same as they now
-are, that this simplification of the bricklayer's movements, this great
-gain, has not been made before?
-
-It is highly likely that many times during all of these years individual
-bricklayers have recognized the possibility of eliminating each of these
-unnecessary motions. But even if, in the past, he did invent each one of
-Mr. Gilbreth's improvements, no bricklayer could alone increase his
-speed through their adoption because it will be remembered that in all
-cases several bricklayers work together in a row and that the walls all
-around a building must grow at the same rate of speed. No one
-bricklayer, then, can work much faster than the one next to him. Nor has
-any one workman the authority to make other men cooperate with him to do
-faster work. It is only through enforced standardization of methods,
-enforced adoption of the best implements and working conditions, and
-enforced cooperation that this faster work can be assured. And the duty
-of enforcing the adoption of standards and of enforcing-this cooperation
-rests with the management alone. The management must supply continually
-one or more teachers to show each new man the new and simpler motions,
-and the slower men must be constantly watched and helped until they have
-risen to their proper speed. All of those who, after proper teaching,
-either will not or cannot work in accordance with the new methods and at
-the higher speed must be discharged by the management. The management
-must also recognize the broad fact that workmen will not submit to this
-more rigid standardization and will not work extra hard, unless they
-receive extra pay for doing it.
-
-All of this involves an individual study of and treatment for each man,
-while in the past they have been handled in large groups.
-
-The management must also see that those who prepare the bricks and the
-mortar and adjust the scaffold, etc., for the bricklayers, cooperate
-with them by doing their work just right and always on time; and they
-must also inform each bricklayer at frequent intervals as to the
-progress he is making, so that he may not unintentionally fall off in
-his pace. Thus it will be seen that it is the assumption by the
-management of new duties and new kinds of work never done by employers
-in the past that makes this great improvement possible, and that,
-without this new help from the management, the workman even with full
-knowledge of the new methods and with the best of intentions could not
-attain these startling results.
-
-Mr. Gilbreth's method of bricklaying furnishes a simple illustration of
-true and effective cooperation. Not the type of cooperation in which a
-mass of workmen on one side together cooperate with the management; but
-that in which several men in the management (each one in his own
-particular way) help each workman individually, on the one hand, by
-studying his needs and his shortcomings and teaching him better and
-quicker methods, and, on the other hand, by seeing that all other
-workmen with whom he comes in contact help and cooperate with him by
-doing their part of the work right and fast.
-
-The writer has gone thus fully into Mr. Gilbreth's method in order that
-it may be perfectly clear that this increase in output and that this
-harmony could not have been attained under the management of "initiative
-and incentive" (that is, by putting the problem up to the workman and
-leaving him to solve it alone) which has been the philosophy of the
-past. And that his success has been due to the use of the four elements
-which constitute the essence of scientific management.
-
-First. The development (by the management, not the workman) of the
-science of bricklaying, with rigid rules for each motion of every man,
-and the perfection and standardization of all implements and working
-conditions.
-
-Second. The careful selection and subsequent training of the bricklayers
-into first-class men, and the elimination of all men who refuse to or
-are unable to adopt the best methods.
-
-Third. Bringing the first-class bricklayer and the science of
-bricklaying together, through the constant help and watchfulness of the
-management, and through paying each man a large daily bonus for working
-fast and doing what he is told to do.
-
-Fourth. An almost equal division of the work and responsibility between
-the workman and the management. All day long the management work almost
-side by side with the men, helping, encouraging, and smoothing the way
-for them, while in the past they stood one side, gave the men but little
-help, and threw on to them almost the entire responsibility as to
-methods, implements, speed, and harmonious cooperation.
-
-Of these four elements, the first (the development of the science of
-bricklaying) is the most interesting and spectacular. Each of the three
-others is, however, quite as necessary for success.
-
-It must not be forgotten that back of all this, and directing it, there
-must be the optimistic, determined, and hard-working leader who can wait
-patiently as well as work.
-
-In most cases (particularly when the work to be done is intricate in its
-nature) the "development of the science" is the most important of the
-four great elements of the new management. There are instances, however,
-in which the "scientific selection of the workman" counts for more than
-anything else.
-
-A case of this type is well illustrated in the very simple though
-unusual work of inspecting bicycle balls.
-
-When the bicycle craze was at its height some years ago several million
-small balls made of hardened steel were used annually in bicycle
-bearings. And among the twenty or more operations used in making steel
-balls, perhaps the most important was that of inspecting them after
-final polishing so as to remove all fire-cracked or otherwise imperfect
-balls before boxing.
-
-The writer was given the task of systematizing the largest bicycle ball
-factory in this country. This company had been running for from eight to
-ten years on ordinary day work before he undertook its reorganization,
-so that the one hundred and twenty or more girls who were inspecting the
-balls were "old bands" and skilled at their jobs.
-
-It is impossible even in the most elementary work to change rapidly from
-the old independence of individual day work to scientific cooperation.
-
-In most cases, however, there exist certain imperfections in working
-conditions which can at once be improved with benefit to all concerned.
-
-In this instance it was found that the inspectors (girls) were working
-ten and one-half hours per day (with a Saturday half holiday.)
-
-Their work consisted briefly in placing a row of small polished steel
-balls on the back of the left hand, in the crease between two of the
-fingers pressed together, and while they were rolled over and over, they
-were minutely examined in a strong light, and with the aid of a magnet
-held in the right hand, the defective balls were picked out and thrown
-into especial boxes. Four kinds of defects were looked for-dented, soft,
-scratched, and fire-cracked--and they were mostly so minute as to be
-invisible to an eye not especially trained to this work. It required the
-closest attention and concentration, so that the nervous tension of the
-inspectors was considerable, in spite of the fact that they were
-comfortably seated and were not physically tired.
-
-A most casual study made it evident that a very considerable part of the
-ten and one-half hours during which the girls were supposed to work was
-really spent in idleness because the working period was too long. It is
-a matter of ordinary common sense to plan working hours so that the
-workers can really "work while they work" and "play while they play,"
-and not mix the two.
-
-Before the arrival of Mr. Sanford E. Thompson, who undertook a
-scientific study of the whole process, we decided, therefore, to shorten
-the working hours.
-
-The old foreman who had been over the inspecting room for years was
-instructed to interview one after another of the better inspectors and
-the more influential girls and persuade them that they could do just as
-much work in ten hours each day as they had been doing in ten and
-one-half hours. Each girl was told that the proposition was to shorten
-the day's work to ten hours and pay them the same day's pay they were
-receiving for the ten and one-half hours.
-
-In about two weeks the foreman reported that all of the girls he had
-talked to agreed that they could do their present work just as well in
-ten hours as in ten and one-half and that they approved of the change.
-
-The writer had not been especially noted for his tact so he decided that
-it would be wise for him to display a little more of this quality by
-having the girls vote on the new proposition. This decision was hardly
-justified, however, for when the vote was taken the girls were unanimous
-that 10 1/2 hours was good enough for them and they wanted no innovation
-of any kind.
-
-This settled the matter for the time being. A few months later tact was
-thrown to the winds and the working hours were arbitrarily shortened in
-successive steps to 10 hours, 9 1/2, 9, and 8 1/2 (the pay per day
-remaining the same); and with each shortening of the working day the
-output increased instead of diminishing.
-
-The change from the old to the scientific method in this department was
-made under the direction of Mr. Sanford E. Thompson, perhaps the most
-experienced man in motion and time study in this country, under the
-general superintendence of Mr. H. L. Gantt.
-
-In the Physiological departments of our universities experiments are
-regularly conducted to determine what is known as the "personal
-coefficient" of the man tested. This is done by suddenly bringing some
-object, the letter A or B for instance, within the range of vision of
-the subject, who, the instant he recognizes the letter has to do some
-definite thing, such as to press a particular electric button. The time
-which elapses from the instant the letter comes in view until the
-subject presses the button is accurately recorded by a delicate
-scientific instrument.
-
-This test shows conclusively that there is a great difference in the
-"personal coefficient" of different men. Some individuals are born with
-unusually quick powers of perception accompanied by quick responsive
-action. With some the message is almost instantly transmitted from the
-eye to the brain, and the brain equally quickly responds by sending the
-proper message to the hand.
-
-Men of this type are said to have a low "personal coefficient," while
-those of slow perception and slow action have a high "personal
-coefficient."
-
-Mr. Thompson soon recognized that the quality most needed for bicycle
-ball inspectors was a low personal coefficient. Of course the ordinary
-qualities of endurance and industry were also called for.
-
-For the ultimate good of the girls as well as the company, however, it
-became necessary to exclude, all girls who lacked a low "personal
-coefficient." And unfortunately this involved laying off many of the
-most intelligent, hardest working, and most trustworthy girls merely
-because they did not possess the quality of quick perception followed by
-quick action.
-
-While the gradual selection of girls was going on other changes were
-also being made.
