psychologists and physiologists.
2. that such data, being available also to all standardizers,
would prevent reduplication of results.
3. that savings would result.
4. that, from a study and comparison of the collected data a
trained synthetic mind could build up better standards than
could be built from any set of individual data.
5. Savings would result from this.
6. Inventions would also result.
7. Savings would again result from these.
8. All of these various savings could be invested in more
intensive study of elements.
9. These more valuable results would again be available to
psychologists and physiologists.
This cycle would go on indefinitely. Meantime, all would benefit
with little added cost to any. For the results of the psychological
and physiological study would be available to all, and investigators
in those lines have shown themselves ready and glad to undertake
investigations.
PURPOSE OF STANDARDIZATION.--The purpose of standardizing is the
same under all types of management; that is, it is the elimination
of waste.
STANDARDIZATION FREQUENTLY ATTEMPTED UNDER TRADITIONAL
MANAGEMENT.--In much progressive Traditional Management there is an
appreciation of the necessity of standardizing tools and equipment,
that is to say, of having these on the "duplicate part system," that
assembling may be done quickly, and repairs made without delay.
The manager notices some particularly successful man, or method,
or arrangement of tools, equipment, or the surroundings, and decides
to have a record made thereof that the success may be repeated.
These records, if made in sufficient detail, are very valuable. The
difficulty is that so often the man making the records does not
observe all the variables. Hence the very elements which caused the
success may be overlooked entirely.
VALUE OF STANDARDIZATION NOT APPRECIATED UNDER TRADITIONAL
MANAGEMENT.--It is surprising, under Traditional Management, to
note, in many cases, the years that elapse before any need for
standardization is felt. It is also surprising that, even when some
standardization has been done, its importance is seldom realized.
The new standard becomes a matter of course, and the management
fails to be impressed enough with its benefits to apply the
principle of standardization to other fields.
UNDER TRANSITORY MANAGEMENT STANDARDIZATION BECOMES CONSTANTLY
MORE IMPORTANT.--Not until Motion Study and Time Study have been
introduced can the full benefits of standardization be attained. But
as soon as the Transitory Stage of Management appears, the
importance of standardization is realized. This is brought about
largely through the records of individual outputs, which constantly
call attention to the necessity of making available to all the
methods, tools and equipment of the most successful workers.
RECORDS OF SUCCESSES BECOME MORE PROFITABLE.--The rules which
embody successful practice become more profitable as the necessity
for more detailed recording of all the variables becomes possible.
An appreciation of what scientific motion study and time study will
ultimately do affects the minds of the management until the workers
are given directions as to methods to be used, and the incentive of
extra pay for following directions.
"SYSTEMS" SHOW AN APPRECIATION OF PSYCHOLOGY.--The "Systems,"
standing orders or collections of written directions, that are
evolved at this stage have a permanent value. This is especially
true when the directions, often called "rules," contain the reason
for the rule. There is a decided awakening to the importance of
Psychology in this appeal to the reason of the worker. He is not
affronted by being forced to follow directions for which he is given
no reason and which he has no reason to believe have been
scientifically derived. These rules, in a certain typical case, are
stated in simple language, some in the form of commands, some in the
form of suggestions, and are obviously so prepared as to be
understood and obeyed by the workers with the least possible amount
of effort, opposition and time. As ample opportunity is given for
suggestions, the worker's attention and interest are held, and any
craving he may have for self-expression is gratified.
SYSTEMS PERMANENTLY USEFUL.--These systems, collections of
rules, directions or standing orders are useful even when Ultimate
Management is completely installed--
1. for use as records of successful methods which may be
scientifically studied for elements.
2. for use by the instruction card clerk in explaining to
the men why the rules on the instruction card are given.
RELATION OF SYSTEMS TO STANDARDS SHOULD BE EMPHASIZED.--The
worker is too often not made to understand the relation of Systems
to Standards. The average worker does not object to Systems, because
he realizes that the System is a collection of his best, least
wasteful methods of doing work. When he can be convinced that
standards are only efficient elements of his own methods
scientifically studied and combined, any opposition to them
will disappear.
THE PERSONAL NOTE OF THE "SYSTEM" SHOULD BE PRESERVED.--Perhaps
one thing that makes the typical "Systems" so attractive is the
personal note that they contain. Illustrated with pictures of
successful work that the workers themselves have done, often
containing pictures of the men themselves that illustrate successful
methods, with mention of the names of men who have offered valuable
suggestions or inventions, they make the worker feel his part in
successful results. They conserve the old spirit of coöperation
between the master and his apprentices.
The conditions of modern industry make it extremely difficult to
conserve this feeling. Scientific Management is successful not only
because it makes possible a more effective coöperation than has ever
existed since the old "master-and-apprentice" relation died out, but
also because it conserves in the Systems the interim channel for
personal communication between the various members of the
organization.
SYSTEMS A VALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN TRANSITION TO SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT.--One great problem which those introducing Scientific
Management have to face is exactly how to make the worker understand
the relation of the new type of management to the old. The
usefulness of the written system in use in most places where it is
planned to introduce Scientific Management as a means of making the
worker understand the transition has, perhaps, not been appreciated.
