After these laws had been investigated and the various formulae which
mathematically expressed them had been determined, there still remained
the difficult task of how to solve one of these complicated mathematical
problems quickly enough to make this knowledge available for every-day
use. If a good mathematician who had these formula before him were to
attempt to get the proper answer (i.e., to get the correct cutting speed
and feed by working in the ordinary way) it would take him from two to
six hours, say, to solve a single problem; far longer to solve the
mathematical problem than would be taken in most cases by the workmen in
doing the whole job in his machine. Thus a task of considerable
magnitude which faced us was that of finding a quick solution of this
problem, and as we made progress in its solution, the whole problem was
from time to time presented by the writer to one after another of the
noted mathematicians in this country. They were offered any reasonable
fee for a rapid, practical method to be used in its solution. Some of
these men merely glanced at it; others, for the sake of being courteous,
kept it before them for some two or three weeks. They all gave us
practically the same answer: that in many cases it was possible to,
solve mathematical problems which contained four variables, and in some
cases problems with five or six variables, but that it was manifestly
impossible to solve a problem containing twelve variables in any other
way than by the slow process of "trial and error."
A quick solution was, however, so much of a necessity in our every-day
work of running machine-shops, that in spite of the small encouragement
received from the mathematicians, we continued at irregular periods,
through a term of fifteen years, to give a large amount of time
searching for a simple solution. Four or five men at various periods
gave practically their whole time to this work, and finally, while we
were at the Bethlehem Steel Company, the slide-rule was developed which
is illustrated on Folder No. 11 of the paper "On the Art of Cutting
Metals," and is described in detail in the paper presented by Mr. Carl
G. Barth to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, entitled
"Slide-rules for the Machine-shop, as a part of the Taylor System of
Management" (Vol. XXV of The Transactions of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers). By means of this slide-rule, one of these
intricate problems can be solved in less than a half minute by any good
mechanics whether he understands anything about mathematics or not, thus
making available for every-day, practical use the years of experimenting
on the art of cutting metals. This is a good illustration of the fact
that some way can always be found of making practical, everyday use of
complicated scientific data, which appears to be beyond the experience
and the range of the technical training of ordinary practical men. These
slide-rules have been for years in constant daily use by machinists
having no knowledge of mathematics.
A glance at the intricate mathematical formula (see page 109) which
represent the laws of cutting metals should clearly show the reason why
it is impossible for any machinist, without the aid of these laws, and
who depends upon his personal experience, correctly to guess at the
answer to the two questions,
What speed shall I use?
What feed shall I use?
even though he may repeat the same piece of work many times.
To return to the case of the machinist who had been working for ten to
twelve years in machining the same pieces over and over again, there was
but a remote chance in any of the various kinds of work which this man
did that he should hit upon the one best method of doing each piece of
work out of the hundreds of possible methods which lay before him. In
considering this typical case, it must also be remembered that the
metal-cutting machines throughout our machine-shops have practically all
been speeded by their makers by guesswork, and without the knowledge
obtained through a study of the art of cutting metals. In the
machine-shops systematized by us we have found that there is not one
machine in a hundred which is speeded by its makers at anywhere near the
correct cutting speed. So that, in order to compete with the science of
cutting metals, the machinist, before he could use proper speeds, would
first have to put new pulleys on the countershaft of his machine, and
also make in most cases changes in the shapes and treatment of his
tools, etc. Many of these changes are matters entirely beyond his
control, even if he knows what ought to be done.
If the reason is clear to the reader why the rule-of-thumb knowledge
obtained by the machinist who is engaged on repeat work cannot possibly
compete with the true science of cutting metals, it should be even more
apparent why the high-class mechanic, who is called upon to do a great
variety of work from day to day, is even less able to compete with this
science. The high-class mechanic who does a different kind of work each
day, in order to do each job in the quickest time, would need, in
addition to a thorough knowledge of the art of cutting metals, a vast
knowledge and experience in the quickest way of doing each kind of hand
work. And the reader, by calling to mind the gain which was made by Mr.
Gilbreth through his motion and time study in laying bricks, will
appreciate the great possibilities for quicker methods of doing all
kinds of hand work which lie before every tradesman after he has the
help which comes from a scientific motion and time study of his work.
For nearly thirty years past, time-study men connected with the
management of machine-shops have been devoting their whole time to a
scientific motion study, followed by accurate time study, with a
stop-watch, of all of the elements connected with the machinist's work.
