The aim is, not to put the man down, but to keep him up to his

standard, as will be shown later in a chapter on Incentives. If the

punishment is in the form of a fine, it must not in any way return

to the coffers of the management. The fines collected--even those

fines collected from the individuals composing the management,

should go in some form to the benefit of the men themselves, such,

for example, as contributions to a workman's sick benefit fund or to

general entertainment at the annual outing of employés. In practice,

the disciplinarian is rather the friend of the worker than of the

employer, if the two interests can possibly be separated. Again

"penalty" is a bad word to use. Any words used in this connection

should preferably have had taken from them any feeling that personal

prejudice affects the discipline. It is the nature of the offense

itself which should prescribe what the outcome of it shall be.

The position of disciplinarian requires a man who has a keen

sense of justice, who has had such experience as to enable him to

smooth out difficulties until all are in a frame of mind where they

can look upon their own acts and the acts of others calmly. He must

be able so to administer his duties that each decision inspires the

realization that he acted to the best of his knowledge and belief.

He must be one who is fearless, and has no tendency to have

favorites. He must have a clear knowledge of the theories and

principles of Scientific Management, in order that he can fill the

position of enforcer of its laws.

THE GANG BOSS.--The duties of The Gang Boss are to see that the

worker has plenty of work ahead, to see that everything that he will

need with which to do the work is at hand, and to see that the work

is actually "set," or placed and performed correctly. This position

calls for a practical demonstrator, who must himself be able and

willing actually to prepare and help on the work. It calls

particularly for a man with teaching ability, with special emphasis

on ability to teach, with great exactness, the prescribed method and

to follow the orders of the planning department implicitly.

THE SPEED BOSS.--The speed boss is responsible for the methods

of doing work with machinery. He has charge of overseeing the work,

and teaching the worker, during the entire time that the work is

being done. He must be prepared constantly to demonstrate at any

time not only _how_ the work is done, but also that it can be done

in the specified time called for in order to earn the bonus. This

position calls for a man who is able, personally, to carry out the

detailed written orders of the instruction card in regard to speeds,

feeds, cuts, methods of operation, quality and quantity.

He must be proficient at the art of imparting his knowledge to

other workmen, and at the same time be able to secure the prescribed

outputs and quantities. He need not be the fastest worker in the

shop, but he should be one of the most intelligent workers and best

teachers, with a keen desire to coöperate, both with the workers and

with the other foremen.

THE REPAIR BOSS.--The repair boss has charge of the plant and

its maintenance. He must have a natural love of order and of

cleanliness, and a systematic type of mind. This position calls for

a man with an experience that will enable him to detect liability of

breakdowns before they actually occur. He must be resourceful in

repairing unexpected breakdowns in an emergency, and be able at all

times to carry out literally the directions given on the instruction

cards of the Planning Department for cleaning, maintaining, and

repairing the machines.

THE INSPECTOR.--The function of inspector under scientific or

the Taylor plan of management is most important, especially in

connection with the "first inspection." During the manufacture of

the first piece and after it is finished the inspector passes and

reports upon it before the worker proceeds with the other pieces.

Here the worker gets a return in person for each successive act on

the first piece he makes under a new instruction card, or, if he is

a new worker, under an old instruction card. Ambiguity of

instructions, if present, is thus eliminated, and wrong actions or

results are corrected before much damage to material has been done

and before much time and effort are wasted. The first erroneous

cycles of work are not repeated, and the worker is promptly shown

exactly how efficiently he has succeeded in determining the

requirements of his instructions.

The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work. He

fulfills the requirements of Schloss, who says, in speaking of the

danger, under some managements, that the foreman will sacrifice

quality to speed, if he gets a bonus for quantity of output,--"The

best safeguard against this serious danger would be found in the

appointment of a distinct staff of inspectors whose duty it should

be to ascertain, as the work proceeds, that the stipulated standards

of excellence are at all times scrupulously maintained." This

position of inspector requires an observant man who naturally is

inclined to give constructive rather than destructive-criticism. He

should be a man who can coöperate with the workman and foreman to

rescue condemned or damaged material with the least expenditure of

time, effort and expense.

FUNCTIONALIZING THE WORKER.--Under Scientific Management,

the worker as well as the foreman, is a specialist. This he

becomes by being relieved of everything that he is not best fitted

to do, and allowed to concentrate upon doing, according to exact

and scientifically derived methods, that work at which he is

an expert.[13]

RELIEVING THE WORKER OF THE PLANNING.--The planning is taken

away from the worker, not because it is something too choice, sacred

or entertaining for him to do, or something which the managers

desire to do themselves, but because it is best, for the workers

themselves as well as the work, that the planning be done by

specialists at planning. If he is expert enough to plan, the worker

will be promoted to the planning department. In the meantime, he is

working under the best plan that experts can devise.

MASTER PLANNING A LIFE STUDY.--The best planner is he who,--

other things being equal,--is the most ingenious, the most

experienced and the best observer. It is an art to observe; it

requires persistent attention. The longer and the more the observer

observes, the more details, and variables affecting details, he

observes. The untrained observer could not expect to compete with

one of special natural talent who has also been trained. It is not

every man who is fitted by nature to observe closely, hence to plan.

To observe is a condition precedent to visualizing. Practice in

visualizing makes for increasing the faculty of constructive

imagination. He with the best constructive imagination is the

master planner.

The art of observing is founded on a study of fundamental

elements. In order that planning may be done best, previous to

starting work, the entire sequence of operations must be laid out,

so that the ideas of value of every element of every subdivision of

the process of working may be corrected to act most efficiently in

relation with each and all of the subsequent parts and events that

are to follow. This planning forwards and backwards demands an

equipment of time study, motion study and micro-motion study records

such as can be used economically only when all the planning is done

in one place, with one set of records. The planner must be able to

see and control the whole problem in all of its aspects.

For example,--the use that is to be made of the work after it is

completed may entirely change the methods best used in doing it.

Thus, the face of a brick wall that is to be plastered does not

require and should not have the usual excellence of nicely ruled

joints required on a face that is not to be plastered. In fact, the

roughest, raggedest joints will be that quality of wall that will

make the plaster adhere the best.

As an example of professional observation and investigation with

which no untrained observer could compete, we cite the epoch making

work of Dr. Taylor in determining the most efficient speeds, feeds,

cuts and shape of tools to use for the least wastefulness in cutting

metals.[14]

Dr. Taylor, an unusually brilliant man, at the end of twenty-six

years, working with the best scientists, engineers, experimenters,

and workmen, after an expenditure of literally hundreds of thousands

of dollars, was able to determine and write down a method for

cutting metals many times less wasteful in time than was ever known

before; but the data from the experiments was so complex and

involved that a considerable knowledge of higher mathematics had to

be used to apply the data. Furthermore, the data was in such form

that it took longer to use the knowledge contained therein than it

did to do the work on any given piece of metal cutting. After

gathering this knowledge, Dr. Taylor, with his assistants, first Mr.

Gantt and finally Mr. Barth, reduced it to such a form that now it

can be used in a matter of a few seconds or minutes. This was done

by making slide rules.[15] Today workers have this knowledge in a

form that any machinist can use with a little instruction. As a

result, Dr. Taylor's observations have revolutionized the design of

metal cutting machinery and the metal cutting industry, and the data

he collected is used in every metal cutting planning department.

Furthermore, as a by-product to his observations and

investigations, he discovered the Taylor-White process of making

high speed steel, which revolutionized the steel tool industry. No

untrained workman could expect ever to compete with such work as

this in obtaining results for most efficient planning and at the

same time perform his ordinary work.

WASTEFULNESS OF INDIVIDUAL PLANNING.--Even if it were possible

so to arrange the work of every worker that he could be in close

proximity to the equipment for planning and could be given the

training needed, individual planning for "small lots" with no

systematized standardization of planning-results would be an

economic waste that would cause an unnecessary hardship on the

worker, the employer and the ultimate consumer. Individual planning

could not fit the broad scheme of planning, and at best would cause

delays and confusion, and make an incentive to plan for the

individual self, instead of planning for the greatest good of the

greatest number.

Again, even if it were possible to plan best by individual

planning, there is a further waste in changing from one kind of work

to another. This waste is so great and so obvious that it was

noticed and recognized by the earliest manufacturers and economists.

HARDSHIP TO THE WORKER OF INDIVIDUAL PLANNING.--To obtain the

most wages and profits there must be the most savings to divide.

These cannot be obtained when each man plans for himself (except in

the home trades), because all large modern operations have the

quantity of output dependent upon the amount of blockades, stoppages

and interferences caused by dependent sequences. It is not,

therefore, possible to obtain the most profit or most wages by

individual planning. Planning is a general function, and the only

way to obtain the best results is by organized planning, and by

seeing that no planning is done for one worker without proper

consideration of its bearing and effect upon any or all the other

men's outputs.

THE MAN WHO DESIRES TO BE A PLANNER CAN BE ONE.--If the worker

is the sort of a man who can observe and plan, or who desires to

plan, even though he is not at first employed in the planning

department, he is sure to get there finally, as the system provides

that each man shall go where he is best fitted. Positions in

planning departments are hard to fill, because of the scarcity of

men equipped to do this work. The difficulty of teaching men to

become highly efficient planners is one of the reasons for the slow

advance of the general adoption of Scientific Management.

THE MAN WHO DISLIKES PLANNING CAN BE RELIEVED.--It must not be

forgotten that many people dislike the planning responsibility in

connection with their work. For such, relief from planning makes the

performance of the planned work more interesting and desirable.

PROVISION FOR PLANNING BY ALL UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Much

has been said about the worker's "God-given rights to think," and

about the necessity for providing every worker with an opportunity

to think.

Scientific Management provides the fullest opportunities for

every man to think, to exercise his mental faculties, and to plan

1. in doing the work itself, as will be shown at length in

chapters that follow.

2. outside of the regular working hours, but in connection

with promotion in his regular work.

Scientific Management provides always, and most emphatically,

that the man shall have hours free from his work in such a state

that he will not be too fatigued to do anything. Furthermore, if he

work as directed, his number of working hours per day will be so

reduced that he will have more time each day for his chosen form of

mental stimulus and improvement.

Our friend John Brashear is a most excellent example of what one

can do in after hours away from his work. He was a laborer in a

steel mill. His duties were not such as resemble in any way planning

or research work, yet he became one of the world's most prominent

astronomical thinkers and an Honorary member of the American Society

of Mechanical Engineers, because he had the desire to be a student.