-
-One of the dangers to be guarded against, when the pay of the man or
-woman is made in any way to depend on the quantity of the work done, is
-that in the effort to increase the quantity the quality is apt to
-deteriorate.
-
-It is necessary in almost all cases, therefore, to take definite steps
-to insure against any falling off in quality before moving in any way
-towards an increase in quantity.
-
-In the work of these particular girls quality was the very essence. They
-were engaged in picking out all defective balls.
-
-The first step, therefore, was to make it impossible for them to slight
-their work without being, found out. This was accomplished through what
-is known as over-inspection. Each one of four of the most trust-worthy
-girls was given each day a lot of balls to inspect which had been
-examined the day before by one of the regular inspectors; the number
-identifying the lot to be over-inspected having been changed by the
-foreman so that none of the over-inspectors knew whose work they were
-examining. In addition to this one of the lots inspected by the four
-over-inspectors was examined on the following day by the chief
-inspector, selected on account of her especial accuracy and integrity.
-
-An effective expedient was adopted for checking the honesty and accuracy
-of the over-inspection. Every two or three days a lot of balls was
-especially prepared by the foreman, who counted out a definite number of
-perfect balls, and added a recorded number of defective balls of each
-kind. Neither the inspectors nor the over-inspectors had any means of
-distinguishing this prepared lot from the regular commercial lots. And
-in this way all temptation to slight their work or make false returns
-was removed.
-
-After insuring in this way against deterioration in quality, effective
-means were at once adopted to increase the output. Improved day work was
-substituted for the old slipshod method. An accurate daily record was
-kept both as to the quantity and quality of the work done in order to
-guard against any personal prejudice on the part of the foreman and to
-insure absolute impartiality and justice for each inspector. In a
-comparatively short time this record enabled the foreman to stir the
-ambition of all the inspectors by increasing the wages of those who
-turned out a large quantity and good quality, while at the same time
-lowering the pay of those who did indifferent work and discharging
-others who proved to be incorrigibly slow or careless. A careful
-examination was then made of the way in which each girl spent her time
-and an accurate time study was undertaken, through the use of a
-stop-watch and record blanks, to determine how fast each kind of
-inspection should be done, and to establish the exact conditions under
-which each girl could do her quickest and best work, while at the same
-time guarding against giving her a task so severe that there was danger
-from over fatigue or exhaustion. This investigation showed that the
-girls spent a considerable part of their time either in partial
-idleness, talking and half working, or in actually doing nothing.
-
-Even when the hours of labor had been shortened from 10 1/2 to 8 1/2
-hours a close observation of the girls showed that after about an hour
-and one-half of consecutive work they began to get nervous. They
-evidently needed a rest. It is wise to stop short of the point at which
-overstrain begins, so we arranged for them to have a ten minutes period
-for recreation at the end of each hour and one quarter. During these
-recess periods (two of ten minutes each in the morning and two in the
-afternoon) they were obliged to stop work and were encouraged to leave
-their seats and get a complete change of occupation by walking around
-and talking, etc.
-
-In one respect no doubt some people will say that these girls were
-brutally treated. They were seated so far apart that they could not
-conveniently talk while at work.
-
-Shortening their hours of labor, however, and providing so far as we
-knew the most favorable working conditions made it possible for them to
-really work steadily instead of pretending to do so.
-
-And it is only after this stage in the reorganization is reached, when
-the girls have been properly selected and on the one hand such
-precautions have been taken as to guard against the possibility of
-over-driving them, while, on the other hand, the temptation to slight
-their work has been removed and the most favorable working conditions
-have been established, that the final step should be taken which insures
-them what they most want, namely, high wages, and the employers what
-they most want, namely, the maximum output and best quality of work,
--which means a low labor cost.
-
-This step is to give each girl each day a carefully measured task which
-demands a full day's work from a competent operative, and also to give
-her a large premium or bonus whenever she accomplishes this task.
-
-This was done in this case through establishing what is known as
-differential rate piece work.*
-
-[*Footnote: See paper read before the American Society of Mechanical
-Engineers, by Fred. W. Taylor, Vol. XVI, p. 856, entitled "Piece Rate
-System."]
-
-Under this system the pay of each girl was increased in proportion to
-the quantity of her output and also still more in proportion to the
-accuracy of her work.
-
-As will be shown later, the differential rate (the lots inspected by the
-over-inspectors forming the basis for the differential) resulted in a
-large gain in the quantity of work done and at the same time in a marked
-improvement in the quality.
-
-Before they finally worked to the best advantage it was found to be
-necessary to measure the output of each girl as often as once every
-hour, and to send a teacher to each individual who was found to be
-falling behind to find what was wrong, to straighten her out, and to
-encourage and help her to catch up.
-
-There is a general principle back of this which should be appreciated by
-all of those who are especially interested in the management of men.
-
-A reward, if it is to be effective in stimulating men to do their best
-work, must come soon after the work has been done. But few men are able
-to look forward for more than a week or perhaps at most a month, and
-work hard for a reward which they are to receive at the end of this
-time.
-
-The average workman must be able to measure what he has accomplished and
-clearly see his reward at the end of each day if he is to do his best.
-And more elementary characters, such as the young girls inspecting
-bicycle balls, or children, for instance, should have proper
-encouragement either in the shape of personal attention from those over
-them or an actual reward in sight as often as once an hour.
-
-This is one of the principal reasons why cooperation or "profit-sharing"
-either through selling stock to the employees or through dividends on
-wages received at the end of the year, etc., have been at the best only
-mildly effective in stimulating men to work hard. The nice time which
-they are sure to have to-day if they take things easily and go slowly
-proves more attractive than steady hard work with a possible reward to
-be shared with others six months later. A second reason for the
-inefficiency of profit-sharing schemes had been that no form of
-cooperation has yet been devised in which each individual is allowed
-free scope for his personal ambition. Personal ambition always has been
-and will remain a more powerful incentive to exertion than a desire for
-the general welfare. The few misplaced drones, who do the loafing and
-share equally in the profits, with the rest, under cooperation are sure
-to drag the better men down toward their level.
-
-Other and formidable difficulties in the path of cooperative schemes
-are, the equitable division of the profits, and the fact that, while
-workmen are always ready to share the profits, they are neither able nor
-willing to share the losses. Further than this, in many cases, it is
-neither right nor just that they should share either the profits or the
-losses, since these may be due in great part to causes entirely beyond
-their influence or control, and to which they do not contribute.
-
-To come back to the girls inspecting bicycle balls, however, the final
-outcome of all the changes was that thirty-five girls did the work
-formerly done by one hundred and twenty. And that the accuracy of the
-work at the higher speed was two-thirds greater than at the former slow
-speed.
-
-The good that came to the girls was,
-
-First. That they averaged from 80 to 100 per cent higher wages than they
-formerly received.
-
-Second. Their hours of labor were shortened from 10 1/2 to 8 1/2 per day,
-with a Saturday half holiday. And they were given four recreation
-periods properly distributed through the day, which made overworking
-impossible for a healthy girl.
-
-Third. Each girl was made to feel that she was the object of especial
-care and interest on the part of the management, and that if anything
-went wrong with her she could always have a helper and teacher in the
-management to lean upon.
-
-Fourth. All young women should be given two consecutive days of rest
-(with pay) each month, to be taken whenever they may choose. It is my
-impression that these girls were given this privilege, although I am not
-quite certain on this point.
-
-The benefits which came to the company from these changes were:
-
-First. A substantial improvement in the quality of the product.
-
-Second. A material reduction in the cost of inspection, in spite of the
-extra expense involved in clerk work, teachers, time study,
-over-inspectors, and in paying higher wages.
-
-Third. That the most friendly relations existed between the management
-and the employees, which rendered labor troubles of any kind or a strike
-impossible.
-
-These good results were brought about by many changes which substituted
-favorable for unfavorable working conditions. It should be appreciated,
-however, that the one element which did more than all of the others was,
-the careful selection of girls with quick perception to replace those
-whose perceptions were slow--(the substitution of girls with a low
-personal coefficient for those whose personal coefficient was high)--the
-scientific selection of the workers.
-
-The illustrations have thus far been purposely confined to the more
-elementary types of work, so that a very strong doubt must still remain
-as to whether this kind of cooperation is desirable in the case of more
-intelligent mechanics, that is, in the case of men who are more capable
-of generalization, and who would therefore be more likely, of their own
-volition, to choose the more scientific and better methods. The
-following illustrations will be given for the purpose of demonstrating
-the fact that in the higher classes of work the scientific laws which
-are developed are so intricate that the high-priced mechanic needs (even
-more than the cheap laborer) the cooperation of men better educated than
-himself in finding the laws, and then in selecting, developing, and
-training him to work in accordance with these laws. These illustrations
-should make perfectly clear our original proposition that in practically
-all of the mechanic arts the science which underlies each workman's act
-is so great and amounts to so much that the workman who is best suited
-to actually doing the work is incapable, either through lack of
-education or through insufficient mental capacity, of understanding this
-science.
