The document summarizes the key principles of scientific management as proposed by Frederick Winslow Taylor. It argues that the primary objectives of management should be maximum prosperity for both the employer and employees. This is achieved through developing each employee to their highest state of individual efficiency so that they can perform high-grade work suited to their abilities. Scientific management aims to benefit both parties through high wages coupled with low labor costs for production. The highest prosperity exists when individuals and organizations turn out their maximum daily outputs through the smallest combined expenditure of effort.
The document summarizes the key principles of scientific management as proposed by Frederick Winslow Taylor. It argues that the primary objectives of management should be maximum prosperity for both the employer and employees. This is achieved through developing each employee to their highest state of individual efficiency so that they can perform high-grade work suited to their abilities. Scientific management aims to benefit both parties through high wages coupled with low labor costs for production. The highest prosperity exists when individuals and organizations turn out their maximum daily outputs through the smallest combined expenditure of effort.
The document summarizes the key principles of scientific management as proposed by Frederick Winslow Taylor. It argues that the primary objectives of management should be maximum prosperity for both the employer and employees. This is achieved through developing each employee to their highest state of individual efficiency so that they can perform high-grade work suited to their abilities. Scientific management aims to benefit both parties through high wages coupled with low labor costs for production. The highest prosperity exists when individuals and organizations turn out their maximum daily outputs through the smallest combined expenditure of effort.
111 Scanned !y Eric Eldred "eldred#tiac.net$ %&T'(D)*T%(&
President 'oose+elt, in his address to the ,o+ernors at the White -o.se, prophetically remarked that /The conser+ation of o.r national reso.rces is only preliminary to the larger 0.estion of national efficiency./
The whole co.ntry at once recogni1ed the importance of conser+ing o.r material reso.rces and a large mo+ement has !een started which will !e effecti+e in accomplishing this o!2ect. 3s yet, howe+er, we ha+e !.t +ag.ely appreciated the importance of /the larger 0.estion of increasing o.r national efficiency./
We can see o.r forests +anishing, o.r water4powers going to waste, o.r soil !eing carried !y floods into the sea5 and the end of o.r coal and o.r iron is in sight. 6.t o.r larger wastes of h.man effort, which go on e+ery day thro.gh s.ch of o.r acts as are !l.ndering, ill4directed, or inefficient, and which Mr 'oose+elt refers to as a lack of /national efficiency,/ are less +isi!le, less tangi!le, and are !.t +ag.ely appreciated.
We can see and feel the waste of material things. 3wkward, inefficient, or ill4directed mo+ements of men, howe+er, lea+e nothing +isi!le or tangi!le !ehind them. Their appreciation calls for an act of memory, an effort of the imagination. 3nd for this reason, e+en tho.gh o.r daily loss from this so.rce is greater thanfrom o.r waste of material things, the one has stirred .s deeply, while the other has mo+ed .s !.t little.
3s yet there has !een no p.!lic agitation for /greater national efficiency,/ nomeetings ha+e !een called to consider how this is to !e !ro.ght a!o.t. 3nd still there are signs that the need for greater efficiency is widely felt.
The search for !etter, for more competent men, from the presidents of o.r greatcompanies down to o.r ho.sehold ser+ants, was ne+er more +igoro.s than it is now. 3nd more than e+er !efore is the demand for competent men in e7cess of the s.pply.
What we are all looking for, howe+er, is the ready4made, competent man5 the manwhom some one else has trained. %t is only when we f.lly reali1e that o.r d.ty,as well as o.r opport.nity, lies in systematically cooperating to train and to make this competent man, instead of in h.nting for a man whom some one else has trained, that we shall !e on the road to national efficiency.
%n the past the pre+ailing idea has !een well e7pressed in the saying that /*aptains of ind.stry are !orn, not made/ and the theory has !een that if one co.ld get the right man, methods co.ld !e safely left to him. %n the f.t.re it will !eappreciated that o.r leaders m.st !e trained right as well as !orn right, and that no great man can "with the old system of personal management$ hope to compete with a n.m!er of ordinary men who ha+e !een properly organi1ed so as efficiently to cooperate.
%n the past the man has !een first5 in the f.t.re the system m.st !e first. This in no sense, howe+er, implies that great men are not needed. (n the contrary, the first o!2ect of any good system m.st !e that of de+eloping first4class men5 and .nder systematic management the !est man rises to the top more certainly andmore rapidly than e+er !efore.
This paper has !een written8
First. To point o.t, thro.gh a series of simple ill.strations, the great loss which the whole co.ntry is s.ffering thro.gh inefficiency in almost all of o.r daily acts.
Second. To try to con+ince the reader that the remedy for this inefficiency lies in systematic management, rather than in searching for some .n.s.al or e7traordinary man.
Third. To pro+e that the !est management is a tr.e science, resting .pon clearly defined laws, r.les, and principles, as a fo.ndation. 3nd f.rther to show thatthe f.ndamental principles of scientific management are applica!le to all kindsof h.man acti+ities, from o.r simplest indi+id.al acts to the work of o.r greatcorporations, which call for the most ela!orate cooperation. 3nd, !riefly, thro.gh a series of ill.strations, to con+ince the reader that whene+er these principles are correctly applied, res.lts m.st follow which are tr.ly asto.nding.
This paper was originally prepared for presentation to The 3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers. The ill.strations chosen are s.ch as, it is !elie+ed, willespecially appeal to engineers and to managers of ind.strial and man.fact.ring esta!lishments, and also 0.ite as m.ch to all of the men who are working in these esta!lishments. %t is hoped, howe+er, that it will !e clear to other readers that the same principles can !e applied with e0.al force to all social acti+ities8 to the management of o.r homes5 the management of o.r farms5 the management ofthe !.siness of o.r tradesmen, large and small5 of o.r ch.rches, o.r philanthropic instit.tions, o.r .ni+ersities, and o.r go+ernmental departments.
*-3PTE' %8
F)&D3ME&T39S (F S*%E&T%F%* M3&3,EME&T
T-E principal o!2ect of management sho.ld !e to sec.re the ma7im.m prosperity for the employer, co.pled with the ma7im.m prosperity for each employ:.
The words /ma7im.m prosperity/ are .sed, in their !road sense, to mean not onlylarge di+idends for the company or owner, !.t the de+elopment of e+ery !ranch of the !.siness to its highest state of e7cellence, so that the prosperity may !epermanent.
%n the same way ma7im.m prosperity for each employ: means not only higher wagesthan are .s.ally recei+ed !y men of his class, !.t, of more importance still, it also means the de+elopment of each man to his state of ma7im.m efficiency, so that he may !e a!le to do, generally speaking, the highest grade of work for which his nat.ral a!ilities fit him, and it f.rther means gi+ing him, when possi!le, this class of work to do.
%t wo.ld seem to !e so self4e+ident that ma7im.m prosperity for the employer, co.pled with ma7im.m prosperity for the employ:, o.ght to !e the two leading o!2ects of management, that e+en to state this fact sho.ld !e .nnecessary. 3nd yet there is no 0.estion that, thro.gho.t the ind.strial world, a large part of the organi1ation of employers, as well as employ:s, is for war rather than for peace,and that perhaps the ma2ority on either side do not !elie+e that it is possi!leso to arrange their m.t.al relations that their interests !ecome identical.
The ma2ority of these men !elie+e that the f.ndamental interests of employ:s and employers are necessarily antagonistic Scientific management, on the contrary,has for its +ery fo.ndation the firm con+iction that the tr.e interests of the two are one and the same5 that prosperity for the employer cannot e7ist thro.gh a long term of years .nless it is accompanied !y prosperity for the employe:, and +ice +ersa5 and that it is possi!le to gi+e the workman what he most wants high wages and the employer what he wants a low la!or cost 44 for his man.fact.res.
%t is hoped that some at least of those who do not sympathi1e with each of these o!2ects may !e led to modify their +iews5 that some employers, whose attit.de toward their workmen has !een that of trying to get the largest amo.nt of work o.t of them for the smallest possi!le wages, may !e led to see that a more li!eral policy toward their men will pay them !etter5 and that some of those workmen who !egr.dge a fair and e+en a large profit to their employers, and who feel thatall of the fr.its of their la!or sho.ld !elong to them, and that those for whomthey work and the capital in+ested in the !.siness are entitled to little or nothing, may !e led to modify these +iews.
&o one can !e fo.nd who will deny that in the case of any single indi+id.al thegreatest prosperity can e7ist only when that indi+id.al has reached his higheststate of efficiency5 that is, when he is t.rning o.t his largest daily o.tp.t.
The tr.th of this fact is also perfectly clear in the case of two men working together. To ill.strate8 if yo. and yo.r workman ha+e !ecome so skilf.l that yo. and he together are making two pairs of shoes in a day, while yo.r competitor and his work4nian are making only one pair, it is clear that after selling yo.r two pairs of shoes yo. can pay yo.r workman m.ch higher wages than yo.r competitorwho prod.ces only one pair of shoes is a!le to pay his man, and that there willstill !e eno.gh money left o+er for yo. to ha+e a larger profit than yo.r competitor.
%n the case of a more complicated man.fact.ring esta!lishment, it sho.ld also !e perfectly clear that the greatest permanent prosperity for the workman, co.pled with the greatest prosperity for the employer, can !e !ro.ght a!o.t only when the work of the esta!lishment is done with the smallest com!ined e7pendit.re of h.man effort, pl.s nat.re;s reso.rces, pl.s the cost for the .se of capital in the shape of machines, !.ildings, etc. (r, to state the same thing in a differentway8 that the greatest prosperity can e7ist only as the res.lt of the greatest possi!le prod.cti+ity of the men and machines of the esta!lishment that is, wheneach man and each machine are t.rning o.t the largest possi!le o.tp.t5 !eca.se .nless yo.r men and yo.r machines are daily t.rning o.t more work than others aro.nd yo., it is clear that competition will pre+ent yo.r paying higher wages to yo.r workmen than are paid to those of yo.r competitor. 3nd what is tr.e as to the possi!ility of paying high wages in the case of two companies competing close!eside one another is also tr.e as to whole districts of the co.ntry and e+en as to nations which are in competition. %n a word, that ma7im.m prosperity can e7ist only as the res.lt of ma7im.m prod.cti+ity. 9ater in this paper ill.strations will !e gi+en of se+eral companies which are earning large di+idends and at the same time paying from <= per cent to 1== per cent higher wages to their men than are paid to similar men immediately aro.nd them, and with whose employers they are in competition. These ill.strations will co+er different types of work, from the most elementary to the most complicated.
%f the a!o+e reasoning is correct, it follows that the most important o!2ect of!oth the workmen and the management sho.ld !e the training and de+elopment of each indi+id.al in the esta!lishment, so that he can do "at his fastest pace and with the ma7im.m of efficiency$ the highest class of work for which his nat.ral a!ilities fit him.
These principles appear to !e so self4e+ident that many men may think it almostchildish to state them. 9et .s, howe+er, t.rn to the facts, as they act.ally e7ist in this co.ntry and in England. The English and 3merican peoples are the greatest sportsmen in the world. Whene+er an 3merican workman plays !ase!all, or anEnglish workman plays cricket, it is safe to say that he strains e+ery ner+e tosec.re +ictory for his side. -e does his +ery !est to make the largest possi!len.m!er of r.ns. The .ni+ersal sentiment is so strong that any man who fails to gi+e o.t all there is in him in sport is !randed as a /0.itter,/ and treated with contempt !y those who are aro.nd him.
When the same workman ret.rns to work on the following day, instead of .sing e+ery effort to t.rn o.t the largest possi!le amo.nt of work, in a ma2ority of thecases this man deli!erately plans to do as little as he safely can 44 to t.rn o.t far less work than he is well a!le to do 44 in many instances to do not more than one4third to one4half of a proper day;s work. 3nd in fact if he were to do his !est to t.rn o.t his largest possi!le day;s work, he wo.ld !e a!.sed !y his fellow4workers for so doing, e+en more than if he had pro+ed himself a /0.itter/in sport. )nderworking, that is, deli!erately working slowly so as to a+oid doing a f.ll day;s work, /soldiering,/ as it is called in this co.ntry, /hanging ito.t,/ as it is called in England, /ca canae,/ as it is called in Scotland, is almost .ni+ersal in ind.strial esta!lishments, and pre+ails also to a large e7tent in the !.ilding trades5 and the writer asserts witho.t fear of contradiction that this constit.tes t!e greatest e+il with which the working4people of !oth England and 3merica are now afflicted.
%t will !e shown later in this paper that doing away with slow working and /soldiering/ in all its forms and so arranging the relations !etween employer and employ: that each workman will work to his +ery !est ad+antage and at his !est speed, accompanied !y the intimate cooperation with the management and the help "which the workman sho.ld recei+e$ from the management, wo.ld res.lt on the a+eragein nearly do.!ling the o.tp.t of each man and each machine. What other reforms,among those which are !eing disc.ssed !y these two nations, co.ld do as m.ch toward promoting prosperity, toward the dimin.tion of po+erty, and the alle+iationof s.ffering> 3merica and England ha+e !een recently agitated o+er s.ch s.!2ects as the tariff, the control of the large corporations on the one hand, and of hereditary power on the other hand, and o+er +ario.s more or less socialistic proposals for ta7ation, etc. (n these s.!2ects !oth peoples ha+e !een profo.ndly stirred, and yet hardly a +oice has !een raised to call attention to this +astly greater and more important s.!2ect of /soldiering,/ which directly and powerf.llyaffects the wages, the prosperity, and the life of almost e+ery working4man, and also 0.ite as m.ch the prosperity of e+ery ind.strial esta!lishment in the nation.
The elimination of /soldiering/ and of the se+eral ca.ses of slow working wo.ldso lower the cost of prod.ction that !oth o.r home and foreign markets wo.ld !egreatly enlarged, and we co.ld compete on more than e en terms with o.r ri+als.%t wo.ld remo+e one of the f.ndamental ca.ses for d.ll times, for lack of employment, and for po+erty, and therefore wo.ld ha+e a more permanent and far4reaching effect .pon these misfort.nes than any of the c.rati+e remedies that are now !eing .sed to soften their conse0.ences. %t wo.ld ins.re higher wages and make shorter working ho.rs and !etter working and home conditions possi!le.
Why is it, then, in the face of the self4e+ident fact that ma7im.m prosperity can e7ist only as the res.lt of the determined effort of each workman to t.rn o.teach day his largest possi!le day;s work, that the great ma2ority of o.r men are deli!erately doing 2.st the opposite, and that e+en when the men ha+e the !estof intentions their work is in most cases far from efficient>
There are three ca.ses for this condition, which may !e !riefly s.mmari1ed as8
First. The fallacy, which has from time immemorial !een almost .ni+ersal among workmen, that a material increase in the o.tp.t of each man or each machine in the trade wo.ld res.lt in the end in throwing a large n.m!er of men o.t of work.
Second. The defecti+e systems of management which are in common .se, and which make it necessary for each workman to soldier, or work slowly, in order that he may protect his own !est interests.
Third. The inefficient r.le4of4th.m! methods, which are still almost .ni+ersal in all trades, and in practising which o.r workmen waste a large part of their effort.
This paper will attempt to show the enormo.s gains which wo.ld res.lt from the s.!stit.tion !y o.r workmen of scientific for r.le4of4th.m! methods.
To e7plain a little more f.lly these three ca.ses8
First. The great ma2ority of workmen still !elie+e that if they were to work attheir !est speed they wo.ld !e doing a great in2.stice to the whole trade !y throwing a lot of men o.t of work, and yet the history of the de+elopment of each trade shows that each impro+ement, whether it !e the in+ention of a new machine or the introd.ction of a !etter method, which res.lts in increasing the prod.cti+e capacity of the men in the trade and cheapening the costs, instead of throwing men o.t of work make in the end work for more men.
The cheapening of any article in common .se almost immediately res.lts in a largely increased demand for that article. Take the case of shoes, for instance. The introd.ction of machinery for doing e+ery element of the work which was formerly done !y hand has res.lted in making shoes at a fraction of their former la!orcost, and in selling them so cheap that now almost e+ery man, woman, and child in the working4classes !.ys one or two pairs of shoes per year, and wears shoes all the time, whereas formerly each workman !o.ght perhaps one pair of shoes e+ery fi+e years, and went !arefoot most of the time, wearing shoes only as a l.7.ry or as a matter of the sternest necessity. %n spite of the enormo.sly increasedo.tp.t of shoes per workman, which has come with shoe machinery, the demand forshoes has so increased that there are relati+ely more men working in the shoe ind.stry now than e+er !efore.
The workmen in almost e+ery trade ha+e !efore them an o!2ect lesson of this kind, and yet, !eca.se they are ignorant of the history of their own trade e+en, they still firmly !elie+e, as their fathers did !efore them, that it is against their !est interests for each man to t.rn o.t each day as m.ch work as possi!le.
)nder this fallacio.s idea a large proportion of the workmen of !oth co.ntries each day deli!erately work slowly so as to c.rtail the o.tp.t. 3lmost e+ery la!or .nion has made, or is contemplating making, r.les which ha+e for their o!2ect.c.rtailing the o.tp.t of their mem!ers, and those men who ha+e the greatest infl.ence with the working4people, the la!or 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 o+erworked.
3 great deal has !een and is !eing constantly said a!o.t /sweat4shop/ work and conditions. The writer has great sympathy with those who are o+erworked, !.t on the whole a greater sympathy for those who are .nder paid. For e+ery indi+id.al,howe+er, who is o+erworked, there are a h.ndred who intentionally .nderwork 44 greatly .nderwork 44 e+ery day of their li+es, and who for this reason deli!erately aid in esta!lishing those conditions which in the end ine+ita!ly res.lt in low wages. 3nd yet hardly a single +oice is !eing raised in an endea+or to correct this e+il.
3s engineers and managers, we are more intimately ac0.ainted with these facts than any other class in the comm.nity, and are therefore !est fitted to lead in amo+ement to com!at this fallacio.s idea !y ed.cating not only the workmen !.t the whole of the co.ntry as to the tr.e facts. 3nd yet we are practically doing nothing in this direction, and are lea+ing this field entirely in the hands of the la!or agitators "many of whom are misinformed and mis4g.ided$, and of sentimentalists who are ignorant as to act.al working conditions.
Second. 3s to the second ca.se for soldiering 44 the relations which e7ist !etween employers and employ:s .nder almost all of the systems of management which are in common .se 44 it is impossi!le in a few words to make it clear to one not familiar with this pro!lem why it is that the ignorance of employers as to the proper time in which work of +ario.s kinds sho.ld !e done makes it for the interest of the workman to /soldier./
The writer therefore 0.otes herewith from a paper read !efore The 3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers. in ?.ne, 1=<, entitled /Shop Management,/ which itis hoped will e7plain f.lly this ca.se for soldiering8
/This loafing or soldiering proceeds from two ca.ses. First, from the nat.ral instinct and tendency of men to take it easy, which may !e called nat.ral soldiering. Second, from more intricate second tho.ght and reasoning ca.sed !y their relations with other men, which may !e called systematic soldiering.
/There is no 0.estion that the tendency of the a+erage man "in all walks of life$ is toward working at a slow, easy gait, and that it is only after a good dealof tho.ght and o!ser+ation on his part or as a res.lt of e7ample, conscience, or e7ternal press.re that he takes a more rapid pace.
/There are, of co.rse, men of .n.s.al energy, +itality, and am!ition who nat.rally choose the fastest gait, who set .p their own standards, and who work hard, e+en tho.gh it may !e against their !est interests. 6.t these few .ncommon men only ser+e !y forming a contrast to emphasi1e the tendency of the a+erage.
/This common tendency to ;take it easy; is greatly increased !y !ringing a n.m!er of men together on similar work and at a .niform standard rate of pay !y the day.
/)nder this plan the !etter men grad.ally !.t s.rely slow down their gait to that of the poorest and least efficient. When a nat.rally energetic man works for a few days !eside a la1y one, the logic of the sit.ation is .nanswera!le. ;Why sho.ld % work hard when that la1y fellow gets the same pay that % do and does only half as m.ch work>;
/3 caref.l time st.dy of men working .nder these conditions will disclose factswhich are l.dicro.s as well as pitia!le.
/To ill.strate8 The writer has timed a nat.rally energetic workman who, while going and coming from work, wo.ld walk at a speed of from three to fo.r miles perho.r, and not infre0.ently trot home after a day;s work. (n arri+ing at his work he wo.ld immediately slow down to a speed of a!o.t one mile an ho.r. When, fore7ample, wheeling a loaded wheel!arrow, he wo.ld go at a good fast pace e+en .phill in order to !e as short a time as possi!le .nder load, and immediately on the ret.rn walk slow down to a mile an ho.r, impro+ing e+ery opport.nity for delay short of act.ally sitting down. %n order to !e s.re not to do more than his la1y neigh!or, he wo.ld act.ally tire himself in his effort to go slow.
/These men were working .nder a foreman of good rep.tation and highly tho.ght of !y his employer, who, when his attention was called to this state of things, answered8 ;Well, % can keep them from sitting down, !.t the de+il can;t make themget a mo+e on while they are at work.;
/The nat.ral la1iness of men is serio.s, !.t !y far the greatest e+il from which !oth workmen and employers are s.ffering is the systematic soldiering which isalmost .ni+ersal .nder all of the ordinary schemes of management and which res.lts from a caref.l st.dy on the part of the workmen of what will promote their !est interests.
/The writer was m.ch interested recently in hearing one small !.t e7perienced golf caddy !oy of twel+e e7plaining to a green caddy, who had shown special energy and interest, the necessity of going slow and lagging !ehind his man when he came .p to the !all, showing him that since they were paid !y the ho.r, the faster they went the less money they got, and finally telling him that if he went toofast the other !oys wo.ld gi+e him a licking.
/This represents a type of systematic soldiering which is not, howe+er, +ery serio.s, since it is done with the knowledge of the employer, who can 0.ite easily!reak it .p if he wishes.
/The greater part of the systematic soldiering, howe+er, is done !y the men with the deli!erate o!2ect of keeping their employers ignorant of how fast work can!e done.
/So .ni+ersal is soldiering for this p.rpose that hardly a competent workman can !e fo.nd in a large esta!lishment, whether he works !y the day or on piece work, contract work, or .nder any of the ordinary systems, who does not de+ote a considera!le part of his time to st.dying 2.st how slow he can work and still con+inc@ his employer that he is going at a good pace.
/The ca.ses for this are, !riefly, that practically all employers determine .pon a ma7im.m s.m which they feel it is right for each of their classes of employees to earn per day, whether their men work !y the day or piece.
/Each workman soon finds o.t a!o.t what this fig.re is for his partic.lar case,and he also reali1es that when his employer is con+inced that a man is capa!le 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 deri+e their knowledge of how m.ch of a gi+en class of work can !e done in a day from either their own e7perience, which has fre0.ently grown ha1y with age, from cas.al and .nsystematic o!ser+ation of their men, or at !est from records which are kept, showing the 0.ickest time in which each 2o! has !een done. %n many cases the employer will feel almost certain that a gi+en 2o! can !e done faster than it has !een, !.t he rarely cares to take the drastic meas.res necessary to force men to do it in the 0.ickest time, .nless he has an act.al record pro+ing concl.si+ely how fast the work can !e done.