When, therefore, the teachers, who form one section of the management,
and who are cooperating with the working men, are in possession both of
the science of cutting metals and of the equally elaborate motion-study
and time-study science connected with this work, it is not difficult to
appreciate why even the highest class mechanic is unable to do his best
work without constant daily assistance from his teachers. And if this
fact has been made clear to the reader, one of the important objects in
writing this paper will have been realized.
It is hoped that the illustrations which have been given make it
apparent why scientific management must inevitably in all cases produce
overwhelmingly greater results, both for the company and its employees,
than can be obtained with the management of "initiative and incentive."
And it should also be clear that these results have been attained, not
through a marked superiority in the mechanism of one type of management
over the mechanism of another, but rather through the substitution of
one set of underlying principles for a totally different set of
principles, by the substitution of one philosophy for another philosophy
in industrial management.
To repeat them throughout all of these illustrations, it will be seen
that the useful results have hinged mainly upon (1) the substitution of
a science for the individual judgment of the workman; (2) the scientific
selection and development of the workman, after each man has been
studied, taught, and trained, and one may say experimented with, instead
of allowing the workmen to select themselves and develop in a haphazard
way; and (3) the intimate cooperation of the management with the
workmen, so that they together do the work in accordance with the
scientific laws which have been developed, instead of leaving the
solution of each problem in the hands of the individual workman. In
applying these new principles, in place of the old individual effort of
each workman, both sides share almost equally in the daily performance
of each task, the management doing that part of the work for which they
are best fitted, and the workmen the balance.
It is for the illustration of this philosophy that this paper has been
written, but some of the elements involved in its general principles
should be further discussed.
The development of a science sounds like a formidable undertaking, and
in fact anything like a thorough study of a science such as that of
cutting metals necessarily involves many years of work. The science of
cutting metals, however, represents in its complication, and in the time
required to develop it, almost an extreme case in the mechanic arts. Yet
even in this very intricate science, within a few months after starting,
enough knowledge had been obtained to much more than pay for the work of
experimenting. This holds true in the case of practically all scientific
development in the mechanic arts. The first laws developed for cutting
metals were crude, and contained only a partial knowledge of the truth,
yet this imperfect knowledge was vastly better than the utter lack of
exact information or the very imperfect rule of thumb which existed
before, and it enabled the workmen, with the help of the management, to
do far quicker and better work.
For example, a very short time was needed to discover one or two types
of tools which, though imperfect as compared with the shapes developed
years afterward, were superior to all other shapes and kinds in common
use. These tools were adopted as standard and made possible an immediate
increase in the speed of every machinist who used them. These types were
superseded in a comparatively short time by still other tools which
remained standard until they in their turn made way for later
improvements.*
[*Footnote: Time and again the experimenter in the mechanic arts will
find himself face to face with the problem as to whether he had better
make immediate practical use of the knowledge which he has attained, or
wait until some positive finality in his conclusions has been reached.
He recognizes clearly the fact that he has already made some definite
progress, but sees the possibility (even the probability) of still
further improvement. Each particular case must of course be
independently considered, but the general conclusion we have reached is
that in most instances it is wise to put one's conclusions as soon as
possible to the rigid test of practical use. The one indispensable
condition for such a test, however, is that the experimenter shall have
full opportunity, coupled with sufficient authority, to insure a
thorough and impartial trial. And this, owing to the almost universal
prejudice in favor of the old, and to the suspicion of the new, is
difficult to get.]
The science which exists in most of the mechanic arts is, however, far
simpler than the science of cutting metals. In almost all cases, in
fact, the laws or rules which are developed are so simple that the
average man would hardly dignify them with the name of a science. In
most trades, the science is developed through a comparatively simple
analysis and time study of the movements required by the workmen to do
some small part of his work, and this study is usually made by a man
equipped merely with a stop-watch and a properly ruled notebook.
Hundreds of these "time-study men" are now engaged in developing
elementary scientific knowledge where before existed only rule of thumb.
Even the motion study of Mr. Gilbreth in bricklaying (described on pages
77 to 84) involves a much more elaborate investigation than that which
occurs in most cases. The general steps to be taken in developing a
simple law of this class are as follows:
First. Find, say, 10 or 15 different men (preferably in as many separate
establishments and different parts of the country) who are especially
skilful in doing the particular work to be analyzed.