-
-A doubt, for instance, will remain in the minds perhaps of most readers
-(in the case of an establishment which manufactures the same machine,
-year in and year out, in large quantities, and in which, therefore, each
-mechanic repeats the same limited series of operations over and over
-again), whether the ingenuity of each workman and the help which he from
-time to time receives from his foreman will not develop such superior
-methods and such a personal dexterity that no scientific study which
-could be made would result in a material increase in efficiency.
-
-A number of years ago a company employing about three hundred men, which
-had been manufacturing the same machine for ten to fifteen years, sent
-for us to report as to whether any gain could be made through the
-introduction of scientific management. Their shops had been run for many
-years under a good superintendent and with excellent foremen and
-workmen, on piece work. The whole establishment was, without doubt, in
-better physical condition than the average machine-shop in this country.
-The superintendent was distinctly displeased when told that through the
-adoption of task management the output, with the same number of men and
-machines, could be more than doubled. He said that he believed that any
-such statement was mere boasting, absolutely false, and instead of
-inspiring him with confidence, he was disgusted that any one should make
-such an impudent claim. He, however, readily assented to the proposition
-that he should select any one of the machines whose output he considered
-as representing the average of the shop, and that we should then
-demonstrate on this machine that through scientific methods its output
-could be more than doubled.
-
-The machine selected by him fairly represented the work of the shop. It
-had been run for ten or twelve years past by a first-class mechanic who
-was more than equal in his ability to the average workmen in the
-establishment. In a shop of this sort in which similar machines are
-made over and over again, the work is necessarily greatly subdivided, so
-that no one man works upon more than a comparatively small number of
-parts during the year. A careful record was therefore made, in the
-presence of both parties, of the time actually taken in finishing each
-of the parts which this man worked upon. The total time required by him
-to finish each piece, as well as the exact speeds and feeds which he
-took, were noted and a record was kept of the time which he took in
-setting the work in the machine and removing it. After obtaining in this
-way a statement of what represented a fair average of the work done in
-the shop, we applied to this one machine the principles of scientific
-management.
-
-By means of four quite elaborate slide-rules, which have been especially
-made for the purpose of determining the all-round capacity of
-metal-cutting machines, a careful analysis was made of every element of
-this machine in its relation to the work in hand. Its Pulling power at
-its various speeds, its feeding capacity, and its proper speeds were
-determined by means of the slide-rules, and changes were then made in
-the countershaft and driving pulleys so as to run it at its proper
-speed. Tools, made of high-speed steel, and of the proper shapes, were
-properly dressed, treated, and ground. (It should be understood,
-however, that in this case the high-speed steel which had heretofore
-been in general use in the shop was also used in our demonstration.) A
-large special slide-rule was then made, by means of which the exact
-speeds and feeds were indicated at which each kind of work could be done
-in the shortest possible time in this particular lathe. After preparing
-in this way so that the workman should work according to the new method,
-one after another, pieces of work were finished in the lathe,
-corresponding to the work which had been done in our preliminary trials,
-and the gain in time made through running the machine according to
-scientific principles ranged from two and one-half times the speed in
-the slowest instance to nine times the speed in the highest.
-
-The change from rule-of-thumb management to scientific management
-involves, however, not only a study of what is the proper speed for
-doing the work and a remodeling of the tools and the implements in the
-shop, but also a complete change in the mental attitude of all the men
-in the shop toward their work and toward their employers. The physical
-improvements in the machines necessary to insure large gains, and the
-motion, study followed by minute study with a stop-watch of the time in
-which each workman should do his work, can be made comparatively
-quickly. But the change in the mental attitude and in the habits of the
-three hundred or more workmen can be brought about only slowly and
-through a long series of object-lessons, which finally demonstrates to
-each man the great advantage which he will gain by heartily cooperating
-in his every-day work with the men in the management. Within three
-years, however, in this shop, the output had been more than doubled per
-man and per machine. The men had been carefully selected and in almost
-all cases promoted from a lower to a higher order of work, and so
-instructed by their teachers (the functional foremen) that they were
-able to earn higher wages than ever before. The average increase in the
-daily earnings of each man was about 35 per cent., while, at the same
-time, the sum total of the wages paid for doing a given amount of work
-was lower than before. This increase in the speed of doing the work, of
-course, involved a substitution of the quickest hand methods for the old
-independent rule-of-thumb methods, and an elaborate analysis of the hand
-work done by each man. (By hand work is meant such work as depends upon
-the manual dexterity and speed of a workman, and which is independent of
-the work done by the machine.) The time saved by scientific hand work
-was in many cases greater even than that saved in machine-work.
-
-It seems important to fully explain the reason why, with the aid of a
-slide-rule, and after having studied the art of cutting metals, it was
-possible for the scientifically equipped man, who had never before seen
-these particular jobs, and who had never worked on this machine, to do
-work from two and one-half to nine times as fast as it had been done
-before by a good mechanic who had spent his whole time for some ten to
-twelve years in doing this very work upon this particular machine. In a
-word, this was possible because the art of cutting metals involves a
-true science of no small magnitude, a science, in fact, so intricate
-that it is impossible for any machinist who is suited to running a lathe
-year in and year out either to understand it or to work according to its
-laws without the help of men who have made this their specialty. Men who
-are un-familiar with machine-shop work are prone to look upon the
-manufacture of each piece as a special problem, independent of any other
-kind of machine-work. They are apt to think, for instance, that the
-problems connected with making the parts of an engine require the
-especial study, one may say almost the life study, of a set of
-engine-making mechanics, and that these problems are entirely different
-from those which would be met with in machining lathe or planer parts.
-In fact, however, a study of those elements which are peculiar either to
-engine parts or to lathe parts is trifling, compared with the great
-study of the art, or science, of cutting metals, upon a knowledge of
-which rests the ability to do really fast machine-work of all kinds.
-
-The real problem is how to remove chips fast from a casting or a
-forging, and how to make the piece smooth and true in the shortest time,
-and it matters but little whether the piece being worked upon is part,
-say, of a marine engine, a printing-press, or an automobile. For this
-reason, the man with the slide rule, familiar with the science of
-cutting metals, who had never before seen this particular work, was able
-completely to distance the skilled mechanic who had made the parts of
-this machine his specialty for years.
-
-It is true that whenever intelligent and educated men find that the
-responsibility for making progress in any of the mechanic arts rests
-with them, instead of upon the workmen who are actually laboring at the
-trade, that they almost invariably start on the road which leads to the
-development of a science where, in the past, has existed mere
-traditional or rule-of-thumb knowledge. When men, whose education has
-given them the habit of generalizing and everywhere looking for laws,
-find themselves confronted with a multitude of problems, such as exist
-in every trade and which have a general similarity one to another, it is
-inevitable that they should try to gather these problems into certain
-logical groups, and then search for some general laws or rules to guide
-them in their solution. As has been pointed out, however, the underlying
-principles of the management of "initiative and incentive," that is, the
-underlying philosophy of this management, necessarily leaves the
-solution of all of these problems in the hands of each individual
-workman, while the philosophy of scientific management places their
-solution in the hands of the management. The workman's whole time is
-each day taken in actually doing the work with his hands, so that, even
-if he had the necessary education and habits of generalizing in his
-thought, he lacks the time and the opportunity for developing these
-laws, because the study of even a simple law involving say time study
-requires the cooperation of two men, the one doing the work while the
-other times him with a stop-watch. And even if the workman were to
-develop laws where before existed only rule-of-thumb knowledge, his
-personal interest would lead him almost inevitably to keep his
-discoveries secret, so that he could, by means of this special
-knowledge, personally do more work than other men and so obtain higher
-wages.
-
-Under scientific management, on the other hand, it becomes the duty and
-also the pleasure of those who are engaged in the management not only to
-develop laws to replace rule of thumb, but also to teach impartially all
-of the workmen who are under them the quickest ways of working. The
-useful results obtained from these laws are always so great that any
-company can well afford to pay for the time and the experiments needed
-to develop them. Thus under scientific management exact scientific
-knowledge and methods are everywhere, sooner or later, sure to replace
-rule of thumb, whereas under the old type of management working in
-accordance with scientific laws is an impossibility. The development of
-the art or science of cutting metals is an apt illustration of this
-fact. In the fall of 1880, about the time that the writer started to
-make the experiments above referred to, to determine what constitutes a
-proper day's work for a laborer, he also obtained the permission of Mr.
-William Sellers, the President of the Midvale Steel Company, to make a
-series of experiments to determine what angles and shapes of tools were
-the best for cutting steel, and also to try to determine the proper
-cutting speed for steel. At the time that these experiments were started
-it was his belief that they would not last longer than six months, and,
-in fact, if it had been known that a longer period than this would be
-required, the permission to spend a considerable sum of money in making
-them would not have been forthcoming.