/%t e+idently !ecomes for each man;s interest, then, to see that no 2o! is donefaster than it has !een in the past. The yo.nger and less e7perienced men are ta.ght this !y their elders, and all possi!le pers.asion and social press.re is !ro.ght to !ear .pon the greedy and selfish men to keep them from making new records which res.lt in temporarily increasing their wages, while all those who comeafter them are made to work harder for the same old pay.
/)nder the !est day work of the ordinary type, when acc.rate records are kept of the amo.nt of work done !y each man and of his efficiency, and when each man;swages are raised as he impro+es, and those who fail to rise to a certain standard are discharged and a fresh s.pply of caref.lly selected men are gi+en work intheir places, !oth the nat.ral loafing and systematic soldiering can !e largely!roken .p. This can only !e done, howe+er, when the men are thoro.ghly con+inced that there is no intention of esta!lishing piece work e+en in the remote f.t.re, and it is ne7t to impossi!le to make men !elie+e this when the work is of s.ch a nat.re that they !elie+e piece work to !e practica!le. %n most cases their fear of making a record which will !e .sed as a !asis for piece work will ca.se them to soldier as m.ch as they dare.
/%t is, howe+er, .nder piece work that the art of systematic soldiering is thoro.ghly de+eloped5 after a workman has had the price per piece of the work he is doing lowered two or three times as a res.lt of his ha+ing worked harder and increased his o.tp.t, he is likely entirely to lose sight of his employer;s side ofthe case and !ecome im!.ed with a grim determination to ha+e no more c.ts if soldiering can pre+ent it. )nfort.nately for the character of the workman, soldiering in+ol+es a deli!erate attempt to mislead and decei+e his employer, and th.s .pright and straightforward workmen are compelled to !ecome more or less hypocritical. The employer is soon looked .pon as an antagonist, if not an enemy, and the m.t.al confidence which sho.ld e7ist !etween a leader and his men, the enth.siasm, the feeling that they are all working for the same end and will share in the res.lts is entirely lacking.
/The feeling of antagonism .nder the ordinary piece4work system !ecomes in manycases so marked on the part of the men that any proposition made !y their employers, howe+er reasona!le, is looked .pon with s.spicion, and soldiering !ecomes s.ch a fi7ed ha!it that men will fre0.ently take pains to restrict the prod.ct of machines which they are r.nning when e+en a large increase in o.tp.t wo.ld in+ol+e no more work on their part./
Third. 3s to the third ca.se for slow work, considera!le space will later in this paper !e de+oted to ill.strating the great gain, !oth to employers and employ:s, which res.lts from the s.!stit.tion of scientific for r.le4of4th.m! methods in e+en the smallest details of the work of e+ery trade. The enormo.s sa+ing of time and therefore increase in the o.tp.t which it is possi!le to effect thro.gheliminating .nnecessary motions and s.!stit.ting fast for slow and inefficient motions for the men working in any of o.r trades can !e f.lly reali1ed only after one has personally seen the impro+ement which res.lts from a thoro.gh motion and time st.dy, made !y a competent man.
To e7plain !riefly8 owing to the fact that the workmen in all of o.r trades ha+e !een ta.ght the details of their work !y o!ser+ation of those immediately aro.nd them, there are many different ways in common .se for doing the same thing, perhaps forty, fifty, or a h.ndred ways of doing each act in each trade, and for the same reason there is a great +ariety in the implements .sed for each class of work. &ow, among the +ario.s methods and implements .sed in each element of each trade there is always one method and one implement which is 0.icker and !etter than any of the rest. 3nd this one !est method and !est implement can only !e disco+ered or de+eloped thro.gh a scientific st.dy and analysis of all of the methods and implements in .se, together with acc.rate, min.te, motion and time st.dy. This in+ol+es the grad.al s.!stit.tion of science for r.le of th.m! thro.gho.t the mechanic arts.
This paper will show that the .nderlying philosophy of all of the old systems of management in common .se makes it imperati+e that each workman shall !e left with the final responsi!ility for doing his 2o! practically as he thinks !est, with comparati+ely little help and ad+ice from the management. 3nd it will also show that !eca.se of this isolation of workmen, it is in most cases impossi!le forthe men working .nder these systems to do their work in accordance with the r.les and laws of a science or art, e+en where one e7ists.
The writer asserts as a general principle "and he proposes to gi+e ill.strations tending to pro+e the fact later in this paper$ that in almost all of the mechanic arts the science which .nderlies each act of each workman is so great and amo.nts to so m.ch that the workman who is !est s.ited to act.ally doing the work is incapa!le of f.lly .nderstanding this science, witho.t the g.idance and help of those who are working with him or o+er him, either thro.gh lack of ed.cation or thro.gh ins.fficient mental capacity. %n order that the work may !e done in accordance with scientific laws, it is necessary that there shall !e a far more e0.al di+ision of the responsi!ility !etween the management and the workmen than e7ists .nder any of the ordinary types of management. Those in the management whose d.ty it is to de+elop this science sho.ld also g.ide and help the workman inworking .nder it, and sho.ld ass.me a m.ch larger share of the responsi!ility for res.lts than .nder .s.al conditions is ass.med !y the management.
The !ody of this paper will make it clear that, to work according to scientificlaws, the management m.st take o+er and perform m.ch of the work which is now left to the men5 almost e+ery act of the workman sho.ld !e preceded !y one or more preparatory acts of the management which ena!le him to do his work !etter and 0.icker than he otherwise co.ld. 3nd each man sho.ld daily !e ta.ght !y and recei+e the most friendly help from those who are o+er him, instead of !eing, at theone e7treme, dri+en or coerced !y his !osses, and at the other left to his own .naided de+ices.
This close, intimate, personal cooperation !etween the management and the men is of the essence of modern scientific or task management.
%t will !e shown !y a series of practical ill.strations that, thro.gh this friendly cooperation, namely, thro.gh sharing e0.ally in e+ery day;s !.rden, all of the great o!stacles "a!o+e descri!ed$ to o!taining the ma7im.m o.tp.t for each man and each machine in the esta!lishment are swept away. The <= per cent to 1== per cent increase in wages which the workmen are a!le to earn !eyond what they recei+e .nder the old type of management, co.pled with the daily intimate sho.lder to sho.lder contact with the management, entirely remo+es all ca.se for soldiering. 3nd in a few years, .nder this system, the workmen ha+e !efore them the o!2ect lesson of seeing that a great increase in the o.tp.t per man res.lts in gi+ing employment to more men, instead of throwing men o.t of work, th.s completelyeradicating the fallacy that a larger o.tp.t for each man will throw other men o.t of work.
%t is the writer;s 2.dgment, then, that while m.ch can !e done and sho.ld !e done !y writing and talking toward ed.cating not only workmen, !.t all classes in the comm.nity, as to the importance of o!taining the ma7im.m o.tp.t of each man and each machine, it is only thro.gh the adoption of modern scientific management that this great pro!lem can !e finally sol+ed. Pro!a!ly most of the readers ofthis paper will say that all of this is mere theory. (n the contrary, the theory, or philosophy, of scientific management is 2.st !eginning to !e .nderstood, whereas the management itself has !een a grad.al e+ol.tion, e7tending o+er a period of nearly thirty years. 3nd d.ring this time the employ:s of one company after another, incl.ding a large range and di+ersity of ind.stries, ha+e grad.ally changed from the ordinary to the scientific type of management. 3t least A=,=== workmen in the )nited States are now employed .nder this system5 and they are recei+ing from <= per cent to 1== per cent higher wages daily than are paid to men of similar cali!er with whom they are s.rro.nded, while the companies employing them are more prospero.s than e+er !efore. %n these companies the o.tp.t, per man and per machine, has on an a+erage !een do.!led. D.ring all these years there has ne+er !een a single strike among the men working .nder this system. %n placeof the s.spicio.s watchf.lness and the more or less open warfare which characteri1es the ordinary types of management, there is .ni+ersally friendly cooperation !etween the management and the men.
Se+eral papers ha+e !een written, descri!ing the e7pedients which ha+e !een adopted and the details which ha+e !een de+eloped .nder scientific management and the steps to !e taken in changing from the ordinary to the scientific type. 6.t .nfort.nately most of the readers of these papers ha+e mistaken the mechanism forthe tr.e essence. Scientific management f.ndamentally consists of certain !roadgeneral principles, a certain philosophy, which can !e applied in many ways, and a description of what any one man or men may !elie+e to !e the !est mechanism for applying these general principles sho.ld in no way !e conf.sed with the principles themsel+es.
%t is not here claimed that any single panacea e7ists for all of the tro.!les of the working4people or of employers. 3s long as some people are !orn la1y or inefficient, and others are !orn greedy and !r.tal, as long as +ice and crime are with .s, 2.st so long will a certain amo.nt of po+erty, misery, and .nhappiness !e with .s also. &o system of management, no single e7pedient within the controlof any man or any set of men can ins.re contin.o.s prosperity to either workmenor employers. Prosperity depends .pon so many factors entirely !eyond the control of any one set of men, any state, or e+en any one co.ntry, that certain periods will ine+ita!ly come when !oth sides m.st s.ffer, more or less. %t is claimed, howe+er, that .nder scientific management the intermediate periods will !e farmore prospero.s, far happier, and more free from discord and dissension. 3nd also, that the periods will !e fewer, shorter and the s.ffering less. 3nd this will !e partic.larly tr.e in any one town, any one section of the co.ntry, or any one state which first s.!stit.tes the principles of scientific management for ther.le of th.m!.
That these principles are certain to come into general .se practically thro.gho.t the ci+ili1ed world, sooner or later, the writer is profo.ndly con+inced, andthe sooner they come the !etter for all the people.
*-3PTE' %%8
T-E P'%&*%P9ES (F S*%E&T%F%* M3&3,EME&T
T-E writer has fo.nd that there are three 0.estions .ppermost in the minds of men when they !ecome interested in scientific management.
First. Wherein do the principles of scientific management differ essentially from those of ordinary management>
Second. Why are !etter res.lts attained .nder scientific management than .nder the other types>
Third. %s not the most important pro!lem that of getting the right man at the head of the company> 3nd if yo. ha+e the right man cannot the choice of the type of management !e safely left to him>
(ne of the principal o!2ects of the following pages will !e to gi+e a satisfactory answer to these 0.estions.
T-E F%&EST TBPE (F ('D%&3'B M3&3,EME&T
6efore starting to ill.strate the principles of scientific management, or /taskmanagement/ as it is !riefly called, it seems desira!le to o.tline what the writer !elie+es will !e recogni1ed as the !est type of management which is in common .se. This is done so that the great difference !etween the !est of the ordinary management and scientific management may !e f.lly appreciated.
%n an ind.strial esta!lishment which employs say from A== to 1=== workmen, there will !e fo.nd in many cases at least twenty to thirty different trades. The workmen in each of these trades ha+e had their knowledge handed down to them !y word of mo.th, thro.gh the many years in which their trade has !een de+eloped fromthe primiti+e condition, in which o.r far4distant ancestors each one practised the r.diments of many different trades, to the present state of great and growing s.!di+ision of la!or, in which each man speciali1es .pon some comparati+ely small class of work.
The ingen.ity of each generation has de+eloped 0.icker and !etter methods for doing e+ery element of the work in e+ery trade. Th.s the methods which are now in.se may in a !road sense !e said to !e an e+ol.tion representing the s.r+i+al of the fittest and !est of the ideas which ha+e !een de+eloped since the startingof each trade. -owe+er, while this is tr.e in a !road sense, only those who areintimately ac0.ainted with each of these trades are f.lly aware of the fact that in hardly any element of any trade is there .niformity in the methods which are .sed. %nstead of ha+ing only one way which is generally accepted as a standard, there are in daily .se, say, fifty or a h.ndred different ways of doing each element of the work. 3nd a little tho.ght will make it clear that this m.st ine+ita!ly !e the case, since o.r methods ha+e !een handed down from man to man !y word of mo.th, or ha+e, in most cases, !een almost .nconscio.sly learned thro.gh personal o!ser+ation. Practically in no instances ha+e they !een codified or systematically analy1ed or descri!ed. The ingen.ity and e7perience of each generation of each decade, e+en, ha+e witho.t do.!t handed o+er !etter methods to the ne7t. This mass of r.le4of4th.m! or traditional knowledge may !e said to !e the principal asset or possession of e+ery tradesman. &ow, in the !est of the ordinary types of management, the managers recogni1e frankly the fact that the A== or 1=== workmen, incl.ded in the twenty to thirty trades, who are .nder them, possess this mass of traditional knowledge, a large part of which is not in the possession of the management. The management, of co.rse, incl.des foremen and s.perintendents, who themsel+es ha+e !een in most cases first4class workers at their trades. 3nd yet these foremen and s.perintendents know, !etter than any one else, that their own knowledge and personal skill falls far short of the com!ined knowledge and de7terity of all the workmen .nder them. The most e7perienced managers therefore frankly place !efore their workmen the pro!lem of doing the work in the !est and most economical way. They recogni1e the task !efore them as that of ind.cing each workman to .se his !est endea+ors, his hardest work, all his traditional knowledge, his skill, his ingen.ity, and his good4will in a word, his /initiati+e,/ so as to yield the largest possi!le ret.rn to his employer. The pro!lem !efore the management, then, may !e !riefly said to !e that of o!taining the !est initiati+e of e+ery workman. 3nd the writer .ses the word /initiati+e/ in its !roadest sense, to co+er all of the good 0.alities so.ght for from the men.
(n the other hand, no intelligent manager wo.ld hope to o!tain in any f.ll meas.re the initiati+e of his workmen .nless he felt that he was gi+ing them something more than they .s.ally recei+e from their employers. (nly those among the readers of this paper who ha+e !een managers or who ha+e worked themsel+es at a trade reali1e how far the a+erage workman falls short of gi+ing his employer his f.ll initiati+e. %t is well within the mark to state that in nineteen o.t of twenty ind.strial esta!lishments the workmen !elie+e it to !e directly against their interests to gi+e their employers their !est initiati+e, and that instead of working hard to do the largest possi!le amo.nt of work and the !est 0.ality of workfor their employers, they deli!erately work as slowly as they dare while they at the same time try to make those o+er them !elie+e that they are working fast."1C$
The writer repeats, therefore, that in order to ha+e any hope of o!taining the initiati+e of his workmen the manager m.st gi+e some special incenti+e to his men !eyond that which is gi+en to the a+erage of the trade. This incenti+e can !e gi+en in se+eral different ways, as, for e7ample, the hope of rapid promotion orad+ancement5 higher wages, either in the form of genero.s piecework prices or of a premi.m or !on.s of some kind for good and rapid work5 shorter ho.rs of la!or5 !etter s.rro.ndings and working conditions than are ordinarily gi+en, etc., and, a!o+e all, this special incenti+e sho.ld !e accompanied !y that personal consideration for, and friendly contact with, his workmen which comes only from a gen.ine and kindly interest in the welfare of those .nder him. %t is only !y gi+ing a special ind.cement or /incenti+e/ of this kind that the employer can hope e+en appro7imately to get the /initiati+e/ of his workmen. )nder the ordinary type of management the necessity for offering the workman a special ind.cement has come to !e so generally recogni1ed that a large proportion of those most interested in the s.!2ect look .pon the adoption of some one of the modern schemes for paying men "s.ch as piece work, the premi.m plan, or the !on.s plan, for instance$ as practically the whole system of management. )nder scientific management, howe+er, the partic.lar pay system which is adopted is merely one of the s.!ordinate elements.
6roadly speaking, then, the !est type of management in ordinary .se may !e defined as management in which the workmen gi+e their !est initiati+e and in ret.rn recei+e some special incenti+e from their employers. This type of management will !e referred to as the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ in contradistinction to scientific management, or task management, with which it is to !e compared.
The writer hopes that the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ will !e recogni1ed as representing the !est type in ordinary .se, and in fact he !elie+es that it will !e hard to pers.ade the a+erage manager that anything !etter e7ists in the whole field than this type. The task which the writer has !efore him, then, is the diffic.lt one of trying to pro+e in a thoro.ghly con+incing way that there is another type of management which is not only !etter !.t o+erwhelmingly !etter than the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e./
The .ni+ersal pre2.dice in fa+or of the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ is so strong that no mere theoretical ad+antages which can !e pointed o.t will!e likely to con+ince the a+erage manager that any other system is !etter. %t will !e .pon a series of practical ill.strations of the act.al working of the twosystems that the writer will depend in his efforts to pro+e that scientific management is so greatly s.perior to other types. *ertain elementary principles, a certain philosophy, will howe+er !e recogni1ed as the essence of that which is !eing ill.strated in all of the practical e7amples which will !e gi+en. 3nd the !road principles in which the scientific system differs from the ordinary or /r.le4of4th.m!/ system are so simple in their nat.re that it seems desira!le to descri!e them !efore starting with the ill.strations.
)nder the old type of management s.ccess depends almost entirely .pon getting the /initiati+e/ of the workmen, and it is indeed a rare case in which this initiati+e is really attained. )nder scientific management the /initiati+e/ of the workmen "that is, their hard work, their good4will, and their ingen.ity$ is o!tained with a!sol.te .niformity and to a greater e7tent than is possi!le .nder the old system5 and in addition to this impro+ement on the part of the men, the managers ass.me new !.rdens, new d.ties, and responsi!ilities ne+er dreamed of in thepast. The managers ass.me, for instance, the !.rden of gathering together all of the traditional knowledge which in the past has !een possessed !y the workmen and then of classifying, ta!.lating, and red.cing this knowledge to r.les, laws,and form.lD which are immensely helpf.l to the workmen in doing their daily work. %n addition to de+eloping a science in this way, the management take on threeother types of d.ties which in+ol+e new and hea+y !.rdens for themsel+es.
These new d.ties are gro.ped .nder fo.r heads8
First. They de+elop a science for each element of a man;s work, which replaces the old r.le4of4 th.m! method.
Second. They scientifically select and then train, teach, and de+elop the workman, whereas in the past he chose his own work and trained himself as !est he co.ld.
Third. They heartily cooperate with the men so as to ins.re all of the work !eing done in accordance with the principles of the science which has !een de+eloped.
Fo.rth. There is an almost e0.al di+ision of the work and the responsi!ility !etween the management and the workmen. The management take o+er all work for which they are !etter fitted than the workmen, while in the past almost all of the work and the greater part of the responsi!ility were thrown .pon the men.
%t is this com!ination of the initiati+e of the workmen, co.pled with the new types of work done !y the management, that makes scientific management so m.ch more efficient than the old plan.
Three of these elements e7ist in many cases, .nder the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e,/ in a small and r.dimentary way, !.t they are, .nder this management, of minor importance, whereas .nder scientific management they form the +ery essence of the whole system.
The fo.rth of these elements, /an almost e0.al di+ision of the responsi!ility !etween the management and the workmen,/ re0.ires f.rther e7planation. The philosophy of the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ makes it necessary for eachworkman to !ear almost the entire responsi!ility for the general plan as well as for each detail of his work, and in many cases for his implements as well. %n addition to this he m.st do all of the act.al physical la!or. The de+elopment ofa science, on the other hand, in+ol+es the esta!lishment of many r.les, laws, and form.lD which replace the 2.dgment of the indi+id.al workman and which can !eeffecti+ely .sed only after ha+ing !een systematically recorded, inde7ed, etc. The practical .se of scientific data also calls for a room in which to keep the !ooks, records,"EC$ etc., and a desk for the planner to work at. Th.s all of theplanning which .nder the old system was done !y the workman, as a res.lt of hispersonal e7perience, m.st of necessity .nder the new system !e done !y the management in accordance with the laws of the science5 !eca.se e+en if the workman was well s.ited to the de+elopment and .se of scientific data, it wo.ld !e physically impossi!le for him to work at his machine and at a desk at the same time. %t is also clear that in most cases one type of man is needed to plan ahead and an entirely different type to e7ec.te the work.
The man in the planning room, whose specialty .nder scientific management is planning ahead, in+aria!ly finds that the work can !e done !etter and more economically !y a s.!di+ision of the la!or5 each act of each mechanic, for e7ample, sho.ld !e preceded !y +ario.s preparatory acts done !y other men. 3nd all of this in+ol+es, as we ha+e said, /an almost e0.al di+ision of the responsi!ility and the work !etween the management and the workman./
To s.mmari1e8 )nder the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ practically the whole pro!lem is /.p to the workman,/ while .nder scientific management f.lly one4half of the pro!lem is /.p to the management./
Perhaps the most prominent single element in modern scientific management is the task idea. The work of e+ery workman is f.lly planned o.t !y the management atleast one day in ad+ance, and each man recei+es in most cases complete wnt ten instr.ctions, descri!ing in detail the task which he is to accomplish, as well as the means to !e .sed in doing the work. 3nd the work planned in ad+ance in this way constit.tes a task which is to !e sol+ed, as e7plained a!o+e, not !y the workman alone, !.t in almost all cases !y the 2oint effort of the workman and themanagement. This task specifies not only what is to !e done !.t how it is to !edone and the e7act time allowed for doing it. 3nd whene+er the workman s.cceedsin doing his task right, and within the time limit specified, he recei+es an addition of from <= per cent to 1== per cent to his ordinary wages. These tasks are caref.lly planned, so that !oth good and caref.l work are called for in their performance, !.t it sho.ld !e distinctly .nderstood that in no case is the workman called .pon to work at a pace which wo.ld !e in2.rio.s to his health. The task is always so reg.lated that the man who is well s.ited to his 2o! will thri+e while working at this rate d.ring a long term of years and grow happier and moreprospero.s, instead of !eing o+erworked. Scientific management consists +ery largely in preparing for and carrying o.t these tasks.
The writer is f.lly aware that to perhaps most of the readers of this paper thefo.r elements which differentiate the new management from the old will at firstappear to !e merely high4so.nding phrases5 and he wo.ld again repeat that he has no idea of con+incing the reader of their +al.e merely thro.gh anno.ncing their e7istence. -is hope of carrying con+iction rests .pon demonstrating the tremendo.s force and effect of these fo.r elements thro.gh a series of practical ill.strations. %t will !e shown, first, that they can !e applied a!sol.tely to all classes of work, from the most elementary to the most intricate5 and second, that when they are applied, the res.lts m.st of necessity !e o+erwhelmingly greater than those which it is possi!le to attain .nder the management of initiati+e and incenti+e.
The first ill.stration is that of handling pig iron, and this work is chosen !eca.se it is typical of perhaps the cr.dest and most elementary form of la!or which is performed !y man. This work is done !y men with no other implements than their hands. The pig4iron handler stoops down, picks .p a pig weighing a!o.t E po.nds, walks for a few feet or yards and then drops it on to the gro.nd or .pon a pile. This work is so cr.de and elementary in its nat.re that the writer firmly !elie+es that it wo.ld !e possi!le to train an intelligent gorilla so as to !ecome a more efficient pig4iron handler than any man can !e. Bet it will !e shownthat the science of handling pig iron is so great and amo.nts to so m.ch that it is impossi!le for the man who is !est s.ited to this type of work to .nderstand the principles of this science, or e+en to work in accordance with these principles witho.t the aid of a man !etter ed.cated than he is. 3nd the f.rther ill.strations to !e gi+en will make it clear that in almost all of the mechanic arts the science which .nderlies each workman;s act is so great and amo.nts to so m.ch that the workman who is !est s.ited act.ally to do the work is incapa!le "either thro.gh lack of ed.cation or thro.gh ins.fficient mental capacity$ of .nderstanding this science. This is anno.nced as a general principle, the tr.th of which will !ecome apparent as one ill.stration after another is gi+en. 3fter showingthese fo.r elements in the handling of pig iron, se+eral ill.strations will !e gi+en of their application to different kinds of work in the field of the mechanic arts, at inter+als in a rising scale, !eginning with the simplest and ending with the more intricate forms of la!or.