The development of the standard from the system is easy to
explain. This being done, all parts of Scientific Management are
so closely related that their interrelation can be readily made
apparent.
It is the worker's right as well as privilege to understand the
management under which he works, and he only truly coöperates, with
his will and judgment as well as with his hands, when he feels that
his mind is a part of the directing mind.
STANDARDIZATION UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT ELIMINATES WASTE
SCIENTIFICALLY.--Under Scientific Management the elimination of
waste by the use of standards becomes a science. Standards are no
longer based on opinions, as under Traditional Management, but are
based upon scientific investigation of the elements of experience.
As James says, in the "Psychology, Briefer Course," page 156,
paragraph 4,--"It is obvious and palpable that our state of mind is
never precisely the same. Every thought we have of a given fact is,
strictly speaking, unique and only bears a resemblance of kind with
our other thoughts of the same facts. When the identical fact recurs
we must think of it in a fresh manner, see it under a somewhat
different angle, apprehend it in different relations from those in
which it last appeared."
THE STANDARD THE RESULT OF MEASUREMENT.--It is obvious,
therefore, that a scientifically derived standard can never be the
outcome of an opinion. Whenever the opinion returns, the different
thoughts with which it would be accompanied would so color it as to
change it, and the standard with it. It is obvious, therefore, that
a standard must be the result of definite mathematical and other
measured proof, and not of an opinion, and that the standard must be
in such physical shape that the subject-matter will always be
clearly defined, otherwise the ultimate losses resulting from
dependent sequences of the standard schedule and time-tables would
be enormous.
SUCCESSFUL STANDARDIZATION DEMANDS COMPLETE CONFORMITY TO
STANDARDS.--The laws for establishment of standards; the laws of
achieving them; the laws for preventing deviations from those paths
that will permit of their achievement; the dependent sequences
absolutely necessary to perform the complete whole; these have been
worked out and given to the world by Dr. Taylor, who recognized, as
James has said, page 157, that, "a permanently existing 'Idea' which
makes its appearance before the footlights of consciousness at
periodic intervals, is as mythological an entity as the Jack of
Spades." The entire organization from the highest to the lowest must
conform to these standards. It is out of the question to permit the
deviations resulting from individual initiative. Individual
initiative is quite as objectionable in obtaining the best
results,--that is, high wages and low production cost,--as service
would be on a railroad if each locomotive engineer were his own
train despatcher, determining at what time and to what place he
would go.
INITIATIVE PROVIDED FOR.--There is a distinct place for
initiative in Scientific Management, but that place is not outside
of the planning department, until the planning department's method
has been proved to be fully understood by achieving it. The
standards must be made by the men to whom this work is assigned, and
they must be followed absolutely by the worker. He is willing to
follow them, under Scientific Management, because he realizes that a
place for his suggestions is supplied, and that, if his suggestions
are accepted, they will be incorporated into the new standards which
must then be followed by all thereafter.
STANDARDIZATION APPLIES TO THE WORK OF ALL.--It is important to
note that standardizing is applied to the work of all. This, if
understood by all, will do away with all question of discrimination
or the lack of a "square deal." It will make the worker feel ready
to follow his standard exactly, just as he knows the manager is
following his. So, also, the worker should be made to realize that
the very fact that there is a standardization means, under
Scientific Management, that that applies to every man, and that
there is no discrimination against him in any possible way.
STANDARDIZATION CONSERVES AND DEVELOPS INDIVIDUALITY.--
Standardization conserves individual capacity by doing away with the
wasteful process of trial and error of the individual workman. It
develops individuality by allowing the worker to concentrate his
initiative upon work that has not before been done, and by providing
incentive and reward for inventions.
WASTE ELIMINATED IS ELIMINATED PERMANENTLY.--Scientific
Management not only eliminates waste, but provides that waste shall
be eliminated for all time in the future.
The standard once written down, there can be no slipping back
into the old methods based upon opinions of the facts.
STANDARDIZATION UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT RESEMBLES
STANDARDIZATION OF SPELLING.--The need for standardization has
already been emphasized, but might further be illustrated by the
discussions, pro and con, of the question of simplified spelling.
Before the days of dictionaries, our spelling was not standardized--
it was the privilege of any good writer to spell much as he desired;
but the creation of written standards of spelling, that is to say
the making of dictionaries, fixed the forms of spelling at that
time, that is, created standards. The Simplified Spelling Board is
now endeavoring to make some new standards, their action being based
upon sufficient reasons for making a change, and also for not
changing the spelling of any word until it is determined that the
suggested spelling is more advisable than the old spelling.
Just so, under Scientific Management, the best known standards
are used continuously until better have been discovered. The
planning department, consisting of the best men available, whose
special duty it is to create new standards, acts as does the
Simplified Spelling Board, as a court of appeals for new standards,
which must pass this court before they can hope to succeed the old,
and which must, if they are to be accepted, possess many elements of
the old and be changed only in such a way that the users can,
without difficulty, shift to the new use.
UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT NOMENCLATURE IS STANDARDIZED.--Under
Standardization in Scientific Management the standardization of the
nomenclature, of the names and of the terms used must be noted. The
effect of this upon the mind is excellent, because the use of a word
very soon becomes a habit--its associations become fixed. If
different names are used for the same thing,--that is to say, if
different names are used indiscriminately, the thing itself becomes
hazy, in just such a degree as it possesses many names. The use of
the fixed term, the fixed word, leads to definiteness always. Just
so, also, the Mnemonic Symbol system in use by Scientific
Management, leads to swift identification of the subdivision of the
classification to which it is applied, and to elimination of waste
in finding and remembering where to find any particular thing or
piece of information desired. By it may be identified "the various
articles of manufacture and papers relating to it as well as the
operations to be performed on each piece and the various charges of
the establishment."
MNEMONIC SYMBOLS SAVE TIME AND EFFORT.--These Mnemonic Symbols
save actual motions and time in speaking and writing, and save time
in that they are so designed as to be readily remembered. They also
save time and effort in that the mind accustomed to them works with
them as collective groups of ideas, without stopping to elaborate
them into their more detailed form.
STANDARD PHRASEOLOGY ELIMINATES WASTE.--As typical of the
savings effected by standardization, we may cite a lineman talking
to the Central Telephone Office:--
"John Doe--1234 L. Placing Extension Station," This signified--
"My name is John Doe, I am telephoning from number 1234, party L.
I have finished installing an extension station. Where shall I
go next?"
In the same way standard signals are remembered best by the man
who signals and are understood quickest by the man who receives
them, with a direct increase in speed to the work done.
STANDARD MAN IS THE MAN UPON WHOM STUDIES ARE MADE.--The
standard man is the ideal man to observe and with whom to obtain the
best Motion Study and Time Study data. He is the fastest worker,
working under the direction of the man best informed in the
particular trade as to the motions of best present practice, and
being timed by a Time Study Expert.
RELATION BETWEEN THE STANDARD MAN, THE FIRST-CLASS MAN, THE
GIVEN MAN AND THE TASK.--The "first-class man" under Scientific
Management means the man who is best fitted by nature and by
training to do the task permanently or until promoted.
The "given man" is the man who is actually put to work at the
task, whether or not he is well fitted for its performance.
The "task" is that percentage of the standard man's achievement
that the given man to whom the task is to be assigned can do
continuously and thrive, that he can do easily enough to win his
bonus without injuring himself, temporarily or permanently, in
any way.
WRITING THE STANDARD MEANS FOR CONVEYING INFORMATION.--Under
Scientific Management, and even in the early stages of Transitory
Management, writing is the standard means of conveying information.
All orders, without exception, should be in writing. This
insures that the "eye workers" get their directions in the most
impressive form; does away with the need of constant oral
repetition; eliminates confusion; insures a clear impression in the
mind of the giver as well as of the receiver of the order as to
exactly what is wanted; and provides a record of all orders given.
Putting the instructions in writing in no way precludes utilizing
the worker's natural aptitude to learn by imitation, for he also
always has the opportunity to watch and imitate the workings of the
functional teachers as well as his scientifically taught
fellow-workers.
THE INSTRUCTION CARD THE STANDARD METHOD OF CONVEYING
INSTRUCTIONS AS TO THE TASK.--The records of the work of the
standard man are contained in data of the Motion Study and Time
Study department. These records, in the form in which they are to be
used by the man who is to perform the task, are, for the benefit of
that man, incorporated in what is known as the instruction card.
DEFINITION OF THE INSTRUCTION CARD.--The instruction card is a
set of directions for the man, telling him what he is to do, how he
is to do it, how long it should take him to do it, and what he will
receive for doing it, and giving him an opportunity to call for, and
obtain, assistance the instant that he finds he cannot do it, and
to report back to the managers as to how he has succeeded in
the performance.
The Instruction Card has been called "a self-producer of a
predetermined product."
COMPARATIVE DEFINITION OF INSTRUCTION CARDS, UNDER SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT.--There are three types of Instruction Cards, which may
be described as follows:
Type One:--Largely geographical, telling
1. Where to Work.
2. From Whom to Take Orders.
3. What to Do.
Type Two:--Typical engineer's specification,--telling
1. Results desired.
2. Qualities of Products.
Type Three:--A list of elementary, step-by-step instructions,
subdivided into their motions, with time allowed for each timable
element, preferably for each motion, and a division between
1. Getting ready.
2. Making or constructing.
3. Clearing up. This is the only type used by Scientific
Management.
DIRECTIONS, PAY ALLOWANCE AND TIME ALLOWANCE ESSENTIAL.--
The Instruction Card under Scientific Management must contain
directions, and state the pay allowance and time allowance.
Directions as to how the work shall be done eliminate waste by
cutting out all wrong methods and prescribing the right method
exactly.
The setting of a time in which the work is to be done is a great
stimulus to the worker, and is also necessary, because upon the
attainment of this set time depends the ability of the managers to
pay the bonus to the worker, and also to maintain a schedule, or
time-table, that will make possible the maintaining of necessary
conditions for others, in turn, to earn their bonuses. It cannot be
too often emphasized that the extra wages are paid to the men out of
the savings, and are absolutely dependent upon the fact of there
being savings. It is only when the worker does the work within the
time prescribed, that the managers do save enough to warrant the
payment of the extra wages that compensate the man for doing the
stipulated quantity of work.