Second. Study the exact series of elementary operations or motions which
each of these men uses in doing the work which is being investigated, as
well as the implements each man uses.
Third. Study with a stop-watch the time required to make each of these
elementary movements and then select the quickest way of doing each
element of the work.
Fourth. Eliminate all false movements, slow movements, and useless
movements.
Fifth. After doing away with all unnecessary movements, collect into one
series the quickest and best movements as well as the best implements.
This one new method, involving that series of motions which can be made
quickest and best, is then substituted in place of the ten or fifteen
inferior series which were formerly in use. This best method becomes
standard, and remains standard, to be taught first to the teachers (or
functional foremen) and by them to every workman in the establishment
until it is superseded by a quicker and better series of movements. In
this simple way one element after another of the science is developed.
In the same way each type of implement used in a trade is studied. Under
the philosophy of the management of "initiative and incentive" each
work-man is called upon to use his own best judgment, so as to do the
work in the quickest time, and from this results in all cases a large
variety in the shapes and types of implements which are used for any
specific purpose. Scientific management requires, first, a careful
investigation of each of the many modifications of the same implement,
developed under rule of thumb; and second, after a time study has been
made of the speed attainable with each of these implements, that the
good points of several of them shall be united in a single standard
implement, which will enable the workman to work faster and with greater
ease than he could before. This one implement, then, is adopted as
standard in place of the many different kinds before in use, and it
remains standard for all workmen to use until superseded by an implement
which has been shown, through motion and time study, to be still better.
With this explanation it will be seen that the development of a science
to replace rule of thumb is in most cases by no means a formidable
under-taking, and that it can be accomplished by ordinary, every-day men
without any elaborate scientific training; but that, on the other hand,
the successful use of even the simplest improvement of this kind calls
for records, system, and cooperation where in the past existed only
individual effort.
There is another type of scientific investigation which has been
referred to several times in this paper, and which should receive
special attention, namely, the accurate study of the motives which
influence men. At first it may appear that this is a matter for
individual observation and judgment, and is not a proper subject for
exact scientific experiments. It is true that the laws which result from
experiments of this class, owing to the fact that the very complex
organism--the human being--is being experimented with, are subject to a
larger number of exceptions than is the case with laws relating to
material things. And yet laws of this kind, which apply to a large
majority of men, unquestionably exist, and when clearly defined are of
great value as a guide in dealing with men. In developing these laws,
accurate, carefully planned and executed experiments, extending through
a term of years, have been made, similar in a general way to the
experiments upon various other elements which have been referred to in
this paper. Perhaps the most important law belonging to this class, in
its relation to scientific management, is the effect which the task idea
has upon the efficiency of the workman. This, in fact, has become such
an important element of the mechanism of scientific management, that by
a great number of people scientific management has come to be known as
"task management."
There is absolutely nothing new in the task idea. Each one of us will
remember that in his own case this idea was applied with good results in
his school-boy days. No efficient teacher would think of giving a class
of students an indefinite lesson to learn. Each day a definite,
clear-cut task is set by the teacher before each scholar, stating that
he must learn just so much of the subject; and it is only by this means
that proper, systematic progress can be made by the students. The
average boy would go very slowly if, instead of being given a task, he
were told to do as much as he could. All of us are grown-up children,
and it is equally true that the average workman will work with the
greatest satisfaction, both to himself and to his employer, when he is
given each day a definite task which he is to perform in a given time,
and which constitutes a proper day's work for a good workman. This
furnishes the workman with a clear-cut standard, by which he can
throughout the day measure his own progress, and the accomplishment of
which affords him the greatest satisfaction.
The writer has described in other papers a series of experiments made
upon workmen, which have resulted in demonstrating the fact that it is
impossible, through any long period of time, to get work-men to work
much harder than the average men around them, unless they are assured a
large and a permanent increase in their pay. This series of experiments,
however, also proved that plenty of workmen can be found who are willing
to work at their best speed, provided they are given this liberal
increase in wages. The workman must, however, be fully assured that this
increase beyond the average is to be permanent. Our experiments have
shown that the exact percentage of increase required to make a workman
work at his highest speed depends upon the kind of work which the man is
doing.