(ne of the first pieces of work .ndertaken !y .s, when the writer started to introd.ce scientific management into the 6ethlehem Steel *ompany, was to handle pig iron on task work. The opening of the Spanish War fo.nd some F=,=== tons of pig iron placed in small piles in an open field ad2oining the works. Prices for pig iron had !een so low that it co.ld not !e sold at a profit, and it therefore had !een stored. With the opening of the Spanish War the price of pig iron rose, and this large acc.m.lation of iron was sold. This ga+e .s a good opport.nity toshow the workmen, as well as the owners and managers of the works, on a fairly large scale the ad+antages of task work o+er the old4fashioned day work and piece work, in doing a +ery elementary class of work.
The 6ethlehem Steel *ompany had fi+e !last f.rnaces, the prod.ct of which had !een handled !y a pig4 iron gang for many years. This gang, at this time, consisted of a!o.t GA men. They were good, a+erage pig4iron handlers, were .nder an e7cellent foreman who himself had !een a pig4iron handler, and the work was done, onthe whole, a!o.t as fast and as cheaply as it was anywhere else at that time.
3 railroad switch was r.n o.t into the field, right along the edge of the pilesof pig iron. 3n inclined plank was placed against the side of a car, and each man picked .p from his pile a pig of iron weighing a!o.t E po.nds, walked .p theinclined plank and dropped it on the end of the car.
We fo.nd that this gang were loading on the a+erage a!o.t 1E 1HE long tons per man per day. We were s.rprised to find, after st.dying the matter, that a first4class pig4iron handler o.ght to handle !etween IG"<C$ and IF long tons per day, instead of 1E 1HE tons. This task seemed to .s so +ery large that we were o!liged to go o+er o.r work se+eral times !efore we were a!sol.tely s.re that we were right. (nce we were s.re, howe+er, that IG tons was a proper day;s work for a first4class pig4iron handler, the task which faced .s as managers .nder the modernscientific plan was clearly !efore .s. %t was o.r d.ty to see that the F=,=== tons of pig iron was loaded on to the cars at the rate of IG tons per man per day, in place of 1E 1HE tons, at which rate the work was then !eing done. 3nd it was f.rther o.r d.ty to see that this work was done witho.t !ringing on a strike among the men, witho.t any 0.arrel with the men, and to see that the men were happier and !etter contented when loading at the new rate of IG tons than they werewhen loading at the old rate of 1E 1HE tons.
(.r first step was the scientific selection of the workman. %n dealing with workmen .nder this type of management, it is an infle7i!le r.le to talk to and dealwith only one man at a time, since each workman has his own special a!ilities and limitations, and since we are not dealing with men in masses, !.t are trying to de+elop each indi+id.al man to his highest state of efficiency and prosperity. (.r first step was to find the proper workman to !egin with. We therefore caref.lly watched and st.died these GA men for three or fo.r days, at the end of which time we had picked o.t fo.r men who appeared to !e physically a!le to handle pig iron at the rate of IG tons per day. 3 caref.l st.dy was then made of each of these men. We looked .p their history as far !ack as practica!le and thoro.gh in0.iries were made as to the character, ha!its, and the am!ition of each of them. Finally we selected one from among the fo.r as the most likely man to start with. -e was a little Pennsyl+ania D.tchman who had !een o!ser+ed to trot !ack home for a mile or so after his work in the e+ening a!o.t as fresh as he was when he came trotting down to work in the morning. We fo.nd that .pon wages of J1.1A a day he had s.cceeded in !.ying a small plot of gro.nd, and that he was engagedin p.tting .p the walls of a little ho.se for himself in the morning !efore starting to work and at night after lea+ing. -e also had the rep.tation of !eing e7ceedingly /close,/ that is, of placing a +ery high +al.e on a dollar. 3s one manwhom we talked to a!o.t him said, /3 penny looks a!o.t the si1e of a cart4wheelto him./ This man we will call Schmidt.
The task !efore .s, then, narrowed itself down to getting Schmidt to handle IG tons of pig iron per day and making him glad to do it. This was done as follows.Schmidt was called o.t from among the gang of pig4iron handlers and talked to somewhat in this way8
/Schmidt, are yo. a high4priced man>/
/Kell, % don;t know +at yo. mean./
/(h yes, yo. do. What % want to know is whether yo. are a high4priced man or not./
/Kell, % don;t know +at yo. mean./
/(h, come now, yo. answer my 0.estions. what % want to find o.t is whether yo. are a high4priced man or one of these cheap fellows here. What % want to find o.t is whether yo. want to earn J1.FA a day or whether yo. are satisfied with J1.1A, 2.st the same as all those cheap fellows are getting./
/Did % +ant J1.FA a day> Kas dot a high4priced man> Kell, yes, % +as a high4priced man./
/(h, yo.;re aggra+ating me. (f co.rse yo. want J1.FA a day e+ery one wants itL Bo. know perfectly well that that has +ery little to do with yo.r !eing a high4priced man. For goodness; sake answer my 0.estions, and don;t waste any more of my time. &ow come o+er here. Bo. see that pile of pig iron>/
/Bes./
/Bo. see that car>/
/Bes./
/Well, if yo. are a high4priced man, yo. will load that pig iron on that car to4morrow for J1.FA. &ow do wake .p and answer my 0.estion. Tell me whether yo. are a high4priced man or not./
/Kell 44 did % got J1.FA for loading dot pig iron on dot car to4morrow>/
/Bes, of co.rse yo. do, and yo. get J1.FA for loading a pile like that e+ery day right thro.gh the year. That is what a high4priced man does, and yo. know it 2.st as well as % do./
/Kell, dot;s all right. % co.ld load dot pig iron on the car to4morrow for J1.FA, and % get it e+ery day, don;t %>/
/*ertainly yo. do 44 certainly yo. do./
/Kell, den, % +as a high4priced man./
/&ow, hold on, hold on. Bo. know 2.st as well as % do that a high4priced man has to do e7actly as he;s told from morning till night. Bo. ha+e seen this man here !efore, ha+en;t yo.>/
/&o, % ne+er saw him./
/Well, if yo. are a high4priced man, yo. will do e7actly as this man tells yo. to4morrow, from morning till night. When he tells yo. to pick .p a pig and walk,yo. pick it .p and yo. walk, and when he tells yo. to sit down and rest, yo. sit down. Bo. do that right straight thro.gh the day. 3nd what;s more, no !ack talk. &ow a high4priced man does 2.st what he;s told to do, and no !ack talk. Do yo. .nderstand that> When this man tells yo. to walk, yo. walk5 when he tells yo. to sit down, yo. sit down, and yo. don;t talk !ack at him. &ow yo. come on to work here to4morrow morning and %;ll know !efore night whether yo. are really a high4priced man or not./
This seems to !e rather ro.gh talk. 3nd indeed it wo.ld !e if applied to an ed.cated mechanic, or e+en an intelligent la!orer. With a man of the mentally sl.ggish type of Schmidt it is appropriate and not .nkind, since it is effecti+e in fi7ing his attention on the high wages which he wants and away from what, if it were called to his attention, he pro!a!ly wo.ld consider impossi!ly hard work.
What wo.ld Schmidt;s answer !e if he were talked to in a manner which is .s.al .nder the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/> say, as follows8
/&ow, Schmidt, yo. are a first4class pig4iron handler and know yo.r !.siness well. Bo. ha+e !een handling at the rate of 1E 1HE tons per day. % ha+e gi+en considera!le st.dy to handling pig iron, and feel s.re that yo. co.ld do a m.ch larger day;s work than yo. ha+e !een doing. &ow don;t yo. think that if yo. really tried yo. co.ld handle IG tons of pig iron per day, instead of 1E 1HE tons>/
What do yo. think Schmidt;s answer wo.ld !e to this>
Schmidt started to work, and all day long, and at reg.lar inter+als, was told !y the man who stood o+er him with a watch, /&ow pick .p a pig and walk. &ow sit down and rest. &ow walk 44 now rest,/ etc. -e worked when he was told to work, and rested when he was told to rest, and at half4past fi+e in the afternoon had his IG 1HE tons loaded on the car. 3nd he practically ne+er failed to work at this pace and do the task that was set him d.ring the three years that the writer was at 6ethlehem. 3nd thro.gho.t this time he a+eraged a little more than J1.FA per day, whereas !efore he had ne+er recei+ed o+er J1.1A per day, which was the r.ling rate of wages at that time in 6ethlehem. That is, he recei+ed @= per cent higher wages than were paid to other men who were not working on task work. (ne man after another was picked o.t and trained to handle pig iron at the rate of IG 1HE tons per day .ntil all of the pig iron was handled at this rate, and the men were recei+ing @= per cent more wages than other workmen aro.nd them.
The writer has gi+en a!o+e a !rief description of three of the fo.r elements which constit.te the essence of scientific management8 first, the caref.l selection of the workman, and, second and third, the method of first ind.cing and then training and helping the workman to work according to the scientific method. &othing has as yet !een said a!o.t the science of handling pig iron. The writer tr.sts, howe+er, that !efore lea+ing this ill.stration the reader will !e thoro.ghlycon+inced that there is a science of handling pig iron, and f.rther that this science amo.nts to so m.ch that the man who is s.ited to handle pig iron cannot possi!ly .nderstand it, nor e+en work in accordance with the laws of this science, witho.t the help of those who are o+er him.
The writer came into the machine4shop of the Mid+ale Steel *ompany in 1FGF, after ha+ing ser+ed an apprenticeship as a pattern4maker and as a machinist. This was close to the end of the long period of depression following the panic of 1FG<, and !.siness was so poor that it was impossi!le for many mechanics to get workat their trades. For this reason he was o!liged to start as a day la!orer instead of working as a mechanic. Fort.nately for him, soon after he came into the shop the clerk of the shop was fo.nd stealing. There was no one else a+aila!le, and so, ha+ing more ed.cation than the other la!orers "since he had !een prepared for college$ he was gi+en the position of clerk. Shortly after this he was gi+enwork as a machinist in r.nning one of the lathes, and, as he t.rned o.t rather more work than other machinists were doing on similar lathes, after se+eral months was made gang!oss o+er the lathes.
3lmost all of the work of this shop had !een done on piece work for se+eral years. 3s was .s.al then, and in fact as is still .s.al in most of the shops in this co.ntry, the shop was really r.n !y the workmen, and not !y the !osses. The workmen together had caref.lly planned 2.st how fast each 2o! sho.ld !e done, and they had set a pace for each machine thro.gho.t the shop, which was limited to a!o.t one4third of a good day;s work. E+ery new workman who came into the shop was told at once !y the other men e7actly how m.ch of each kind of work he was to do, and .nless he o!eyed these instr.ctions he was s.re !efore long to !e dri+eno.t of the place !y the men.
3s soon as the writer was made gang4!oss, one after another of the men came to him and talked somewhat as follows8
/&ow, Fred, we;re +ery glad to see that yo.;+e !een made gang4!oss. Bo. know the game all right, and we;re s.re that yo.;re not likely to !e a piecework hog. Bo. come along with .s, and e+erything will !e all right, !.t if yo. try !reakingany of these rates yo. can !e mighty s.re that we;ll throw yo. o+er the fence./
The writer told them plainly that he was now working on the side of the management, and that he proposed to do whate+er he co.ld to get a fair day;s work o.t of the lathes. This immediately started a war5 in most cases a friendly war, !eca.se the men who were .nder him were his personal friends, !.t none the less a war, which as time went on grew more and more !itter. The writer .sed e+ery e7pedient to make them do a fair day;s work, s.ch as discharging or lowering the wagesof the more st.!!orn men who ref.sed to make any impro+ement, and s.ch as lowering the piece4work 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 wo.ld then do a fair day;s work. While the men constantly !ro.ght s.ch press.re to !ear "!oth inside and o.tside the works$ .pon all those who started to increase their o.tp.t that they were finally compelled to do a!o.t as the rest did, or else 0.it. &o one who has not had this e7perience can ha+e an idea of the !itterness which is grad.ally de+eloped in s.ch a str.ggle. %n a war of this kind the workmen ha+e one e7pedient which is .s.ally effecti+e. They .se their ingen.ity tocontri+e +ario.s ways in which the machines which they are r.nning are !roken or damaged 44 apparently !y accident, or in the reg.lar co.rse of work 44 and this they always lay at the door of the foreman, who has forced them to dri+e the machine so hard that it is o+erstrained and is !eing r.ined. 3nd there are few foremen indeed who are a!le to stand .p against the com!ined press.re of all of the men in the shop. %n this case the pro!lem was complicated !y the fact that theshop ran !oth day and night.
The writer had two ad+antages, howe+er, which are not possessed !y the ordinaryforeman, and these came, c.rio.sly eno.gh, from the fact that he was not the son of a working man.
First, owing to the fact that he happened not to !e of working parents, the owners of the company !elie+ed 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 .nder him. So that, when the machinists reported to the S.perintendent that the machines were !eing smashed .p !eca.se an incompetent foreman was o+erstraining them, the S.perintendent accepted the word of the writer when he said that these men were deli!erately !reaking their machines as a part of the piece4work war which was going on, and he also allowed the writer to make the only effecti+e answer to this Kandalism on the part ofthe men, namely8 /There will !e no more accidents to the machines in this shop.%f any part of a machine is !roken the man in charge of it m.st pay at least a part of the cost of its repair, and the fines collected in this way will all !e handed o+er to the m.t.al !eneficial association to help care for sick workmen./This soon stopped the wilf.l !reaking of machines.
Second. %f the writer had !een one of the workmen, and had li+ed where they li+ed, they wo.ld ha+e !ro.ght s.ch social press.re to !ear .pon him that it wo.ld ha+e !een impossi!le to ha+e stood o.t against them. -e wo.ld ha+e !een called /sca!/ and other fo.l names e+ery time he appeared on the street, his wife wo.ld ha+e !een a!.sed, and his children wo.ld ha+e !een stoned. (nce or twice he was !egged !y some of his friends among the workmen not to walk home, a!o.t two and a half miles along the lonely path !y the side of the railway. -e was told that if he contin.ed to do this it wo.ld !e at the risk of his life. %n all s.ch cases, howe+er, 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 e+ery night right .p that railway track5 that he ne+er had carried and ne+er wo.ld carry any weapon of any kind, and that they co.ld shoot and !e d 44 44 4.
3fter a!o.t three years of this kind of str.ggling, the o.tp.t of the machines had !een materially increased, in many cases do.!led, and as a res.lt the writerhad !een promoted from one gang4 !oss4ship to another .ntil he !ecame foreman ofthe shop. For any right4minded man, howe+er, this s.ccess is in no sense a recompense for the !itter relations which he is forced to maintain with all of thosearo.nd him. 9ife which is one contin.o.s str.ggle with other men is hardly worth li+ing. -is workman friends came to him contin.ally and asked him, in a personal, friendly way, whether he wo.ld ad+ise them, for their own !est interest, to t.rn o.t more work. 3nd, as a tr.thf.l man, he had to tell them that if he were in their place he wo.ld fight against t.rning o.t any more work, 2.st as they were doing, !eca.se .nder the piecework system they wo.ld !e allowed to earn no more wages than they had !een earning, and yet they wo.ld !e made to work harder.
Soon after !eing 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 sho.ld !ecome the same, instead of antagonistic. This res.lted, some three years later, in the starting of the type of management which is descri!ed in papers presented to the 3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers entitled /3 Piece4'ate System/ and /Shop Management./
%n preparation for this system the writer reali1ed that the greatest o!stacle to harmonio.s cooperation !etween the workmen and the management lay in the ignorance of the management as to what really constit.tes a proper day;s work for a workman. -e f.lly reali1ed that, altho.gh he was foreman of the shop, the com!ined knowledge and skill of the workmen who were .nder him was certainly ten times as great as his own. -e therefore o!tained the permission of Mr William Sellers,who was at that time the President of the Mid+ale Steel *ompany, to spend some money in a caref.l, scientific st.dy of the time re0.ired to do +ario.s kinds ofwork.
Mr Sellers allowed this more as a reward for ha+ing, to a certain e7tent, /madegood/ as foreman of the shop in getting more work o.t of the men, than for any other reason. -e stated, howe+er, that he did not !elie+e that any scientific st.dy of this sort wo.ld gi+e res.lts of m.ch +al.e.
3mong se+eral in+estigations which were .ndertaken at this time, one was an attempt to find some r.le, or law, which wo.ld ena!le a foreman to know in ad+ance how m.ch of any kind of hea+y la!oring work a man who was well s.ited to his 2o!o.ght to do in a day5 that is, to st.dy the tiring effect of hea+y la!or .pon afirst4class man. (.r first step was to employ a yo.ng college grad.ate to look .p all that had !een written on the s.!2ect in English, ,erman, and French. Two classes of e7periments had !een made8 one !y physiologists who were st.dying theend.rance of the h.man animal, and the other !y engineers who wished to determine what fraction of a horse4power a man4power was. These e7periments had !een made largely .pon men who were lifting loads !y means of t.rning the crank of a winch from which weights were s.spended, and others who were engaged in walking, r.nning, and lifting weights in +ario.s ways. -owe+er, the records of these in+estigations were so meager that no law of any +al.e co.ld !e ded.ced from them. Wetherefore started a series of e7periments of o.r own.
Two first4class la!orers were selected, men who had pro+ed themsel+es to !e physically powerf.l and who were also good steady workers. These men were paid do.!le wages d.ring the e7periments, and were told that they m.st work to the !est of their a!ility at all times, and that we sho.ld 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 decei+e .s he wo.ld !e discharged. They worked to the !est of their a!ility thro.gho.t the time that they were !eing o!ser+ed.
&ow it m.st !e clearly .nderstood that in these e7periments we were not trying to find the ma7im.m work that a man co.ld do on a short sp.rt or for a few days,!.t that o.r endea+or was to learn what really constit.ted a f.ll day;s work for a first4class man5 the !est day;s work that a man co.ld properly do, year in and year o.t, and still thri+e .nder. These men were gi+en all kinds of tasks, which were carried o.t each day .nder the close o!ser+ation of the yo.ng college man who was cond.cting the e7periments, and who at the same time noted with a stop4watch the proper time for all of the motions that were made !y the men. E+ery element in any way connected with the work which we !elie+ed co.ld ha+e a !earing on the res.lt was caref.lly st.died and recorded. What we hoped .ltimately to determine was what fraction of a horse4power a man was a!le to e7ert, that is, how many foot4po.nds of work a man co.ld do in a day.
3fter completing this series of e7periments, therefore, each man;s work for each day was translated into foot4po.nds of energy, and to o.r s.rprise we fo.nd that there was no constant or .niform relation !etween the foot4po.nds of energy which the man e7erted d.ring a day and the tiring effect of his work. (n some kinds of work the man wo.ld !e tired o.t when doing perhaps not more than one4eighth of a horse4power, while in others he wo.ld !e tired to no greater e7tent !y doing half a horse4power of work. We failed, therefore, to find any law which was an acc.rate g.ide to the ma7im.m day;s work for a first4 class workman.
3 large amo.nt of +ery +al.a!le data had !een o!tained, which ena!led .s to know, for many kinds of la!or, what was a proper day;s work. %t did not seem wise, howe+er, at this time to spend any more money in trying to find the e7act law which we were after. Some years later, when more money was a+aila!le for this p.rpose, a second series of e7periments was made, similar to the first, !.t somewhatmore thoro.gh. This, howe+er, res.lted as the first e7periments, in o!taining +al.a!le information !.t not in the de+elopment of a law. 3gain, some years later, a third series of e7periments was made, and this time no tro.!le was spared ino.r endea+or to make the work thoro.gh. E+ery min.te element which co.ld in anyway affect the pro!lem was caref.lly noted and st.died, and two college men de+oted a!o.t three months to the e7periments. 3fter this data was again translatedinto foot4po.nds of energy e7erted for each man each day, it !ecame perfectly clear that there is no direct relation !etween the horse4power which a man e7erts"that is, his foot4po.nds of energy per day$ and the tiring effect of the work on the man. The writer, howe+er, was 0.ite as firmly con+inced as e+er that somedefinite, clear4c.t law e7isted as to what constit.tes a f.ll day;s work for a first4class la!orer, and o.r data had !een so caref.lly collected and recorded that he felt s.re that the necessary information was incl.ded somewhere in the records. The pro!lem of de+eloping this law from the acc.m.lated facts was therefore handed o+er to Mr *arl ,. 6arth, who is a !etter mathematician than any of the rest of .s, and we decided to in+estigate the pro!lem in a new way, !y graphically representing each element of the work thro.gh plotting c.r+es, which sho.ldgi+e .s, as it were, a !ird;s4eye +iew of e+ery element. %n a comparati+ely short time Mr 6arth had disco+ered the law go+erning the tiring effect of hea+y la!or on a first4class man. 3nd it is so simple in its nat.re that it is tr.ly remarka!le that it sho.ld not ha+e !een disco+ered and clearly .nderstood years !efore. The law which was de+eloped is as follows8
The law is confined to that class of work in which the limit of a man;s capacity is reached !eca.se he is tired o.t. %t is the law of hea+y la!oring, corresponding to the work of the cart horse, rather than that of the trotter. Practicallyall s.ch work consists of a hea+y p.ll or a p.sh on the man;s arms, that is, the man;s strength is e7erted !y either lifting or p.shing something which he grasps in his hands. 3nd the law is that for each gi+en p.ll or p.sh on the man;s arms it is possi!le for the workman to !e .nder load for only a definite percentage of the day. For e7ample, when pig iron is !eing handled "each pig weighing E po.nds$, a first4class workman can only !e .nder load I< per cent of the day. -em.st !e entirely free from load d.ring AG per cent of the day. 3nd as the load !ecomes lighter, the percentage of the day .nder which the man can remain .nder load increases. So that, if the workman is handling a half4pig, weighing I@ po.nds, he can then !e .nder load AF per cent of the day, and only has to rest d.ring IE per cent. 3s the weight grows lighter the man can remain .nder load d.ring a larger and larger percentage of the day, .ntil finally a load is reached whichhe can carry in his hands all day long witho.t !eing tired o.t. When that pointhas !een arri+ed at this law ceases to !e .sef.l as a g.ide to a la!orer;s end.rance, and some other law m.st !e fo.nd which indicates the man;s capacity for work.
When a la!orer is carrying a piece of pig iron weighing E po.nds in his hands,it tires him a!o.t as m.ch to stand still .nder the load as it does to walk with it, since his arm m.scles are .nder the same se+ere tension whether he is mo+ing or not. 3 man, howe+er, who stands still .nder a load is e7erting no horse4 power whate+er, and this acco.nts for the fact that no constant relation co.ld !e traced in +ario.s kinds of hea+y la!oring work !etween the foot4po.nds of energye7erted and the tiring effect of the work on the man. %t will also !e clear that in all work of this kind it is necessary for the arms of the workman to !e completely free from load "that is, for the workman to rest$ at fre0.ent inter+als.Thro.gho.t the time that the man is .nder a hea+y load the tiss.es of his arm m.scles are in process of degeneration, and fre0.ent periods of rest are re0.iredin order that the !lood may ha+e a chance to restore these tiss.es to their normal condition.