The instruction card contains a statement of the wage or bonus
that will be earned for the complete performance of the task set
therein, thus furnishing an incentive at the time that the work
is done.
STANDARD DIVISION OF INSTRUCTION CARD NECESSARY.--There are many
reasons for dividing an instruction card in the present standard
way, namely,--
(a) to reduce the amount of time study observation
necessary to be taken,
(b) to reduce the difficulties of synthesizing the time
studied element,
(c) to locate quickly just where the worker needs help and
instruction to enable him to achieve his task,
(d) to keep up the interest of the worker by having short
time elements with which to measure his relative
ability,
(e) to present the subject-matter of instruction in such
natural subdivisions that resting places are
automatically provided that allow the mind to recover
from its absorption of each subdivision. This provides
definite stopping places between co-related units of
instruction holding the attention as a complete unit
against distraction, and a complete resting place
between subdivisions that permits the mind to relax and
wander without losing complete grasp of each unit as
a whole.
DETAILED INSTRUCTION EDUCATIVE.--The greater the perfection of
the detail of the instruction card, the greater the educative value
of this plan of management. The educative value of the instruction
card will be discussed at length under Teaching.
Those inexperienced in Scientific Management have complained
that the detail of Instruction Cards and other parts of Scientific
Management is tiresome. Dr. Taylor has answered such objectors in
Discussions, and also in his own directions for planning the
Instruction Card, which are to be found in "Shop Management."
The advantages of the detailed instruction card are more than
might appear on the surface. Not only does the man whose attention
is easily distracted keep to his work better if he is told every
possible detail, but also the cards when filed can be taken out
again, and every detail and item of the method reviewed at length
and revised if necessary.
The experienced worker who gets to know the instruction by rote
is not bothered by extreme detail. On the contrary, he grasps it at
a glance, and focuses his mind upon any new feature and upon the
speed and exactness of muscular action needed for compliance with
the card.
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION CARD IMPORTANT.--The language in which
instructions and commands are transmitted on the instruction card is
of sufficient importance to warrant careful consideration. It would
be helpful if the instruction card clerk and the man who is to use
the instruction cards were both masters of English, but this is
hardly to be expected. The best substitute for such special English
training is a "System" for the use of the instruction card clerk
that will give him some outline of English that will by degrees make
his wording terse, simple and unambiguous.
He should be impressed with the value of short sentences, and of
sentences that will require no punctuation other than a period at
the end. The short sentence is the most important step toward
brevity, terseness, conciseness and clear thinking.
The second most important feature is that the instruction card
clerk always uses the same standard wording for the same
instructions. Repetition of phrasing is a virtue, and the use of the
same word for the same thing and the same meaning repeatedly is very
desirable. The wording, phrasing and sentencing should be standard
wherever possible.
STANDARD PHRASING DESIRABLE.--After a short time a phrase or
sentence that is often repeated will be recognized as quickly as
will a word or a letter. Men who cannot read and write at all are
comparatively few. Men who can read and write but little are many.
It is entirely possible to teach such men standard groupings, which
they can recognize on the Instruction Card and use in a very
short time.
For example,--laborers who do not even know their alphabets will
learn quickly to read setting marks on cut stone.
Just as mnemonic symbols save time and effort, so standard
phrasing aids toward finding out what is to be done, and remembering
how it is to be done.[5] Both of these can be accomplished if the
standardization is so complete that directions can be read and
remembered almost at a glance.[6]
SPECIFIC TERMS HELPFUL.--To be most effective, directions should
be in the imperative form, and in specific terms.
The history and growth of language shows that the language of
the savage consisted of vague general terms as compared to the
specific individual terms of the modern language of civilized man.
There are examples to be seen on every hand to-day where the oral
language of instructions and orders to proceed, that are given to
the worker, are still more vague, comparatively, than the language
between savages.
SIMILARITY OF FORM AND SHAPE ADVISABLE.--As for the form and
shape, as Dr. Taylor says, "anything that will transmit ideas by
sketch or wording will serve as an instruction card." He advises,
however, taking advantage of the saving in time to be gained by
having the instruction cards as nearly alike as possible. They may,
for convenience' sake, vary as to length, but in width, ruling,
spacing and wording they should be as nearly alike as possible.
STANDARD SURROUNDINGS VALUABLE.--Standard environment, or
surroundings, of the worker are valuable for two reasons:
1. Because they directly increase output by eliminating
everything which might distract attention or cause needless fatigue,
and by assisting in the attainment of more output by having the best
possible surroundings for greater output.
2. Because all surroundings suggest an easy achievement. Knowing
that everything has been done to make his work possible and easy,
the worker feels this atmosphere of possibility and ease around him,
and the suggestive power of this is strong.
UNNECESSARY FATIGUE SHOULD BE ELIMINATED.--The walls, appliances
and furniture, and the clothing of the worker should be of that
color which will rest his eyes from the fatigue of the work. All
unnecessary noise should be eliminated, and provision should be
made, where possible, that the workers may enjoy their sleep or
their rest hours in perfect quiet.