Under Scientific Management such a desire receives added impetus

from the method of attack provided for through its teaching.

FUNCTIONALIZING THE WORK ITSELF.--The work of each part of the

planning and performing departments may be functionalized, or

subdivided, as the result of motion study and time study. The

elementary timed units are combined or synthesized into tasks, made

to fit the capabilities of specialized workers. It is then necessary

to:--

1. List the duties and requirements of the work.

2. Decide whether the place can be best handled as one, or

subdivided into several further subdivisions, or functions,

or even sub-functions, for two or more function specialists.

For the sake of analysis, all work may be considered as of

one of two classes:--

1. the short time job.

2. the long time job.

These two divisions are handled differently, as follows:

THE SHORT TIME JOB.--On the short time job that probably will

never be repeated, there is little opportunity and no economic

reason for specially training a man for its performance. The

available man best suited to do the work with little or no help

should be chosen to do it. The suitability of the man for the work

should be determined only by applying simple tests, or, if even

these will cause costly delay or more expense than the work

warrants, the man who appears suitable and who most desires the

opportunity to do the work can be assigned to it.

If the job is connected with a new art, a man whose habits will

help him can be chosen.

For example:--in selecting a man to fly, it has been found

advantageous to give a trick bicycle rider the preference.

There is no other reason why the man for the short job should

not be fitted as well to his work as the man for the long job,

except the all-important reason of cost for special preparation. Any

expense for study of the workers must be borne ultimately both by

worker and management, and it is undesirable to both that expense

should be incurred which will not be ultimately repaid.

THE LONG TIME JOB.--The long time job allows of teaching,

therefore applicants for it may be carefully studied. Usually that

man should be chosen who, with all the natural qualifications and

capabilities for the job, except practical skill, requires the most

teaching to raise him from the lower plane to that highest mental

and manual plane which he is able to fill successfully continuously.

In this way each man will be developed into a worker of great value

to the management and to himself.

The man who is capable and already skilled at some work is thus

available for a still higher job, for which he can be taught. Thus

the long job affords the greatest opportunity for promotion. The

long job justifies the expenditure of money, effort and time by

management and men, and is the ideal field for the application of

scientific selection and functionalization.

SUMMARY

EFFECT OF FUNCTIONALIZATION UPON THE WORK.--Under Traditional

Management, there was little or no definite functionalization. If

the quantity of output did increase, as the result of putting a man

at that work for which he seemed best fitted, there was seldom

provision made for seeing that the quality of product was maintained

by a method of constructive inspection that prevented downward

deviations from standard quality, instead of condemning large

quantities of the finished product.

Under Transitory Management, the Department of Inspection is one

of the first Functions installed. This assures maintained quality,

and provides that all increase in output shall be actual gain.

Under Scientific Management, functionalization results in

increased quantity of output,[16] with maintained and usually

increased quality.[17] This results in decreased cost. The cost is

sufficiently lower to allow of increased wages to the employés, a

further profit to the employer, and a maintained, or lowered,

selling price. This means a benefit to the consumer.

It may be objected that costs cannot be lowered, because of the

number of so-called "non-producers" provided for by Scientific

Management.

In answer to this it may be said that there are no non-producers

under Scientific Management. Corresponding work that, under

Scientific Management, is done in the planning department must all

be done somewhere, in a less systematic manner, even under

Traditional Management.[18] The planning department, simply does

this work more efficiently,--with less waste. Moreover, much work of

the planning department, being founded on elementary units, is

available for constant use. Here results an enormous saving by the

conservation and utilization of planning effort.

Also, standard methods are more apt to result in standard

quality, and with less occasion for rejecting output that is below

the requisite standards than is the case under Traditional

Management.

EFFECT OF FUNCTIONALIZATION UPON THE WORKER.--Under Traditional

Management, even if the worker often becomes functionalized, he

seldom has assurance that he will be able to reap the harvest from

remaining so, and even so, neither data nor teaching are provided to

enable him to fulfill his function most successfully.

Under Transitory Management the worker becomes more and more

functionalized, as the results of motion study and time study make

clear the advantages of specializing the worker.

EFFECTS UPON THE SCIENTIFICALLY MANAGED WORKER.--Under

Scientific Management the effects of Functionalization are so

universal and so far reaching that it is necessary to enumerate them

in detail.

WORKER RELIEVED OF EVERYTHING BUT HIS SPECIAL FUNCTIONS.--

Functionalization, in providing that every man is assigned a special

function, also provides that he be called upon to do work in that

function only, relieving him of all other work and responsibility.

Realization of this elimination has a psychological effect on action

and habits of thinking.[19]

PLACES ARE PROVIDED FOR SPECIALISTS.--Functionalization utilizes

men with decided bents, and allows each man to occupy that place for

which he is fitted.[20] Assignment to functions is done according to

the capabilities and desires of those who are to fill them.

SPECIALIZING IS ENCOURAGED.--It is most important to remember

that the man with any special talent or talents, individuality or

special fitness is much more likely, under Scientific Management, to

obtain and retain the place that he is fitted for than he ever could

have been under Traditional Management, for, while many fairly

efficient men can be found who can fill a general position, a man

with the marked desirable trait necessary to fill a distinct

position requiring that trait, will be one of few, and will have his

place waiting for him.

ONE-TALENT MEN UTILIZED--.With Functionalization, men who lack

qualifications for the position which they may, at the start,

endeavor to fill, may be transferred to other positions, where the

qualities they lack are not required. If a man has one talent,

Scientific Management provides a place where that can be utilized.

For example:--

Men who cannot produce the prescribed output constantly, are

placed on other work. The slow, unskilled worker who has difficulty

to learn, may be put upon work requiring less skill, or where speed

is not required so much as watchfulness and faithfulness. The worker

who is slow, but exceptionally skilled, has the opportunity to rise

to the position of the functional foreman, especially in the

planning department, where knowledge, experience and resourcefulness,

and especially ability to teach, are much more desired than

speed and endurance. Thus there are places provided, below and

above, that can utilize all kinds of abilities.

"ALL ROUND" MEN ARE UTILIZED.--The exceptional man who possesses

executive ability in all lines, and balance between them all, is the

ideal man for a manager, and his special "all round" ability would

be wasted in any position below that of a manager.

STABILITY PROVIDED FOR.--Every man is maintained in his place by

his interresponsibility with other men. If he is a worker, every

man's work is held to standard quality by the inspector, while the

requirements and rewards of his function are kept before him by the

instruction card man, rate fixer and the disciplinarian.

PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT PROVIDED FOR.--Functionalization

provides for promotion by showing every man not only the clearly

circumscribed place where he is to work, but also by showing him the

definite place above him to which he may be promoted and its path,

and by teaching him how he can fill it. This allows him to develop

the possibilities of his best self by using and specially training

those talents which are most marked in him.

Functional Foremanship allows many more people, to become

foremen, and to develop the will and judgment which foremanship

implies.

MEN IN THE ORGANIZATION PREFERRED TO OUTSIDERS.--Men in the

organization are preferable to outsiders as functional foremen and

for promotion. Not only does a worker's knowledge of his work help

him to become more efficient when he is promoted to the position of

foreman,--but his efficiency as a teacher is also increased by the

fact that he knows and understands the workers whom he is there

to teach.

ALL MEN ARE PUSHED UP.--Scientific Management raises every man

as high as he is capable of being raised. It does not speed him up,

but pushes him up to the highest notch which he can fill. Actual

practice has shown that there is a greater demand for efficient men

in the planning department than there is supply; also, that men in

the planning department who fit themselves for higher work can be

readily promoted to positions of greater responsibility, either

inside or outside the organization.

YEARS OF PRODUCTIVITY PROLONGED.--Under Functionalization the

number of years of productivity of all, workers and foremen alike,

are increased. The specialty to which the man is assigned is his

natural specialty, thus his possible and profitable working years

are prolonged, because he is at that work for which he is naturally

fitted.

Moreover, the work of teaching is one at which the teacher

becomes more clever and more valuable as time goes on, the

functional foreman has that much more chance to become valuable as

years go by.

CHANGE IN THE WORKER'S MENTAL ATTITUDE.--The work under

functionalization is such as to arouse the worker's attention and to

hold his interest.[21] But the most important and valuable change in

the worker's feelings is the change in his attitude towards the

foremen and the employer. From "natural enemies" as sometimes

considered under typical Traditional Management, these all now

become friends, with the common aim, coöperation, for the purpose of

increasing output and wages, and lowering costs. This change of

feeling results in an appreciation of the value of teaching, and

also in promoting industrial peace.

CHAPTER III FOOTNOTES: =============================================

1. Mary Whiton Calkins, _A First Book in Psychology_, p. 273.

2. Sully, _The Teacher's Handbook of Psychology_, p. 1.

3. _Ibid._, p. 54.

4. Hugo Münsterberg, _American Problems_, p. 35.

5. Gillette and Dana, _Cost Keeping and Management Engineering_,

p. 1.

6. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, para. 221. Harper Ed., p. 96.

7. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, para. 221-231. Harper Ed.,

pp. 96-98.

8. Compare H.L. Gantt, No. 1002, A.S.M.E., para. 9.

9. Compare H.P. Gillette, _Cost Analysis Engineering_, pp. 1-2.

10. F.W. Taylor, _Principles of Scientific Management_, p. 37.

11. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, para. 245. Harper Ed., p. 104.

12. For excellent example of special routing see: Charles Day,

_Industrial Plants_, chap. VII.

13. C. Babbage, _Economy of Manufacturers_. p. 172. "The constant

repetition of the same process necessarily produces in the

workman a degree of excellence and rapidity in his particular

department, which is never possessed by a person who is obliged

to execute many different processes."

14. F.W. Taylor, _On the Art of Cutting Metals_, Paper No. 1119,

A.S.M.E.

15. C.G. Barth, _Slide Rules for Machine Shops and Taylor System_.

Paper No. 1010, A.S.M.E.

16. H.L. Gantt, _Work, Wages and Profits_, p. 19.

17. Adam Smith, _Wealth of Nations_, p. 2. "The greatest improvement

in the productive powers of labor, and the greater part of the

skill, dexterity, and judgment, with which it is anywhere

directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the

division of labor." Also p. 4.

18. H.K. Hathaway, _The Value of "Non-Producers" in Manufacturing

Plants. Machinery_, Nov., 1906, p. 134.