To ret.rn now to o.r pig4iron handlers at the 6ethlehem Steel *ompany. %f Schmidt had !een allowed to attack the pile of IG tons of pig iron witho.t the g.idance or direction of a man who .nderstood the art, or science, of handling pig iron, in his desire to earn his high wages he wo.ld pro!a!ly ha+e tired himself o.t!y 11 or 1E o;clock in the day. -e wo.ld ha+e kept so steadily at work that hism.scles wo.ld not ha+e had the proper periods of rest a!sol.tely needed for rec.peration, and he wo.ld ha+e !een completely e7ha.sted early in the day. 6y ha+ing a man, howe+er, who .nderstood this law, stand o+er him and direct his work, day after day, .ntil he ac0.ired the ha!it of resting at proper inter+als, he was a!le to work at an e+en gait all day long witho.t .nd.ly tiring himself.
&ow one of the +ery first re0.irements for a man who is fit to handle pig iron as a reg.lar occ.pation is that he shall !e so st.pid and so phlegmatic that he more nearly resem!les in his mental make4.p the o7 than any other type. The man who is mentally alert and intelligent is for this +ery reason entirely .ns.ited to what wo.ld, for him, !e the grinding monotony of work of this character. Therefore the workman who is !est s.ited to handling pig iron is .na!le to .nderstand the real science of doing this class of work. -e is so st.pid that the word /percentage/ has no meaning to him, and he m.st conse0.ently !e trained !y a man more intelligent than himself into the ha!it of working in accordance with the laws of this science !efore he can !e s.ccessf.l.
The writer tr.sts that it is now clear that e+en in the case of the most elementary form of la!or that is known, there is a science, and that when the man !ests.ited to this class of work has !een caref.lly selected, when the science of doing the work has !een de+eloped, and when the caref.lly selected man has !een trained to work in accordance with this science, the res.lts o!tained m.st of necessity !e o+erwhelmingly greater than those which are possi!le .nder the plan of/initiati+e and incenti+e./
9et .s, howe+er, again t.rn to the case of these pig4iron handlers, and see whether, .nder the ordinary type of management, it wo.ld not ha+e !een possi!le to o!tain practically the same res.lts.
The writer has p.t the pro!lem !efore many good managers, and asked them whether, .nder premi.m work, piece work, or any of the ordinary plans of management, they wo.ld !e likely e+en to appro7imate IG tons"IC$ per man per day, and not a man has s.ggested that an o.tp.t of o+er 1F to EA tons co.ld !e attained !y any of the ordinary e7pedients. %t will !e remem!ered that the 6ethlehem men were loading only 1E 1HE tons per man.
To go into the matter in more detail, howe+er8 3s to the scientific selection of the men, it is a fact that in this gang of GA pig4iron handlers only a!o.t oneman in eight was physically capa!le of handling IG 1HE tons per day. With the +ery !est of intentions, the other se+en o.t of eight men were physically .na!le to work at this pace. &ow the one man in eight who was a!le to do this work was in no sense s.perior to the other men who were working on the gang. -e merely happened to !e a man of the type of the o7, no rare specimen of h.manity, diffic.lt to find and therefore +ery highly pri1ed. (n the contrary, he was a man so st.pid that he was .nfitted to do most kinds of la!oring work, e+en. The selection of the man, then, does not in+ol+e finding some e7traordinary indi+id.al, !.t merely picking o.t from among +ery ordinary men the few who are especially s.ited to this type of work. 3ltho.gh in this partic.lar gang only one man in eight wass.ited to doing the work, we had not the slightest diffic.lty in getting all the men who were needed 44 some of them from inside of the works and others from the neigh!oring co.ntry 44 who were e7actly s.ited to the 2o!.
)nder the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ the attit.de of the management is that of /p.tting the work .p to the workmen./ What likelihood wo.ld there !e, then, .nder the old type of management, of these men properly selecting themsel+es for pig4iron handling> Wo.ld they !e likely to get rid of se+en men o.t of eight from their own gang and retain only the eighth man> &oL 3nd no e7pedientco.ld !e de+ised which wo.ld make these men properly select themsel+es. E+en ifthey f.lly reali1ed the necessity of doing so in order to o!tain high wages "and they are not s.fficiently intelligent properly to grasp this necessity$, the fact that their friends or their !rothers who were working right alongside of them wo.ld temporarily !e thrown o.t of a 2o! !eca.se they were not s.ited to this kind of work wo.ld entirely pre+ent them from properly selecting themsel+es, that is, from remo+ing the se+en o.t of eight men on the gang who were .ns.ited to pig4iron handling.
3s to the possi!ility, .nder the old type of management, of ind.cing these pig4iron handlers "after they had !een properly selected$ to work in accordance withthe science of doing hea+y la!oring, namely, ha+ing proper scientifically determined periods of rest in close se0.ence to periods of work. 3s has !een indicated !efore, the essential idea of the ordinary types of management is that each workman has !ecome more skilled in his own trade than it is possi!le for any one in the management to !e, and that, therefore, the details of how the work shall !est !e done m.st !e left to him. The idea, then, of taking one man after anotherand training him .nder a competent teacher into new working ha!its .ntil he contin.ally and ha!it.ally works in accordance with scientific laws, which ha+e !een de+eloped !y some one else, is directly antagonistic to the old idea that eachworkman can !est reg.late his own way of doing the work. 3nd !esides this, the man s.ited to handling pig iron is too st.pid properly to train himself. Th.s itwill !e seen that with the ordinary types of management the de+elopment of scientific knowledge to replace r.le of th.m!, the scientific selection of the men, and ind.cing the men to work in accordance with these scientific principles are entirely o.t of the 0.estion. 3nd this !eca.se the philosophy of the old management p.ts the entire responsi!ility .pon the workmen, while the philosophy of thenew places a great part of it .pon the management.
With most readers great sympathy will !e aro.sed !eca.se se+en o.t of eight of these pig4iron handlers were thrown o.t of a 2o!. This sympathy is entirely wasted, !eca.se almost all of them were immediately gi+en other 2o!s with the 6ethlehem Steel *ompany. 3nd indeed it sho.ld !e .nderstood that the remo+al of these men from pig4iron handling, for which they were .nfit, was really a kindness to themsel+es, !eca.se it was the first step toward finding them work for which they were pec.liarly fitted, and at which, after recei+ing proper training, they co.ld permanently and legitimately earn higher wages.
3ltho.gh the reader may !e con+inced that there is a certain science !ack of the handling of pig iron, still it is more than likely that he is still skeptical as to the e7istence of a science for doing other kinds of la!oring. (ne of the important o!2ects of this paper is to con+ince its readers that e+ery single act of e+ery workman can !e red.ced to a science. With the hope of f.lly con+incing the reader of this fact, therefore, the writer proposes to gi+e se+eral more simple ill.strations from among the tho.sands which are at hand.
For e7ample, the a+erage man wo.ld 0.estion whether there is m.ch of any science in the work of sho+eling. Bet there is !.t little do.!t, if any intelligent reader of this paper were deli!erately to set o.t to find what may !e called the fo.ndation of the science of sho+eling, that with perhaps 1A to E= ho.rs of tho.ght and analysis he wo.ld !e almost s.re to ha+e arri+ed at the essence of this science. (n the other hand, so completely are the r.le4of4th.m! ideas still dominant that the writer has ne+er met a single sho+el contractor to whom it had e+ere+en occ.rred that there was s.ch a thing as the science of sho+eling. This science is so elementary as to !e almost self4e+ident.
For a first4class sho+eler there is a gi+en sho+el load at which he will do his!iggest day;s work. What is this sho+el load> Will a first4class man do more work per day with a sho+el load of A po.nds, 1= po.nds, 1A po.nds, E=, EA, <=, or I= po.nds> &ow this is a 0.estion which can !e answered only thro.gh caref.lly made e7periments. 6y first selecting two or three first4class sho+elers, and paying them e7tra wages for doing tr.stworthy work, and then grad.ally +arying the sho+el load and ha+ing all the conditions accompanying the work caref.lly o!ser+ed for se+eral weeks !y men who were .sed to e7perimenting, it was fo.nd that a first4class man wo.ld do his !iggest day;s work with a sho+el load of a!o.t E1 po.nds. For instance, that this man wo.ld sho+el a larger tonnage per day with a E14po.nd load than with a EI4 po.nd load or than with an 1F4po.nd load on his sho+el. %t is, of co.rse, e+ident that no sho+eler can always take a load of e7actlyE1 po.nds on his sho+el, !.t ne+ertheless, altho.gh his load may +ary < or I po.nds one way or the other, either !elow or a!o+e the E1 po.nds1 he will do his !iggest day;s work when his a+erage for the day is a!o.t E1 po.nds. The writer does not wish it to !e .nderstood that this is the whole of the art or science of sho+eling. There are many other elements, which together go to make .p this science. 6.t he wishes to indicate the important effect which this one piece of scientific knowledge has .pon the work of sho+eling.
3t the works of the 6ethlehem Steel *ompany, for e7ample, as a res.lt of this law, instead of allowing each sho+eler to select and own his own sho+el, it !ecame necessary to pro+ide some F to 1= different kinds of sho+els, etc., each one appropriate to handling a gi+en type of material5 not only so as to ena!le the men to handle an a+erage load of E1 po.nds, !.t also to adapt the sho+el to se+eral other re0.irements which !ecome perfectly e+ident when this work is st.died asa science. 3 large sho+el tool room was !.ilt, in which were stored not only sho+els !.t caref.lly designed and standardi1ed la!or implements of all kinds, s.ch as picks, crow!ars, etc. This made it possi!le to iss.e to each workman a sho+el which wo.ld hold a load of E1 po.nds of whate+er class of material they were to handle8 a small sho+el for ore, say, or a large one for ashes. %ron ore is one of the hea+y materials which are handled in a works of this kind, and rice coal, owing to the fact that it is so slippery on the sho+el, is one of the lightest materials. 3nd it was fo.nd on st.dying the r.le4of4th.m! plan at the 6ethlehem Steel *ompany, where each sho+eler owned his own sho+el, that he wo.ld fre0.ently go from sho+eling ore, with a load of a!o.t <= po.nds per sho+el, to handling rice coal, with a load on the same sho+el of less than I po.nds. %n the one case, he was so o+erloaded that it was impossi!le for him to do a f.ll day;s work,and in the other case he was so ridic.lo.sly .nderloaded that it was manifestlyimpossi!le to e+en appro7imate a day;s work.
6riefly to ill.strate some of the other elements which go to make .p the science of sho+eling, tho.sands of stop4watch o!ser+ations were made to st.dy 2.st how0.ickly a la!orer, pro+ided in each case with the proper type of sho+el, can p.sh his sho+el into the pile of materials and then draw it o.t properly loaded. These o!ser+ations were made first when p.shing the sho+el into the !ody of the pile. &e7t when sho+eling on a dirt !ottom, that is, at the o.tside edge of the pile, and ne7t with a wooden !ottom, and finally with an iron !ottom. 3gain a similar acc.rate time st.dy was made of the time re0.ired to swing the sho+el !ackward and then throw the load for a gi+en hori1ontal distance, accompanied !y a gi+en height. This time st.dy was made for +ario.s com!inations of distance and height. With data of this sort !efore him, co.pled with the law of end.rance descri!ed in the case of the pig4iron handlers, it is e+ident that the man who is directing sho+elers can first teach them the e7act methods which sho.ld !e employedto .se their strength to the +ery !est ad+antage, and can then assign them daily tasks which are so 2.st that the workman can each day !e s.re of earning the large !on.s which is paid whene+er he s.ccessf.lly performs this task.
There were a!o.t @== sho+elers and la!orers of this general class in the yard of the 6ethlehem Steel *ompany at this time. These men were scattered in their work o+er a yard which was, ro.ghly, a!o.t two miles long and half a mile wide. %norder that each workman sho.ld !e gi+en his proper implement and his proper instr.ctions for doing each new 2o!, it was necessary to esta!lish a detailed system for directing men in their work, in place of the old plan of handling them in large gro.ps, or gangs, .nder a few yard foremen. 3s each workman came into the works in the morning, he took o.t of his own special pigeonhole, with his n.m!eron the o.tside, two pieces of paper, one of which stated 2.st what implements he was to get from the tool room and where he was to start to work, and the second of which ga+e the history of his pre+io.s day;s work5 that is, a statement of the work which he had done, how m.ch he had earned the day !efore, etc. Many of these men were foreigners and .na!le to read and write, !.t they all knew at a glance the essence of this report, !eca.se yellow paper showed the man that he had failed to do his f.ll task the day !efore, and informed him that he had not earned as m.ch as J1.FA a day, and that none !.t high4priced men wo.ld !e allowed to stay permanently with this gang. The hope was f.rther e7pressed that he wo.ldearn his f.ll wages on the following day. So that whene+er the men recei+ed white slips they knew that e+erything was all right, and whene+er they recei+ed yellow slips they reali1ed that they m.st do !etter or they wo.ld !e shifted to some other class of work.
Dealing with e+ery workman as a separate indi+id.al in this way in+ol+ed the !.ilding of a la!or office for the s.perintendent and clerks who were in charge ofthis section of the work. %n this office e+ery la!orer;s work was planned o.t well in ad+ance, and the workmen were all mo+ed from place to place !y the clerkswith ela!orate diagrams or maps of the yard !efore them, +ery m.ch as chessmen are mo+ed on a chess4!oard, a telephone and messenger system ha+ing !een installed for this p.rpose. %n this way a large amo.nt of the time lost thro.gh ha+ing too many men in one place and too few in another, and thro.gh waiting !etween 2o!s, was entirely eliminated. )nder the old system the workmen were kept day after day in comparati+ely large gangs, each .nder a single foreman, and the gang was apt to remain of pretty nearly the same si1e whether there was m.ch or little of the partic.lar kind of work on hand which this foreman had .nder his charge, since each gang had to !e kept large eno.gh to handle whate+er work in its special line was likely to come along.
When one ceases to deal with men in large gangs or gro.ps, and proceeds to st.dy each workman as an indi+id.al, if the workman fails to do his task, some competent teacher sho.ld !e sent to show him e7actly how his work can !est !e done, to g.ide, help, and enco.rage him, and, at the same time, to st.dy his possi!ilities as a workman. So that, .nder the plan which indi+id.ali1es each workman, instead of !r.tally discharging the man or lowering his wages for failing to make good at once, he is gi+en the time and the help re0.ired to make him proficient at his present 2o!, or he is shifted to another class of work for which he is either mentally or physically !etter s.ited.
3ll of this re0.ires the kindly cooperation of the management, and in+ol+es a m.ch more ela!orate organi1ation and system than the old4fashioned herding of menin large gangs. This organi1ation consisted, in this case, of one set of men, who were engaged in the de+elopment of the science of la!oring thro.gh time st.dy, s.ch as has !een descri!ed a!o+e5 another set of men, mostly skilled la!orers themsel+es, who were teachers, and who helped and g.ided the men in their work5 another set of tool4 room men who pro+ided them with the proper implements and kept them in perfect order, and another set of clerks who planned the work well inad+ance, mo+ed the men with the least loss of time from one place to another, and properly recorded each man;s earnings, etc. 3nd this f.rnishes an elementary ill.stration of what has !een referred to as cooperation !etween the management and the workmen.
The 0.estion which nat.rally presents itself is whether an ela!orate organi1ation of this sort can !e made to pay for itself5 whether s.ch an organi1ation is not top4hea+y. This 0.estion will !est !e answered !y a statement of the res.lts of the third year of working .nder this plan.
(ld Plan &ew Plan Task Work
The n.m!er of yard la!orers was red.ced from !etween I== M @== down to a!o.t 1I= 3+erage n.m!er of tons per man per day........ 1@ A 3+erage earnings per man per day...... J1.1A J1.FF 3+erage cost of handling a ton of EEI= l!s..... J=.=GE J=.=<<
3nd in comp.ting the low cost of J=.=<< per ton, the office and tool4room e7penses, and the wages of all la!or s.perintendents, foremen, clerks, time4st.dy men, etc., are incl.ded.
D.ring this year the total sa+ing of the new plan o+er the old amo.nted to J<@,I1G.@, and d.ring the si7 months following, when all of the work of the yard was on task work, the sa+ing was at the rate of !etween JGA,=== and JF=,=== per year.
Perhaps the most important of all the res.lts attained was the effect on the workmen themsel+es. 3 caref.l in0.iry into the condition of these men de+eloped the fact that o.t of the 1I= workmen only two were said to !e drinking men. This does not, of co.rse, imply that many of them did not take an occasional drink. The fact is that a steady drinker wo.ld find it almost impossi!le to keep .p with the pace which was set, so that they were practically all so!er. Many, if not most of them, were sa+ing money, and they all li+ed !etter than they had !efore. These men constit.ted the finest !ody of picked la!orers that the writer has e+erseen together, and they looked .pon the men who were o+er them, their !osses and their teachers, as their +ery !est friends5 not as nigger dri+ers, forcing them to work e7tra hard for ordinary wages, !.t as friends who were teaching them and helping them to earn m.ch higher wages than they had e+er earned !efore. %t wo.ld ha+e !een a!sol.tely impossi!le for any one to ha+e stirred .p strife !etween these men and their employers. 3nd this presents a +ery simple tho.gh effecti+e ill.stration of what is meant !y the words /prosperity for the employ:, co.pled with prosperity for the employer,/ the two principal o!2ects of management. %t is e+ident also that this res.lt has !een !ro.ght a!o.t !y the application of the fo.r f.ndamental principles of scientific management.
3s another ill.stration of the +al.e of a scientific st.dy of the moti+es whichinfl.ence workmen in their daily work, the loss of am!ition and initiati+e will!e cited, which takes place in workmen when they are herded into gangs instead of !eing treated as separate indi+id.als. 3 caref.l analysis had demonstrated the fact that when workmen are herded together in gangs, each man in the gang !ecomes far less efficient than when his personal am!ition is stim.lated5 that when men work in gangs, their indi+id.al efficiency falls almost in+aria!ly down to or !elow the le+el of the worst man in the gang5 and that they are all p.lled down instead of !eing ele+ated !y !eing herded together. For this reason a general order had !een iss.ed in the 6ethlehem Steel Works that not more than fo.r men were to !e allowed to work in a la!or gang witho.t a special permit, signed !y the ,eneral S.perintendent of the works, this special permit to e7tend for one week only. it was arranged that as far as possi!le each la!orer sho.ld !e gi+en a separate indi+id.al task. 3s there were a!o.t A=== men at work in the esta!lishment, the ,eneral S.perintendent had so m.ch to do that there was !.t little time left for signing these special permits.
3fter gang work had !een !y this means !roken .p, an .n.s.ally fine set of ore sho+elers had !een de+eloped, thro.gh caref.l selection and indi+id.al, scientific training. Each of these men was gi+en a separate ear to .nload each day, and his wages depended .pon his own personal work. The man who .nloaded the largest amo.nt of ore was paid the highest wages, and an .n.s.al opport.nity came for demonstrating the importance of indi+id.ali1ing each workman. M.ch of this ore came from the 9ake S.perior region, and the same ore was deli+ered !oth in Pitts!.rg and in 6ethlehem in e7actly similar cars. There was a shortage of ore handlersin Pitts!.rg, and hearing of the fine gang of la!orers that had !een de+eloped at 6ethlehem, one of the Pitts!.rg steel works sent an agent to hire the 6ethlehem men. The Pitts!.rg men offered I H1= cents a ton for .nloading e7actly the same ore, with the same sho+els, from the same cars, that were .nloaded in 6ethlehem for < EH1= cents a ton. 3fter caref.lly considering this sit.ation, it was decided that it wo.ld !e .nwise to pay more than < EH1= cents per ton for .nloading the 6ethlehem cars, !eca.se, at this rate, the 6ethlehem la!orers were earning a little o+er J1.FA per man per day, and this price was @= per cent more than the r.ling rate of wages aro.nd 6ethlehem.
3 long series of e7periments, co.pled with close o!ser+ation, had demonstrated the fact that when workmen of this cali!er are gi+en a caref.lly meas.red task, which calls for a !ig day;s work on their part, and that when in ret.rn for thise7tra effort they are paid wages .p to @= per cent !eyond the wages .s.ally paid, that this increase in wages tends to make them not only more thrifty !.t !etter men in e+ery way5 that they li+e rather !etter, !egin to sa+e money, !ecome more so!er, and work more steadily. When, on the other hand, they recei+e m.ch more than a @= per cent increase in wages, many of them will work irreg.larly and tend to !ecome more or less shiftless, e7tra+agant, and dissipated. (.r e7periments showed, in other words, that it does not do for most men to get rich too fast.
3fter deciding, for this reason, not to raise the wages of o.r ore handlers, these men were !ro.ght into the office one at a time, and talked to somewhat as follows8
/&ow, Patrick, yo. ha+e pro+ed to .s that yo. are a high4priced man. Bo. ha+e !een earning e+ery day a little more than J1.FA, and yo. are 2.st the sort of manthat we want to ha+e in o.r ore4sho+eling gang. 3 man has come here from Pitts!.rg, who is offering I H1= cents per ton for handling ore while we can pay only< EH1= cents per ton. % think, therefore, that yo. had !etter apply to this manfor a 2o!. (f co.rse, yo. know we are +ery sorry to ha+e yo. lea+e .s, !.t yo. ha+e pro+ed yo.rself a high4priced man, and we are +ery glad to see yo. get thischance of earning more money. ?.st remem!er, howe+er, that at any time in the f.t.re, when yo. get o.t of a 2o!, yo. can always come right !ack to .s. There will always !e a 2o! for a high4priced man like yo. in o.r gang here./
3lmost all of the ore handlers took this ad+ice, and went to Pitts!.rg, !.t in a!o.t si7 weeks most of them were again !ack in 6ethlehem .nloading ore at the old rate of < EH1= cents a ton. The writer had the following talk with one of these men after he had ret.rned8
/Patrick, what are yo. doing !ack here> % tho.ght we had gotten rid of yo../
/Well, sir, %;ll tell yo. how it was. When we got o.t there ?immy and % were p.t on to a car with eight other men. We started to sho+el the ore o.t 2.st the same as we do here. 3fter a!o.t half an ho.r % saw a little de+il alongside of me doing pretty near nothing, so % said to him, ;Why don;t yo. go to work> )nless we get the ore o.t of this car we won;t get any money on pay4day.; -e t.rned to me and said, ;Who in 44 4 4 44 are yo.>; ;Well,; % said, ;that;s none of yo.r !.siness;5 and the little de+il stood .p to me and said, ;Bo.;ll !e minding yo.rown !.siness, or %;ll throw yo. off this carL; ;Well, % co.ld ha+e spit on him and drowned him, !.t the rest of the men p.t down their sho+els and looked as ifthey were going to !ack him .p5 so % went ro.nd to ?immy and said "so that the whole gang co.ld hear it$, ;&ow, ?immy, yo. and % will throw a sho+elf.l whene+er this little de+il throws one, and not another sho+elf.l.; So we watched him, and only sho+eled when he sho+eled. 44 When pay4day came aro.nd, tho.gh, we had less money than we got here at 6ethlehem. 3fter that ?immy and % went in to the !oss, and asked him for a car to o.rsel+es, the same as we got at 6ethlehem, !.the told .s to mind o.r own !.siness. 3nd when another pay4 day came aro.nd we had less money than we got here at 6ethlehem, so ?immy and % got the gang togetherand !ro.ght them all !ack here to work again./
When working each man for himself, these men were a!le to earn higher wages at < EH1= cents a ton than they co.ld earn when they were paid I H1= cents a ton on gang work5 and this again shows the great gain which res.lts from working according to e+en the most elementary of scientific principles. 6.t 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 Pitts!.rg managers knew 2.st how the res.lts had !een attained at 6ethlehem, !.t they were .nwilling to go to the small tro.!le and e7pense re0.ired to plan aheadand assign a separate car to each sho+eler, and then keep an indi+id.al record of each man;s work, and pay him 2.st what he had earned.