Records show the value of having quiet reign in and near the
camp, that the workers may not be disturbed. Even though they are
not disturbed enough to be waked up, every noise that is registered
in the brain affects the body, for it is now conceded that the body
reflects every phase of mental activity.
ALL MENTAL STATES AFFECT BODILY STATES--Dr. Stratton says: "It
is now generally accepted that the body reflects every shade of
psychic operations; that in all manner of mental action there is
some physical expression."[7] All consciousness is motor "is the
brief expression of this important truth; every mental state somehow
runs over into a corresponding bodily state."
ELIMINATION OF WORRY ASSISTS IN CONCENTRATING ATTENTION.--The
more fireproof the building, and the more stable the other
conditions, the greater the efficiency of the inmate. Burglar-proof
buildings not only actually induce better sleep, in that possible
intrusions are eliminated, but give a state of mental peace by the
removal of apprehension. So also, a "germ proof" house is not only
really more healthful for an inmate, but eliminates worry over
possible danger of ill health. The mental health of the worker not
only controls, in a measure, his physical health, but also his
desire to work. Having no distractions, he can put his mind upon
that which is given him to do.
DISTRACTED ATTENTION CAUSES FATIGUE.--The attention of the
worker is apt to be distracted not only by recognized dangers, such
as burglars, fires, and disease, but also by other transitory things
that, involuntarily on his part, take his mind from the work in
hand. A flickering light distracts the attention and causes fatigue,
whether we have consciously noticed it or not. Many things are
recorded by the senses without one's being conscious of them.
For example, the ceasing of a clock to tick, although we have
not noticed that it was ticking. Another example is the effect upon
the pulse or the brain of being spoken to when asleep.
The flickering lamp of the chronocyclegraph device is much more
fatiguing than the steady lamp of plain cyclegraphs.
PROPER PLACING OF WORKERS ELIMINATES DISTRACTED ATTENTION.--
Workers must be placed so that they do not see intermittently moving
objects out of the corners of their eyes. In the early history of
man it was continuously necessary to watch for first evidence of
things behind one, or at a distance, in order to be safe from an
enemy. From generations of survival of the most fit there have
developed human eyes most sensitive to moving objects that are seen
out of the corner of the eye. Even civilized man has his attention
distracted quickest, and most, by those moving objects that he sees
the least distinctly, and furthest to one side from the direction in
which he is looking.
The leaf that moves or the grass that trembles may attract the
attention where seen "out of the corner of the eye" to a point where
it will even cause a start and a great fear.
As an example of the distracting effect of moving objects seen
"out of the corner of the eye," try reading a book facing a window
in a car where the moving scenery can be seen on each side of the
book. The flitting object will interrupt one, one cannot get the
full meaning out of what one is reading--yet if one lays down the
book and looks directly at the scenery, the mind can concentrate to
a point where one does not see that moving scenery which is directly
in front of the eyes.
There is a great difference in this power of sensitiveness of
the corners of some workers' eyes from that of others. The first
move of Scientific Management is to place and arrange all workers,
as far as is possible, in such a position that nothing to distract
them will be behind them, and later to see that the eyes of workers
are tested, that those whose eyes are most sensitive may be placed
accordingly.
THIS ELIMINATION MAY TAKE PLACE IN ALL KINDS OF WORK.--The
necessity of removing all things which will distract the attention
is as great for the brain worker as for the shop or construction
worker. All papers that attract the eye, and hence the attention,
should be cleaned from the desk, everything except that on which the
worker is working. The capability of being distracted by the
presence of other things varies in all workers.
In using the dictaphone, one can do much better work if one is
in a room where there is little or nothing to distract attention. An
outline of work ahead, may tempt to study and planning of what is
ahead, rather than to carrying out the task scheduled for immediate
performance. The presence of a paper with an outline merely of what
is being done is found to be a great help, as the eye can rest on
that, and after a few moments, will become so accustomed to it that
the whole attention will be given to the dictating.
BENEFITS OF ELIMINATING "DECISION OF CHOICE."--There is always
time lost by "decision of choice." The elimination of this is well
illustrated by the bricks that are piled on the packet, which
decides for the bricklayer which brick is next, making an obvious
sequence, hence the saving of time of decision regarding motions,
also the saving coming from the play for position. Oftentimes a
handicap of slow mental action can be compensated for, in a measure,
by planning ahead in great detail. In this way, if the plan is made
sufficiently in detail, there is absolutely no time possible left to
be wasted in "decision of choice." The worker goes from one step to
another, and as these steps are arranged logically, his mind does
not tend to wander away, but to keep on in an uninterrupted sequence
to the goal.
STANDARD EQUIPMENT IMPORTANT.--As for equipment, the phenomena
of habit are among the most important features of the psychology of
management and the possibilities of the elimination of unnecessary
waste resulting from taking advantage of this feature is possible
only when the equipment, surroundings and methods of the worker are
standardized. Therefore the insistence upon standardization, even
down to the smallest things, is vital for achieving the greatest
output.