19. Gillette and Dana, _Cost Keeping and Management Engineering_,

p. 11.

20. Morris Llewellyn Cooke, _Bulletin No. 5, Carnegie Foundation for

the Advancement of Teaching_, p. 15.

21. H.L. Gantt, _Work, Wages and Profits_, p. 120.

====================================================================

CHAPTER IV

MEASUREMENT

DEFINITION OF MEASUREMENT.--"Measurement," according to the

Century Dictionary,--"is the act of measuring," and to measure

is--"to ascertain the length, extent, dimensions, quantity or

capacity of, by comparison with a standard; ascertain or determine a

quantity by exact observation," or, again, "to estimate or determine

the relative extent, greatness or value of, appraise by comparison

with something else."

MEASUREMENT IMPORTANT IN PSYCHOLOGY.--Measurement has always

been of importance in psychology; but it is only with the

development of experimental psychology and its special apparatus,

that methods of accurate measurements are available which make

possible the measurement of extremely short periods of time, or

measurements "quick as thought," These enable us to measure the

variations of different workers as to their abilities and their

mental and physical fatigue;[1] to study mental processes at

different stages of mental and physical growth; to compare different

people under the same conditions, and the same person under

different conditions; to determine the personal coefficient of

different workers, specialists and foremen, and to formulate

resultant standards. As in all other branches of science, the

progress comes with the development of measurement.

METHODS OF MEASUREMENT IN PSYCHOLOGY.--No student of management,

and of measurement in the field of management, can afford not to

study, carefully and at length, methods of measurement under

psychology. This, for at least two most important reasons, which

will actually improve him as a measurer, i.e.--

1. The student will discover, in the books on experimental

psychology and in the "Psychological Review," a marvelous array of

results of scientific laboratory experiments in psychology, which

will be of immediate use to him in his work.

2. He will receive priceless instruction in methods of

measuring. No where better than in the field of psychology, can one

learn to realize the importance of measurements, the necessity for

determination of elements for study, and the necessity for accurate

apparatus and accuracy in observation.

Prof. George M. Stratton, in his book "Experimental Psychology

and Culture,"--says "In mental measurements, therefore, there is no

pretense of taking the mind's measure as a whole, nor is there

usually any immediate intention of testing even some special faculty

or capacity of the individual. What is aimed at is the measurement

of a limited event in consciousness, such as a particular perception

or feeling. The experiments are addressed, of course, not to the

weight or size of such phenomena, but usually to their duration and

intensity."[2]

The emphasis laid on a study of elements is further shown in the

same book by the following,--"The actual laboratory work in

time-measurement, however, has been narrowed down to determining,

not the time in general that is occupied by some mental action, but

rather the shortest possible time in which a particular operation,

like discrimination or choice or association or recognition, can be

performed under the simplest and most favorable circumstances.[3]

The experimental results here are something like speed or racing

records, made under the best conditions of track and training. A

delicate chronograph or chronoscope is used, which marks the time in

thousandths of a second."

MEASUREMENT IN PSYCHOLOGY RELATED TO MEASUREMENT IN

MANAGEMENT.--Measurement in psychology is of importance to

measurement in management not only as a source of information and

instruction, but also as a justification and support. Scientific

Management has suffered from being called absurd, impractical,

impossible, over-exact, because of the emphasis which it lays on

measurement. Yet, to the psychologist, all present measurement in

Scientific Management must appear coarse, inaccurate and of

immediate and passing value only. With the knowledge that

psychologists endorse accurate measurement, and will coöperate in

discovering elements for study, instruments of precision and methods

of investigation, the investigator in industrial fields must persist

in his work with a new interest and confidence.[4]

Scientific Management cannot hope to furnish psychology with

either data or methods of measurement. It can and does, however,

open a new field for study to experimental psychology, and shows

itself willing to furnish the actual working difficulties or

problems, to do the preliminary investigation, and to utilize

results as fast as they can be obtained.

PSYCHOLOGISTS APPRECIATE SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--The

appreciation which psychologists have shown of work done by

Scientific Management must be not only a matter of gratification,

but of inspiration to all workers in Scientific Management.

So, also, must the new divisions of the Index to the

Psychological Review relating to Activity and Fatigue, and the work

being so extensively done in these lines by French, German, Italian

and other nations, as well as by English and American psychologists.

MEASUREMENT IMPORTANT IN MANAGEMENT.--The study of individuality

and of functionalization have made plain the necessity of

measurement for successful management. Measurement furnishes the

means for obtaining that accurate knowledge upon which the science

of management rests, as do all sciences--exact and inexact.[5]

Through measurement, methods of less waste are determined, standards

are made possible, and management becomes a science, as it derives

standards, and progressively makes and improves them, and the

comparisons from them, accurate.

PROBLEM OF MEASUREMENT IN MANAGEMENT--One of the important

problems of measurement in management is determining how many hours

should constitute the working day in each different kind of work and

at what gait the men can work for greatest output and continuously

thrive. The solution of this problem involves the study of the men,

the work, and the methods, which study must become more and more

specialized; but the underlying aim is to determine standards and

individual capacity as exactly as is possible.[6]

CAPACITY.--There are at least four views of a worker's

capacity.

1. What he thinks his capacity is.

2. What his associates think his capacity is.

3. What those over him think his capacity is.

4. What accurate measurement determines his

actual capacity to be.

IGNORANCE OF REAL CAPACITY.--Dr. Taylor has emphasized the fact

that the average workman does not know either his true efficiency or

his true capacity.[7] The experience of others has also gone to show

that even the skilled workman has little or inaccurate knowledge of

the amount of output that a good worker can achieve at his chosen

vocation in a given time.[8]

For example,--until a bricklayer has seen his output counted for

several days, he has little idea of how many bricks he can lay, or

has laid, in a day.[9]

The average manager is usually even more ignorant of the

capacity of the workers than are the men themselves.[10] This is

because of the prevalence of, and the actual necessity for the

worker's best interest, under some forms of management, of

"soldiering." Even when the manager realizes that soldiering is

going on, he has no way, especially under ordinary management, of

determining its extent.

LITTLE MEASUREMENT IN TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT.--Under Traditional

Management there was little measurement of a man's capacity. The

emphasis was entirely on the results. There was, it is true, in

everything beyond the most elementary of Traditional Management, a

measurement of the result. The manager did know, at the end of

certain periods of time, how much work had been done, and how much

it had cost him. This was a very important thing for him to know. If

his cost ran too high, and his output fell too low, he investigated.

If he found a defect, he tried to remedy it; but much time had to be

wasted in this investigation, because often he had no idea where to

start in to look for the defects. The result of the defects was

usually the cause for the inquiry as to their presence.

He might investigate the men, he might investigate the methods,

he might investigate the equipment, he might investigate the

surroundings, and so on,--and very often in the mind of the

Traditional manager, there was not even this most elementary

division. If things went wrong he simply knew,--"Something is wrong

somewhere," and it was the work of the foremen to find out where the

place was, or so to speed up the men that the output should be

increased and the cost lowered. Whether the defects were really

remedied, or simply concealed by temporarily speeding up, was not

seriously questioned.

Moreover, until measuring devices are secured, the only standard

is what someone thinks about things, and the pity of it is that even

this condition does not remain staple.

TRANSITORY MANAGEMENT REALIZES VALUE OF MEASUREMENT.--One of the

first improvements introduced when Traditional Management gives

place to the Transitory stage is the measurement of the separated

output of individual workers. These outputs are measured and

recorded. The records for extra high outputs are presented to the

worker promptly, so that he may have a keen idea constantly of the

relation of effort to output, while the fatigue and the effort of

doing the work is still fresh in his mind.

The psychology of the prompt reward will be considered later at

length, but it cannot be emphasized too often that the prompter the

reward, the greater the stimulus. The reward will become associated

with the fatigue in such a way that the worker will really get, at

the time, more satisfaction out of his fatigue than he will

discomfort; at the least, any dissatisfaction over his fatigue will

be eliminated, by the constant and first thought of the reward which

he has gotten through his efforts.

This record of efficiency is often so presented to the workers

that they get an excellent idea of the numerical measure of their

efficiency and its trend. This is best done by a graphical chart.

The records of the outputs of others on the same kind of work

done concurrently, or a corresponding record on work done

previously, will show the relative efficiency of any worker as

compared with the rest. These standards of comparison are a strong

incentive and, if they are shown at the time that such work is done,

they also become so closely associated not only with the mental but

the bodily feeling of the man that the next time the work is

repeated, the thoughts that the same effort will probably bring

greater results, and that it has done so in the past with others,

will be immediately present in the mind.

MEASUREMENT IS BASIC UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Under

Scientific Management measurement is basic. Measurement is of the

work, of outputs, of the methods, the tools, and of the worker, with

the individual as a unit, and motion study, time study and

micro-motion study and the chrono-cyclegraph as the methods of

measurement.

Measurement is a most necessary adjunct to selecting the workers

and the managers and to assigning them to the proper functions and

work. They cannot be selected to the greatest advantage and set to

functionalized work until--

(a) the unit of measurement that will of itself

tend to reduce costs has been determined.

(b) methods of measurement have been determined.

(c) measurement has been applied.

(d) standards for measurement have been derived.

(e) devices for cheapening the cost of measuring

have been installed.

UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT MEASUREMENT DETERMINES THE TASK.--An

important aim of measurement under Scientific Management is to

determine the Task, or the standard amount of any kind of work that

a first class man can do in a certain period of time. The "standard

amount" is the largest amount that a first class man can do and

continuously thrive.

The "first-class" man is the man who can eventually become best

fitted, by means of natural and acquired capabilities, to do the

work. The "certain period of time" is that which best suits the work

and the man's thriving under the work. The amount of time allowed

for a task consists of three parts--

1. time actually spent at work.

2. time for rest for overcoming fatigue.

3. time for overcoming delays.

Measurement must determine what percentage of the task time is

to be spent at work and what at rest, and must also determine

whether the rest period should all follow the completed work, or

should be divided into parts, these parts to follow certain cycles

through the entire work period.

The method of constructing the task is discussed under two

chapters that follow, Analysis and Synthesis, and Standardization.

Here we note only that the task is built up of elementary units

measured by motion study, time study, and micro-motion study.