-
-A 66-inch diameter vertical boring-mill was the first machine used in
-making these experiments, and large locomotive tires, made out of hard
-steel of uniform quality, were day after day cut up into chips in
-gradually learning how to make, shape, and use the cutting tools so that
-they would do faster work. At the end of six months sufficient
-practical information had been obtained to far more than repay the cost
-of materials and wages which had been expended in experimenting. And yet
-the comparatively small number of experiments which had been made served
-principally to make it clear that the actual knowledge attained was but
-a small fraction of that which still remained to be developed, and which
-was badly needed by us, in our daily attempt to direct and help the
-machinists in their tasks.
-
-Experiments in this field were carried on, with occasional interruption,
-through a period of about 26 years, in the course of which ten different
-experimental machines were especially fitted up to do this work. Between
-30,000 and 50,000 experiments were carefully recorded, and many other
-experiments were made, of which no record was kept. In studying these
-laws more than 800,000 pounds of steel and iron was cut up into chips
-with the experimental tools, and it is estimated that from $150,000 to
-$200,000 was spent in the investigation.
-
-Work of this character is intensely interesting to any one who has any
-love for scientific research. For the purpose of this paper, however, it
-should be fully appreciated that the motive power which kept these
-experiments going through many years, and which supplied the money and
-the opportunity for their accomplishment, was not an abstract search
-after scientific knowledge, but was the very practical fact that we
-lacked the exact information which was needed every day, in order to
-help our machinists to do their work in the best way and in the quickest
-time.
-
-All of these experiments were made to enable us to answer correctly the
-two questions which face every machinist each time that he does a piece
-of work in a metal-cutting machine, such as a lathe, planer, drill
-press, or milling machine. These two questions are:
-
-In order to do the work in the quickest time, At what cutting speed
-shall I run my machine? and
-
-What feed shall I use?
-
-They sound so simple that they would appear to call for merely the
-trained judgment of any good mechanic. In fact, however, after working
-26 years, it has been found that the answer in every case involves the
-solution of an intricate mathematical problem, in which the effect of
-twelve independent variables must be determined.
-
-Each of the twelve following variables has an important effect upon the
-answer. The figures which are given with each of the variables represent
-the effect of this element upon the cutting speed.
-
-For example, after the first variable (A) we quote,
-
-"The proportion is as I in the case of semi-hardened steel or chilled
-iron to 100 in the case of a very soft, low-carbon steel." The meaning
-of this quotation is that soft steel can be cut 100 times as fast as the
-hard steel or chilled iron. The ratios which are given, then, after each
-of these elements, indicate the wide range of judgment which practically
-every machinist has been called upon to exercise in the past in
-determining the best speed at which to run the machine and the best feed
-to use.
-
-(A) The quality of the metal which is to be cut; i.e., its hardness
-or other qualities which affect the cutting speed. The proportion is as
-1 in the case of semi-hardened steel or chilled iron to 100 in the case
-of very soft, low-carbon steel.
-
-(B) The chemical composition of the steel from which the tool is
-made, and the heat treatment of the tool. The proportion is as 1 in
-tools made from tempered carbon steel to 7 in the best high-speed tools.
-
-(C) The thickness of the shaving, or, the thickness of the spiral
-strip or band of metal which is to be removed by the tool. The
-proportion is as 1 with thickness of shaving 3/16 of an inch to 3 1/2
-with thickness of shaving 1/64 of an inch.
-
-(D) The shape or contour of the cutting edge of the tool. The
-proportion is as 1 in a thread tool to 6 in a broad-nosed cutting tool.
-
-(E) Whether a copious stream of water or other cooling medium is
-used on the tool. The proportion is as 1 for tool running dry to 1.41
-for tool cooled by a copious stream of water.
-
-(F) The depth of the cut. The proportion is as 1 with 1/2 inch depth
-of cut to 1.36 with 1/8 inch depth of cut.
-
-(G) The duration of the cut, i.e., the time which a tool must last under
-pressure of the shaving without being reground. The proportion is as 1
-when tool is to be ground every 1 1/2 hours to 1.20 when tool is to be
-ground every 20 minutes.
-
-(H) The lip and clearance angles of the tool. The proportion is as 1
-with lip angle of 68 degrees to 1.023 with lip angle of 61 degrees.
-
-(J) The elasticity of the work and of the tool on account of
-producing chatter. The proportion is as 1 with tool chattering to 1.15
-with tool running smoothly.
-
-(K) The diameter of the casting or forging which is being cut.
-
-(L) The pressure of the chip or shaving upon the cutting surface of the
-tool.
-
-(M) The pulling power and the speed and feed changes of the machine.
-
-It may seem preposterous to many people that it should have required a
-period of 26 years to investigate the effect of these twelve variables
-upon the cutting speed of metals. To those, however, who have had
-personal experience as experimenters, it will be appreciated that the
-great difficulty of the problem lies in the fact that it contains so
-many variable elements. And in fact the great length of time consumed in
-making each single experiment was caused by the difficulty of holding
-eleven variables constant and uniform throughout the experiment, while
-the effect of the twelfth variable was being investigated. Holding the
-eleven variables constant was far more difficult than the investigation
-of the twelfth element.
-
-As, one after another, the effect upon the cutting speed of each of
-these variables was investigated, in order that practical use could be
-made of this knowledge, it was necessary to find a mathematical formula
-which expressed in concise form the laws which had been obtained. As
-examples of the twelve formulae which were developed, the three
-following are given:
-
-        P = 45,000  D 14/15 F 3/4
-
-        V = 90/T 1/8
-
-        V = 11.9/ (F 0.665(48/3 D) 0.2373 + (2.4 / (18 + 24D))
-
-After these laws had been investigated and the various formulae which
-mathematically expressed them had been determined, there still remained
-the difficult task of how to solve one of these complicated mathematical
-problems quickly enough to make this knowledge available for every-day
-use. If a good mathematician who had these formula before him were to
-attempt to get the proper answer (i.e., to get the correct cutting speed
-and feed by working in the ordinary way) it would take him from two to
-six hours, say, to solve a single problem; far longer to solve the
-mathematical problem than would be taken in most cases by the workmen in
-doing the whole job in his machine. Thus a task of considerable
-magnitude which faced us was that of finding a quick solution of this
-problem, and as we made progress in its solution, the whole problem was
-from time to time presented by the writer to one after another of the
-noted mathematicians in this country. They were offered any reasonable
-fee for a rapid, practical method to be used in its solution. Some of
-these men merely glanced at it; others, for the sake of being courteous,
-kept it before them for some two or three weeks. They all gave us
-practically the same answer: that in many cases it was possible to,
-solve mathematical problems which contained four variables, and in some
-cases problems with five or six variables, but that it was manifestly
-impossible to solve a problem containing twelve variables in any other
-way than by the slow process of "trial and error."
-
-A quick solution was, however, so much of a necessity in our every-day
-work of running machine-shops, that in spite of the small encouragement
-received from the mathematicians, we continued at irregular periods,
-through a term of fifteen years, to give a large amount of time
-searching for a simple solution. Four or five men at various periods
-gave practically their whole time to this work, and finally, while we
-were at the Bethlehem Steel Company, the slide-rule was developed which
-is illustrated on Folder No. 11 of the paper "On the Art of Cutting
-Metals," and is described in detail in the paper presented by Mr. Carl
-G. Barth to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, entitled
-"Slide-rules for the Machine-shop, as a part of the Taylor System of
-Management" (Vol. XXV of The Transactions of the American Society of
-Mechanical Engineers). By means of this slide-rule, one of these
-intricate problems can be solved in less than a half minute by any good
-mechanics whether he understands anything about mathematics or not, thus
-making available for every-day, practical use the years of experimenting
-on the art of cutting metals. This is a good illustration of the fact
-that some way can always be found of making practical, everyday use of
-complicated scientific data, which appears to be beyond the experience
-and the range of the technical training of ordinary practical men. These
-slide-rules have been for years in constant daily use by machinists
-having no knowledge of mathematics.
-
-A glance at the intricate mathematical formula (see page 109) which
-represent the laws of cutting metals should clearly show the reason why
-it is impossible for any machinist, without the aid of these laws, and
-who depends upon his personal experience, correctly to guess at the
-answer to the two questions,
-
-    What speed shall I use?
-
-    What feed shall I use?
-
-even though he may repeat the same piece of work many times.
-
-To return to the case of the machinist who had been working for ten to
-twelve years in machining the same pieces over and over again, there was
-but a remote chance in any of the various kinds of work which this man
-did that he should hit upon the one best method of doing each piece of
-work out of the hundreds of possible methods which lay before him. In
-considering this typical case, it must also be remembered that the
-metal-cutting machines throughout our machine-shops have practically all
-been speeded by their makers by guesswork, and without the knowledge
-obtained through a study of the art of cutting metals. In the
-machine-shops systematized by us we have found that there is not one
-machine in a hundred which is speeded by its makers at anywhere near the
-correct cutting speed. So that, in order to compete with the science of
-cutting metals, the machinist, before he could use proper speeds, would
-first have to put new pulleys on the countershaft of his machine, and
-also make in most cases changes in the shapes and treatment of his
-tools, etc. Many of these changes are matters entirely beyond his
-control, even if he knows what ought to be done.