For example,--suppose the keys of the monotype machine, piano or
typewriter were not located permanently in the same relative
position. Consider the loss of time in not being able to use habits
in finding each key. Such an arrangement sounds ridiculous on the
face of it, yet it is a common practice for many operators,
especially of monotype machines, to make a complete mental decision
as to the muscles and fingers with which they will strike the
desired key.
Imagine the records of output of a typist who was using a
different keyboard every day, if there were that many kinds of
keyboards. It is easy for anyone to conceive the great advantages of
standard keyboards for such machines, but only those who have made a
study of output of all kinds of workers can fully realize that
similar differences in sizes of output are being produced by the
workers of the country for lack of similar standardization of
working conditions and equipment.
UTMOST STANDARDIZATION DOES NOT MAKE "MACHINES" OF THE WORKERS
OPERATING UNDER IT.--The attention of those who believe that
standardization makes machines out of the workers themselves, is
called to the absence of such effect upon the typist as compared
with the scribe, the monotype and linotype operator as compared with
the compositor, and the mechanical computing machine operator as
compared with the arithmetician.
STANDARD METHODS DEMAND STANDARD TOOLS AND DEVICES.--Habits
cannot be standardized until the devices and tools used are of
standard pattern. It is not nearly so essential to have the best
tools as it is to have standard tools.[8] Experience in the
hospitals points to the importance of this fact in surgery. Tools
once adopted as standard should not be changed until the improvement
or greater efficiency from their use will compensate for the loss
during the period of "breaking in" the user, that is, of forming new
habits in order to handle strange tools. As will be brought out more
fully under "Teaching," good habits are as difficult to break as bad
ones, the only difference being that one does not usually desire to
break good ones. Naturally, if a new device is introduced, what was
an excellent habit for the old device becomes, perhaps, a very bad
habit for the new device. There must come a time before the
manipulation of the new device has become a habit when output will
go down and costs will go up. It is necessary, before introducing
this device, to investigate whether the ultimate reduction of costs
will be sufficient to allow for this period of lower production. It
is not fair, however, to the new device or method really to consider
its record until the use of it has become such a habit with the
workers as was the use of the old device.
No one who has not made a study of cutting tools can realize the
crying need for standardizing in that field. Dr. Taylor says,
writing in the Revised "Shop Management" of 1911,--"Hardly a shop
can be found in which tools made from a dozen different qualities of
steel are not used side by side, in many cases with little or no
means of telling one make from another."[9] The effect of the
slightest variation in the shape or the method of handling the tool
upon the three dimensions of the work that the tool can do in a
given time, is astounding.[10] More important, from the
psychological point of view, is the effect upon the mind of the
worker of seeing such unstandardized equipment; of having to stop to
select the particular tool that he desires, and thus having his
attention distracted from his work; and of knowing that his act of
judgment in so selecting is of no permanent value, as the next time
he needs a similar tool he will probably have to reselect.
STANDARD CLOTHING A CRYING NEED.--There is a great need today
for standardization in the field of clothing. The idea prevalent
that wearing apparel is attractive only when it is "different" is
unfortunate in its influence upon the cost of living. How much more
unfortunate is it, when it affects the mind of the worker, and leads
him to look upon standard working clothes with distaste.
To a careful observer, there is nothing more disheartening than
a study of workers' clothes, especially the clothes of women
workers. Too warm clothes where work requiring high temperature is
done, with no provision for adding needed wraps for the trip home;
high-heeled shoes where the worker must stand at her task for hours
at a time; tight waists and ill fitting skirts, where every muscle
should have free play,--these are but examples of hundreds of places
where reforms are needed.
Little or no blame attaches to the worker for this state of
affairs. Seldom, if ever, does the management attempt to standardize
working clothes. Moreover, the underlying idea is not made clear
that such clothes bear no resemblance to the meaningless uniforms
which are badge and symbol of service. They resemble rather the
blouse or pinafore of the artist, the outfit of the submarine diver
or the fireman.
THE SPORTS PRESENT A FINE EXAMPLE OF THIS.--The greatest advance
toward standardizing clothing has come in the sports, which, in many
respects, present admirable object-lessons. In the tennis court, on
the links, on the gridiron, the diamond, or track, the garment worn
of itself does not increase fatigue. On the contrary, it is so
designed as not to interfere with the efficiency of the wearer.
MANAGEMENT SHOULD PROVIDE CLOTHING STANDARDS.--Under Ultimate
Management the most efficient clothing for any kind of work will be
standardized. The expense of such articles of clothing as will add
to the quantity or quality of output will, directly or indirectly,
be borne by the management, just as it now bears the expense for
equipment and tools. These essentials being supplied, and the
underlying dignity and importance of standardization understood, the
worker will gladly conform, and supply the minor accessories.
SUCH STANDARDS MUST APPLY TO ALL.--It is of the utmost
importance that such standardization, when adopted, should apply to
the clothing of all, managers as well as employés. When the old
pride in the "crafts" returns, or when efficiency is as universal in
the industrial world as it is in the world of sport,--then one may
look for results.
EFFECTS OF SUCH STANDARDS ENORMOUS.--The effect which such
standardized clothing would have on the physical and mental
well-being of the wearers can scarcely be overestimated. Fatigue
would be eliminated, and the old "joy in working" might return. Not
being based upon looks alone,--though the æsthetic appeal should not
be neglected,--the worker's ability to work more and better with
greater content of mind would be the criterion. The success of the
clothing would be scientifically measured, the standards improved,
and progress itself become standardized.