When this standard task has been determined the worker's

efficiency can be measured by his performance of, or by the amount

that he exceeds, the task.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE OBSERVER OR MEASURER.--The position of

observer, or as he has well been called, "trade revolutionizer,"

should be filled by a man specially selected for the position on

account of his special natural fitness and previous experience. He

also should be specially trained for his work. As in all other

classes of work, the original selection of the man is of vital

importance. The natural qualities of the successful hunter,

fisherman, detective, reporter and woodsman for observation of

minute details are extremely desirable. It is only by having

intimate knowledge of such experiences as Agassiz had with his

pupils, or with untrained "observers" of the trade, that one can

realize the lack of powers of observation of detail in the average

human being.

Other natural qualifications required to an efficient observer

are that of being

(a) an "eye worker";

(b) able to concentrate attention for unusually

long periods;

(c) able to get every thought out of a simple

written sentence;

(d) keenly interested in his work;

(e) accurate;

(f) possessed of infinite patience;

(g) an enthusiastic photographer.

The measurer or observer should, preferably, have the intimate

knowledge that comes from personal experience of the work to be

observed, although such a man is often difficult if not impossible

to obtain.

The position of observer illustrates another of the many

opportunities of the workmen for promotion from the ranks to higher

positions when they are capable of holding the promotion. Naturally,

other things being equal, no man is so well acquainted with the work

to be observed as he who has actually done it himself, and if he

have also the qualifications of the worker at the work, which

should, in the future, surely be determined by study of him and by

vocational guidance, he will be able to go at once from his position

in the ranks to that of observer, or time study man.

The observer must also familiarize himself with the literature

regarding motion study and time study, and must form the habit of

recording systematically the minutest details observable.

The effect upon the man making the observation of knowing that

his data, even though at the time they may seem unimportant, can be

used for the deduction of vital laws, is plain. He naturally feels

that he is a part of a permanent scheme, and is ready and willing to

put his best activity into the work. The benefits accruing from this

fact have been so well recognized in making United States surveys

and charts, that the practice has been to have the name of the man

in charge of the work printed on them.

ANYONE INTERESTED MAY BECOME AN OBSERVER.--A review of the

mental equipment needed by a measurer, or observer, will show that

much may be done toward training oneself for such a position by

practice. Much pleasure as well as profit can be obtained by

acquiring the habit of observation, both in the regular working and

in the non-working hours. Vocational Guidance Bureaus should see

that this habit of observation is cultivated, not only for the

æsthetic pleasure which it gives, but also for its permanent

usefulness.

UNBIASED OBSERVATION NECESSARY.--In order to take observations

properly, the investigator should be absolutely impartial,

unprejudiced, and unbiased by any preconceived notions. Otherwise,

he will be likely to think that a certain thing ought to happen. Or

he may have a keen desire to obtain a certain result to conform to a

pet theory. In other words, the observer must be of a very stable

disposition. He must not be carried away by his observations.

The elimination of any charting by the man who makes the

observations, or at least its postponement until all observations

are made, will tend to decrease the dangers of unconscious effect of

what he considers the probable curve of the observations should be.

As has been well said, watching the curve to be charted before

all of the data have been obtained develops a distinct theory in the

mind of the investigator and is apt to "bend the curve" or, at

least, to develop a feeling that if any new, or special, data do not

agree with the tendency of the curve--so much the worse for the

reputation of the data for reliability.

OBSERVED WORKER SHOULD REALIZE THE PURPOSE OF THE

MEASUREMENT.--The observed worker should be made to realize the

purpose and importance of the measurement. The observing should

always be done with his full knowledge and hearty coöperation. He

will attain much improvement by intelligent coöperation with the

observer, and may, in turn, be able to be promoted to observing if

he is interested enough to study and prepare himself after hours.

WORKER SHOULD NEVER BE OBSERVED SURREPTITIOUSLY.--No worker

should ever be observed, timed and studied surreptitiously. In the

first place, if the worker does not know that he is being observed,

he cannot coöperate with the observer to see that the methods

observed are methods of least waste. Therefore the motion study and

time study records that result will not be fundamental standards in

any case and will probably be worthless.

In the second place, if the worker discovers that he is being

observed secretly, he will feel that he is being spied upon and is

not being treated fairly. The stop watch has too long been

associated with the idea of "taking the last drop of blood from the

worker." Secret observations will tend strongly to lend credence to

this idea. Even should the worker thus observed not think that he

was being watched in order to force him, at a later time, to make

higher outputs, after he has once learned that he is being watched

secretly, his attention will constantly be distracted by the thought

that perhaps he is being studied and timed again. He will be

constantly on the alert to see possible observers. This may result

in "speeding him up," but the speed will not be a legitimate speed,

that results to his good as well as to that of his employer.

Worst of all, he will lose confidence in the "squareness" of his

employer. Hence he will fail to co-operate, and one of the greatest

advantages of Scientific Management will thus be lost.

It is a great advantage of micro-motion study that it demands

coöperation of the man studied, and that its results are open to

study by all.

AN EXPERT BEST WORKER TO OBSERVE.--The best worker to observe

for time study is he who is so skilled that he can perform a cycle

of prescribed standard motions automatically, without mental

concentration. This enables him to devote his entire mental activity

to deviating the one desired variable from the accepted cycle

of motions.

The difficulty in motion study and time study is not so often to

vary the variable being observed and studied, as it is to maintain

the other variables constant. Neither skill nor appreciation of what

is wanted is enough alone. The worker who is to be measured

successfully must

1. have the required skill.

2. understand the theory of what is being done.

3. be willing to coöperate.

EVERYONE SHOULD BE TRAINED IN BEING MEASURED.--Accurate

measurement of individuals, in actual practice, brings out the fact

that lamentably few persons are accustomed to be, or can readily be,

measured. It has been a great drawback to the advance of Scientific

Management that the moment a measurer of any kind is put on the

work, either a device to measure output or a man to measure or to

time reactions, motions, or output, the majority of the workers

become suspicious. Being unaccustomed to being measured, they think,

as is usually the case with things to which we are unaccustomed,

that there is something harmful to them in it. This feeling makes

necessary much explanation which in reality should not be needed.

The remedy for this condition is a proper training in youth.

A boy brought up with the fundamental idea of the importance of

measurement to all modern science, for all progress, accustomed to

being measured, understanding the "why" of the measuring, and the

results from it, will not hesitate or object, when he comes to the

work, to being measured in order that he may be put where it is best

for himself, as well as for the work, that he be put.

The importance of human measurement to vocational guidance and

to the training of the young for life work has never been properly

realized. Few people understand the importance of psychological

experiment as a factor in scientific vocational guidance. For this

alone, it will probably in time be a general custom to record and

keep as close track as possible of the psychological measurements of

the child during the period of education, vocational guidance and

apprenticeship. Not only this, but he also should be accustomed to

being measured, physically and psychologically, from his first

years, just as he is now accustomed to being weighed.

The child should be taught to measure himself, his faculties,

his reactions, his capabilities as compared with his former self and

as compared with the capabilities of others. It is most important

that the child should form a habit not only of measuring, but of

being measured.

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY ARE THE METHOD OF MEASUREMENT UNDER

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Under Scientific Management, much measuring

is done by motion study and time study, which measure the relative

efficiency of various men, of various methods, or of various kinds

of equipment, surroundings, tools, etc. Their most important use is

as measuring devices of the men. They have great psychological value

in that they are founded on the "square deal" and the men know this

from the start. Being operated under laws, they are used the same

way on all sorts of work and on all men. As soon as the men really

understand this fact, and realize

1. that the results are applied to all men equally;

2. that all get an ample compensation for what

they do;

3. that under them general welfare is considered;

the objections to such study will vanish.

MOTION STUDY IS DETERMINING METHODS OF LEAST WASTE.--Motion

Study is the dividing of the elements of the work into the most

fundamental subdivisions possible; studying these fundamental units

separately and in relation to one another; and from these studied,

chosen units, when timed, building up methods of least waste.

TIME STUDY IS DETERMINING STANDARD UNIT TIMES.--Time study

consists of timing the elements of the best method known, and, from

these elementary unit times, synthesizing a standard time in which a

standard man can do a certain piece of work in accordance with the

finally accepted method.

Micro-motion study is timing sub-divisions, or elements of

motions by carrying out the principles of motion study to a greater

degree of accuracy by means of a motion picture camera, a clock that

will record different times of day in each picture of a moving

picture film together with a cross sectioned background and other

devices for assisting in measuring the relative efficiency and

wastefulness of motions. It also is the cheapest, quickest and more

accurate method of recording indisputable time study records. It has

the further advantage of being most useful in assisting the

instruction card man to devise methods of least waste.[11]

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY MEASURE INDIVIDUAL EFFICIENCY.--

Motion Study and Time Study measure individual capacity or

efficiency by providing data from which standards can be made. These

standards made, the degree to which the individual approaches or

exceeds the standard can be determined.

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY MEASURE METHODS.--Motion Study and

Time Study are devices for measuring methods. By their use, old

methods are "tried out," once and for all, and their relative value

in efficiency, determined. By their use, also, new methods are

"tried out." This is most important under Scientific Management.

Any new method suggested can be tested in a short time. Such

elements of it as have already been tested, can be valued at the

start, the new elements introduced can be motion studied and time

studied, and waste eliminated to as great an extent as possible,

with no loss of time or thought.

Under Scientific Management, the men who understand what motion

study and time study mean, know that their suggested methods will be

tested, not only fairly, but so effectively that they, and everyone

else, can know at once exactly the worth of their suggestions.

COMPARISON OF METHODS FOSTERS INVENTION.--The value of such

comparative study can be seen at a glance. When one such method

after another is tried out, not only can one tell quickly what a new

method is worth, but can also determine what it is worth compared to

all others which have been considered. This is because the study is

a study of elements, primarily, and not of methods as a whole. Not

only can suggested methods be estimated, but also new methods which

have never been suggested will become apparent themselves through

this study. Common elements, being at once classified and set aside,

the new ones will make themselves prominent, and better methods for

doing work will suggest themselves, especially to the inventive mind.

BOOKS OF PRELIMINARY DATA NEEDED.--In order that this

investigation may be best fostered, not only must books of standards

be published, but also books of preliminary data, which other

workers may attack if they desire, and where they can find common

elements. Such books of preliminary data are needed on all

subjects.[12]

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY MEASURE EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS.--Time

and motion study are measuring devices for ascertaining relative

merits of different kinds of equipment, surroundings and tools.