-
-If the reason is clear to the reader why the rule-of-thumb knowledge
-obtained by the machinist who is engaged on repeat work cannot possibly
-compete with the true science of cutting metals, it should be even more
-apparent why the high-class mechanic, who is called upon to do a great
-variety of work from day to day, is even less able to compete with this
-science. The high-class mechanic who does a different kind of work each
-day, in order to do each job in the quickest time, would need, in
-addition to a thorough knowledge of the art of cutting metals, a vast
-knowledge and experience in the quickest way of doing each kind of hand
-work. And the reader, by calling to mind the gain which was made by Mr.
-Gilbreth through his motion and time study in laying bricks, will
-appreciate the great possibilities for quicker methods of doing all
-kinds of hand work which lie before every tradesman after he has the
-help which comes from a scientific motion and time study of his work.
-
-For nearly thirty years past, time-study men connected with the
-management of machine-shops have been devoting their whole time to a
-scientific motion study, followed by accurate time study, with a
-stop-watch, of all of the elements connected with the machinist's work.
-When, therefore, the teachers, who form one section of the management,
-and who are cooperating with the working men, are in possession both of
-the science of cutting metals and of the equally elaborate motion-study
-and time-study science connected with this work, it is not difficult to
-appreciate why even the highest class mechanic is unable to do his best
-work without constant daily assistance from his teachers. And if this
-fact has been made clear to the reader, one of the important objects in
-writing this paper will have been realized.
-
-It is hoped that the illustrations which have been given make it
-apparent why scientific management must inevitably in all cases produce
-overwhelmingly greater results, both for the company and its employees,
-than can be obtained with the management of "initiative and incentive."
-And it should also be clear that these results have been attained, not
-through a marked superiority in the mechanism of one type of management
-over the mechanism of another, but rather through the substitution of
-one set of underlying principles for a totally different set of
-principles, by the substitution of one philosophy for another philosophy
-in industrial management.
-
-To repeat them throughout all of these illustrations, it will be seen
-that the useful results have hinged mainly upon (1) the substitution of
-a science for the individual judgment of the workman; (2) the scientific
-selection and development of the workman, after each man has been
-studied, taught, and trained, and one may say experimented with, instead
-of allowing the workmen to select themselves and develop in a haphazard
-way; and (3) the intimate cooperation of the management with the
-workmen, so that they together do the work in accordance with the
-scientific laws which have been developed, instead of leaving the
-solution of each problem in the hands of the individual workman. In
-applying these new principles, in place of the old individual effort of
-each workman, both sides share almost equally in the daily performance
-of each task, the management doing that part of the work for which they
-are best fitted, and the workmen the balance.
-
-It is for the illustration of this philosophy that this paper has been
-written, but some of the elements involved in its general principles
-should be further discussed.
-
-The development of a science sounds like a formidable undertaking, and
-in fact anything like a thorough study of a science such as that of
-cutting metals necessarily involves many years of work. The science of
-cutting metals, however, represents in its complication, and in the time
-required to develop it, almost an extreme case in the mechanic arts. Yet
-even in this very intricate science, within a few months after starting,
-enough knowledge had been obtained to much more than pay for the work of
-experimenting. This holds true in the case of practically all scientific
-development in the mechanic arts. The first laws developed for cutting
-metals were crude, and contained only a partial knowledge of the truth,
-yet this imperfect knowledge was vastly better than the utter lack of
-exact information or the very imperfect rule of thumb which existed
-before, and it enabled the workmen, with the help of the management, to
-do far quicker and better work.
-
-For example, a very short time was needed to discover one or two types
-of tools which, though imperfect as compared with the shapes developed
-years afterward, were superior to all other shapes and kinds in common
-use. These tools were adopted as standard and made possible an immediate
-increase in the speed of every machinist who used them. These types were
-superseded in a comparatively short time by still other tools which
-remained standard until they in their turn made way for later
-improvements.*
-
-[*Footnote: Time and again the experimenter in the mechanic arts will
-find himself face to face with the problem as to whether he had better
-make immediate practical use of the knowledge which he has attained, or
-wait until some positive finality in his conclusions has been reached.
-He recognizes clearly the fact that he has already made some definite
-progress, but sees the possibility (even the probability) of still
-further improvement. Each particular case must of course be
-independently considered, but the general conclusion we have reached is
-that in most instances it is wise to put one's conclusions as soon as
-possible to the rigid test of practical use. The one indispensable
-condition for such a test, however, is that the experimenter shall have
-full opportunity, coupled with sufficient authority, to insure a
-thorough and impartial trial. And this, owing to the almost universal
-prejudice in favor of the old, and to the suspicion of the new, is
-difficult to get.]
-
-The science which exists in most of the mechanic arts is, however, far
-simpler than the science of cutting metals. In almost all cases, in
-fact, the laws or rules which are developed are so simple that the
-average man would hardly dignify them with the name of a science. In
-most trades, the science is developed through a comparatively simple
-analysis and time study of the movements required by the workmen to do
-some small part of his work, and this study is usually made by a man
-equipped merely with a stop-watch and a properly ruled notebook.
-Hundreds of these "time-study men" are now engaged in developing
-elementary scientific knowledge where before existed only rule of thumb.
-Even the motion study of Mr. Gilbreth in bricklaying (described on pages
-77 to 84) involves a much more elaborate investigation than that which
-occurs in most cases. The general steps to be taken in developing a
-simple law of this class are as follows:
-
-First. Find, say, 10 or 15 different men (preferably in as many separate
-establishments and different parts of the country) who are especially
-skilful in doing the particular work to be analyzed.
-
-Second. Study the exact series of elementary operations or motions which
-each of these men uses in doing the work which is being investigated, as
-well as the implements each man uses.
-
-Third. Study with a stop-watch the time required to make each of these
-elementary movements and then select the quickest way of doing each
-element of the work.
-
-Fourth. Eliminate all false movements, slow movements, and useless
-movements.
-
-Fifth. After doing away with all unnecessary movements, collect into one
-series the quickest and best movements as well as the best implements.
-
-This one new method, involving that series of motions which can be made
-quickest and best, is then substituted in place of the ten or fifteen
-inferior series which were formerly in use. This best method becomes
-standard, and remains standard, to be taught first to the teachers (or
-functional foremen) and by them to every workman in the establishment
-until it is superseded by a quicker and better series of movements. In
-this simple way one element after another of the science is developed.
-
-In the same way each type of implement used in a trade is studied. Under
-the philosophy of the management of "initiative and incentive" each
-work-man is called upon to use his own best judgment, so as to do the
-work in the quickest time, and from this results in all cases a large
-variety in the shapes and types of implements which are used for any
-specific purpose. Scientific management requires, first, a careful
-investigation of each of the many modifications of the same implement,
-developed under rule of thumb; and second, after a time study has been
-made of the speed attainable with each of these implements, that the
-good points of several of them shall be united in a single standard
-implement, which will enable the workman to work faster and with greater
-ease than he could before. This one implement, then, is adopted as
-standard in place of the many different kinds before in use, and it
-remains standard for all workmen to use until superseded by an implement
-which has been shown, through motion and time study, to be still better.
-
-With this explanation it will be seen that the development of a science
-to replace rule of thumb is in most cases by no means a formidable
-under-taking, and that it can be accomplished by ordinary, every-day men
-without any elaborate scientific training; but that, on the other hand,
-the successful use of even the simplest improvement of this kind calls
-for records, system, and cooperation where in the past existed only
-individual effort.
-
-There is another type of scientific investigation which has been
-referred to several times in this paper, and which should receive
-special attention, namely, the accurate study of the motives which
-influence men. At first it may appear that this is a matter for
-individual observation and judgment, and is not a proper subject for
-exact scientific experiments. It is true that the laws which result from
-experiments of this class, owing to the fact that the very complex
-organism--the human being--is being experimented with, are subject to a
-larger number of exceptions than is the case with laws relating to
-material things. And yet laws of this kind, which apply to a large
-majority of men, unquestionably exist, and when clearly defined are of
-great value as a guide in dealing with men. In developing these laws,
-accurate, carefully planned and executed experiments, extending through
-a term of years, have been made, similar in a general way to the
-experiments upon various other elements which have been referred to in
-this paper. Perhaps the most important law belonging to this class, in
-its relation to scientific management, is the effect which the task idea
-has upon the efficiency of the workman. This, in fact, has become such
-an important element of the mechanism of scientific management, that by
-a great number of people scientific management has come to be known as
-"task management."