It is absolutely necessary, then, when workmen are daily given a task
which calls for a high rate of speed on their part, that they should
also be insured the necessary high rate of pay whenever they are
successful. This involves not only fixing for each man his daily task,
but also paying him a large bonus, or premium, each time that he
succeeds in doing his task in the given time. It is difficult to
appreciate in full measure the help which the proper use of these two
elements is to the workman in elevating him to the highest standard of
efficiency and speed in his trade, and then keeping him there, unless
one has seen first the old plan and afterward the new tried upon the
same man. And in fact until one has seen similar accurate experiments
made upon various grades of workmen engaged in doing widely different
types of work. The remarkable and almost uniformly good results from the
correct application of the task and the bonus must be seen to be
appreciated.
These two elements, the task and the bonus (which, as has been pointed
out in previous papers, can be applied in several ways), constitute two
of the most important elements of the mechanism of scientific
management. They are especially important from the fact that they are,
as it were, a climax, demanding before they can be used almost all of
the other elements of the mechanism; such as a planning department,
accurate time study, standardization of methods and implements, a
routing system, the training of functional foremen or teachers, and in
many cases instruction cards slide-rules, etc. (Referred to later in
rather more detail on page 129.)
The necessity for systematically teaching workmen how to work to the
best advantage has been several times referred to. It seems desirable,
therefore, to explain in rather more detail how this teaching is done.
In the case of a machine-shop which is managed under the modern system,
detailed written instructions as to the best way of doing each piece of
work are prepared in advance, by men in the planning department. These
instructions represent the combined work of several men in the planning
room, each of whom has his own specialty, or function. One of them, for
instance, is a specialist on the proper speeds and cutting tools to be
used. He uses the slide-rules which have been above described as an aid,
to guide him in obtaining proper speeds, etc. Another man analyzes the
best and quickest motions to be made by the workman in setting the work
up in the machine and removing it, etc. Still a third, through the
time-study records which have been accumulated, makes out a timetable
giving the proper speed for doing each element of the work. The
directions of all of these men, however, are written on a single
instruction card, or sheet.
These men of necessity spend most of their time in the planning
department, because they must be close to the records and data which
they continually use in their work, and because this work requires the
use of a desk and freedom from interruption. Human nature is such,
however, that many of the workmen, if left to themselves, would pay but
little attention to their written instructions. It is necessary,
therefore, to provide teachers (called functional foremen) to see that
the workmen both understand and carry out these written instructions.
Under functional management, the old-fashioned single foreman is
superseded by eight different men, each one of whom has his own special
duties, and these men, acting as the agents for the planning department
(see paragraph 234 to 245 of the paper entitled "Shop Management"), are
the expert teachers, who are at all times in the shop, helping, and
directing the workmen. Being each one chosen for his knowledge and
personal skill in his specialty, they are able not only to tell the
workman what he should do, but in case of necessity they do the work
themselves in the presence of the workman, so as to show him not only
the best but also the quickest methods.
One of these teachers (called the inspector) sees to it that he
understands the drawings and instructions for doing the work. He teaches
him how to do work of the right quality; how to make it fine and exact
where it should be fine, and rough and quick where accuracy is not
required,--the one being just as important for success as the other. The
second teacher (the gang boss) shows him how to set up the job in his
machine, and teaches him to make all of his personal motions in the
quickest and best way. The third (the speed boss) sees that the machine
is run at the best speed and that the proper tool is used in the
particular way which will enable the machine to finish its product in
the shortest possible time. In addition to the assistance given by these
teachers, the workman receives orders and help from four other men; from
the "repair boss" as to the adjustment, cleanliness, and general care of
his machine, belting, etc.; from the "time clerk," as to everything
relating to his pay and to proper written reports and returns; from the
"route clerk," as to the order in which he does his work and as to the
movement of the work from one part of the shop to another; and, in case
a workman gets into any trouble with any of his various bosses, the
"disciplinarian" interviews him.
It must be understood, of course, that all workmen engaged on the same
kind of work do not require the same amount of individual teaching and
attention from the functional foremen. The men who are new at a given
operation naturally require far more teaching and watching than those
who have been a long time at the same kind of jobs.
Now, when through all of this teaching and this minute instruction the
work is apparently made so smooth and easy for the workman, the first
impression is that this all tends to make him a mere automaton, a wooden
man. As the workmen frequently say when they first come under this
system, "Why, I am not allowed to think or move without some one
interfering or doing it for me!" The same criticism and objection,
however, can be raised against all other modern subdivision of labor. It
does not follow, for example, that the modern surgeon is any more narrow
or wooden a man than the early settler of this country. The
frontiersman, however, had to be not only a surgeon, but also an
architect, house-builder, lumberman, farmer, soldier, and doctor, and he
had to settle his law cases with a gun. You would hardly say that the
life of the modern surgeon is any more narrowing, or that he is more of
a wooden man than the frontiersman. The many problems to be met and
solved by the surgeon are just as intricate and difficult and as
developing and broadening in their way as were those of the
frontiersman.