6ricklaying is one of the oldest of o.r trades. For h.ndreds of years there has!een little or no impro+ement made in the implements and materials .sed in thistrade, nor in fact in the method of laying !ricks. %n spite of the millions of men who ha+e practised this trade, no great impro+ement has !een e+ol+ed for many generations. -ere, then, at least, one wo.ld e7pect to find !.t little gain possi!le thro.gh scientific analysis and st.dy. Mr Frank 6. ,il!reth, a mem!er of o.r Society, who had himself st.died !ricklaying in his yo.th, !ecame interestedin the principles of scientific management, and decided to apply them to the art of !ricklaying. -e made an intensely interesting analysis and st.dy of each mo+ement of the !ricklayer, and one after another eliminated all .nnecessary mo+ements and s.!stit.ted fast for slow motions. -e e7perimented with e+ery min.te element which in any way affects the speed and the tiring of the !ricklayer.
-e de+eloped the e7act position which each of the feet of the !ricklayer sho.ldocc.py with relation to the wall, the mortar !o7, and the pile of !ricks, and so made it .nnecessary for him to take a step or two toward the pile of !ricks and !ack again each time a !rick is laid.
-e st.died the !est height for the mortar !o7 and !rick pile, and then designeda scaffold, with a ta!le on it, .pon which all of the materials are placed, so as to keep the !ricks, the mortar, the man, and the wall in their proper relati+e positions. These scaffolds are ad2.sted, as the wall grows in height, for all of the !ricklayers !y a la!orer especially detailed for this p.rpose, and !y this means the !ricklayer is sa+ed the e7ertion of stooping down to the le+el of his feet for each !rick and each trowelf.l of mortar and then straightening .p again. Think of the waste of effort that has gone on thro.gh all these years, with each !ricklayer lowering his !ody, weighing, say, 1A= po.nds, down two feet and raising it .p again e+ery time a !rick "weighing a!o.t A po.nds$ is laid in the wallL 3nd this each !ricklayer did a!o.t one tho.sand times a day.
3s a res.lt of f.rther st.dy, after the !ricks are .nloaded from the cars, and !efore !ringing them to the !ricklayer, they are caref.lly sorted !y a la!orer, and placed with their !est edge .p on a simple wooden frame, constr.cted so as to ena!le him to take hold of each !rick in the 0.ickest time and in the most ad+antageo.s position. %n this way the !ricklayer a+oids either ha+ing to t.rn the !rick o+er or end for end to e7amine it !efore laying it, and he sa+es, also, the time taken in deciding which is the !est edge and end to place on the o.tside of the wall. %n most eases, also, he sa+es the time taken in disentangling the !rick from a disorderly pile on the scaffold. This /pack/ of !ricks "as Mr ,il!reth calls his loaded wooden frames$ is placed !y the helper in its proper position on the ad2.sta!le scaffold close to the mortar !o7.
We ha+e all !een .sed to seeing !ricklayers tap each !rick after it is placed on its !ed of mortar se+eral times with the end of the handle of the trowel so asto sec.re the right thickness for the 2oint. Mr ,il!reth fo.nd that !y tempering the mortar 2.st right, the !ricks co.ld !e readily !edded to the proper depth !y a downward press.re of the hand with which they are laid. -e insisted that his mortar mi7ers sho.ld gi+e special attention to tempering the mortar, and so sa+e the time cons.med in tapping the !rick.
Thro.gh all of this min.te st.dy of the motions to !e made !y the !ricklayer inlaying !ricks .nder standard conditions, Mr ,il!reth has red.ced his mo+ements from eighteen motions per !rick to fi+e, and e+en in one case to as low as two motions per !rick. -e has gi+en all of the details of this analysis to the profession in the chapter headed /Motion St.dy,/ of his !ook entitled /6ricklaying System,/ p.!lished !y Myron *. *lerk P.!lishing *ompany, &ew Bork and *hicago5 E. F. &. Spon, of 9ondon.
3n analysis of the e7pedients .sed !y Mr ,il!reth in red.cing the motions of his !ricklayers from eighteen to fi+e shows that this impro+ement has !een made inthree different ways8
First. -e has entirely dispensed with certain mo+ements which the !ricklayers in the past !elie+ed were necessary5 !.t which a caref.l st.dy and trial on his part ha+e shown to !e .seless.
Second. -e has introd.ced simple apparat.s, s.ch as his ad2.sta!le scaffold andhis packets for holding the !ricks, !y means of which, with a +ery small amo.ntof cooperation from a cheap la!orer, he entirely eliminates a lot of tiresome and time4cons.ming motions which are necessary for the !ricklayer who lacks the scaffold and the packet.
Third. -e teaches his !ricklayers to make simple motions with !oth hands at thesame time, where !efore they completed a motion with the right hand and followed it later with one from the left hand.
For e7ample, Mr ,il!reth teaches his !ricklayer to pick .p a !rick in the left hand at the same instant that he takes a trowelf.l of mortar with the right hand. This work with two hands at the same time is, of co.rse, made possi!le !y s.!stit.ting a deep mortar !o7 for the old mortar !oard "on which the mortar spread o.t so thin that a step or two had to !e taken to reach it$ and then placing themortar !o7 and the !rick pile close together, and at the proper height on his new scaffold.
These three kinds of impro+ements are typical of the ways in which needless motions can !e entirely eliminated and 0.icker types of mo+ements s.!stit.ted for slow mo+ements when scientific motion st.dy, as Mr ,il!reth calls his analysis, time st.dy, as the writer has called similar work, are applied in any trade.
Most practical men wo.ld "knowing the opposition of almost all tradesmen to making any change in their methods and ha!its$, howe+er, !e skeptical as to the possi!ility of act.ally achie+ing any large res.lts from a st.dy of this sort. Mr ,il!reth reports that a few months ago, in a large !rick !.ilding which he erected, he demonstrated on a commercial scale the great gain which is possi!le from practically applying his scientific st.dy. With .nion !ricklayers, in laying a factory wall, twel+e inches thick, with two kinds of !rick, faced and r.led 2ointson !oth sides of the wall, he a+eraged, after his selected workmen had !ecome skilf.l in his new methods, <A= !ricks per man per ho.r5 whereas the a+erage speed of doing this work with the old methods was, in that section of the co.ntry, 1E= !ricks per man per ho.r. -is !ricklayers were ta.ght his new method of !ricklaying !y their foreman. These who failed to profit !y their teaching were dropped, and each man, as he !ecame proficient .nder the new method, recei+ed a s.!stantial "not a small$ increase in his wages. With a +iew to indi+id.ali1ing his workmen and stim.lating each man to do his !est, Mr ,il!reth also de+eloped an ingenio.s method for meas.ring and recording the n.m!er of !ricks laid !y each man,and for telling each workman at fre0.ent inter+als how many !ricks he had s.cceeded in laying.
%t is only when this work is compared with the conditions which pre+ail .nder the tyranny of some of o.r misg.ided !ricklayers; .nions that the great waste of h.man effort which is going on will !e reali1ed. %n one foreign city the !ricklayers .nion ha+e restricted their men to EGA !ricks per day on work of this character when working for the city, and <GA per day when working for pri+ate owners.The mem!ers of this .nion are pro!a!ly sincere in their !elief that this restriction of o.tp.t is a !enefit to their trade. %t sho.ld !e plain to all men, howe+er, that this deli!erate loafing is almost criminal, in that it ine+ita!ly res.lts in making e+ery workman;s family pay higher rent for their ho.sing, and alsoin the end dri+es work and trade away from their city, instead of !ringing it to it.
Why is it, in a trade which has !een contin.ally practised since !efore the *hristian era, and with implements practically the same as they now are, that this simplification of the !ricklayer;s mo+ements, this great gain, has not !een made!efore>
%t is highly likely that many times d.ring all of these years indi+id.al !ricklayers ha+e recogni1ed the possi!ility of eliminating each of these .nnecessary motions. 6.t e+en if, in the past, he did in+ent each one of Mr ,il!reth;s impro+ements, no !ricklayer co.ld alone increase his speed thro.gh their adoption !eca.se it will !e remem!ered that in all cases se+eral !ricklayers work together ina row and that the walls all aro.nd a !.ilding m.st grow at the same rate of speed. &o one !ricklayer, then, can work m.ch faster than the one ne7t to him. &orhas any one workman the a.thority to make other men cooperate with him to do faster work. %t is only thro.gh enforced standardi1ation of methods, enforced adoption of the !est implements and working conditions, and enforced cooperation that this faster work can !e ass.red. 3nd the d.ty of enforcing the adoption of standards and of enforcing this cooperation rests with the management alone. The management m.st s.pply contin.ally one or more teachers to show each new man the new and simpler motions, and the slower men m.st !e constantly watched and helped.ntil they ha+e risen to their proper speed. 3ll of those who, after proper teaching, either will not or cannot work in accordance with the new methods and at the higher speed m.st !e discharged !y the management. The management m.st also recogni1e the !road fact that workmen will not s.!mit to this more rigid standardi1ation and will not work e7tra hard, .nless they recei+e e7tra pay for doing it.
3ll of this in+ol+es an indi+id.al st.dy of and treatment for each man, while in the past they ha+e !een handled in large gro.ps.
The management m.st also see that those who prepare the !ricks and the mortar and ad2.st the scaffold, etc., for the !ricklayers, cooperate with them !y doing their work 2.st right and always on time5 and they m.st also inform each !ricklayer at fre0.ent inter+als as to the progress he is making, so that he may not .nintentionally fall off in his pace. Th.s it will !e seen that it is the ass.mption !y the management of new d.ties and new kinds of work ne+er done !y employersin the past that makes this great impro+ement possi!le, and that, witho.t this new help from the management, the workman e+en with f.ll knowledge of the new methods and with the !est of intentions co.ld not attain these startling res.lts.
Mr ,il!reth;s method of !ricklaying f.rnishes a simple ill.stration of tr.e andeffecti+e cooperation. &ot the type of cooperation in which a mass of workmen on one side together cooperate with the management5 !.t that in which se+eral menin the management "each one in his own partic.lar way$ help each workman indi+id.ally, on the one hand, !y st.dying his needs and his shortcomings and teachinghim !etter and 0.icker methods, and, on the other hand, !y seeing that all other workmen with whom he comes in contact help and cooperate with him !y doing their part of the work right and fast.
The writer has gone th.s f.lly into Mr ,il!reth;s method in order that it may !e perfectly clear that this increase in o.tp.t and that this harmony co.ld not ha+e !een attained .nder the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ "that is, !y p.tting the pro!lem .p to the workman and lea+ing him to sol+e it alone$ whichhas !een the philosophy of the past. 3nd that his s.ccess has !een d.e to the .se of the fo.r elements which constit.te the essence of scientific management.
First. The de+elopment "!y the management, not the workman$ of the science of !ricklaying, with rigid r.les for each motion of e+ery man, and the perfection and standardi1ation of all implements and working conditions.
Second. The caref.l selection and s.!se0.ent training of the !ricklayers into first4class men, and the elimination of all men who ref.se to or are .na!le to adopt the !est methods.
Third. 6ringing the first4class !ricklayer and the science of !ricklaying together, thro.gh the constant help and watchf.lness of the management, and thro.gh paying each man a large daily !on.s for working fast and doing what he is told todo.
Fo.rth. 3n almost e0.al di+ision of the work and responsi!ility !etween the workman and the management. 3ll day long the management work almost side !y side with the men, helping, enco.raging, and smoothing the way for them, while in the past they stood one side, ga+e the men !.t little help, and threw on to them almost the entire responsi!ility as to methods, implements, speed, and harmonio.s cooperation.
(f these fo.r elements, the first "the de+elopment of the science of !ricklaying$ is the most interesting and spectac.lar. Each of the three others is, howe+er, 0.ite as necessary for s.ccess.
%t m.st not !e forgotten that !ack of all this, and directing it, there m.st !ethe optimistic, determined, and hard4working leader who can wait patiently as well as work.
%n most cases "partic.larly when the work to !e done is intricate in its nat.re$ the /de+elopment of the science/ is the most important of the fo.r great elements of the new management. There are instances, howe+er, in which the /scientific selection of the workman/ co.nts for more than anything else.
3 case of this type is well ill.strated in the +ery simple tho.gh .n.s.al work of inspecting !icyc%e !alls.
When the !icycle cra1e was at its height some years ago se+eral million small !alls made of hardened steel were .sed ann.ally in !icycle !earings. 3nd among the twenty or more operations .sed in making steel !alls, perhaps the most important was that of inspecting them after final polishing so as to remo+e all fire4cracked or otherwise imperfect !alls !efore !o7ing.
The writer was gi+en the task of systemati1ing the largest !icycle !all factoryin this co.ntry. This company had !een r.nning for from eight to ten years on ordinary day work !efore he .ndertook its reorgani1ation, so that the one h.ndredand twenty or more girls who were inspecting the !alls were /old hands/ and skilled at their 2o!s. %t is impossi!le e+en in the most elementary work to change rapidly from the old independence of indi+id.al day work to scientific cooperation.
%n most cases, howe+er, there e7ist certain imperfections in working conditionswhich can at once !e impro+ed with !enefit to all concerned.
%n this instance it was fo.nd that the inspectors "girls$ were working ten and one4half ho.rs per day "with a Sat.rday half holiday.$
Their work consisted !riefly in placing a row of small polished steel !alls on the !ack of the left hand, in the crease !etween two of the fingers pressed together, and while they were rolled o+er and o+er, they were min.tely e7amined in astrong light, and with the aid of a magnet held in the right hand, the defecti+e !alls were picked o.t and thrown into especial !o7es. Fo.r kinds of defects were looked for 44 dented, soft, scratched, and fire4cracked 44 and they were mostly so min.te as to !e in+isi!le to an eye not especially trained to this work. %t re0.ired the closest attention and concentration, so that the ner+o.s tension of the inspectors was considera!le, in spite of the fact that they were comforta!ly seated and were not physically tired.
3 most cas.al st.dy made it e+ident that a +ery considera!le part of the ten and one4half ho.rs d.ring which the girls were s.pposed to work was really spent in idleness !eca.se the working period was too long.
%t is a matter of ordinary common sense to plan working ho.rs so that the workers can really /work while they work/ and /play while they play,/ and not mi7 thetwo. 6efore the arri+al of Mr Sanford E. Thompson, who .ndertook a scientific st.dy of the whole process, we decided, therefore, to shorten the working ho.rs.
The old foreman who had !een o+er the inspecting room for years was instr.cted to inter+iew one after another of the !etter inspectors and the more infl.entialgirls and pers.ade them that they co.ld do 2.st as m.ch work in ten ho.rs each day as they had !een doing in ten and one4half ho.rs. Each girl was told that the proposition was to shorten the day;s work to ten ho.rs and pay them the same day;s pay they were recei+ing for the ten and one4half ho.rs.
%n a!o.t two weeks the foreman reported that all of the girls he had talked to agreed that they co.ld do their present work 2.st as well in ten ho.rs as in tenand one4half and that they appro+ed of the change.
The writer had not !een especially noted for his tact so he decided that it wo.ld !e wise for him to display a little more of this 0.ality !y ha+ing the girls +ote on the new proposition. This decision was hardly 2.stified, howe+er, for when the +ote was taken the girls were .nanimo.s that l= 1HE ho.rs was good eno.ghfor them and they wanted no inno+ation of any kind.
This settled the matter for the time !eing. 3 few months later tact was thrown to the winds and the working ho.rs were ar!itrarily shortened in s.ccessi+e steps to 1= ho.rs, 1HE, , and F 1HE "the pay per day remaining the same$5 and with each shortening of the working day the o.tp.t increased instead of diminishing.
The change from the old to the scientific method in this department was made .nder the direction of Mr Sanford E. Thompson, perhaps the most e7perienced man inmotion and time st.dy in this co.ntry, .nder the general s.perintendence of Mr -. 9. ,a.tt.
%n the Physiological departments of o.r .ni+ersities e7periments are reg.larly cond.cted to determine what is known as the /personal coefficient/ of the man tested. This is done !y s.ddenly !ringing some o!2ect, the letter 3 or 6 for instance, within the range of +ision of the s.!2ect, who, the instant he recogni1es the letter has to do some definite thing, s.ch as to press a partic.lar electric !.tton. The time which elapses from the instant the letter comes in +iew .ntil the s.!2ect presses the !.tton is acc.rately recorded !y a delicate scientific instr.ment.
This test shows concl.si+ely that there is a great difference in the /personal coefficient/ of different men. Some indi+id.als are !orn with .n.s.ally 0.ick powers of perception accompanied !y 0.ick responsi+e action. With some the messageis almost instantly transmitted from the eye to the !rain, and the !rain e0.ally 0.ickly responds !y sending the proper message to the hand.
Men of this type are said to ha+e a low /personal coefficient,/ while those of slow perception and slow action ha+e a high /personal coefficient./
Mr Thompson soon recogni1ed that the 0.ality most needed for !icycle !all inspectors was a low /personal coefficient./ (f co.rse the ordinary 0.alities of end.rance and ind.stry were also called for.
For the .ltimate good of the girls as well as the company, howe+er, it !ecame necessary to e7cl.de all girls who lacked a low /personal coefficient./ 3nd .nfort.nately this in+ol+ed laying off many of the most intelligent, hardest working,and most tr.stworthy girls merely !eca.se they did not possess the 0.ality of 0.ick perception followed !y 0.ick action.
While the grad.al selection of girls was going on other changes were also !eingmade.
(ne of the dangers to !e g.arded against, when the pay of the man or woman is made in any way to depend on the 0.antity of the work done, is that in the effortto increase the 0.antity the 0.ality is apt to deteriorate.
%t is necessary in almost all cases, therefore, to take definite steps to ins.re against any falling off in 0.ality !efore mo+ing in any way towards an increase in 0.antity. %n the work of these partic.lar girls 0.ality was the +ery essence. They were engaged in picking o.t all defecti+e !alls.
The first step, therefore, was to make it impossi!le for them to slight their work witho.t !eing fo.nd o.t. This was accomplished thro.gh what is known as o+er4inspection Each one of fo.r of the most tr.stworthy girls was gi+en each day a lot of !alls to inspect which had !een e7amined the day !efore !y one of the reg.lar inspectors5 the n.m!er identifying the lot to !e o+er4inspected ha+ing !eenchanged !y the foreman so that none of the o+er4inspectors knew whose work theywere e7amining. %n addition to this one of the lots inspected !y the fo.r o+er4inspectors was e7amined on the following day !y the chief inspector, selected onacco.nt of her especial acc.racy and integrity.
3n effecti+e e7pedient was adopted for checking the honesty and acc.racy of theo+er4inspection. E+ery two or three days a lot of !alls was especially prepared!y the foreman, who co.nted o.t a definite n.m!er of perfect !alls, and added arecorded n.m!er of defecti+e !alls of each kind. &either the inspectors nor theo+er4inspectors had any means of disting.ishing this prepared lot from the reg.lar commercial lots. 3nd in this way all temptation to slight their work or makefalse ret.rns was remo+ed.
3fter ins.ring in this way against deterioration in 0.ality, effecti+e means were at once adopted to increase the o.tp.t. %mpro+ed day work was s.!stit.ted forthe old slipshod method. 3n acc.rate daily record was kept !oth as to the 0.antity and 0.ality of the work done in order to g.ard against any personal pre2.dice on the part of the foreman and to ins.re a!sol.te impartiality and 2.stice foreach inspector. %n a comparati+ely short time this record ena!led the foreman to stir the am!ition of all the inspectors !y increasing the wages of those who t.rned o.t a large 0.antity and good 0.ality, while at the same time lowering thepay of those who did indifferent work and discharging others who pro+ed to !e incorrigi!ly slow or careless. 3 caref.l e7amination was then made of the way in which each girl spent her time and an acc.rate time st.dy was .ndertaken, thro.gh the .se of a stop4watch and record !lanks, to determine how fast each kind of inspection sho.ld !e done, and to esta!lish the e7act conditions .nder which each girl co.ld do her 0.ickest and !est work, while at the same time g.arding against gi+ing her a task so se+ere that there was danger from o+er fatig.e or e7ha.stion. This in+estigation showed that the girls spent a considera!le part of their time either in partial idleness, talking and half working, or in act.ally doing nothing.
E+en when the ho.rs of la!or had !een shortened from 1= 1HE to F 1HE ho.rs, a close o!ser+ation of the girls showed that after a!o.t an ho.r and one4half of consec.ti+e work they !egan to get ner+o.s. They e+idently needed a rest. %t is wise to stop short of the point at which o+erstrain !egins, so we arranged for them to ha+e a ten min.tes period for recreation at the end of each ho.r and one 0.arter. D.ring these recess periods "two of ten min.tes each in the morning and two in the afternoon$ they were o!liged to stop work and were enco.raged to lea+etheir seats and get a complete change of occ.pation !y walking aro.nd and talking, etc.
%n one respect no do.!t some people will say that these girls were !r.tally treated. They were seated so far apart that they co.ld not con+eniently talk while at work.
Shortening their ho.rs of la!or, howe+er, and pro+iding so far as we knew the most fa+ora!le working conditions made it possi!le for them to really work steadily instead of pretending to do so.
3nd it is only after this stage in the reorgani1ation is reached, when the girls ha+e !een properly selected and on the one hand s.ch preca.tions ha+e !een taken as to g.ard against the possi!ility of o+er4 dri+ing them, while, on the otherhand, the temptation to slight their work has !een remo+ed and the most fa+ora!le working conditions ha+e !een esta!lished, that the final step sho.ld !e takenwhich ins.res them what they most want, namely, high wages, and the employers what they most want, namely, the ma7im.m o.tp.t and !est 0.ality of work, 44 which means a low la!or cost.
This step is to gi+e each girl each day a caref.lly meas.red task which demandsa f.ll day;s work from a competent operati+e, and also to gi+e her a large premi.m or !on.s whene+er she accomplishes this task.
This was done in this case thro.gh esta!lishing what is known as differential rate piece work."AC$ )nder this system the pay of each girl was increased in proportion to the 0.antity of her o.tp.t and also still more in proportion to the acc.racy of her work.
3s will !e shown later, the differential rate "the lots inspected !y the o+er4inspectors forming the !asis for the differential$ res.lted in a large gain in the 0.antity of work done and at the same time in a marked impro+ement in the 0.ality.
6efore they finally worked to the !est ad+antage it was fo.nd to !e necessary to meas.re the o.tp.t of each girl as often as once e+ery ho.r, and to send a teacher to each indi+id.al who was fo.nd to !e falling !ehind to find what was wrong, to straighten her o.t, and to enco.rage and help her to catch .p.
There is a general principle !ack of this which sho.ld !e appreciated !y all ofthose who are especially interested in the management of men.
3 reward, if it is to !e effecti+e in stim.lating men to do their !est work, m.st come soon after the work has !een done. 6.t few men are a!le to look forward for more than a week or perhaps at most a month, and work hard for a reward which they are to recei+e at the end of this time.