-
-There is absolutely nothing new in the task idea. Each one of us will
-remember that in his own case this idea was applied with good results in
-his school-boy days. No efficient teacher would think of giving a class
-of students an indefinite lesson to learn. Each day a definite,
-clear-cut task is set by the teacher before each scholar, stating that
-he must learn just so much of the subject; and it is only by this means
-that proper, systematic progress can be made by the students. The
-average boy would go very slowly if, instead of being given a task, he
-were told to do as much as he could. All of us are grown-up children,
-and it is equally true that the average workman will work with the
-greatest satisfaction, both to himself and to his employer, when he is
-given each day a definite task which he is to perform in a given time,
-and which constitutes a proper day's work for a good workman. This
-furnishes the workman with a clear-cut standard, by which he can
-throughout the day measure his own progress, and the accomplishment of
-which affords him the greatest satisfaction.
-
-The writer has described in other papers a series of experiments made
-upon workmen, which have resulted in demonstrating the fact that it is
-impossible, through any long period of time, to get work-men to work
-much harder than the average men around them, unless they are assured a
-large and a permanent increase in their pay. This series of experiments,
-however, also proved that plenty of workmen can be found who are willing
-to work at their best speed, provided they are given this liberal
-increase in wages. The workman must, however, be fully assured that this
-increase beyond the average is to be permanent. Our experiments have
-shown that the exact percentage of increase required to make a workman
-work at his highest speed depends upon the kind of work which the man is
-doing.
-
-It is absolutely necessary, then, when workmen are daily given a task
-which calls for a high rate of speed on their part, that they should
-also be insured the necessary high rate of pay whenever they are
-successful. This involves not only fixing for each man his daily task,
-but also paying him a large bonus, or premium, each time that he
-succeeds in doing his task in the given time. It is difficult to
-appreciate in full measure the help which the proper use of these two
-elements is to the workman in elevating him to the highest standard of
-efficiency and speed in his trade, and then keeping him there, unless
-one has seen first the old plan and afterward the new tried upon the
-same man. And in fact until one has seen similar accurate experiments
-made upon various grades of workmen engaged in doing widely different
-types of work. The remarkable and almost uniformly good results from the
-correct application of the task and the bonus must be seen to be
-appreciated.
-
-These two elements, the task and the bonus (which, as has been pointed
-out in previous papers, can be applied in several ways), constitute two
-of the most important elements of the mechanism of scientific
-management. They are especially important from the fact that they are,
-as it were, a climax, demanding before they can be used almost all of
-the other elements of the mechanism; such as a planning department,
-accurate time study, standardization of methods and implements, a
-routing system, the training of functional foremen or teachers, and in
-many cases instruction cards slide-rules, etc. (Referred to later in
-rather more detail on page 129.)
-
-The necessity for systematically teaching workmen how to work to the
-best advantage has been several times referred to. It seems desirable,
-therefore, to explain in rather more detail how this teaching is done.
-In the case of a machine-shop which is managed under the modern system,
-detailed written instructions as to the best way of doing each piece of
-work are prepared in advance, by men in the planning department. These
-instructions represent the combined work of several men in the planning
-room, each of whom has his own specialty, or function. One of them, for
-instance, is a specialist on the proper speeds and cutting tools to be
-used. He uses the slide-rules which have been above described as an aid,
-to guide him in obtaining proper speeds, etc. Another man analyzes the
-best and quickest motions to be made by the workman in setting the work
-up in the machine and removing it, etc. Still a third, through the
-time-study records which have been accumulated, makes out a timetable
-giving the proper speed for doing each element of the work. The
-directions of all of these men, however, are written on a single
-instruction card, or sheet.
-
-These men of necessity spend most of their time in the planning
-department, because they must be close to the records and data which
-they continually use in their work, and because this work requires the
-use of a desk and freedom from interruption. Human nature is such,
-however, that many of the workmen, if left to themselves, would pay but
-little attention to their written instructions. It is necessary,
-therefore, to provide teachers (called functional foremen) to see that
-the workmen both understand and carry out these written instructions.
-
-Under functional management, the old-fashioned single foreman is
-superseded by eight different men, each one of whom has his own special
-duties, and these men, acting as the agents for the planning department
-(see paragraph 234 to 245 of the paper entitled "Shop Management"), are
-the expert teachers, who are at all times in the shop, helping, and
-directing the workmen. Being each one chosen for his knowledge and
-personal skill in his specialty, they are able not only to tell the
-workman what he should do, but in case of necessity they do the work
-themselves in the presence of the workman, so as to show him not only
-the best but also the quickest methods.
-
-One of these teachers (called the inspector) sees to it that he
-understands the drawings and instructions for doing the work. He teaches
-him how to do work of the right quality; how to make it fine and exact
-where it should be fine, and rough and quick where accuracy is not
-required,--the one being just as important for success as the other. The
-second teacher (the gang boss) shows him how to set up the job in his
-machine, and teaches him to make all of his personal motions in the
-quickest and best way. The third (the speed boss) sees that the machine
-is run at the best speed and that the proper tool is used in the
-particular way which will enable the machine to finish its product in
-the shortest possible time. In addition to the assistance given by these
-teachers, the workman receives orders and help from four other men; from
-the "repair boss" as to the adjustment, cleanliness, and general care of
-his machine, belting, etc.; from the "time clerk," as to everything
-relating to his pay and to proper written reports and returns; from the
-"route clerk," as to the order in which he does his work and as to the
-movement of the work from one part of the shop to another; and, in case
-a workman gets into any trouble with any of his various bosses, the
-"disciplinarian" interviews him.
-
-It must be understood, of course, that all workmen engaged on the same
-kind of work do not require the same amount of individual teaching and
-attention from the functional foremen. The men who are new at a given
-operation naturally require far more teaching and watching than those
-who have been a long time at the same kind of jobs.
-
-Now, when through all of this teaching and this minute instruction the
-work is apparently made so smooth and easy for the workman, the first
-impression is that this all tends to make him a mere automaton, a wooden
-man. As the workmen frequently say when they first come under this
-system, "Why, I am not allowed to think or move without some one
-interfering or doing it for me!" The same criticism and objection,
-however, can be raised against all other modern subdivision of labor. It
-does not follow, for example, that the modern surgeon is any more narrow
-or wooden a man than the early settler of this country. The
-frontiersman, however, had to be not only a surgeon, but also an
-architect, house-builder, lumberman, farmer, soldier, and doctor, and he
-had to settle his law cases with a gun. You would hardly say that the
-life of the modern surgeon is any more narrowing, or that he is more of
-a wooden man than the frontiersman. The many problems to be met and
-solved by the surgeon are just as intricate and difficult and as
-developing and broadening in their way as were those of the
-frontiersman.
-
-And it should be remembered that the training of the surgeon has been
-almost identical in type with the teaching and training which is given
-to the workman under scientific management. The surgeon, all through his
-early years, is under the closest supervision of more experienced men,
-who show him in the minutest way how each element of his work is best
-done. They provide him with the finest implements, each one of which has
-been the subject of special study and development, and then insist upon
-his using each of these implements in the very best way. All of this
-teaching, however, in no way narrows him. On the contrary he is quickly
-given the very best knowledge of his predecessors; and, provided (as he
-is, right from the start) with standard implements and methods which
-represent the best knowledge of the world up to date, he is able to use
-his own originality and ingenuity to make real additions to the world's
-knowledge, instead of reinventing things which are old. In a similar way
-the workman who is cooperating with his many teachers under scientific
-management has an opportunity to develop which is at least as good as
-and generally better than that which he had when the whole problem was
-"up to him" and he did his work entirely unaided.
-
-If it were true that the workman would develop into a larger and finer
-man without all of this teaching, and without the help of the laws which
-have been formulated for doing his particular job, then it would follow
-that the young man who now comes to college to have the help of a
-teacher in mathematics, physics, chemistry, Latin, Greek, etc., would do
-better to study these things unaided and by himself. The only difference
-in the two cases is that students come to their teachers, while from the
-nature of the work done by the mechanic under scientific management, the
-teachers must go to him. What really happens is that, with the aid of
-the science which is invariably developed, and through the instructions
-from his teachers, each workman of a given intellectual capacity is
-enabled to do a much higher, more interesting, and finally more
-developing and more profitable kind of work than he was before able to
-do. The laborer who before was unable to do anything beyond, perhaps,
-shoveling and wheeling dirt from place to place, or carrying the work
-from one part of the shop to another, is in many cases taught to do the
-more elementary machinist's work, accompanied by the agreeable
-surroundings and the interesting variety and higher wages which go with
-the machinist's trade. The cheap machinist or helper, who before was
-able to run perhaps merely a drill press, is taught to do the more
-intricate and higher priced lathe and planer work, while the highly
-skilled and more intelligent machinists become functional foremen and
-teachers. And so on, right up the line.