Through them, the exact capacities of equipment or of a tool or

machine can be discovered at once, and also the relative value in

efficiency. Also motion study and time study determine exactly how a

tool or a piece of equipment can best be used.

In "On The Art of Cutting Metals" Dr. Taylor explains the effect

of such study on determining the amount of time that tools should be

used, the speed at which they should be used, the feed, and so

on.[13] This paper exemplifies more thoroughly than does anything

else ever written the value of Time Study, and the scientific manner

in which it is applied.

THE SCOPE OF TIME AND MOTION STUDY IS UNLIMITED.--It is a great

misfortune that the worker does not understand, as he should, that

motion study and time study apply not only to his work, but also to

the work of the managers. In order to get results from the start,

and paying results, it often happens that the work of the worker is

the first to be so studied, but when Scientific Management is in

full operation, the work of the managers is studied exactly to the

same extent, and set down exactly as accurately, as the work of the

worker himself. The worker should understand this from the start,

that he may become ready and willing to coöperate.

DETAILED RECORDS NECESSARY.--Motion study and time study records

must go into the greatest detail possible. If the observations are

hasty, misdirected or incomplete they may be quite unusable and

necessitate going through the expensive process of observation all

over again. Dr. Taylor has stated that during his earlier

experiences he was obliged to throw away a large quantity of time

study data, because they were not in sufficient detail and not

recorded completely enough to enable him to use them after a lapse

of a long period from the time of their first use. No system of time

study, and no individual piece of time study, can be considered a

success unless by its use at any time, when new, or after a lapse of

years, an accurate prediction of the amount of work a man can do can

be made.

All results attained should invariably be preserved, whether

they appear at the moment to be useful or valuable or not. In time

study in the past it has been found, as in the investigations of all

other sciences, that apparently unimportant details of today are of

vital importance years after, as a necessary step to attain, or

further proof of a discovery. This was exemplified in the case of

the shoveling experiment of Dr. Taylor. The laws came from what was

considered the unimportant portion of the data. There is little so

unimportant that time and motion study would not be valuable. Just

as it is a great help to the teacher to know the family history of

the student, so it is to the one who has to use time and motion

study data to know all possible of the hereditary traits,

environment and habits of the worker who was observed.

SPECIALIZED STUDY IMPERATIVE.--As an illustration of the field

for specialized investigation which motion study and time study

present, we may take the subject of fatigue. Motion Study and Time

Study aim to show,

1. the least fatiguing method of getting least waste.

2. the length of time required for a worker to do a

certain thing.

3. the amount of rest and the time of rest required to

overcome fatigue.

Dr. Taylor spent years in determining the percentage of rest

that should be allowed in several of the trades, beginning with

those where the making of output demands weight hanging on the arms;

but there is still a great amount of investigation that could be

done to advantage to determine the most advisable percentage of rest

in the working day of different lengths of hours. Such investigation

would probably show that many of our trades could do the same amount

of work in fewer hours, if the quantity and time of rest periods

were scientifically determined.

Again, there is a question of the length of each rest period. It

has been proven that in many classes of work, and especially in

those where the work is interrupted periodically by reason of its

peculiar nature, or by reason of inefficient performance in one of

the same sequence of dependent operations, alternate working and

resting periods are best. There is to be considered in this

connection, however, the recognized disadvantage of reconcentrating

the attention after these rest periods. Another thing to be

considered is that the rate of output does not decline from the

beginning of the day, but rather the high point of the curve

representing rate of production is at a time somewhat later than at

the starting point. The period before the point of maximum

efficiency is known as "warming up" among ball players, and is well

recognized in all athletic sports.

As for the point of minimum efficiency, or of greatest fatigue,

this varies for "morning workers," and "night workers." This

exemplifies yet another variable.

The minuteness of the sub-fields that demand observation, is

shown by an entry in the Psychological Index: "1202. Benedict, F.G.

"Studies in Body--Temperature." 1. Influence of the Inversion of the

Daily Routine; the Temperature of Night Workers."[14]

SELECTION OF BEST UNIT OF MEASUREMENT NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT.--

Selecting the unit of measurement that will of itself reduce costs

is a most important element in obtaining maximum efficiency.[15]

This is seldom realized.[16] Where possible, several units of

measurements should be used to check each other.[17] One alone may

be misleading, or put an incentive on the workers to give an

undesirable result.

The rule is,--always select that unit of output that will, of

itself, cause a reduction in costs.

For example:--In measuring the output of a concrete gang,

counting cement bags provides an incentive to use more cement than

the instruction card calls for. Counting the batches of concrete

dumped out of the mixer, provides an incentive to use rather smaller

quantities of broken stone and sand than the proportions call

for,--and, furthermore, does not put the incentive on the men to

spill no concrete in transportation, neither does it put an

incentive to use more lumps for Cyclopean concrete.

Measuring the quantity actually placed in the forms puts no

incentive to watch bulging forms closely.

While measuring outputs by all these different units of

measurements would be valuable to check up accuracy of proportions,

accuracy of stores account, and output records, the most important

unit of measurement for selection would be, "cubic feet of forms

filled," the general dimensions to be taken from the latest revised

engineer's drawings.

NECESSITY FOR CHECKING ERRORS.--Dr. Stratton says,--"No

measurements, whether they be psychic or physical, are exact beyond

a certain point, and the art of using them consists largely in

checks and counter checks, and in knowing how far the measurement is

reliable and where the doubtful zone begins."[18]

Capt. Metcalfe says,--"Errors of observation may be divided into

two general classes; the instrumental and those due to the personal

bias of the observer; the former referring to the standard itself,

and the latter to the application of the standard and the record of

the measurement."[19]

The concrete illustration given above is an example of careful

checking up. Under Scientific Management so many, and such careful

records are kept that detecting errors becomes part of the daily

routine.

SUMMARY

RESULTS OF MEASUREMENT TO THE WORK.--Under Traditional

Management, even the crudest measurement of output and cost usually

resulted in an increase in output. But there was no accuracy of

measurement of individual efficiency, nor was there provision made

to conserve results and make them permanently useful.

Under Transitory Management and measurement of individual

output, output increased and rewards for the higher output kept up

the standard.

UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT BETTER METHODS AND BETTER WORK

RESULTS.--Under Scientific Measurement, measurement of the work

itself determines

1. what kind of workers are needed.

2. how many workers are needed.

3. how best to use them.

Motion Study and Time Study measurement,--

1. divide the work into units.

2. measure each unit.

3. study the variables, or elements, one at a time.

4. furnish resulting timed elements to the synthesizer

of methods of least waste.

ACCURATE MEASURING DEVICES PREVENT BREAKDOWNS AND

ACCIDENTS.--The accurate measuring devices which accomplish

measurement under Scientific Management prevent breakdowns and

accidents to life and limb.

For example.--

1. The maintained tension on a belt bears a close relation to

its delay periods.

2. The speed of a buzz planer determines its liability to

shoot out pieces of wood to the injury of its operator,

or to injure bystanders.

Scientific Management, by determining and standardizing methods

and equipment both, provides for uninterrupted output.

EFFECT ON THE WORKER.--Under Traditional Management there is not

enough accurate measurement done to make its effect on the worker of

much value.

Under Transitory Management, as soon as individual outputs are

measured, the worker takes more interest in his work, and endeavors

to increase his output.

Under Scientific Management measurement of the worker tells

1. what the workers are capable of doing.

2. what function it will be best to assign them to and to

cultivate in them.

WASTE ELIMINATED BY ACCURATE MEASUREMENT.--This accurate

measurement increases the worker's efficiency in that it enables him

to eliminate waste. "Cut and try" methods are eliminated. There is

no need to test a dozen methods, a dozen men, a dozen systems of

routing, or various kinds of equipment more than once,--that one

time when they are scientifically tried out and measured. This

accurate measurement also eliminates disputes between manager and

worker as to what the latter's efficiency is.

EFFICIENCY MEASURED BY TIME AND MOTION STUDY.--Time and

Motion Study.

(a) measure the man by his work; that is, by the results

of his activities;

(b) measure him by his methods;

(c) measure him by his capacity to learn;

(d) measure him by his capacity to teach.

Now measurement by result alone is very stimulating to

increasing activities, especially when it shows, as it does under

Scientific Management, the relative results of various people doing

the same kind of work. But it does not, itself, show the worker

_how_ to obtain greater results without putting on more speed or

using up more activities. But when the worker's methods are

measured, he begins to see, for himself, exactly why and where he

has failed.

Scientific Management provides for him to be taught, and the

fact that he sees through the measurements exactly what he needs to

be taught will make him glad to have the teacher come and show him

how to do better. Through this teaching, its results, and the speed

with which the results come, the workers and the managers can see

how fast the worker is capable of learning, and, at the same time,

the worker, the teacher and the managers can see in how far the

foreman is capable of instructing.

FINAL OUTCOME BENEFICIAL TO MANAGERS AND MEN.--Through

measurement in Scientific Management, managers acquire--

1. ability to select men, methods, equipment, etc.;

2. ability to assign men to the work which they should do, to

prescribe the method which they shall use, and to reward

them for their output suitably;

3. ability to predict. On this ability to predict rests the

possibility of making calendars, chronological charts and

schedules, and of planning determining sequence of events, etc.,

which will be discussed at length later.

Ability to predict allows the managers to state "premature

truths," which the records show to be truths when the work has

been done.

It must not be forgotten that the managers are enabled not only

to predict what the men, equipment, machinery, etc., will do, but

what they can do themselves.

THE EFFECT ON THE MEN IS THAT THE WORKER CO-OPERATES.--1. The

worker's interest is held. The men know that the methods they are

using are the best. The exact measurements of efficiency of the

learner,--and under Scientific Management a man never ceases to be a

learner,--give him a continued interest in his work. It is

impossible to hold the attention of the intelligent worker to a

method or process that he does not believe to> be the most efficient

and least wasteful.

Motion study and time study are the most efficient measuring

device of the relative qualities of differing methods. They furnish

definite and exact proof to the worker as to the excellence of the

method that he is told to use. When he is convinced, lack of

interest due to his doubts and dissatisfaction is removed.

2. The worker's judgment is appealed to. The method that he uses

is the outcome of coöperation between him and the management. His

own judgment assures him that it is the best, up to that time, that

they, working together, have been able to discover.

3. The worker's reasoning powers are developed. Continuous

judging of records of efficiency develops high class, well developed

reasoning powers.