The a+erage workman m.st !e a!le to meas.re what he has accomplished and clearly see his reward at the end of each day if he is to do his !est. 3nd more elementary characters, s.ch as the yo.ng girls inspecting !icycle !alls, or children, for instance, sho.ld ha+e proper enco.ragement either in the shape of personal attention from those o+er them or an act.al reward in sight as often as once an ho.r.
This is one of the principal reasons why cooperation or /profit4sharing/ eitherthro.gh selling stock to the employ:s or thro.gh di+idends on wages recei+ed atthe end of the year, etc., ha+e !een at the !est only mildly effecti+e in stim.lating men to work hard. The nice time which they are s.re to ha+e to4day if they take things easily and go slowly pro+es more attracti+e than steady hard work with a possi!le reward to !e shared with others si7 months later. 3 second reason for the inefficiency of profit4sharing schemes had !een that no form of cooperation has yet !een de+ised in which each indi+id.al is allowed free scope for his personal am!ition. Personal am!ition always has !een and will remain a more powerf.l incenti+e to e7ertion than a desire for the general welfare. The few misplaced drones, who do the loafing and share e0.ally in the profits, with the rest, .nder cooperation are s.re to drag the !etter men down toward their le+el. (ther and formida!le diffic.lties in the path of cooperati+e schemes are, the e0.ita!le di+ision of the profits, and the fact that, while workmen are always ready to share the profits, they are neither a!le nor willing to share the losses. F.rther than this, in many cases, it is neither right nor 2.st that they sho.ld share either the profits or the losses, since these may !e d.e in great part to ca.ses entirely !eyond their infl.ence or control, and to which they do not contri!.te.
To come !ack to the girls inspecting !icycle !alls, howe+er, the final o.tcome of all the changes was that thirty4fi+e girls did the work formerly done !y one h.ndred and twenty. 3nd that the acc.racy of the work at the higher speed was two4thirds greater than at the former slow speed.
The good that came to the girls was,
First. That they a+eraged from F= to 1== per cent higher wages than they formerly recei+ed.
Second. Their ho.rs of la!or were shortened from 1= 1HE to F 1HE per day, with a Sat.rday half holiday. 3nd they were gi+en fo.r recreation periods properly distri!.ted thro.gh the day, which made o+erworkmg impossi!le for a healthy girl.
Third. Each girl was made to feel that she was the o!2ect of especial care and interest on the part of the management, and that if anything went wrong with hershe co.ld always ha+e a helper and teacher in the management to lean .pon.
Fo.rth. 3ll yo.ng women sho.ld !e gi+en two consec.ti+e days of rest "with pay$each month, to !e taken whene+er they may choose. %t is my impression that these girls were gi+en this pri+ilege, altho.gh % am not 0.ite certain on this point.
The !enefits which came to the company from these changes were8
First. 3 s.!stantial impro+ement in the 0.ality of the prod.ct.
Second. 3 material red.ction in the cost of inspection, in spite of the e7tra e7pense in+ol+ed in clerk work, teachers, time st.dy, o+er4inspectors, and in paying higher wages.
Third. That the most friendly relations e7isted !etween the management and the employ:s, which rendered la!or tro.!les of any kind or a strike impossi!le.
These good res.lts were !ro.ght a!o.t !y many changes which s.!stit.ted fa+ora!le for .nfa+ora!le working conditions. %t sho.ld !e appreciated, howe+er, that the one element which did more than all of the others was, the caref.l selection of girls with 0.ick perception to replace those whose perceptions were slow 44 "the s.!stit.tion of girls with a low personal coefficient for those whose personal coefficient was high$ 44 the scientific selection of the workers.
The ill.strations ha+e th.s far !een p.rposely confined to the more elementary types of work, so that a +ery strong do.!t m.st still remain as to whether this kind of cooperation is desira!le in the case of more intelligent mechanics, thatis, in the case of men who are more capa!le of generali1ation, and who wo.ld therefore !e more likely, of their own +olition, to choose the more scientific and!etter methods. The following ill.strations will !e gi+en for the p.rpose of demonstrating the fact that in the higher classes of work the scientific laws which are de+eloped are so intricate that the high4priced mechanic needs "e+en more than the cheap la!orer$ the cooperation of men !etter ed.cated than himself in finding the laws, and then in selecting, de+eloping, and training him to work in accordance with these laws. These ill.strations sho.ld make perfectly clear o.r original proposition that in practically all of the mechanic arts the science which .nderlies each workman;s act is so great and amo.nts to so m.ch that the workman who is !est s.ited to act.ally doing the work is incapa!le, either thro.gh lack of ed.cation or thro.gh ins.fficient mental capacity, of .nderstanding thisscience.
3 do.!t, for instance, will remain in the minds perhaps of most readers "in thecase of an esta!lishment which man.fact.res the same machine, year in and year o.t, in large 0.antities, and in which, therefore, each mechanic repeats the same limited series of operations o+er and o+er again$, whether the ingen.ity of each workman and the help which he from time to time recei+es from his foreman will not de+elop s.ch s.perior methods and s.ch a personal de7terity that no scientific st.dy which co.ld !e made wo.ld res.lt in a material increase in efficiency.
3 n.m!er of years ago a company employing a!o.t three h.ndred men, which had !een man.fact.ring the same machine for ten to fifteen years, sent for .s to report as to whether any gain co.ld !e made thro.gh the introd.ction of scientific management. Their shops had !een r.n for many years .nder a good s.perintendent and with e7cellent foremen and workmen, on piece work. The whole esta!lishment was, witho.t do.!t, in !etter physical condition than the a+erage machine4shop in this co.ntry. The s.perintendent was distinctly displeased when told that thro.ghthe adoption of task management the o.tp.t, with the same n.m!er of men and machines, co.ld !e more than do.!led. -e said that he !elie+ed that any s.ch statement was mere !oasting, a!sol.tely false, and instead of inspiring him with confidence, he was disg.sted that any one sho.ld make s.ch an imp.dent claim. -e, howe+er, readily assented to the proposition that he sho.ld select any one of the machines whose o.tp.t he considered as representing the a+erage of the shop, and that we sho.ld then demonstrate on this machine that thro.gh scientific methods its o.tp.t co.ld !e more than do.!led.
The machine selected !y him fairly represented the work of the shop. %t had !een r.n for ten or twel+e years past !y a first4class mechanic who was more than e0.al in his a!ility to the a+erage workmen in the esta!lishment. %n a shop of this sort, in which similar machines are made o+er and o+er again, the work is necessarily greatly s.!di+ided, so that no one man works .pon more than a comparati+ely small n.m!er of parts d.ring the year. 3 caref.l record was therefore made,in the presence of !oth parties, of the time act.ally taken in finishing each of the parts which this man worked .pon. The total time re0.ired !y him to finisheach piece, as well as the e7act 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 machineand remo+ing it. 3fter o!taining in this way a statement of what represented a fair a+erage of the work done in the shop, we applied to this one machine the principles of scientific management.
6y means of fo.r 0.ite ela!orate slide4r.les, which ha+e !een especially made for the p.rpose of determining the all4ro.nd capacity of metal4c.tting machines, a caref.l analysis was made of e+ery element of this machine in its relation to the work in hand. %ts p.lling power at its +ario.s speeds, its feeding capacity,and its proper speeds were determined !y means of the slide4r.les, and changes were then made in the co.ntershaft and dri+ing p.lleys so as to r.n it at its proper speed. Tools, made of high4 speed steel, and of the proper shapes, were properly dressed, treated, and gro.nd. "%t sho.ld !e .nderstood, howe+er, that in this case the high4speed steel which had heretofore !een in general .se in the shop was also .sed in o.r demonstration.$ 3 large special slide4r.le was then made,!y means of which the e7act speeds and feeds were indicated at which each kind of work co.ld !e done hi the shortest possi!le time in this partic.lar lathe. 3fter preparing in this way so that the workman sho.ld work according to the new method, one after another, pieces of work were finished in the lathe, corresponding to the work which had !een done in o.r preliminary trials, and the gain hi time made thro.gh r.nning the machine according to scientific principles ranged from two and one4half times the speed in the slowest instance to nine times the speed in the highest.
The change from r.le4of4th.m! management to scientific management in+ol+es, howe+er, not only a st.dy of what is the proper speed for doing the work and a remodeling of the tools and the implements in the shop, !.t also a complete change in the mental attit.de of all the men in the shop toward their work and toward their employers. The physical impro+ements in the machines necessary to ins.re large gains, and the motion st.dy followed !y min.te st.dy with a stop4watch of thetime in which each workman sho.ld do his work, can !e made comparati+ely 0.ickly. 6.t the change in the mental attit.de and in the ha!its of the three h.ndred or more workmen can !e !ro.ght a!o.t only slowly and thro.gh a long series of o!2ect4lessons, which finally demonstrates to each man the great ad+antage which he will gain !y heartily cooperating in his e+ery4day work with the men in the management. Within three years, howe+er, in this shop, the o.tp.t had !een more than do.!led per man and per machine. The men had !een caref.lly selected and in almost all cases promoted from a lower to a higher order of work, and so instr.cted !y their teachers "the f.nctional foremen$ that they were a!le to earn higherwages than e+er !efore. The a+erage increase in the daily earnings of each man was a!o.t <A per cent, while, at the same time, the s.m total of the wages paid for doing a gi+en amo.nt of work was lower than !efore. This increase in the speed of doing the work, of co.rse, in+ol+ed a s.!stit.tion of the 0.ickest hand methods for the old independent r.le4of4th.m! methods, and an ela!orate analysis of the hand work done !y each man. "6y hand work is meant s.ch work as depends .pon the man.al de7terity and speed of a workman, and which is independent of the work done !y the machine.$ The time sa+ed !y scientific hand work was in many cases greater e+en than that sa+ed in machine4work.
%t seems important to f.lly e7plain the reason why, with the aid of a slide4r.le, and after ha+ing st.died the art of c.tting metals, it was possi!le for the scientifically e0.ipped man, who had ne+er !efore seen these partic.lar 2o!s, andwho had ne+er worked on this machine, to do work from two and one4half to nine times as fast as it had !een done !efore !y a good mechanic who had spent his whole time for some ten to twel+e years in doing this +ery work .pon this partic.lar machine. %n a word, this was possi!le !eca.se the art of c.tting metals in+ol+es a tr.e science of no small magnit.de, a science, in fact, so intricate that it is impossi!le for any machinist who is s.ited to r.nning a lathe year in and year o.t either to .nderstand it or to work according to its laws witho.t the help of men who ha+e made this their specialty. Men who are .nfamiliar with machine4shop work are prone to look .pon the man.fact.re of each piece as a special pro!lem, independent of any other kind of machine4work. They are apt to think, forinstance, that the pro!lems connected with making the parts of an engine re0.ire the especial st.dy, one may say almost the life st.dy, of a set of engine4making mechanics, and that these pro!lems are entirely different from those which wo.ld !e met with in machining lathe or planer parts. %n fact, howe+er, a st.dy ofthose elements which are pec.liar either to engine parts or to lathe parts is trifling, compared with the great st.dy of the art, or science, of c.tting metals, .pon a knowledge of which rests the a!ility to do really fast machine4work of all kinds.
The real pro!lem is how to remo+e chips fast from a casting or a forging, and how to make the piece smooth and tr.e in the shortest time, and it matters !.t little whether the piece !eing worked .pon is part, say, of a marine engine, a printing4press, or an a.tomo!ile. For this reason, the man with the slide4 r.le, familiar with the science of c.tting metals, who had ne+er !efore seen this partic.lar work, was a!le completely to distance the skilled mechanic who had made the parts of this machine his specialty for years. %t is tr.e that whene+er intelligent and ed.cated men find that the responsi!ility for making progress in any of the mechanic arts rests with them, instead of .pon the workmen who are act.ally la!oring at the trade, tlmt they almost in+aria!ly start on the road which leadsto the de+elopment of a science where, in the past, has e7isted mere traditional or r.le4of4th.m! knowledge. When men, whose ed.cation has gi+en them the ha!itof generali1ing and e+erywhere looking for laws, find themsel+es confronted with a m.ltit.de of pro!lems, s.ch as e7ist in e+ery trade and which ha+e a generalsimilarity one to another, it is ine+ita!le that they sho.ld try to gather these pro!lems into certain logical gro.ps, and then search for some general laws orr.les to g.ide them in their sol.tion. 3s has !een pointed o.t, howe+er, the .nderlying principles of the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e,/ that is, the .nderlying philosophy of this management, necessarily lea+es the sol.tion of all of these pro!lems in the hands of each indi+id.al workman, while the philosophy of scientific management places their sol.tion in the hands of the management. The workman;s whole time is each day taken in act.ally doing the work with hishands, so that, e+en if he had the necessary ed.cation and ha!its of generali1ing in his tho.ght, he lacks the time and the opport.nity for de+eloping these laws, !eca.se the st.dy of e+en a simple law in+ol+ing say time st.dy re0.ires thecooperation of two men, the one doing the work while the other times him with astop4watch. 3nd e+en if the workman were to de+elop laws where !efore e7isted only r.le4of4 th.m! knowledge, his personal interest wo.ld lead him almost ine+ita!ly to keep his disco+eries secret, so that he co.ld, !y means of this special knowledge, personally do more work than other men and so o!tain higher wages.
)nder scientific management, on the other hand, it !ecomes the d.ty and also the pleas.re of those who are engaged in the management not only to de+elop laws to replace r.le of th.m!, !.t also to teach impartially all of the workmen who are .nder them the 0.ickest ways of working. The .sef.l res.lts o!tained from these laws are always so great that any company can well afford to pay for the time and the e7periments needed to de+elop them. Th.s .nder scientific management e7act scientific knowledge and methods are e+erywhere, sooner or later, s.re to replace r.le of th.m!, whereas .nder the old type of management working in accordance with scientific laws is an impossi!ility.
The de+elopment of the art or science of c.tting metals is an apt ill.stration of this fact. %n the fall of 1FF=, a!o.t the time that the writer started to make the e7periments a!o+e referred to, to determine what constit.tes a proper day;s work for a la!orer, he also o!tained the permission of Mr William Sellers, thePresident of the Mid+ale Steel *ompany, to make a series of e7periments to determine what angles and shapes of tools were the !est for c.tting steel, and also to try to determine the proper c.tting speed for steel. 3t the time that these e7periments were started it was his !elief that they wo.ld not last longer than si7 months, and, in fact, if it had !een known that a longer period than this wo.ld !e re0.ired, the permission to spend a considera!le s.m of money in making them wo.ld not ha+e !een forthcoming.
3 @@4inch diameter +ertical !oring4mill was the first machine .sed in making these e7periments, and large locomoti+e tires, made o.t of hard steel of .niform 0.ality, were day after day c.t .p into chips in grad.ally learning how to make, shape, and .se the c.tting tools so that they wo.ld do faster work. 3t the end of si7 months s.fficient practical information had !een o!tained to far more thanrepay the cost of materials and wages which had !een e7pended in e7perimenting.3nd yet the comparati+ely small n.m!er of e7periments which had !een made ser+ed principally to make it clear that the act.al knowledge attained was !.t a small fraction of that which still remained to !e de+eloped, and which was !adly needed !y .s, in o.r daily attempt to direct and help the machinists in their tasks.
E7periments in this field were carried on, with occasional interr.ption, thro.gh a period of a!o.t E@ years, in the co.rse of which ten different e7perimental machines were especially fitted .p to do this work. 6etween <=,=== and A=,=== e7periments were caref.lly recorded, and many other e7periments were made, of which no record was kept. %n st.dying these laws more than F==,=== po.nds of steel and iron was c.t .p into chips with the e7perimental tools, and it is estimated that from J1A=,=== to JE==,=== was spent in the in+estigation.
Work of this character is intensely interesting to any one who has any lo+e forscientific research. For the p.rpose of this paper, howe+er, it sho.ld !e f.llyappreciated that the moti+e power which kept these e7periments going thro.gh many years, and which s.pplied the money and the opport.nity for their accomplishment, was not an a!stract search after scientific knowledge, !.t was the +ery practical fact that we lacked the e7act information which was needed e+ery day, in order to help o.r machinists to do their work in the !est way and in the 0.ickest time.
3ll of these e7periments were made to ena!le .s to answer correctly the two 0.estions which face e+ery machinist each time that he does a piece of work in a metal4c.tting machine, s.ch as a lathe, planer, drill press, or milling machine. These two 0.estions are8
%n order to do the work in the 0.ickest time,
3t what c.tting speed shall % r.n my machine> 3nd
What feed shall % .se>
They so.nd so simple that they wo.ld appear to call for merely the trained 2.dgment of any good mechanic. %n fact, howe+er, after working E@ years, it has !eenfo.nd that the answer in e+ery case in+ol+es the sol.tion of an intricate mathematical pro!lem, in which the effect of twel+e independent +aria!les m.st !e determined.
Each of the twel+e following +aria!les has an important effect .pon the answer.The fig.res which are gi+en with each of the +aria!les represent the effect of this element .pon the c.tting speed. For e7ample, after the first +aria!le "3$ we 0.ote, /The proportion is as 1 in the case of semi4hardened steel or chilled iron to 1== in the case of a +ery soft, low4car!on steel./ The meaning of this 0.otation is that soft steel can !e c.t 1== times as fast as the hard steel or chilled iron. The ratios which are gi+en, then, after each of these elements, indicate the wide range of 2.dgment which practically e+ery machinist has !een called.pon to e7ercise in the past in determining the !est speed at which to r.n the machine and the !est feed to .se.
"3$ The 0.ality of the metal which is to !e c.t5 i.e., its hardness or other 0.alities which affect the c.tting speed. The proportion is as 1 in the case of semi4hardened steel or chilled iron to 1== in the case of +ery soft, low4car!on steel.
"6$ 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 car!on steel to G in the !est high4speed tools.
"*$ The thickness of the sha+ing, or, the thickness of the spiral strip or !andof metal which is to !e remo+ed !y the tool. The proportion is as 1 with thickness of sha+ing <H1@ of an inch to < 1HE with thickness of sha+ing 1H@I of an inch.
"D$ The shape or conto.r of the c.tting edge of the tool. The proportion is as 1 in a thread tool to @ in a !road4nosed c.tting tool.
"E$ Whether a copio.s stream of water or other cooling medi.m is .sed on the tool. The proportion is as 1 for tool r.nning dry to 1.I1 for tool cooled !y a copio.s stream of water.
"F$ The depth of the c.t. The proportion is as 1 with 1HE4inch depth of c.t to 1.<@ with 1HF4inch depth of c.t.
",$ The d.ration of the c.t, i.e., the time which a tool m.st last .nder press.re of the sha+ing witho.t !eing regro.nd. The proportion is as 1 when tool is to!e gro.nd e+ery 1 1HE ho.rs to 1.E= when tool is to !e gro.nd e+ery E= min.tes.
"-$ The lip and clearance angles of the tool. The proportion is as 1 with lip angle of @F degrees to 1.=E< with lip angle of @1 degrees.
"?$ The elasticity of the work and of the tool on acco.nt of prod.cing chatter.The proportion is as 1 with tool chattering to 1.1A with tool r.nning smoothly.
"N$ The diameter of the casting or forging which is !eing c.t.
"9$ The press.re of the chip or sha+ing .pon the c.tting s.rface of the tool.
"M$ The p.lling power and the speed and feed changes of the machine.
%t may seem prepostero.s to many people that it sho.ld ha+e re0.ired a period of E@ years to in+estigate the effect of these twel+e +aria!les .pon the c.tting speed of metals. To those, howe+er, who ha+e had personal e7perience as e7perimenters, it will !e appreciated that the great diffic.lty of the pro!lem lies in the fact that it contains so many +aria!le elements. 3nd in fact the great lengthof time cons.med in making each single e7periment was ca.sed !y the diffic.lty of holding ele+en +aria!les constant and .niform thro.gho.t the e7periment, while the effect of the twelfth +aria!le was !eing in+estigated. -olding the ele+en +aria!les constant was far more diffic.lt than the in+estigation of the twelfth element.
3s, one after another, the effect .pon the c.tting speed of each of these +aria!les was in+estigated, in order that practical .se co.ld !e made of this knowledge, it was necessary to find a mathematical form.la which e7pressed in concise form the laws which had !een o!tained. 3s e7amples of the twel+e form.lD which were de+eloped, the three following are gi+en8
P O IA,===D1IH1AF<HI
K O = PPPP T1HF
K O 11. PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP F=.@@A""IF H <$ C D $=.E<G< Q "E.I H "1F Q EID$$
3fter these laws had !een in+estigated and the +ario.s form.lD which mathematically e7pressed them had !een determined, there still remained the diffic.lt taskof how to sol+e one of these complicated mathematical pro!lems 0.ickly eno.gh to make this knowledge a+aila!le for e+ery4day .se. %f a good mathematician who had these form.lD !efore him were to attempt to get the proper answer "i.e., to get the correct c.tting speed and feed !y working in the ordinary way$ it wo.ld take him from two to si7 ho.rs, say, to sol+e a single pro!lem5 far longer to sol+e the mathematical pro!lem than wo.ld !e taken in most cases !y the workmen in doing the whole 2o! in his machine. Th.s a task of considera!le magnit.de which faced .s was that of finding a 0.ick sol.tion of this pro!lem, and as we made progress in its sol.tion, the whole pro!lem was from time to time presented !y thewriter to one after another of the noted mathematicians in this co.ntry. They were offered any reasona!le fee for a rapid, practical method to !e .sed in its sol.tion. Some of these men merely glanced at it5 others, for the sake of !eing co.rteo.s, kept it !efore them for some two or three weeks. They all ga+e .s practically the same answer8 that in many cases it was possi!le to sol+e mathematical pro!lems which contained fo.r +aria!les, and in some cases pro!lems with fi+e or si7 +aria!les, !.t that it was manifestly impossi!le to sol+e a pro!lem containing twel+e +aria!les in any other way than !y the slow process of /trial and error./
3 0.ick sol.tion was, howe+er, so m.ch of a necessity in o.r e+ery4day work of r.nning machine4 shops, that in spite of the small enco.ragement recei+ed from the mathematicians, we contin.ed at irreg.lar periods, thro.gh a term of fifteen years, to gi+e a large amo.nt of time searching for a simple sol.tion. Fo.r or fi+e men at +ario.s periods ga+e practically their whole time to this work, and finally, while we were at the 6ethlehem Steel *ompany, the slide4r.le was de+eloped which is ill.strated on Folder &o.11 of the paper /(n the 3rt of *.tting Metals,/ and is descri!ed in detail in the paper presented !y Mr *arl ,. 6arth to the3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers, entitled /Slide4r.les for the Machine4 shop, as a part of the Taylor System of Management/ "Kol. RRK of The Transactions of the 3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers$. 6y means of this slide4r.le, one of these intricate pro!lems can !e sol+ed in less than a half min.te !y any good mechanic, whether he .nderstands anything a!o.t mathematics or not, th.s making a+aila!le for e+ery4day, practical .se the years of e7perimenting on the art of c.tting metals.
This is a good ill.stration of the fact that some way can always !e fo.nd of making practical, e+eryday .se of complicated scientific data, which appears to !e!eyond the e7perience and the range of the technical training of ordinary practical men. These slide4r.les ha+e !een for years in constant daily .se !y machinists ha+ing no knowledge of mathematics.