-
-It may seem that with scientific management there is not the same
-incentive for the workman to use his ingenuity in devising new and
-better methods of doing the work, as well as in improving his
-implements, that there is with the old type of management. It is true
-that with scientific management the workman is not allowed to use
-whatever implements and methods he sees fit in the daily practice of his
-work. Every encouragement, however, should be given him to suggest
-improvements, both in methods and in implements. And whenever a workman
-proposes an improvement, it should be the policy of the management to
-make a careful analysis of the new method, and if necessary conduct a
-series of experiments to determine accurately the relative merit of the
-new suggestion and of the old standard. And whenever the new method is
-found to be markedly superior to the old, it should be adopted as the
-standard for the whole establishment. The workman should be given the
-full credit for the improvement, and should be paid a cash premium as a
-reward for his ingenuity. In this way the true initiative of the workmen
-is better attained under scientific management than under the old
-individual plan.
-
-The history of the development of scientific, management up to date,
-however, calls for a word of warning. The mechanism of management must
-not be mistaken for its essence, or underlying philosophy. Precisely the
-same mechanism will in one case produce disastrous results and in
-another the most beneficent. The same mechanism which will produce the
-finest results when made to serve the underlying principles of
-scientific management, will lead to failure and disaster if accompanied
-by the wrong spirit in those who are using it. Hundreds of people have
-already mistaken the mechanism of this system for its essence. Messrs.
-Gantt, Barth and the writer have presented papers to, the American
-Society of Mechanical Engineers on the subject of scientific management.
-In these papers the mechanism which is used has been described at some
-length. As elements of this mechanism may be cited:
-
-Time study, with the implements and methods for properly making it.
-
-Functional or divided foremanship and its superiority to the
-old-fashioned single foreman.
-
-The standardization of all tools and implements used in the trades, and
-also of the acts or movements of workmen for each class of work.
-
-The desirability of a planning room or department.
-
-The "exception principle" in management.
-
-The use of slide-rules and similar timesaving implements.
-
-Instruction cards for the workman.
-
-The task idea in management, accompanied by a large bonus for the
-successful performance of the task.
-
-The "differential rate."
-
-Mnemonic systems for classifying manufactured products as well as
-implements used in manufacturing.
-
-A routing system.
-
-Modern cost system, etc., etc.
-
-These are, however, merely the elements or details of the mechanism of
-management. Scientific management, in its essence, consists of a certain
-philosophy, which results, as before stated, in a combination of the
-four great underlying principles of management:*
-
-[*Footnote: First. The development of a true science.
-Second. The scientific selection of the workman.
-Third. His scientific education and development.
-Fourth. Intimate friendly cooperation between the management and the men.]
-
-When, however the elements of this mechanism, such as time study,
-functional foremanship etc., are used without being accompanied by the
-true philosophy of management, the results are in many cases disastrous.
-And, unfortunately, even when men who are thoroughly in sympathy with
-the principles of scientific management undertake to change too rapidly
-from the old type to the new, without heeding the warnings of those who
-have had years of experience in making this change, they frequently meet
-with serious troubles, and sometimes with strikes, followed by failure.
-
-The writer, in his paper on "Shop Management," has called especial
-attention to the risks which managers run in attempting to change
-rapidly from the old to the new management in many cases, however, this
-warning has not been heeded. The physical changes which are needed, the
-actual time study which has to be made, the standardization of all
-implements connected with the work, the necessity for individually
-studying each machine and placing it in perfect order, all take time,
-but the faster these elements of the work are studied and improved, the
-better for the undertaking. On the other hand, the really great problem
-involved in a change from the management of "initiative and incentive"
-to scientific management consists in a complete revolution in the mental
-attitude and the habits of all of those engaged in the management, as
-well of the workmen. And this change can be brought about only gradually
-and through the presentation of many object-lessons to the workman,
-which, together with the teaching which he receives, thoroughly convince
-him of the superiority of the new over the old way of doing the work.
-This change in the mental attitude of the workman imperatively demands
-time. It is impossible to hurry it beyond a certain speed. The writer
-has over and over again warned those who contemplated making this change
-that it was a matter, even in a simple establishment, of from two to
-three years, and that in some cases it requires from four to five years.
-
-The first few changes which affect the workmen should be made
-exceedingly slowly, and only one workman at a time should be dealt with
-at the start. Until this single man has been thoroughly convinced that a
-great gain has come to him from the new method, no further change should
-be made. Then one man after another should be tactfully changed over.
-After passing the point at which from one.-fourth to one-third of the
-men in the employ of the company have been changed from the old to the
-new, very rapid progress can be made, because at about this time there
-is, generally, a complete revolution in the public opinion of the whole
-establishment and practically all of the workmen who are working under
-the old system become desirous to share in the benefits which they see
-have been received by those working under the new plan.
-
-Inasmuch as the writer has personally retired from the business of
-introducing this system of management (that is, from all work done in
-return for any money compensation), he does not hesitate again to
-emphasize the fact that those companies are indeed fortunate who can
-secure the services of experts who have had the necessary practical
-experience in introducing scientific management, and who have made a
-special study of its principles. It is not enough that a man should have
-been a manager in an establishment which is run under the new
-principles. The man who undertakes to direct the steps to be taken in
-changing from the old to the new (particularly in any establishment
-doing elaborate work) must have had personal experience in overcoming
-the especial difficulties which are always met with, and which are
-peculiar to this period of transition. It is for this reason that the
-writer expects to devote the rest of his life chiefly to trying to help
-those who wish to take up this work as their profession, and to advising
-the managers and owners of companies in general as to the steps which
-they should take in making this change.
-
-As a warning to those who contemplate adopting scientific management,
-the following instance is given. Several men who lacked the extended
-experience which is required to change without danger of strikes, or
-without interference with the success of the business, from the
-management of "initiative and incentive" to scientific management,
-attempted rapidly to increase the output in quite an elaborate
-establishment, employing between three thousand and four thousand men.
-Those who undertook to make this change were men of unusual ability, and
-were at the same time enthusiasts and I think had the interests of the
-workmen truly at heart. They were, however, warned by the writer, before
-starting, that they must go exceedingly slowly, and that the work of
-making the change in this establishment could not be done in less than
-from three to five years. This warning they entirely disregarded. They
-evidently believed that by using much of the mechanism of scientific
-management, in combination with the principles of the management of
-"initiative and incentive," instead of with these principles of
-scientific management, that they could do, in a year or two, what had
-been proved in the past to require at least double this time. The
-knowledge obtained from accurate time study, for example, is a powerful
-implement, and can be used, in one case to promote harmony between the
-workmen and the management, by gradually educating, training, and
-leading the workmen into new and better methods of doing the work, or,
-in the other case, it may be used more or less as a club to drive the
-workmen into doing a larger day's work for approximately the same pay
-that they received in the past. Unfortunately the men who had charge of
-this work did not take the time and the trouble required to train
-functional foremen, or teachers, who were fitted gradually to lead and
-educate the workmen. They attempted, through the old-style foreman,
-armed with his new weapon (accurate time study), to drive the workmen,
-against their wishes, and without much increase in pay, to work much
-harder, instead of gradually teaching and leading them toward new
-methods, and convincing them through object-lessons that task management
-means for them somewhat harder work, but also far greater prosperity.
-The result of all this disregard of fundamental principles was a series
-of strikes, followed by the down-fall of the men who attempted to make
-the change, and by a return to conditions throughout the establishment
-far worse than those which existed before the effort was made.
-
-This instance is cited as an object-lesson of the futility of using the
-mechanism of the new management while leaving out its essence, and also
-of trying to shorten a necessarily long operation in entire disregard of
-past experience. It should be emphasized that the men who undertook this
-work were both able and earnest, and that failure was not due to lack of
-ability on their part, but to their undertaking to do the impossible.
-These particular men will not again make a similar mistake, and it is
-hoped that their experience may act as a warning to others.
-
-In this connection, however, it is proper to again state that during the
-thirty years that we have been engaged in introducing scientific
-management there has not been a single strike from those who were
-working in accordance with its principles, even during the critical
-period when the change was being made from the old to the new. If proper
-methods are used by men who have had experience in this work, there is
-absolutely no danger from strikes or other troubles.
-
-The writer would again insist that in no case should the managers of an
-establishment ', the work of which is elaborate, undertake to change
-from the old to the new type unless the directors of the company fully
-understand and believe in the fundamental principles of scientific
-management and unless they appreciate all that is involved in making
-this change, particularly the time required, and unless they want
-scientific management greatly.
-
-Doubtless some of those who are especially interested in working men
-will complain because under scientific management the workman, when he
-is shown how to do twice as much work as he formerly did, is not paid
-twice his former wages, while others who are more interested in the
-dividends than the workmen will complain that under this system the men
-receive much higher wages than they did before.
-
-It does seem grossly unjust when the bare statement is made that the
-competent pig-iron handler, for instance, who has been so trained that
-he piles 3 6/10 times as much iron as the incompetent man formerly did,
-should receive an increase of only 60 per cent in wages.
-
-It is not fair, however, to form any final judgment until all of the
-elements in the case have been considered. At the first glance we see
-only two parties to the transaction, the workmen and their employers. We
-overlook the third great party, the whole people,--the consumers, who
-buy the product of the first two and who ultimately pay both the wages
-of the workmen and the profits of the employers.