4. The worker fits his task, therefore there is no need of

adjustment, and his attitude toward his work is right.

5. There is elimination of soldiering, both natural and

systematic.[20]

ALL KNOWLEDGE BECOMES THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL.--Two outcomes may be

confidently expected in the future, as they are already becoming

apparent where-ever Scientific Management is being introduced:

1. The worker will become more and more willing to impart his

knowledge to others. When the worker realizes that passing on his

trade secrets will not cause him to lose his position or, by raising

up a crowd of competitors, lower his wages, but will, on the

contrary, increase his wages and chances of promotion, he is ready

and willing to have his excellent methods standardized.

Desire to keep one's own secret, or one's own method a secret is

a very natural one. It stimulates interest, it stimulates pride. It

is only when, as in Scientific Management, the possessor of such a

secret may receive just compensation, recognition and honor for his

skill, and receive a position where he can become an appreciated

teacher of others that he is, or should be, willing to give up this

secret. Scientific Management, however, provides this opportunity

for him to teach, provides that he receives credit for what he has

done, and receive that publicity and fame which is his due, and

which will give him the same stimulus to work which the knowledge

that he had a secret skill gave him in the past.

One method of securing this publicity is by naming the device or

method after its inventor. This has been found to be successful not

only in satisfying the inventor, but in stimulating others to invent.

MEASUREMENT OF INDIVIDUAL EFFICIENCY WILL BE ENDORSED BY

ALL.--2. The worker will, ultimately, realize that it is for the

good of all, as well as for himself, that individual efficiency be

measured and rewarded.

It has been advanced as an argument against measurement that it

discriminates against the "weaker brother," who should have a right

to obtain the same pay as the stronger, for the reason that he has

equal needs for this pay to maintain life and for the support of

his family.

Putting aside at the moment the emotional side of this argument,

which is undoubtedly a strong side and a side worthy of

consideration, with much truth in it, and looking solely at the

logical side,--it cannot do the "weaker" brother any good in the

long run, and it does the world much harm, to have his work

overestimated. The day is coming, when the world will demand that

the quantity of the day's work shall be measured as accurately where

one sells labor, as where one sells sugar or flour. Then, pretending

that one's output is greater than it really is will be classed with

"divers weights and divers measures," with their false standards.

The day will come when the public will insist that the "weaker

brother's" output be measured to determine just how weak he is, and

whether it is weakness, unfitness for that particular job, or

laziness that is the cause of his output being low. When he reaches

a certain degree of weakness, he will be assisted with a definite

measured quantity of assistance. Thus the "weaker brother" may be

readily distinguished from the lazy, strong brother, and the brother

who is working at the wrong job. Measurement should certainly be

insisted on, in order to determine whether these strong brothers are

doing their full share, or whether they are causing the weaker

brothers to over-exert themselves.

No one who has investigated the subject properly can doubt that

it will be better for the world in general to have each man's

output, weak and strong, properly measured and estimated regardless

of whether the weak and strong are or are not paid the same wages.

The reason why the unions have had to insist that the work shall not

be measured and that the weaker brother's weakness shall not be

realized is, that in the industrial world the only brotherhood that

was recognized was the brotherhood between the workers, there being

a distinct antagonism between the worker and the manager and little

or no brotherhood of the public at large. When Scientific Management

does away, as it surely will, with this antagonism, by reason of the

coöperation which is its fundamental idea, then the workers will

show themselves glad to be measured.

As for the "weaker" brother idea, it is a natural result of such

ill treatment. It has become such a far-reaching emotion that even

Scientific Management, with its remedy for many ills, cannot expect

in a moment, or in a few years, to alter the emotional bias of the

multitudes of people who have held it for good and sufficient

reasons for generations.

THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD CONSERVE MEASUREMENT DATA.--The one thing

which can permanently alter this feeling forms the natural

conclusion to this chapter. That is, measurements in general and

motion study and time study in particular must become a matter of

government investigation. When the government has taken over the

investigation and established a bureau where such data as Scientific

Management discovers is collected and kept on file for all who will

to use, then the possessor of the secret will feel that it can

safely place the welfare of its "weaker brothers" in the hands of a

body which is founded and operates on the idea of the "square deal."

APPRECIATION OF TIME STUDY BY WORKERS THE FIRST STEP.--The first

step of the workers in this direction must be the appreciation of

time study, for on time study hangs the entire subject of Scientific

Management. It is this great discovery by Dr. Taylor that makes the

elimination of waste possible. It has come to stay. Many labor

leaders are opposed to it, but the wise thing for them to do is to

study, foster and cultivate it. They cannot stop its progress. There

is no thing that can stop it. The modern managers will obtain it,

and the only way to prevent it from being used by unscrupulous

managers is for the workman also to learn the facts of time study.

It is of the utmost importance to the workers of the country, for

their own protection, that they be as familiar with time study data

as the managers are. Time study is the foundation and frame work of

rate setting and fixing, and certainly the subject of rate fixing is

the most important subject there is to the workmen, whether they are

working on day work, piece work, premium, differential rate piece,

task with bonus, or three-rate system.

Dr. Taylor has proved by time study that many of the customary

working days are too long, that the same amount of output can be

achieved in fewer hours per day. Time study affords the means for

the only scientific proof that many trades fatigue the workers

beyond their endurance and strength. Time study is the one means by

which the workers can prove the real facts of their unfortunate

condition under the Traditional plan of management.

The workers of the country should be the very ones that should

insist upon the government taking the matter in hand for scientific

investigation. Knowledge is power,--a rule with no exception, and

the knowledge of scientific time study would prepare the workers of

any trade, and would provide their intelligent leaders with data for

accurate decisions for legislation and other steps for their best

interests. The national bodies should hire experts to represent them

and to coöperate with the government bureau in applying science to

their life work.

The day is fast approaching when makers of machinery will have

the best method of operating their machines micro-motion studied and

cyclegraphed and description of methods of operation in accordance

with such records will be everywhere considered as a part of the

"makers' directions for using."

Furthermore associations of manufacturers will establish

laboratories for determining methods of least waste by means of

motion study, time study and micro-motion study, and the findings of

such laboratories will be put in standardized shape for use by all

its members. The trend today shows that soon there will be hundreds

of books of time study tables. The government must sooner or later

save the waste resulting from this useless duplication of efforts.

CHAPTER IV FOOTNOTES: ==============================================

1. Hugo Münsterberg, _American Problems,_ p. 34.

2. G.M. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Its Bearing upon

Culture_, p. 37.

3. _Ibid_., p. 38.

4. For apparatus for psychological experiment see Stratton, p. 38,

p. 171, p. 265.

5. H.L. Gantt, _Work, Wages and Profits,_ p. 15.

6. Morris Llewellyn Cooke, Bulletin No. 5, _The Carnegie Foundation

for the Advancement of Teaching,_ p. 7.

7. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management,_ para. 29. Harper Ed., p. 25.

8. H.L. Gantt, Paper No. 928, A.S.M.E., para. 6.

9. F.B. Gilbreth, _Cost Reducing System_.

10. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, para. 61. Harper Ed., p. 33.

11. _Industrial Engineering_, Jan., 1913.

12. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, pp. 398-391. Harper Ed., p. 179.

Compare, U.S. Bulletin of Agriculture No. 208. _The Influence of

Muscular and Mental Work on Metabolism_.

13. President's Annual Address, Dec., 1906. Vol. 28, Transactions

A.S.M.E.

14. _American Journal of Physiology_, 1904, XI, pp. 145-170.

15. R.T. Dana, For Construction Service Co., _Handbook of Steam

Shovel Work_, p. 161. H.P. Gillette, Vol. I, p. 71, A.S.E.C.

16. F.W. Taylor, Vol. 28, A.S.M.E., Paper 1119, para. 68.

17. Hugo Münsterberg, _American Problems_, p. 37.

18. G.M. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Culture_, p. 59.

19. Henry Metcalfe, _Cost of Manufactures_.

20. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, para. 46. Harper Ed., p. 30.

F.W. Taylor, _A Piece Rate System_, Paper 647, A.S.M.E.,

para. 22.

====================================================================

CHAPTER V

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS

DEFINITION OF ANALYSIS.--"Analysis," says the Century Dictionary

is "the resolution or separation of anything which is compound, as a

conception, a sentence, a material substance or an event, into its

constituent elements or into its causes;" that is to say, analysis

is the division of the thing under consideration into its definite

cause, and into its definite parts or elements, and the explanation

of the principle upon which such division is made.[1]

DEFINITION OF SYNTHESIS.--"Synthesis" is, "a putting of two or

more things together; composition; specifically, the combination of

separate elements of objects of thought into a whole, as of simple

into compound or complex conceptions, and individual propositions

into a system."

USE OF ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS BY PSYCHOLOGY.--Analysis is

defined by Sully as follows: "Analysis" is "taking apart more

complex processes in order to single out for special inspection

their several constituent processes."

He divides elements of thought activity into two

"(a) analysis: abstraction

(b) synthesis: comparison."

Speaking of the latter, he says, "The clear explicit detachment

in thought of the common elements which comparison secures allows of

a new reconstructive synthesis of things as made up of particular

groupings of a number of general qualities."

PLACE OF ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS IN MANAGEMENT.--Any study of

management which aims to prove that management may be, and under

Scientific Management is, a science, must investigate its use of

analysis and of synthesis.[2] Upon the degree and perfection of the

analysis depends the permanent value and usefulness of the knowledge

gained. Upon the synthesis, and what it includes and excludes,

depends the efficiency of the results deduced.

LITTLE ANALYSIS OR SYNTHESIS UNDER TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT.--

Under Traditional Management analysis and synthesis are so seldom

present as to be negligible. Success or failure are seldom if ever

so studied and measured that the causes are well understood.

Therefore, no standards for future work that are of any value can be

established. It need only be added that one reason why Traditional

Management makes so little progress is because it makes no analyses

that are of permanent value. What data it has are available for

immediate use only. Practically every man who does the work must

"start at the beginning," for himself. If this is often true of

entire methods, it is even more true of elements of methods. As

elements are not studied and recorded separately, they are not

recognized when they appear again, and the resultant waste is

appalling. This waste is inevitable with the lack of coöperation

under Traditional Management and the fact that each worker plans the

greater part of his work for himself.