STANDARD METHODS ELIMINATE FATIGUE.--There is no doubt in the
minds of those who have made it a study, that the constant receipt
of the same kind of impressions, caused by the same kind of
stimulation of the same terminal sense organs, causes semi-automatic
response with less resulting fatigue, corresponding to the lessened
effort. All methods should, therefore, as far as possible, be made
up of standard elements under standard conditions, with standard
devices and appliances, and they should be standardized from the
standpoint of all of our senses as to color, shape, size, weight,
location, position and surface texture, that the worker may grasp at
a single thought by means of each or all his senses, that no special
muscles or other fatiguing processes need be operated to achieve the
standard result desired.
MUSCLES THAT TIRE EASILY SHOULD BE SAVED.--It must be remembered
that all work should be so arranged that the muscle that changes the
position or shape of the eye or the size of its pupil should not be
operated except when necessary. Care in planning can oftentimes
standardize conditions so as to relieve these and other muscles,
which grow tired easily, or transfer this work to other muscles
which are not so easily tired.
Not only do the reactions from such standards require less
bodily effort, but it also requires less mental effort to work under
methods that are standardized. Therefore, both directly and
indirectly, the worker benefits by the standardization.
REST FROM FATIGUE IS PROVIDED FOR SCIENTIFICALLY.--Scientific
Management provides and prescribes rest for overcoming fatigue of
the worker more scientifically and economically than he could
possibly provide it for himself. Weber's law is that "our power of
detecting differences between sensations does not depend on the
absolute amount of difference in the stimuli, but on the relative
amount."[11] The additional fatigue from handling additional weights
causes fatigue to increase with the weight, but not in direct
proportion to the extra weight handled. When the correct weight of
the unit to be handled has been determined, the additional weight
will cause fatigue in quantities greater in proportion than the
extra weight handled.
REST PERIODS ARRANGED FOR BEST GOOD OF WORK AND WORKER.--If
possible, rest from fatigue is so arranged as to interfere with work
the least. The necessary rest periods of the individuals of a gang
should come at that period of the cycle that does not cause any
allowance to be made for rest in between the performance of the
dependent operations of different members of the gang. Such an
arrangement will enable the worker to keep a sustained interest in
the work.
WORK WITH ANIMALS SHOULD BE STANDARDIZED.--The necessity for
standardizing work with animals has been greatly underestimated,
although it has been done more or less successfully in systems for
construction work. For work with horses and carts, the harnesses and
the carts should be standardized and standards only should be used.
The instruction card dealing with the action, motions and their
sequence should be standard to save time in changing teams from the
full to the empty cart and _vice versa_. While standardized action
is necessary with men, it is even more necessary for men in
connection with the work of animals, such as horses, mules and oxen.
The instruction card for the act of changing of teams from an empty
cart to a full cart should state the side that the driver gets down
from his seat to the ground, the sequence in which he unhooks the
harness and hooks it up again, and the side on which he gets up to
his seat in the cart. Even the wording of his orders to his horse
should be standardized.
While this book will deal with the human mind only, it is in
order to state that a book could be written to advantage on training
the horse by means of a standard man-horse language and a standard
practice of their combined action.
Animals have not the capacity for forming new habits that they
have for remembering the sequence of former acts. They have little
ability to adapt themselves to a sequence of motions caused by
unexpected conditions, unless those conditions suggest the
opportunity of revenge, or the necessity of self-preservation, or
immediate welfare. This is only touched upon here from the man side.
Naturally, the output earning power of a man working with
animals depends largely upon the handling of the animal, and the man
can never attain his full output, or the managers get what they
might expect to get from the man-horse combination, until the
psychology of the horse, or mule, or elephant, or whatever animal is
used, is also studied and combined with the other studies on
Scientific Management.
An example of the benefits of standardized work with
animals:--The standard fire signals in the Fire House cause such
perfect horse action that fire horses always have a reputation for
superior intelligence.
THE WORKER WHO IS BEST SUITED FOR HIS WORK IN THE PERFORMING
DEPARTMENT IS INCAPABLE OF DISCOVERING THE BEST METHOD.--An
exaggerated case of the result of leaving the selection of the
method to the worker is that of the West Indian negro who carried
the wheelbarrow on his head.[12] This well-known example, though it
seems impossible and absurd, is no more inefficient than are
hundreds of methods in use in the industrial world to-day.
UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT QUALITY IS STANDARDIZED.--Scientific
Management determines exactly what quality as well as what quantity
of work is needed, and the method prescribed is that one not only of
lower costs, but which fits the particular need of the particular
occasion most accurately.
Workers are kept under pressure for quality, yet the pressure is
not irksome, because the worker understands exactly what quality is
desired, and what variations from exactness are permitted.
VARIATIONS IN QUALITY OR EXACTNESS INDICATED BY STANDARD
SIGNS.--All dimensions on the drawings of work have either a letter
or symbol or plus or minus signs. There is much to be said about the
effect this has on the worker.