3 glance at the intricate mathematical form.lD "see page 1=$ which represent the laws of c.tting metals sho.ld clearly show the reason why it is impossi!le for any machinist, witho.t the aid of these laws, and who depends .pon his personal e7perience, correctly to g.ess at the answer to the two 0.estions,
What speed shall % .se>
What feed shall % .se>
e+en tho.gh he may repeat the same piece of work many times.
To ret.rn to the case of the machinist who had !een working for ten to twel+e years in machining the same pieces o+er and o+er again, there was !.t a remote chance in any of the +ario.s kinds of work which this man did that he sho.ld hit .pon the one !est method of doing each piece of work o.t of the h.ndreds of possi!le methods which lay !efore him. %n considering this typical case, it m.st also!e remem!ered that the metal4c.tting machines thro.gho.t o.r machine4shops ha+epractically all !een speeded !y their makers !y g.esswork, and witho.t the knowledge o!tained thro.gh a st.dy of the art of c.tting metals. %n the machine4shops systemati1ed !y .s we ha+e fo.nd that there is not one machine in a h.ndred which is speeded !y its makers at anywhere near the correct c.tting speed. So that, in order to compete with the science of c.tting metals, the machinist, !efore he co.ld .se proper speeds, wo.ld first ha+e to p.t new p.lleys on the co.ntershaft 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 !eyond his control, e+en if he knows what o.ght to !e done.
%f the reason is clear to the reader why the r.le4of4th.m! knowledge o!tained !y the machinist who is engaged on repeat work cannot possi!ly compete with the tr.e science of c.tting metals, it sho.ld !e e+en more apparent why the high4class mechanic, who is called .pon to do a great +ariety of work from day to day, ise+en less a!le to compete with this science. The high4class mechanic who does adifferent kind of work each day, in order to do each 2o! in the 0.ickest time, wo.ld need, in addition to a thoro.gh knowledge of the art of c.tting metals, a +ast knowledge and e7perience in the 0.ickest way of doing each kind of hand work. 3nd the reader, !y calling to mind the gain which was made !y Mr ,il!reth thro.gh his motion and time st.dy in laying !ricks, will appreciate the great possi!ilities for 0.icker methods of doing all kinds of hand work which lie !efore e+ery tradesman after he has the help which comes from a scientific motion and time st.dy of his work.
For nearly thirty years past, time4st.dy men connected with the management of machine4shops ha+e !een de+oting their whole time to a scientific motion st.dy, followed !y acc.rate time st.dy, with a stop4 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 !oth of the science of c.tting metals and of the e0.ally ela!orate motion4st.dy and time4st.dy science connected with this work, it is not diffic.lt to appreciate why e+en the highest class mechanic is .na!le to do his !est work witho.t constant daily assistance from his teachers. 3nd if this fact has !een made clear to the reader, one of the important o!2ects in writing this paper will ha+e!een reali1ed.
%t is hoped that the ill.strations which ha+e !een gi+en make it apparent why scientific management m.st ine+ita!ly in all cases prod.ce o+erwhelmingly greaterres.lts, !oth for the company and its employ:s, than can !e o!tained with the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e./ 3nd it sho.ld also !e clear that these res.lts ha+e !een attained, not thro.gh a marked s.periority in the mechanism ofone type of management o+er the mechanism of another, !.t rather thro.gh the s.!stit.tion of one set of .nderlying principles for a totally different set of principles, !y the s.!stit.tion of one philosophy for another philosophy in ind.strial management.
To repeat then thro.gho.t all of these ill.strations, it will !e seen that the .sef.l res.lts ha+e hinged mainly .pon "1$ the s.!stit.tion of a science for theindi+id.al 2.dgment of the workman5 "E$ the scientific selection and de+elopment of the workman, after each man has !een st.died, ta.ght, and trained, and one may say e7perimented with, instead of allowing the workmen to select themsel+es and de+elop in a hapha1ard way5 and "<$ the intimate cooperation of the management with the workmen, so that they together do the work in accordance with the scientific laws which ha+e !een de+eloped, instead of lea+ing the sol.tion of eachpro!lem in the hands of the indi+id.al workman. %n applying these new principles, in place of the old indi+id.al effort of each workman, !oth sides share almost e0.ally in the daily performance of each task, the management doing that part of the work for which they are !est fitted, and the workmen the !alance.
%t is for the ill.stration of this philosophy that this paper has !een written,!.t some of the elements in+ol+ed in its general principles sho.ld !e f.rther disc.ssed.
The de+elopment of a science so.nds like a formida!le .ndertaking, and in fact anything like a thoro.gh st.dy of a science s.ch as that of c.tting metals necessarily in+ol+es many years of work. The science of c.tting metals, howe+er, represents in its complication, and in the time re0.ired to de+elop it, almost an e7treme case in the mechanic arts. Bet e+en in this +ery intricate science, withina few months after starting, eno.gh knowledge had !een o!tained to m.ch more than pay for the work of e7perimenting. This holds tr.e in the case of practicallyall scientific de+elopment in the mechanic arts. The first laws de+eloped for c.tting metals were cr.de, and contained only a partial knowledge of the tr.th, yet this imperfect knowledge was +astly !etter than the .tter lack of e7act information or the +ery imperfect r.le of th.m! which e7isted !efore, and it ena!led the workmen, with the help of the management, to do far 0.icker and !etter work.
For e7ample, a +ery short time was needed to disco+er one or two types of toolswhich, tho.gh imperfect as compared with the shapes de+eloped years afterward, were s.perior to all other shapes and kinds in common .se. These tools were adopted as standard and made possi!le an immediate increase in the speed of e+ery machinist who .sed them. These types were s.perseded in a comparati+ely short time!y still other tools which remained standard .ntil they in their t.rn made way for later impro+ements."@C$
The science which e7ists in most of the mechanic arts is, howe+er, far simpler than the science of c.tting metals. %n almost all cases, in fact, the laws or r.les which are de+eloped are so simple that the a+erage man wo.ld hardly dignify them with the name of a science. %n most trades, the science is de+eloped thro.gh a comparati+ely simple analysis and time st.dy of the mo+ements re0.ired !y the workmen to do some small part of his work, and this st.dy is .s.ally made !y aman e0.ipped merely with a stop4 watch and a properly r.led note!ook. -.ndreds of these /time4st.dy men/ are now engaged in de+eloping elementary scientific knowledge where !efore e7isted only r.le of th.m!. E+en the motion st.dy of Mr ,il!reth in !ricklaying "descri!ed on pages GG to FI$ in+ol+es a m.ch more ela!oratein+estigation than that which occ.rs in most cases. The general steps to !e taken in de+eloping a simple law of this class are as follows8
First. Find, say, 1= or 1A different men "prefera!ly in as many separate esta!lishments and different parts of the co.ntry$ who are especially skilf.l in doingthe partic.lar work to !e analy1ed.
Second. St.dy the e7act series of elementary operations or motions which each of these men .ses in doing the work which is !eing in+estigated, as well as the implements each man .ses.
Third. St.dy with a stop4watch the time re0.ired to make each of these elementary mo+ements and then select the 0.ickest way of doing each element of the work.
Fo.rth. Eliminate all false mo+ements, slow mo+ements, and .seless mo+ements.
Fifth. 3fter doing away with all .nnecessary mo+ements, collect into one seriesthe 0.ickest and !est mo+ements as well as the !est implements.
This one new method, in+ol+ing that series of motions which can !e made 0.ickest and !est, is then s.!stit.ted in place of the ten or fifteen inferior series which were formerly in .se. This !est method !ecomes standard, and remains standard, to !e ta.ght first to the teachers "or f.nctional foremen$ and !y them to e+ery workman in the esta!lishment .ntil it is s.perseded !y a 0.icker and !etter series of mo+ements. %n this simple way one element after another of the scienceis de+eloped.
%n the same way each type of implement .sed in a trade is st.died. )nder the philosophy of the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ each workman is called .pon to .se his own !est 2.dgment, so as to do the work in the 0.ickest time, and from this res.lts in all cases a large +ariety in the shapes and types of implements which are .sed for any specific p.rpose. Scientific management re0.ires, first, a caref.l in+estigation of each of the many modifications of the same implement, de+eloped .nder r.le of th.m!5 and second, after a time st.dy has !een made of the speed attaina!le with each of these implements, that the good points of se+eral of them shall !e .nited in a single standard implement, which will ena!le the workman to work faster and with greater ease than he co.ld !efore. Thisone implement, then, is adopted as standard in place of the many different kinds !efore in .se, and it remains standard for all workmen to .se .ntil s.perseded!y an implement which has !een shown, thro.gh motion and time st.dy, to !e still !etter.
With this e7planation it will !e seen that the de+elopment of a science to replace r.le of th.m! is in most cases !y no means a formida!le .ndertaking, and that it can !e accomplished !y ordinary, e+ery4 day men witho.t any ela!orate scientific training5 !.t that, on the other hand, the s.ccessf.l .se of e+en the simplest impro+ement of this kind calls for records, system, and cooperation where inthe past e7isted only indi+id.al effort.
There is another type of scientific in+estigation which has !een referred to se+eral times in this paper, and which sho.ld recei+e special attention, namely, the acc.rate st.dy of the moti+es which infl.ence men. 3t first it may appear that this is a matter for indi+id.al o!ser+ation and 2.dgment, and is not a proper s.!2ect for e7act scientific e7periments. %t is tr.e that the laws which res.lt from e7periments of this class, owing to the fact that the +ery comple7 organism4the h.man !eing is !eing e7perimented with, are s.!2ect to a larger n.m!er of e7ceptions than is the case with laws relating to material things. 3nd yet laws of this kind, which apply to a large ma2ority of men, .n0.estiona!ly e7ist, and when clearly defined are of great +al.e as a g.ide in dealing with men. %n de+eloping these laws, acc.rate, caref.lly planned and e7ec.ted e7periments, e7tendingthro.gh a term of years, ha+e !een made, similar in a general way to the e7periments .pon +ario.s other elements which ha+e !een referred to in this paper.
Perhaps the most important law !elonging to this class, in its relation to scientific management, is the effect which the task idea has .pon the efficiency of the workman. This, in fact, has !ecome s.ch an important element of the mechanism of scientific management, that !y a great n.m!er of people scientific management has come to !e known as /task management./
There is a!sol.tely nothing new in the task idea. Each one of .s will remem!er that in his own case this idea was applied with good res.lts in his school!oy days. &o efficient teacher wo.ld think of gi+ing a class of st.dents an indefinitelesson to learn. Each day a definite, clear4c.t task is set !y the teacher !efore each scholar, stating that he m.st learn 2.st so m.ch of the s.!2ect5 and it is only !y this means that proper, systematic progress can !e made !y the st.dents. The a+erage !oy wo.ld go +ery slowly if, instead of !eing gi+en a task, he were told to do as m.ch as he co.ld. 3ll of .s are grown4.p children, and it is e0.ally tr.e that the a+erage workman will work with the greatest satisfaction, !oth to himself and to his employer, when he is gi+en each day a definite task which he is to perform in a gi+en time, and which constit.tes a proper day;s work for a good workman. This f.rnishes the workman with a clear4c.t standard, !y which he can thro.gho.t the day meas.re his own progress, and the accomplishment ofwhich affords him the greatest satisfaction.
The writer has descri!ed in other papers a series of e7periments made .pon workmen, which ha+e res.lted in demonstrating the fact that it is impossi!le, thro.gh any long period of time, to get workmen to work m.ch harder than the a+erage men aro.nd them, .nless they are ass.red a large and a permanent increase in their pay. This series of e7periments, howe+er, also pro+ed that plenty of workmen can !e fo.nd who are willing to work at their !est speed, pro+ided they are gi+enthis li!eral increase in wages. The workman m.st, howe+er, !e f.lly ass.red that this increase !eyond the a+erage is to !e permanent. (.r e7periments ha+e shown that the e7act percentage of increase re0.ired to make a workman work at his highest speed depends .pon the kind of work which the man is doing.
%t is a!sol.tely necessary, then, when workmen are daily gi+en a task which calls for a high rate of speed on their part, that they sho.ld also !e ins.red the necessary high rate of pay whene+er they are s.ccessf.l. This in+ol+es not only fi7ing for each man his daily task, !.t also paying him a large !on.s, or premi.m, each time that he s.cceeds in doing his task in the gi+en time. %t is diffic.lt to appreciate in f.ll meas.re the help which the proper .se of these two elements is to the workman in ele+ating him to the highest standard of efficiency and speed in his trade, and then keeping him there, .nless one has seen first the old plan and afterward the new tried .pon the same man. 3nd in fact .ntil one has seen similar acc.rate e7periments made .pon +ario.s grades of workmen engaged in doing widely different types of work. The remarka!le and almost .niformly good res.lts from the correct application of the task and the !on.s m.st !e seen to!e appreciated.
These two elements, the task and the !on.s "which, as has !een pointed o.t in pre+io.s papers, can !e applied in se+eral ways$, constit.te two of the most important elements of the mechanism of scientific management. They are especially important from the fact that they are, as it were, a clima7, demanding !efore theycan !e .sed almost all of the other elements of the mechanism5 s.ch as a planning department, acc.rate time st.dy, standardi1ation of methods and implements, aro.ting system, the training of f.nctional foremen or teachers, and in many cases instr.ction cards, slide4r.les, etc. "'eferred to later in rather more detailon page 1E.$
The necessity for systematically teaching workmen how to work to the !est ad+antage has !een se+eral times referred to. %t seems desira!le, therefore, to e7plain in rather more detail how this teaching is done. %n the case of a machine4shop which is managed .nder the modern system, detailed written instr.ctions as to the !est way of doing each piece of work are prepared in ad+ance, !y men in the planning department. These instr.ctions represent the com!ined work of se+eral men in the planning room, each of whom has his own specialty, or f.nction. (ne ofthem, for instance, is a specialist on the proper speeds and c.tting tools to !e .sed. -e .ses the slide4r.les which ha+e !een a!o+e descri!ed as an aid, to g.ide him in o!taining proper speeds, etc. 3nother man analy1es the !est and 0.ickest motions to !e made !y the workman in setting the work .p in the machine and remo+ing it, etc. Still a third, thro.gh the time4 st.dy records which ha+e !een acc.m.lated, makes o.t a timeta!le gi+ing the proper speed for doing each element of the work. The directions of all of these men, howe+er, are written on a single instr.ction card, or sheet.
These men of necessity spend most of their time in the planning department, !eca.se they m.st !e close to the records and data which they contin.ally .se in their work, and !eca.se this work re0.ires the .se of a desk and freedom from interr.ption. -.man nat.re is s.ch, howe+er, that many of the workmen, if left to themsel+es, wo.ld pay !.t little attention to their written instr.ctions. %t is necessary, therefore, to pro+ide teachers "called f.nctional foremen$ to see that the workmen !oth .nderstand and carry o.t these written instr.ctions.
)nder f.nctional management, the old4fashioned single foreman is s.perseded !y eight different men, each one of whom has his own special d.ties, and these men,acting as the agents for the planning department "see paragraph E<I to EIA of the paper entitled /Shop Management/$, are the e7pert teachers, who are at all times in the shop, helping and directing the workmen. 6eing each one chosen for his knowledge and personal skill in his specialty, they are a!le not only to tell the workman what he sho.ld do, !.t in case of necessity they do the work themsel+es in the presence of the workman, so as to show him not only the !est !.t alsothe 0.ickest methods.
(ne of these teachers "called the inspector$ sees to it that he .nderstands thedrawings and instr.ctions for doing the work. -e teaches him how to do work of the right 0.ality5 how to make it fine and e7act where it sho.ld !e fine, and ro.gh and 0.ick where acc.racy is not re0.ired, the one !eing 2.st as important for s.ccess as the other. The second teacher "the gang !oss$ shows him how to set .p the 2o! in his machine, and teaches him to make all of his personal motions in the 0.ickest and !est way. The third "the speed !oss$ sees that the machine isr.n at the !est speed and that the proper tool is .sed in the partic.lar way which will ena!le the machine to finish its prod.ct in the shortest possi!le time.%n addition to the assistance gi+en !y these teachers, the workman recei+es orders and help from fo.r other men5 from the /repair !oss/ as to the ad2.stment, cleanliness, and general care of his machine, !elting, etc.5 from the /time clerk,/ as to e+erything relating to his pay and to proper written reports and ret.rns5 from the /ro.te clerk,/ as to the order in which he does his work and as to the mo+ement of the work from one part of the shop to another5 and, in case a workman gets into any tro.!le with any of his +ario.s !osses, the /disciplinarian/ inter+iews him.
%t m.st !e .nderstood, of co.rse, that all workmen engaged on the same kind of work do not re0.ire the same amo.nt of indi+id.al teaching and attention from the f.nctional foremen. The men who are new at a gi+en operation nat.rally re0.irefar more teaching and watching than those who ha+e !een a long time at the samekind of 2o!s.
&ow, when thro.gh all of this teaching and this min.te instr.ction the work is apparently made so smooth and easy for the workman, the first impression is thatthis all tends to make him a mere a.tomaton, a wooden man. 3s the workmen fre0.ently say when they first come .nder this system, /Why, % am not allowed to think or mo+e witho.t some one interfering or doing it for meL/ The same criticism and o!2ection, howe+er, can !e raised against all other modem s.!di+ision of la!or. %t does not follow, for e7ample, that the modern s.rgeon is any more narrow or wooden a man than the early settler of this co.ntry. The frontiersman, howe+er, had to !e not only a s.rgeon, !.t also an architect, ho.se!.ilder, l.m!erman, farmer, soldier, and doctor, and he had to settle his law cases with a g.n. Bo. wo.ld hardly say that the life of the modern s.rgeon is any more narrowing, or that he is more of a wooden man than the frontiersman. The many pro!lems to !e met and sol+ed !y the s.rgeon are 2.st as intricate and diffic.lt and as de+eloping and !roadening in their way as were those of the frontiersman.
3nd it sho.ld !e remem!ered that the training of the s.rgeon has !een almost identical in type with the teaching and training which is gi+en to the workman .nder scientific management. The s.rgeon, all thro.gh his early years, is .nder theclosest s.per+ision of more e7perienced men, who show him in the min.test way how each element of his work is !est done. They pro+ide him with the finest implements, each one of which has !een the s.!2ect of special st.dy and de+elopment, and then insist .pon his .sing each of these implements in the +ery !est way. 3ll of this teaching, howe+er, in no way narrows him. (n the contrar+ he is 0.ickly gi+en the +ery !est knowledge of his predecessors5 and, pro+ided "as he is, right from the start$ with standard implements and methods which represent the !est knowledge of the world .p to date, he is a!le to .se his own originality and ingen.ity to make real additions to the world;s knowledge, instead of rein+entingthings which are old. %n a similar way the workman who is cooperating with his many teachers .nder scientific management has an opport.nity to de+elop which isat least as good as and generally !etter than that which he had when the whole pro!lem was /.p to him/ and he did his work entirely .naided.
%f it were tr.e that the workman wo.ld de+elop into a larger and finer man witho.t all of this teaching, and witho.t the help of the laws which ha+e !een form.lated for doing his partic.lar 2o!, then it wo.ld follow that the yo.ng man who now comes to college to ha+e the help of a teacher in mathematics, physics, chemistry, 9atin, ,reek, etc., wo.ld do !etter to st.dy these things .naided and !y himself. The only difference in the two cases is that st.dents come to their teachers, while from the nat.re of the work done !y the mechanic .nder scientific management, the teachers m.st go to him. What really happens is that, with the aid of the science which is in+aria!ly de+eloped, and thro.gh the instr.ctions from his teachers, each workman of a gi+en intellect.al capacity is ena!led to do am.ch higher, more interesting, and finally more de+eloping and more profita!le kind of work than he was !efore a!le to do. The la!orer who !efore was .na!le todo anything !eyond, perhaps, sho+eling and wheeling dirt from place to place, or carrying the work from one part of the shop to another, is in many cases ta.ght to do the more elementary machinist;s work, accompanied !y the agreea!le s.rro.ndings and the interesting +ariety and higher wages which go with the machinist;s trade. The cheap machinist or helper, who !efore was a!le to r.n perhaps merely a drill press, is ta.ght to do the more intricate and higher priced lathe andplaner work, while the highly skilled and more intelligent machinists !ecome f.nctional foremen and teachers. 3nd so on, right .p the line.
%t may seem that with scientific management there is not the same incenti+e forthe workman to .se his ingen.ity in de+ising new and !etter methods of doing the work, as well as in impro+ing his implements, that there is with the old type of management. %t is tr.e that with scientific management the workman is not allowed to .se whate+er implements and methods he sees fit in the daily practise ofhis work. E+ery enco.ragement, howe+er, sho.ld !e gi+en him to s.ggest impro+ements, !oth in methods and in implements. 3nd whene+er a workman proposes an impro+ement, it sho.ld !e the policy of the management to make a caref.l analysis ofthe new method, and if necessary cond.ct a series of e7periments to determine acc.rately the relati+e merit of the new s.ggestion and of the old standard, 3nd whene+er the new method is fo.nd to !e markedly s.perior to the old, it sho.ld !e adopted as the standard for the whole esta!lishment. The workman sho.ld !e gi+en the f.ll credit for the impro+ement, and sho.ld !e paid a cash premi.m as a reward for his ingen.ity. %n this way the tr.e initiati+e of the workmen is !etter attained .nder scientific management than .nder the old indi+id.al plan.
The history of the de+elopment of scientific management .p to date, howe+er, calls for a word of warning. The mechanism of management m.st not !e mistaken for its essence, or .nderlying philosophy. Precisely the same mechanism will in one case prod.ce disastro.s res.lts and in another the most !eneficent. The same mechanism which will prod.ce the finest res.lts when made to ser+e the .nderlying principles of scientific management, will lead to fail.re and disaster if accompanied !y the wrong spirit in those who are .sing it. -.ndreds of people ha+e already mistaken the mechanism of this system for its essence. Messrs ,antt, 6arth, and the writer ha+e presented papers to the 3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers on the s.!2ect of scientific management. %n these papers the mechanism which is .sed has !een descri!ed at some length. 3s elements of this mechanism may !e cited8
Time st.dy, with the implements and methods for properly making it.
F.nctional or di+ided foremanship and its s.periority to the old4fashioned single foreman.
The standardi1ation of all tools and implements .sed in the trades, and also ofthe acts or mo+ements of workmen for each class of work.
The desira!ility of a planning room or department.
The /e7ception principle/ in management.
The .se of slide4r.les and similar time4sa+ing implements.
%nstr.ction cards for the workman.
The task idea in management, accompanied !y a large !on.s for the s.ccessf.l performance of the task.
The /differential rate./
Mnemonic systems for classifying man.fact.red prod.cts as well as implements .sed in man.fact.ring.
3 ro.ting system.
Modern cost system, etc., etc.
These are, howe+er, merely the elements or details of the mechanism of management. Scientific management, in its essence, consists of a certain philosophy, which res.lts, as !efore stated, in a com!ination of the fo.r great .nderlying principles of management8"GC$
When, howe+er, the elements of this mechanism, s.ch as time st.dy, f.nctional foremanship, etc., are .sed witho.t !eing accompanied !y the tr.e philosophy of management, the res.lts are in many cases disastro.s. 3nd, .nfort.nately, e+en when men who are thoro.ghly in sympathy with the principles of scientific management .ndertake to change too rapidly from the old type to the new, witho.t heedingthe warnings of those who ha+e had years of e7perience in making this change, they fre0.ently meet with serio.s tro.!les, and sometimes with strikes, followed !y fail.re.