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS APPEAR LATE IN TRANSITORY MANAGEMENT.--

Division of output appears early in Transitory Management, but it is

usually not until a late stage that motion study and time study are

conducted so successfully that scientifically determined and timed

elements can be constructed into standards. As everything that is

attempted in the line of analysis and synthesis under Transitory

Management is done scientifically under Scientific Management, we

may avoid repetition by considering Scientific Management at once.

RELATION OF ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS IN SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT TO

MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDIZATION.--Analysis considers the subject

that is to be measured,--be it individual action or output of any

kind,--and divides it into such a number of parts, and parts of such

a nature, as will best suit the purpose for which the measurement is

taken. When these subdivisions have been measured, synthesis

combines them into a whole.[3] Under Scientific Management, through

the measurements used, synthesis is a combination of those elements

which are necessary only, and which have been proven to be most

efficient. The result of the synthesis is standardized, and used

until a more accurate standard displaces it.

Under Scientific Management analysis and synthesis are methods

of determining standards from available knowledge. Measurement

furnishes the means.

ANALYST'S WORK IS DIVISION.--It is the duty of the analyst to

divide the work that he is set to study into the minutest divisions

possible. What is possible is determined by the time and money that

can be set aside for the investigation.

THE NATURE OF THE WORK MUST DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF ANALYSIS

PRACTICABLE.--In determining the amount of time and money required,

it is necessary to consider--

1. the cost of the work if done with no special study.

2. how many times the work is likely to be repeated.

3. how many elements that it contains are likely to be

similar to elements in work that has already been studied.

4. how many new elements that it contains are likely to be

available in subsequent work.

5. the probable cost of the work after it has been studied--

(a) the cost of doing it.

(b) the cost of the investigation.

6. The loss, if any, from delaying the work until after it

has been studied.

7. the availability of trained observers and measurers,

analysts and synthesists.

8. the available money for carrying on the investigations.

These questions at least must be answered before it is possible

to decide whether study shall be made or not, and to what degree it

can be carried.

COST THE DETERMINING FACTOR.--It is obvious that in all

observation in the industrial world cost must be the principal

determining feature. Once the cost can be estimated, and the amount

of money that can be allowed for the investigation determined, it is

possible at least to approximate satisfactory answers to the other

questions. How closely the answers approximate depends largely on

the skill and experience of the analyst.

The greater number of times the work is to be repeated, the less

the ultimate cost. The more elements contained similar to elements

already determined, the less the additional cost, and the less the

time necessary. The more elements contained that can be used again,

even in different work, the less the ultimate cost. The better

trained the analyst, the less the immediate or additional cost

and time.

Much depends on the amount of previous data at hand when the

investigation is being made, and on the skill and speed of the

analyst in using these data.

PROCESS OF DIVISION UNENDING.--In practice, the process of

division continues as long as it can show itself to be a method for

cost reducing. Work may be divided into processes: each process into

subdivisions; each subdivision into cycles; each cycle into

elements; each element into time units; each time unit into

motions,--and so on, indefinitely, toward the "indivisible

minimum."[4]

MEASURING MAY TAKE PLACE AT ANY STAGE.--At any of these stages

of division the results may be taken as final for the purpose of the

study,--and the operations, or final divisions of the work at that

stage, may be measured.

To obtain results with the least expenditure of time, the

operations must be subjected to motion study before they are timed

as well as after. This motion study can be accurate and of permanent

value only in so far as the divisions are final. The resulting

improved operations are then ready to be timed.

ULTIMATE ANALYSIS THE FIELD OF PSYCHOLOGY.--When the analyst has

proceeded as far as he can in dividing the work into prime factors

the problem continues in the field of psychology. Here the

opportunities for securing further data become almost limitless.

ULTIMATE ANALYSIS JUSTIFIABLE.--It is the justification for

analysis to approach the ultimate as nearly as possible, that the

smaller and more difficult of measurement the division is, the more

often it will appear in various combinations of elements. The

permanence and exactness of the result vary with the effort for

obtaining it.

QUALIFICATIONS OF AN ANALYST.--To be most successful, an analyst

should have ingenuity, patience, and that love of dividing a process

into its component parts and studying each separate part that

characterizes the analytic mind. The analyst must be capable of

doing accurate work, and orderly work.

To get the most pleasure and profit from his work he should

realize that his great, underlying purpose is to relieve the worker

of unnecessary fatigue, to shorten his work period per day, and to

increase the number of his days and years of higher earning power.

With this realization will come an added interest in his subject.

WORKER SHOULD UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS OF ANALYSIS.--It is not

enough that the worker should understand the methods of measurement.

He can get most from the resultant standards and will most

efficiently coöperate if he understands the division into elements

to be studied.

SCHOOLS SHOULD PROVIDE TRAINING.--Much of the training in

analysis in the schools comes at such a late period of the course

that the average industrial worker must miss a large part of it.

This is a defect in school training that should be remedied. Even

very young children soon are capable of, and greatly enjoy, dividing

a process into elements. If the worker be taught, in his

preparations, and in the work itself, to divide what he does into

its elements, he will not only enjoy analysis of his work, but will

be able to follow the analysis in his own mind, and to coöperate

better in the processes of measurement.

THE SYNTHESIST'S WORK IS SELECTION AND ADDITION.--The synthesist

studies the individual results of the analyst's work, and their

inter-relation, and determines which of these should be combined,

and in what manner, for the most economic result. His duty is to

construct that combination of the elements which will be most

efficient.

IMPORTANCE OF SELECTION MUST BE EMPHASIZED.--If synthesis in

Scientific Management were nothing more than combining all the

elements that result from analysis into a whole, it would be

valuable. Any process studied analytically will be performed more

intelligently, even if there is no change in the method.

But the most important part of the synthesist's work is the

actual elimination of elements which are useless, and the combination

of the remaining elements in such a way, or sequence, or schedule,

that a far better method than the one analyzed will result.

We may take an example from Bricklaying.[5] In "Stringing

Mortar Method, on the Filling Tiers before the Days of the

Pack-on-the-Wall-Method"--the division, which was into operations

only, showed eighteen operations and eighteen motions for every

brick that was laid. Study and synthesis of these elements resulted

in a method that required only 1 3/4 motions to lay a brick. Over

half the original motions were found to be useless, hence entirely

omitted. In several other cases it was found possible to make one

motion do work for two or four brick, with the same, or less,

fatigue to the worker.

RESULT IS THE BASIS FOR THE TASK.--The result of synthesis is

the basis for the task,--it becomes the standard that shows what

has actually been done, and what can be expected to be repeated. It

is important to note the relation between the task and synthesis.

When it becomes generally understood that the "Task," under

Scientific Management is neither an ideal which exists simply in the

imagination, nor an impossibly high estimate of what can be

expected,--but is actually the sum of observed and timed operations,

plus a definite and sufficient percentage of allowance for

overcoming the fatigue,--then much objection to it will cease.

GENERAL LACK OF KNOWLEDGE THE CHIEF CAUSE OF OBJECTION TO THE

TASK.--As is the case with most objections to Scientific Management,

or its elements, ignorance is the chief obstacle to the introduction

and success of the Task Idea. This ignorance seems to be more or

less prevalent everywhere among managers as well as workers.

Scientific Management can, and does, succeed even when the

workers are ignorant of many of its fundamental principles, but it

will never make the strides that it should until every man working

under it, as well as all outside, understand _why_ it is doing as it

does, as well as _what_ is done.

This educational campaign could find no better starting point

than the word "task," and the "task idea."

THE NAME TASK IS UNFORTUNATE.[6]--The Century Dictionary defines

"Task" as follows:

1. "a tax, an assessment, an impost

2. "labor imposed, especially a definite quantity or amount

of labor; work to be done; one's stint; that which duty or

necessity imposes; duty or duties collectively

3. "a lesson to be learned; a portion of study imposed by a

teacher

4. "work undertaken,--an undertaking

5. "burdensome employment; toil."

Only the fourth meaning, as here given, covers in any way what

is meant by the task in Scientific Management.

The ideas included in the other four definitions are most

unpleasant. The thought of labor; the thought that the labor is

imposed; the thought that the imposition is definite; that duty

makes it necessary that it be done; that it is burdensome; that it

is toilsome: these are most unfortunate ideas and have been

associated with the word so long in the human mind that it will be a

matter of years before a new set of associations can be formed which

will be pleasant, and which will render the word "task" attractive

and agreeable to the worker and to the public in general.

NO OTHER ADEQUATE WORD HAS BEEN SUGGESTED.--However, there seems

to be no better word forthcoming; therefore, one can but follow the

example of the masters in management, who have accepted this word,

and have done their best to make it attractive by the way they

themselves have used it.

To the writer, the word "stint" is far more attractive and

more truly descriptive than is "task." Perhaps because of the

old-fashioned idea that a reward, usually immediate, followed the

completion of the "stint."

Opinions as to a preferable word will doubtless vary, but it is

self-evident that the word "task" has already become so firmly

established in Scientific Management that any attempt to change it

would result in a confusion. It is far better to concentrate on

developing a new set of associations for it in as many minds

as possible.

DECIDED ADVANTAGE TO THE USE OF THE WORD TASK.--Perhaps in one

way it is fortunate that the use of the word "task" does coincide

more or less with the use of that word under Traditional Management.

Under Traditional Management the task is the work to be done. It may

be just as well that the same word should be used under Scientific

Management, in order that both the worker and investigator may

realize, that, after all _the work that is to be done_ is, in its

essentials, exactly the same. With this realization from the

beginning, the mind of the worker or investigator may be the more

predisposed to note the eliminations of waste and the cutting down

of time, effort and fatigue under the scientifically derived methods.

DEFINITION OF TASK AS USED IN SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--The task,

under Scientific Management, differs from the task under Traditional

Management in that--

1. The tools and surrounding conditions with which the work

shall be done are standardized.

2. The method in which the work shall be done is prescribed.

3. The time that the work shall take is scientifically

determined.

4. An allowance is made for rest from fatigue.

5. The quality of the output is prescribed.

When to this is added the fact that the method is taught, and

that the reward is ample, fixed, prompt and assured, the attractive

features of the task under Scientific Management have been made plain.

TASK IDEA APPLIES TO WORK OF EVERYONE.--Under Scientific

Management there is a task for every member of the organization,

from the head of the management to the worker at the most

rudimentary work. This is too often not known, or not appreciated by

the worker, who feels that what is deemed best for him should be

good for everyone. The mental attitude will never be right till all

understand that the task idea will increase efficiency when applied

to any possible kind of work. With the application of the task idea

to all, will come added coöperation.