-
-The rights of the people are therefore greater than those of either
-employer or employee. And this third great party should be given its
-proper share of any gain. In fact, a glance at industrial history shows
-that in the end the whole people receive the greater part of the benefit
-coming from industrial improvements. In the past hundred years, for
-example, the greatest factor tending toward increasing the output, and
-thereby the prosperity of the civilized world, has been the introduction
-of machinery to replace hand labor. And without doubt the greatest gain
-through this change has come to the whole people--the consumer.
-
-Through short periods, especially in the case of patented apparatus, the
-dividends of those who have introduced new machinery have been greatly
-increased, and in many cases, though unfortunately not universally, the
-employees have obtained materially higher wages, shorter hours, and
-better working conditions. But in the end the major part of the gain has
-gone to the whole people.
-
-And this result will follow the introduction of scientific management
-just as surely as it has the introduction of machinery.
-
-To return to the case of the pig-iron handler. We must assume, then,
-that the larger part of the gain which has come from his great increase
-in output will in the end go to the people in the form of cheaper
-pig-iron. And before deciding upon how the balance is to be divided
-between the workmen and the employer, as to what is just and fair
-compensation for the man who does the piling and what should be left for
-the company as profit, we must look at the matter from all sides.
-
-First. As we have before stated, the pig-iron handler is not an
-extraordinary man difficult to find, he is merely a man more or less of
-the type of the ox, heavy both mentally and physically.
-
-Second. The work which this man does tires him no more than any healthy
-normal laborer is tired by a proper day's work. (If this man is
-overtired by his work, then the task has been wrongly set and this is as
-far as possible from the object of scientific management.)
-
-Third. It was not due to this man's initiative or originality that he
-did his big day's work, but to the knowledge of the science of pig-iron
-handling developed and taught him by some one else.
-
-Fourth. It is just and fair that men of the same general grade (when
-their all-round capacities are considered) should be paid about the same
-wages when they are all working to the best of their abilities. (It
-would be grossly unjust to other laborers, for instance, to pay this man
-3 6/10 as high wages as other men of his general grade receive for an
-honest full day's work.)
-
-Fifth. As is explained (page 74), the 60 per cent increase in pay which
-he received was not the result of an arbitrary judgment of a foreman or
-superintendent, it was the result of a long series of careful
-experiments impartially made to determine what compensation is really
-for the man's true and best interest when all things are considered.
-
-Thus we see that the pig-iron handler with his 60 per cent increase in
-wages is not an object for pity but rather a subject for congratulation.
-
-After all, however, facts are in many cases more convincing than
-opinions or theories, and it is a significant fact that those workmen
-who have come under this system during the past thirty years have
-invariably been satisfied with the increase in pay, which they have
-received, while their employers have been equally pleased with their
-increase in dividends.
-
-The writer is one of those who believes that more and more will the
-third party (the whole people), as it becomes acquainted with the true
-facts, insist that justice shall be done to all three parties. It will
-demand the largest efficiency from both employers and employees. It will
-no longer tolerate the type of employer who has his eye on dividends
-alone, who refuses to do his full share of the work and who merely
-cracks his whip over the heads of his workmen and attempts to drive them
-into harder work for low pay. No more will it tolerate tyranny on the
-part of labor which demands one increase after another in pay and
-shorter hours while at the same time it becomes less instead of more
-efficient.
-
-And the means which the writer firmly believes will be adopted to bring
-about, first, efficiency both in employer and employs and then an
-equitable division of the profits of their joint efforts will be
-scientific management, which has for its sole aim the attainment of
-justice for all three parties through impartial scientific investigation
-of all the elements of the problem. For a time both sides will rebel
-against this advance. The workers will resent any interference with
-their old rule-of-thumb methods, and the management will resent being
-asked to take on new duties and burdens; but in the end the people
-through enlightened public opinion will force the new order of things
-upon both employer and employee.
-
-It will doubtless be claimed that in all that has been said no new fact
-has been brought to light that was not known to some one in the past.
-Very likely this is true. Scientific management does not necessarily
-involve any great invention, nor the discovery of new or startling
-facts. It does, however, involve a certain combination of elements which
-have not existed in the past, namely, old knowledge so collected,
-analyzed, grouped, and classified into laws and rules that it
-constitutes a science; accompanied by a complete change in the mental
-attitude of the working men as well as of those on the side of the
-management, toward each other, and toward their respective duties and
-responsibilities. Also, a new division of the duties between the two
-sides and intimate, friendly cooperation to an extent that is impossible
-under the philosophy of the old management. And even all of this in many
-cases could not exist without the help of mechanisms which have been
-gradually developed.
-
-It is no single element, but rather this whole combination, that
-constitutes scientific management, which may be summarized as:
-
-  Science, not rule of thumb.
-  Harmony, not discord.
-  Cooperation, not individualism.
-  Maximum output, in place of restricted output.
-  The development of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.
-
-The writer wishes to again state that: "The time is fast going by for
-the great personal or individual achievement of any one man standing
-alone and without the help of those around him. And the time is coming
-when all great things will be done by that type of cooperation in which
-each man performs the function for which he is best suited, each man
-preserves his own individuality and is supreme in his particular
-function, and each man at the same time loses none of his originality
-and proper personal initiative, and yet is controlled by and must work
-harmoniously with many other men."
-
-The examples given above of the increase in output realized under the
-new management fairly represent the gain which is possible. They do not
-represent extraordinary or exceptional cases, and have been selected
-from among thousands of similar illustrations which might have been
-given.
-
-Let us now examine the good which would follow the general adoption of
-these principles.
-
-The larger profit would come to the whole world in general.
-
-The greatest material gain which those of the present generation have
-over past generations has come from the fact that the average man in
-this generation, with a given expenditure of effort, is producing two
-times, three times, even four times as much of those things that are of
-use to man as it was possible for the average man in the past to
-produce. This increase in the productivity of human effort is, of
-course, due to many causes, besides the increase in the personal
-dexterity of the man. It is due to the discovery of steam and
-electricity, to the introduction of machinery, to inventions, great and
-small, and to the progress in science and education. But from whatever
-cause this increase in productivity has come, it is to the greater
-productivity of each individual that the whole country owes its greater
-prosperity.
-
-Those who are afraid that a large increase in the productivity of each
-workman will throw other men out of work, should realize that the one
-element more than any other which differentiates civilized from
-uncivilized countries--prosperous from poverty--stricken peoples--is
-that the average man in the one is five or six times as productive as
-the other. It is also a fact that the chief cause for the large
-percentage of the unemployed in England (perhaps the most virile nation
-in the world), is that the workmen of England, more than in any other
-civilized country, are deliberately restricting their output because
-they are possessed by the fallacy that it is against their best interest
-for each man to work as hard as he can.
-
-The general adoption of scientific management would readily in the
-future double the productivity of the average man engaged in industrial
-work. Think of what this means to the whole country. Think of the
-increase, both in the necessities and luxuries of life, which becomes
-available for the whole country, of the possibility of shortening the
-hours of labor when this is desirable, and of the increased
-opportunities for education, culture, and recreation which this implies.
-But while the whole world would profit by this increase in production,
-the manufacturer and the workman will be far more interested in the
-especial local gain that comes to them and to the people immediately
-around them. Scientific management will mean, for the employers and the
-workmen who adopt it--and particularly for those who adopt it first--the
-elimination of almost all causes for dispute and disagreement between
-them. What constitutes a fair day's work will be a question for
-scientific investigation, instead of a subject to be bargained and
-haggled over. Soldiering will cease because the object for soldiering
-will no longer exist. The great increase in wages which accompanies this
-type of management will largely eliminate the wage question as a source
-of dispute. But more than all other causes, the close, intimate
-cooperation, the constant personal contact between the two sides, will
-tend to diminish friction and discontent. It is difficult for two people
-whose interests are the same, and who work side by side in accomplishing
-the same object, all day long, to keep up a quarrel.
-
-The low cost of production which accompanies a doubling of the output
-will enable the companies who adopt this management, particularly those
-who adopt it first, to compete far better than they were able to before,
-and this will so enlarge their markets that their men will have almost
-constant work even in dull times, and that they will earn larger profits
-at all times.
-
-This means increase in prosperity and diminution in poverty, not only
-for their men but for the whole community immediately around them.
-
-As one of the elements incident to this great gain in output, each
-workman has been systematically trained to his highest state of
-efficiency, and has been taught to do a higher class of work than he was
-able to do under the old types of management; and at the same time he
-has acquired a friendly mental attitude toward his employers and his
-whole working conditions, whereas before a considerable part of his time
-was spent in criticism, suspicious watchfulness, and sometimes in open
-warfare. This direct gain to all of those working under the system is
-without doubt the most important single element in the whole problem.
-
-Is not the realization of results such as these of far more importance
-than the solution of most of the problems which are now agitating both
-the English and American peoples? And is it not the duty of those who
-are acquainted with these facts, to exert themselves to make the whole
-community realize this importance?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-        
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