The writer, in his paper on /Shop Management,/ has called especial attention tothe risks which managers r.n in attempting to change rapidly from the old to the new management. %n many cases, howe+er, this warning has not !een heeded. The physical changes which are needed, the act.al time st.dy which has to !e made, the standardi1ation of all implements connected with the work, the necessity for indi+id.ally st.dying each machine and placing it in perfect order, all take time, !.t the faster these elements of the work are st.died and impro+ed, the !etter for the .ndertaking. (n the other hand, the really great pro!lem in+ol+ed in achange from the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ to scientific management consists in a complete re+ol.tion in the mental attit.de and the ha!its of all of those engaged in the management, as well of the workmen. 3nd this change can !e !ro.ght a!o.t only grad.ally and thro.gh the presentation of many o!2ect4lessons to the workman, which, together with the teaching which he recei+es, thoro.ghly con+ince him of the s.periority of the new o+er the old way of doing the work. This change in the mental attit.de of the workman imperati+ely demands time. %t is impossi!le to h.rry it !eyond a certain speed. The writer has o+er and o+er again warned those who contemplated making this change that it was a matter,e+en in a simple esta!lishment, of from two to three years, and that in some cases it re0.ires from fo.r to fi+e years.
The first few changes which affect the workmen sho.ld !e made e7ceedingly slowly, and only one workman at a time sho.ld !e dealt with at the start. )ntil this single man has !een thoro.ghly con+inced that a great gain has come to him from the new method, no f.rther change sho.ld !e made. Then one man after another sho.ld !e tactf.lly changed o+er. 3fter passing the point at which from one4fo.rth to one4 third of the men in the employ of the company ha+e !een changed from the old to the new, +ery rapid progress can !e made, !eca.se at a!o.t this time there is, generally, a complete re+ol.tion in the p.!lic opinion of the whole esta!lishment and practically all of the workmen who are working .nder the old system !ecome desiro.s to share in the !enefits which they see ha+e !een recei+ed !y those working .nder the new plan.
%nasm.ch as the writer has personally retired from the !.siness of introd.cing this system of management "that is, from all work done in ret.rn for any money compensation$, he does not hesitate again to emphasi1e the fact that those companies are indeed fort.nate who can sec.re the ser+ices of e7perts who ha+e had thenecessary practical e7perience in introd.cing scientific management, and who ha+e made a special st.dy of its principles. %t is not eno.gh that a man sho.ld ha+e !een a manager in an esta!lishment which is r.n .nder the new principles. Theman who .ndertakes to direct the steps to !e taken in changing from the old to the new "partic.larly in any esta!lishment doing ela!orate work$ m.st ha+e had personal e7perience in o+ercoming the especial diffic.lties which are always met with, and which are pec.liar to this period of transition. %t is for this reasonthat the writer e7pects to de+ote the rest of his life chiefly to trying to help those who wish to take .p this work as their profession, and to ad+ising the managers and owners of companies in general as to the steps which they sho.ld take in making this change.
3s a warning to those who contemplate adopting scientific management, the foSlowing instance is gi+en. Se+eral men who lacked the e7tended e7perience which is re0.ired to change witho.t danger of strikes, or witho.t interference with the s.ccess of the !.siness, from the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e/ to scientific management, attempted rapidly to increase the o.tp.t in 0.ite an ela!orate esta!lishment, employing !etween three tho.sand and fo.r tho.sand men. Those who .ndertook to make this change were men of .n.s.al a!ility, and were at the same time enth.siasts and % think had the interests of the workmen tr.ly at heart. They were, howe+er, warned !y the writer, !efore starting, that they m.st go e7ceedingly slowly, and that the work of making the change in this esta!lishment co.ld not !e done in less than from three to fi+e years. This warning they entirely disregarded. They e+idently !elie+ed that !y .sing m.ch of the mechanism of scientific management, in com!ination with the principles of the management of /initiati+e and incenti+e,/ instead of with the principles of scientific management, that they co.ld do, in a year or two, what had !een pro+ed in the past to re0.ire at least do.!le this time. The knowledge o!tained from acc.rate time st.dy, for e7ample, is a powerf.l implement, and can !e .sed, in one case to promote harmony !etween the workmen and the management, !y grad.ally ed.cating, training, and leading the workmen into new and !etter methods of doing the work, or, in the other case, it may !e .sed more or less as a cl.! to dri+e the workmen into doing a larger day;s work for appro7imately the same pay that they recei+ed in the past. )nfort.nately the men who had charge of this work did not take the timeand the tro.!le re0.ired to train f.nctional foremen, or teachers, who were fitted grad.ally to lead and ed.cate the workmen. They attempted, thro.gh the old4style foreman, armed with his new weapon "acc.rate time st.dy$, to dri+e the workmen, against their wishes, and witho.t m.ch increase in pay, to work m.ch harder, instead of grad.ally teaching and leading them toward new methods, and con+incing them thro.gh o!2ect4lessons that task management means for them somewhat harder work, !.t also far greater prosperity. The res.lt of all this disregard of f.ndamental principles was a series of strikes, followed !y the downfall of the men who attempted to make the change, and !y a ret.rn to conditions thro.gho.t the esta!lishment far worse than those which e7isted !efore the effort was made.
This instance is cited as an o!2ect4lesson of the f.tility of .sing the mechanism of the new management while lea+ing o.t its essence, and also of trying to shorten a necessarily long operation in entire disregard of past e7perience. %t sho.ld !e emphasi1ed that the men who .ndertook this work were !oth a!le and earnest, and that fail.re was not d.e to lack of a!ility on their part, !.t to their .ndertaking to do the impossi!le. These partic.lar men will not again make a similar mistake, and it is hoped that their e7perience may act as a warning to others.
%n this connection, howe+er, it is proper to again state that d.ring the thirtyyears that we ha+e !een engaged in introd.cing scientific management there has not !een a single strike from those who were working in accordance with its principles, e+en d.ring the critical period when the change was !eing made from the old to the new. %f proper methods are .sed !y men who ha+e had e7perience in this work, there is a!sol.tely no danger from strikes or other tro.!les.
The writer wo.ld again insist that in no case sho.ld the managers of an esta!lishment, the work of which is ela!orate, .ndertake to change from the old to the new type .nless the directors of the company f.lly .nderstand and !elie+e in thef.ndamental principles of scientific management and .nless they appreciate all that is in+ol+ed in making this change, partic.larly the time re0.ired, and .nless they want scientific management greatly.
Do.!tless some of those who are especially interested in working men will complain !eca.se .nder scientific management the workman, when he is shown how to do twice as m.ch work as he formerly did, is not paid twice his former wages, whileothers who are more interested in the di+idends than the workmen will complain that .nder this system the men recei+e m.ch higher wages than they did !efore.
%t does seem grossly .n2.st when the !are statement is made that the competent pig4iron handler, for instance, who has !een so trained that he piles < @H1= times as m.ch iron as the incompetent man formerly did, sho.ld recei+e an increase of only @= per cent in wages.
%t is not fair, howe+er, to form any final 2.dgment .ntil all of the elements in the case ha+e !een considered. 3t the first glance we see only two parties to the transaction, the workmen and their employers. We o+erlook the third great party, the whole people, 44 the cons.mers, who !.y the prod.ct of the first two and who .ltimately pay !oth the wages of the workmen and the profits of the employers.
The rights of the people are therefore greater than those of either employer oremploy:. 3nd this third great party sho.ld !e gi+en its proper share of any gain. %n fact, a glance at ind.strial history shows that in the end the whole people recei+e the greater part of the !enefit coming from ind.strial impro+ements. %n the past h.ndred years, for e7ample, the greatest factor tending toward increasing the o.tp.t, and there!y the prosperity of the ci+ili1ed world, has !een theintrod.ction of machinery to replace hand la!or. 3nd witho.t do.!t the greatestgain thro.gh this change has come to the whole people 44 the cons.mer.
Thro.gh short periods, especially in the case of patented apparat.s, the di+idends of those who ha+e introd.ced new machinery ha+e !een greatly increased, and in many cases, tho.gh .nfort.nately not .ni+ersally, the employ:s ha+e o!tained materially higher wages, shorter ho.rs, and !etter working conditions. 6.t in the end the ma2or part of the gain has gone to the whole people.
3nd this res.lt will follow the introd.ction of scientific management 2.st as s.rely as it has the introd.ction of machinery.
To ret.rn to the case of the pig4iron handler. We m.st ass.me, then, that the larger part of the gain which has come from his great increase in o.tp.t will in the end go to the people in the form of cheaper pig4iron. 3nd !efore deciding .pon how the !alance is to !e di+ided !etween the workmen and the employer, as to what is 2.st and fair compensation for the man who does the piling and what sho.ld !e left for the company as profit, we m.st look at the matter from all sides.
First. 3s we ha+e !efore stated, the pig4iron handler is not an e7traordinary man diffic.lt to find, he is merely a man more or less of the type of the o7, hea+y !oth mentally and physically.
Second. The work which this man does tires him no more than any healthy normal la!orer is tired !y a proper day;s work. "%f this man is o+ertired !y his work, then the task has !een wrongly set and this is as far as possi!le from the o!2ect of scientific management.$
Third. %t was not d.e to this man;s initiati+e or originality that he did his !ig day;s work, !.t to the knowledge of the science of pig4iron handling de+eloped and ta.ght him !y some one else.
Fo.rth. %t is 2.st and fair that men of the same general grade "when their all4ro.nd capacities are considered$ sho.ld !e paid a!o.t the same wages when they are all working to the !est of their a!ilities. "%t wo.ld !e grossly .n2.st to other la!orers, for instance, to pay this man < @H1= as high wages as other men ofhis general grade recei+e for an honest f.ll day;s work.$
Fifth. 3s is e7plained "page GI$, the @= per cent increase in pay which he recei+ed was not the res.lt of an ar!itrary 2.dgment of a foreman or s.perintendent,it was the res.lt of a long series of caref.l e7periments impartially made to determine what compensation is really for the man;s tr.e and !est interest when all things are considered.
Th.s we see that the pig4iron handler with his @= per cent increase in wages isnot an o!2ect for pity !.t rather a s.!2ect for congrat.lation.
3fter all, howe+er, facts are in many cases more con+incing than opinions or theories, and it is a significant fact that those workmen who ha+e come .nder thissystem d.ring the past thirty years ha+e in+aria!ly !een satisfied with the increase in pay which they ha+e recei+ed, while their employers ha+e !een e0.ally pleased with their increase in di+idends.
The writer is one of those who !elie+es that more and more will the third party"the whole people$, as it !ecomes ac0.ainted with the tr.e facts, insist that 2.stice shall !e done to all three parties. %t will demand the largest efficiencyfrom !oth employers and employ:s. %t will no longer tolerate the type of employer who has his eye on di+idends alone, who ref.ses to do his f.ll share of the work and who merely cracks his whip o+er the heads of his workmen and attempts todri+e them into harder work for low pay. &o more will it tolerate tyranny on the part of la!or which demands one increase after another in pay and shorter ho.rs while at the same time it !ecomes less instead of more efficient. 3nd the means which the writer firmly !elie+es will !e adopted to !ring a!o.t, first, efficiency !oth in employer and employ: and then an e0.ita!le di+ision of the profits of their 2oint efforts will !e scientific management, which has for its sole aimthe attainment of 2.stice for all three parties thro.gh impartial scientific in+estigation of all the elements of the pro!lem. For a time !oth sides will re!elagainst this ad+ance. The workers will resent any interference with their old r.le4of4th.m! methods, and the management will resent !eing asked to take on new d.ties and !.rdens5 !.t in the end the people thro.gh enlightened p.!lic opinionwill force the new order of things .pon !oth employer and employ:.
%t will do.!tless !e claimed that in all that has !een said no new fact has !een !ro.ght to light that was not known to some one in the past. Kery likely this is tr.e. Scientific management does not necessarily in+ol+e any great in+ention,nor the disco+ery of new or startling facts. %t does, howe+er, in+ol+e a certain com!ination of elements which ha+e not e7isted in the past, namely, old knowledge so collected, analy1ed, gro.ped and classified into laws and r.les that it constit.tes a science5 accompanied !y a complete change in the mental attit.de ofthe working men as well as of those on the side of the management, toward each other, and toward their respecti+e d.ties and responsi!ilities. 3lso, a new di+ision of the d.ties !etween the two sides and intimate, friendly cooperation to an e7tent that is impossi!le .nder the philosophy of the old management. 3nd e+enall of this in many cases co.ld not e7ist witho.t the help of mechanisms which ha+e !een grad.ally de+eloped.
%t is no single element, !.t rather this whole com!ination, that constit.tes scientific management, which may !e s.mmari1ed as8
Science, not r.le of th.m!.
-armony, not discord.
*ooperation, not indi+id.alism.
Ma7im.m o.tp.t, in place of restricted o.tp.t.
The de+elopment of each man to his greatest efficiency and prosperity.
The writer wishes to again state that8 /The time is fast going !y for the greatpersonal or indi+id.al achie+ement of any one man standing alone and witho.t the help of those aro.nd him. 3nd the time is coming when all great things will !edone !y that type of cooperation in which each man performs the f.nction for which he is !est s.ited, each man preser+es his own indi+id.ality and is s.preme in his partic.lar f.nction, and each man at the same time loses none of his originality and proper personal initiati+e, and yet is controlled !y and m.st work harmonio.sly with many other men./
The e7amples gi+en a!o+e of the increase in o.tp.t reali1ed .nder the new management fairly represent the gain which is possi!le. They do not represent e7traordinary or e7ceptional cases, and ha+e !een selected from among tho.sands of similar ill.strations which might ha+e !een gi+en.
9et .s now e7amine the good which wo.ld follow the general adoption of these principles.
The larger profit wo.ld come to the whole world in general.
The greatest material gain which those of the present generation ha+e o+er pastgenerations has come from the fact that the a+erage man in this generation, with a gi+en e7pendit.re of effort, is prod.cing two times, three times, e+en fo.r times as m.ch of those things that are of .se to man as it was possi!le for the a+erage man in the past to prod.ce. This increase in the prod.cti+ity of h.man effort is, of co.rse, d.e to many ca.ses, !esides the increase in the personal de7terity of the man. %t is d.e to the disco+ery of steam and electricity, to the introd.ction of machinery, to in+entions, great and small, and to the progress in science and ed.cation. 6.t from whate+er ca.se this increase in prod.cti+ity has come, it is to the greater prod.cti+ity of each indi+id.al that the whole co.ntry owes its greater prosperity.
Those who are afraid that a large increase in the prod.cti+ity of each workman will throw other men o.t of work, sho.ld reali1e that the one element more than any other which differentiates ci+ili1ed from .nci+ili1ed co.ntries 44 prospero.s from po+erty4stricken peoples 44 is that the a+erage man in the one is fi+e orsi7 times as prod.cti+e as the other. %t is also a fact that the chief ca.se for the large percentage of the .nemployed in England "perhaps the most +irile nation in the world$, is that the workmen of England, more than in any other ci+ili1ed co.ntry, are deli!erately restricting their o.tp.t !eca.se they are possessed !y the fallacy that it is against their !est interest for each man to work as hard as he can.
The general adoption of scientific management wo.ld readily in the f.t.re do.!le the prod.cti+ity of the a+erage man engaged in ind.strial work. Think of what this means to the whole co.ntry. Think of the increase, !oth in the necessities and l.7.ries of life, which !ecomes a+aila!le for the whole co.ntry, of the possi!ility of shortening the ho.rs of la!or when this is desira!le, and of the increased opport.nities for ed.cation, c.lt.re, and recreation which this implies. 6.t while the whole world wo.ld profit !y this increase in prod.ction, the man.fact.rer and the workman will !e far more interested in the especial local gain that comes to them and to the people immediately aro.nd them. Scientific management will mean, for the employers and the workmen who adopt it 44 and partic.larly for those who adopt it first 44 the elimination of almost all ca.ses for disp.teand disagreement !etween them. What constit.tes a fair day;s work will !e a 0.estion for scientific in+estigation, instead of a s.!2ect to !e !argained and haggled o+er. Soldiering will cease !eca.se the o!2ect for soldiering will no longer e7ist. The great increase in wages which accompanies this type of management will largely eliminate the wage 0.estion as a so.rce of disp.te. 6.t more than all other ca.ses, the close, intimate cooperation, the constant personal contact !etween the two sides, will tend to diminish friction and discontent. %t is diffic.lt for two people whose interests are the same, and who work side !y side in accomplishing the same o!2ect, all day long, to keep .p a 0.arrel.
The low cost of prod.ction which accompanies a do.!ling of the o.tp.t will ena!le the companies who adopt this management, partic.larly those who adopt it first, to compete far !etter than they were a!le to !efore, and this will so enlargetheir markets that their men will ha+e almost constant work e+en in d.ll times,and that they will earn larger profits at all times.
This means increase in prosperity and dimin.tion in po+erty, not only for theirmen !.t for the whole comm.nity immediately aro.nd them.
3s one of the elements incident to this great gain in o.tp.t, each workman has !een systematically trained to his highest state of efficiency, and has !een ta.ght to do a higher class of work than he was a!le to do .nder the old types of management5 and at the same time he has ac0.ired a friendly mental attit.de toward his employers and his whole working conditions, whereas !efore a considera!le part of his time was spent in criticism, s.spicio.s watchf.lness, and sometimes in open warfare. This direct gain to all of those working .nder the system is witho.t do.!t the most important single element in the whole pro!lem.
%s not the reali1ation of res.lts s.ch as these of far more importance than thesol.tion of most of the pro!lems which are now agitating !oth the English and 3merican peoples> 3nd is it not the d.ty of those who are ac0.ainted with these facts, to e7ert themsel+es to make the whole comm.nity reali1e this importance>
&(TES8
1. The writer has tried to make the reason for this .nfort.nate state of things clear in a paper entitled /Shop Management,/ read !efore the 3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers./
E. For e7ample, the records containing the data .sed .nder scientific management in an ordinary machine4shop fill tho.sands of pages.
<. See foot4note at foot of page @=."i.e. note I$
I. Many people ha+e 0.estioned the acc.racy of the statement that first4class worl.nen can load IG 1HE tons of pig iron from the gro.nd on to a car in a day. For those who are skeptical, therefore, the following data relating to this work are gi+en8 First. That o.r e7periments indicated the e7istence of the following law8 that a first4class la!orer, s.ited to s.ch work as handling pig iron, co.ld !e .nder load only IE per cent of the day and m.st !e free from load AF per cent of the day. Second. That a man in loading pig iron from piles placed on the gro.nd in an open field on to a ear which stood on a track ad2oining these piles, o.glit to handle "and that they did handle reg.larly$ IG 1HE long tons "EEI= po.nds per ton$ per day. That the price paid for loading this pig iron was < H1= cents per ton, and that the men working at it a+eraged J1.FA per day, whereas, in the past, they !ad !een paid only J1.1A per day. %n addition to these facts, the following are gi+en8 IG 1HE long tons e0.al 1=@,I== po.nds of pig iron per day. 3t E po.nds per pig, e0.als 11A@ pigs per day. IE per cent of a day .nder load e0.als @== min.tes5 m.ltiplied !y =.IE e0.als EAE min.tes .nder load. EAE min.tes di+ided !y 11A@ pigs e0.als =.EE min.tes per pig .nder load. 3 pig4iron handler walks on the le+el at the rate of one foot in =.==@ min.tes. The a+erage distance of the piles of pig iron from the car was <@ feet. %tis a fact, howe+er, that many of the pig4iron handlers ran with their pig as soon as they reached the inclined plank. Many of them also wo.ld r.n down the plank after loading the car. So that when the act.al loading went on, many of them mo+ed at a faster rate than is indicated !y the a!o+e fig.res. Practically the men were made to take a rest, generally !y sitting down, after loading ten to twenty pigs. This rest was in addition to the time which it took them to walk !ack from the car to the pile. %t is likely that many of thosewho are skeptical a!o.t the possi!ility of loading this amo.nt of pig iron do not reali1e that while these men were walking !ack they were entirely free from load, and that therefore their m.scles had, d.ring that time, the opport.nity forrec.peration. %t will !e noted that with an a+erage distance of <@ feet of the pig iron from the car, these men walked a!o.t eight miles .nder load each day and eight miles free from load. %f any one who is interested in these fig.res will m.ltiply them and di+ide them, one into the other, in +ario.s ways, he will find that all of the facts stated check .p e7actly.
A. See paper read !efore the 3merican Society of Mechanical Engineers, !y Fred.W. Taylor, Kol. RK%, p. FA@, entitled /Piece 'ate System./
@. Time and again the e7perimenter in the mechanic arts will find himself face to face with the pro!lem as to whether he had !etter make immediate practical .se of the knowledge which he has attained, or wait .ntil some positi+e finality in his concl.sions has !een reached. -e recogni1es clearly the fact that he has already made some definite progress, !.t sees the possi!ility "e+en the pro!a!ility$ of still f.rther impro+ement. Each partic.lar case m.st of co.rse he independently considered, !.t the general concl.sion we ha+e reached is that in most instances it is wise to p.t one;s concl.sions as soon as possi!le to the rigid test of practical .se. The one indispensa!le condition for s.ch a test, howe+er, isthat the e7perimenter shall ha+e f.ll opport.nity, co.pled with s.fficient a.thority, to ins.re a thoro.gh and impartial trial. 3nd this, owing to the almost .ni+ersal pre2.dice in fa+or of the old, and to the s.spicion of the new, is diffic.lt to get.
G. First. The de+elopment of a tr.e science. Second. The scientific selection of the workman. Third. -is scientific ed.cation and de+elopment. Fo.rth. %ntimatefriendly cooperation !etween the management and the men. Livros Grtis ( http://www.livrosgratis.com.br )
Milhares de Livros para Download:
Baixar livros de Administrao Baixar livros de Agronomia Baixar livros de Arquitetura Baixar livros de Artes Baixar livros de Astronomia Baixar livros de Biologia Geral Baixar livros de Cincia da Computao Baixar livros de Cincia da Informao Baixar livros de Cincia Poltica Baixar livros de Cincias da Sade Baixar livros de Comunicao Baixar livros do Conselho Nacional de Educao - CNE Baixar livros de Defesa civil Baixar livros de Direito Baixar livros de Direitos humanos Baixar livros de Economia Baixar livros de Economia Domstica Baixar livros de Educao Baixar livros de Educao - Trnsito Baixar livros de Educao Fsica Baixar livros de Engenharia Aeroespacial Baixar livros de Farmcia Baixar livros de Filosofia Baixar livros de Fsica Baixar livros de Geocincias Baixar livros de Geografia Baixar livros de Histria Baixar livros de Lnguas Baixar livros de Literatura Baixar livros de Literatura de Cordel Baixar livros de Literatura Infantil Baixar livros de Matemtica Baixar livros de Medicina Baixar livros de Medicina Veterinria Baixar livros de Meio Ambiente Baixar livros de Meteorologia Baixar Monografias e TCC Baixar livros Multidisciplinar Baixar livros de Msica Baixar livros de Psicologia Baixar livros de Qumica Baixar livros de Sade Coletiva Baixar livros de Servio Social Baixar livros de Sociologia Baixar livros de Teologia Baixar livros de Trabalho Baixar livros de Turismo
The Global Economic Crisis Has Shattered Two Articles of Faith in Standard Economic Theory That Human Beings Usually Make Rational Decisions and That the Markets Invisible Hand Serves as a Trustworthy Corrective to Imbalance.