TASK IDEA APPLIES TO THE WORK OF THE ORGANIZATION.--The work

which is to be done by the organization should be considered the

task of the organization, and this organization task is studied

before individual tasks are set. The methods used in determining

this organization task are analysis and synthesis, just as in the

case of the individual task.

INDIVIDUAL TASKS ARE ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATION TASK.--The

individual tasks are considered as elements of the organization

task. The problem is, to determine the best arrangement of these

individual tasks, the best schedule, and routing. The individual

task may be thought of as something moving, that must be gotten out

of the way.

Management has been called largely a matter of transportation.

It may be "transportation" or moving of materials, revolution of

parts of fixed machinery, or merely transportation of parts of one's

body in manual movements;[7] in any case, the laws governing

transportation apply to all. This view of management is most

stimulating to the mind. A moving object attracts attention and

holds interest. Work that is interesting can be accomplished with

greater speed and less fatigue. Thinking in terms of the methods of

Scientific Management as the most accurate and efficient in

transporting the finished output and its "chips"[8] will be a great

aid towards attaining the best results possible by means of a new

method of visualizing the problem.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SYNTHESIST.--The synthesist must have a

constructive mind, for he determines the sequence of events as well

as the method of attack. He must have the ability to see the

completed whole which he is trying to make, and to regard the

elements with which he works not only as units, but in relation to

each other. He must feel that any combination is influenced not only

by the elements that go into it, but by the inter-relation between

these elements. This differs for different combinations as in

a kaleidoscope.

THE SYNTHESIST A CONSERVER.--The Synthesist must never be

thought of as a destructive critic. He is, in reality, a conserver

of all that is valuable in old methods. Through his work and that of

the analyst, the valuable elements of traditional methods are

incorporated into standard methods. These standard methods will,

doubtless, be improved as time goes on, but the valuable elements

will be permanently conserved.

SYNTHESIST AN INVENTOR.--The valuable inventions referred to as

the result of measurement are the work of the synthetic mind. It

discovers new, better methods of doing work, and this results in the

invention of better means, such as tools or equipment.

For example,--in the field of Bricklaying, the Non-stooping

Scaffold, the Packet and the Fountain Trowel were not invented until

the analysis of bricklaying was made, and the synthesis of the

chosen elements into standard methods made plain the need and

specifications for new equipment.

RELATION OF INVENTION TO SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT IMPORTANT.--There

has been much discussion as to the relation of Invention to

Scientific Management. It has been claimed by many otherwise able

authorities that many results claimed as due to Scientific

Management are really the results of new machinery, tools or

equipment that have been invented.[9] Scientific Management

certainly can lay no claim to credit for efficiency which comes

through inventions neither suggested nor determined by it. But the

inventions from the results of which Scientific Management is said

to have borrowed credit are usually, like the bricklaying inventions

cited, not only direct results of Scientific Management, but

probably would not have sprung from any other source for years

to come.

SYNTHESIST A DISCOVERER OF LAWS.--It is the synthetic type of

mind that discovers the laws. For example--it was Dr. Taylor, with

the aid of a few of his specially trained co-workers, who discovered

the following governing laws:

1. law of no ratio between the foot-pounds of work done and

the fatigue caused in different kinds of work.

2. law of percentage of rest for overcoming fatigue.

3. law of classification of work according to percentage of

fatigue caused.

4. laws for making high-speed steel.

5. laws relating to cutting metals.

6. laws that will predict the right speed, feed and cut on

metals for the greatest output.

7. laws for predicting maximum quantity of output that a man

can achieve and thrive.

8. laws for determining the selection of the men best suited

for the work.

SYNTHESIST AN ADVISER ON INTRODUCTION OF NEW METHODS.--Having

constructed the standard tasks or standard methods which are new,

the synthesist must remember to introduce his new task or method

with as few new variables as possible. He should so present it that

all the old knowledge will come out to meet the new, that all the

brain paths that have already been made will be utilized, and that

the new path will lead out from paths which are well known and well

traveled.

INTRODUCE WITH AS FEW NEW VARIABLES AS POSSIBLE.--The greatest

speed in learning a new method will be attained by introducing it

with as few new variables as possible.

For example,--learning to dictate to a dictaphone. The writer

found it very difficult, at first, to dictate into the dictaphone,--

the whirling of the cylinder distracted the eye, the buzzing of the

motor distracted the ear, the rubber tube leading to the mouth-piece

was constantly reminding the touch that something new was being

attempted. At the suggestion of one well versed in Scientific

Management, the mouth-piece of the dictaphone was propped on the

desk telephone on a level with the mouth-piece of the latter. The

writer then found that as soon as one became interested in the

dictating and one's attention was concentrated on the thought, one

was able absolutely to forget the new variable, because it is one

which is kept constant, and to dictate fluently. The emphasis laid

on the likeness in thus dictating to the old accustomed act of

talking through the telephone, seemed to put all other differences

into the background, and to allow of forming the new and desired

habit very quickly.

SUMMARY

EFFECT OF ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS ON THE WORK.--As the outcome of

Analysis and Synthesis is Standardization, so the effect of them

upon work is standard work. Quantity of output can be predicted,

quality of output is assured.

EFFECT ON THE WORKER.--The effect of Analysis and Synthesis upon

the worker is to make him feel that the methods which he is using

are right, and that, because of this, his work must be of value. The

more the worker is induced to coöperate in the determining and the

combination of elements, the more will he share with the

investigators the satisfaction in getting permanent results. The

outcome of this coöperation will, again, result in more perfect

future results, and so on, progressively.

CHAPTER V FOOTNOTES: ===============================================

1. Compare _Mechanical Analysis_. Taylor and Thompson, _Concrete,

Plain and Reinforced_, p. 193.

2. H. LeChatelier, Discussion of Paper 1119, A.S.M.E., p. 303.

3. H.L. Gantt, _Work, Wages and Profits_, p. 35.

4. F.B. Gilbreth, _Cost Reducing System_.

5. F.B. Gilbreth, _Bricklaying System_, p. 151.

6. James M. Dodge, Discussion of Paper 1119, A.S.M.E., para. 284.

7. F.B. Gilbreth, _Motion Study_.

8. James M. Dodge.

9. London, _Engineering_, Sept. 15, 1911.

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CHAPTER VI

STANDARDIZATION

DEFINITION OF STANDARDIZATION.--Standardization is "the act of

standardizing, or the state of being standardized." "A standard,"

according to the Century Dictionary, "is that which is set up as a

unit of reference; a form, type, example, incidence, or combination

of conditions accepted as correct and perfect and hence as a basis

of comparison. A criterion established by custom, public opinion or

general consent; a model."[1]

We must note particularly that the standard is a "unit of

reference," that it is a "basis of comparison," and that it is "a

model." These three phrases describe the standard in management, and

are particularly emphasized by the use of the standard in Scientific

Management.

STANDARDS DERIVED FROM ACTUAL PRACTICE.--Management derives its

standards not from theories as to best methods, but from scientific

study of actual practice.[2] As already shown, the method of

deriving a standard is--

1. to analyze the best practice known into the smallest

possible elements,

2. to measure these elements,

3. to adopt the least wasteful elements as standard elements,

4. to synthesize the necessary standard elements into

the standard.

THE STANDARD IS PROGRESSIVE.--A standard remains fixed only

until a more perfect standard displaces it. The data from which the

standard was derived may be reviewed because of some error, because

a further subdivision of the elements studied may prove possible, or

because improvements in some factor of the work, i.e., the worker,

material, tools, equipment, etc., may make a new standard desirable.

The fact that a standard is recognized as not being an ultimate

standard in no wise detracts from its working value. As Captain

Metcalfe has said: "Whatever be the standard of measurement, it

suffices for comparison if it be generally accepted, if it be

impartially applied, and if the results be fully recorded."[3]

CHANGE IN THE STANDARD DEMANDS CHANGE IN THE TASK AND IN THE

INCENTIVE.--Necessarily, with the change in the standard comes a

change in the task and in the reward. All parts of Scientific

Management are so closely related that it is impossible to make a

successful progressive step in one branch without simultaneously

making all the related progressions in other branches that go

with it.

For example,--if the material upon which a standard was based

caused more care or effort, a smaller task must be set, and wages

must be proportionately lowered. _Proportionately_, note, for

determining that change would necessitate a review and a

redistribution of the cost involved.

In the same way, if an improvement in equipment necessitated a

new method, as does the packet in laying brick, a new task would

become imperative, and a reconsideration of the wage. The wage might

remain the same, it might go down, it might go up. In actual

practice, in the case of bricklayers, it has gone up. But the point

is, it _must_ be restudied. This provides effectually against

cutting the rate or increasing the task in any unjust manner.

SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE STANDARD AND THE "JUDGMENT" OF

PSYCHOLOGY.--There are many points of similarity between the

"Standard," of management, and the "judgment" of psychology. Sully

says, in speaking of the judgment,[4]--"This process of judging

illustrates the two fundamental elements in thought activity, viz.,

analysis and synthesis." "To judge is clearly to discern and to mark

off as a special object of thought some connecting relation." "To

begin with, before we can judge we must have the requisite materials

for forming a judgment." "In the second place, to judge is to carry

out a process of reflection on given material." "In addition to

clearness and accuracy, our judgments may have other perfections. So

far as our statements accord with known facts, they should be

adhered to,--at least, till new evidence proves them untrue."

PSYCHOLOGY A FINAL APPEAL AS TO PERMANENT VALUE OF ANY

STANDARD.--The standard under management, even under Scientific

Management, can lay no claim to being perfect. It can never nearly

approach perfection until the elements are so small that it is

practicable to test them psychologically and physiologically. The

time when this can be done in many lines, when the benefit that will

directly accrue will justify the necessary expenditure, may seem far

distant, but every analysis of operations, no matter how

rudimentary, is hastening the day when the underlying, permanently

valuable elements can be determined and their variations studied.

COÖPERATION WILL HASTEN THE DAY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND

PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY OF STANDARDS.--Coöperation in collecting and

comparing the results of motion study and time study everywhere will

do much to assist toward more ultimate determination of elements. At

the present time the problems that management submits to psychology

are too indefinite and cover too large a field to be attacked

successfully. Coöperation between management standardizers

would mean--