And it should be remembered that the training of the surgeon has been
almost identical in type with the teaching and training which is given
to the workman under scientific management. The surgeon, all through his
early years, is under the closest supervision of more experienced men,
who show him in the minutest way how each element of his work is best
done. They provide him with the finest implements, each one of which has
been the subject of special study and development, and then insist upon
his using each of these implements in the very best way. All of this
teaching, however, in no way narrows him. On the contrary he is quickly
given the very best knowledge of his predecessors; and, provided (as he
is, right from the start) with standard implements and methods which
represent the best knowledge of the world up to date, he is able to use
his own originality and ingenuity to make real additions to the world's
knowledge, instead of reinventing things which are old. In a similar way
the workman who is cooperating with his many teachers under scientific
management has an opportunity to develop which is at least as good as
and generally better than that which he had when the whole problem was
"up to him" and he did his work entirely unaided.
If it were true that the workman would develop into a larger and finer
man without all of this teaching, and without the help of the laws which
have been formulated for doing his particular job, then it would follow
that the young man who now comes to college to have the help of a
teacher in mathematics, physics, chemistry, Latin, Greek, etc., would do
better to study these things unaided and by himself. The only difference
in the two cases is that students come to their teachers, while from the
nature of the work done by the mechanic under scientific management, the
teachers must go to him. What really happens is that, with the aid of
the science which is invariably developed, and through the instructions
from his teachers, each workman of a given intellectual capacity is
enabled to do a much higher, more interesting, and finally more
developing and more profitable kind of work than he was before able to
do. The laborer who before was unable to do anything beyond, perhaps,
shoveling and wheeling dirt from place to place, or carrying the work
from one part of the shop to another, is in many cases taught to do the
more elementary machinist's work, accompanied by the agreeable
surroundings and the interesting variety and higher wages which go with
the machinist's trade. The cheap machinist or helper, who before was
able to run perhaps merely a drill press, is taught to do the more
intricate and higher priced lathe and planer work, while the highly
skilled and more intelligent machinists become functional foremen and
teachers. And so on, right up the line.
It may seem that with scientific management there is not the same
incentive for the workman to use his ingenuity in devising new and
better methods of doing the work, as well as in improving his
implements, that there is with the old type of management. It is true
that with scientific management the workman is not allowed to use
whatever implements and methods he sees fit in the daily practice of his
work. Every encouragement, however, should be given him to suggest
improvements, both in methods and in implements. And whenever a workman
proposes an improvement, it should be the policy of the management to
make a careful analysis of the new method, and if necessary conduct a
series of experiments to determine accurately the relative merit of the
new suggestion and of the old standard. And whenever the new method is
found to be markedly superior to the old, it should be adopted as the
standard for the whole establishment. The workman should be given the
full credit for the improvement, and should be paid a cash premium as a
reward for his ingenuity. In this way the true initiative of the workmen
is better attained under scientific management than under the old
individual plan.
The history of the development of scientific, management up to date,
however, calls for a word of warning. The mechanism of management must
not be mistaken for its essence, or underlying philosophy. Precisely the
same mechanism will in one case produce disastrous results and in
another the most beneficent. The same mechanism which will produce the
finest results when made to serve the underlying principles of
scientific management, will lead to failure and disaster if accompanied
by the wrong spirit in those who are using it. Hundreds of people have
already mistaken the mechanism of this system for its essence. Messrs.
Gantt, Barth and the writer have presented papers to, the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers on the subject of scientific management.
In these papers the mechanism which is used has been described at some
length. As elements of this mechanism may be cited:
Time study, with the implements and methods for properly making it.
Functional or divided foremanship and its superiority to the
old-fashioned single foreman.
The standardization of all tools and implements used in the trades, and
also of the acts or movements of workmen for each class of work.
The desirability of a planning room or department.
The "exception principle" in management.
The use of slide-rules and similar timesaving implements.
Instruction cards for the workman.
The task idea in management, accompanied by a large bonus for the
successful performance of the task.