1. It gives the worker immediate knowledge of the prescribed
quality demanded.
2. He does not have to worry as to the maximum variation that
he can make without interfering with his bonus.
3. There is no fear of criticism or discharge for using his
own faulty judgment.
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT HAS A STANDARD "METHOD OF ATTACK."--We
must note next the standard "method of attack" in Scientific
Management. It is recognized that sensations are modified by those
that come before, by those that come simultaneously, and by those
that follow. The psychic effect of each and every kind of sensation
depends upon what other sensations have been experienced, are being
experienced at that time, or will presently be experienced. The
scientific manager realizes this, and provides for the most
desirable sequence of sensation; then, having seen, to the best of
his ability, that the sensation occurs at the time which he desires
it to occur, he provides for concentration upon that one sensation
and elimination of all other thoughts or desires.
Professor Faraday says: "That part of self-education which
consists in teaching the mind to resist the desires and inclinations
until they are proved to be right is the most important of all." How
this is shown under Scientific Management will be shown in "Teaching."
It is sufficient to say here that the method of attack of
Scientific Management is to eliminate all possible bodily as well as
mental exertion,--to cut down motions, to cut down even sensations
and such mental acts as visualizing. The object is, not so much to
eliminate these motions and these sensations, and this visualizing
from the life of the worker, as simply to use up less energy in
producing the output. This allows the worker an extra supply of
energy upon which to fall back to produce greater output and to get
greater wages. If his energy is not all utilized in his working
hours, then, as will be shown more clearly under "Welfare," there is
that much more left for him to enjoy in his own leisure time.
SUMMARY
RESULT TO THE WORK.--Under Traditional Management, where
standards are not established, the worker is constantly delayed by
the necessity for decision of choice, by the lack of knowing what
should be chosen, and by a dearth of standard equipment, materials
and tools from which to choose.
Under Transitory Management, with the introduction of standards,
the elimination of delays and the provision for standard
surroundings and supplies of all kinds, comes increased output of
the desired quality.
Under Scientific Management, not only is output increased and
quality assured, but results of work can be predicted.[13]
RESULTS TO THE WORKER.--Results from standardization to the
worker under Traditional and Transitory Management are the same as,
and are included in, results under Scientific Management.
STATE OF WORKER'S FEELINGS IMPROVED.--Under Scientific
Management the state of the employé's feelings is improved by the
standardization. It is a recognized fact that mental disturbance
from such causes as fear of losing his job will sometimes have the
same ill effect upon a workman as does overwork, or insufficient
rest for overcoming fatigue. It will occasionally wear upon the
nervous system and the digestive organs. Now Scientific Management
by standardization removes from the workman this fear of losing his
job, for the worker knows that if he conforms to the standard
instructions he certainly will not lose his position unless the
business as a whole is unsuccessful.
On the other hand, feelings, such as happiness and contentment,
and even hearing rhythmic sounds, music, etc., are an aid toward
increasing output. For the best results, therefore, under Scientific
Management the worker is furnished with standard conditions; his
train of ideas is held upon the work in hand without interruption,
and the working conditions are such that the managers furnish the
worker with inducements to conform to the standard conditions
happily.
WORKER'S RETENTIVE POWER INCREASED.--We note in the second
place, the increased retentive power of anyone who is working with
standards. There is great difference between different people of the
same degree of intelligence as to their ability to memorize certain
things, especially such as sequences of the elements of a process.
This lack of retentive power is illustrated particularly well in the
cases often found where the student has difficulty in learning to
spell. It is here that the standard instruction card comes into play
to good effect. Its great detail remedies the defect in memorizing
of certain otherwise brilliant workers, and its standard form and
repetition of standard phrases aid the retentive power of the man
who has a good memory.
STANDARD ELEMENTS SERVE AS MEMORY DRILLS.--This use of
standardized elements makes the time elapsing between repetitions
shorter, for, while it may be a long time before the worker again
encounters the identical work or method, still, the fact that
elements are standard means that he will have occasion to repeat
elements frequently, and that his memory will each time be further
drilled by these repetitions.
GANG INSTRUCTION CARD AN AID TO MEMORY.--The gang instruction
card has been used with good effect at the beginning of unfamiliar
repetitive cycles of work to train the memory of whole gangs of men
at once, and to cut down the elapsed time from the time when one
man's operation is sufficiently completed to permit the next man to
commence his. It has been found, in the case of setting timbers in
mill construction for example, that to have one man call out the
next act in the sequence as fast as the preceding one is finished,
until all have committed the sequence to memory, will materially
decrease the time necessary for the entire sequence of elements in a
cycle of work.
INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION CARD AN INANIMATE MEMORY.--The
instruction card supplies a most accurate memory in inanimate form,
that neither blurs nor distorts with age.
The ranter against this standard memory is no more sensible than
a man who would advocate the worker's forgetting the result of his
best experience, that his mind might be periodically exercised by
rediscovering the method of least waste anew with each problem.
Other things being equal, that worker has the longest number of
years of earning power who remembers the largest number of right
methods; or at least remembers where to find them described in
detail; and, conversely, those who have no memory, and know not
where to look for or to lay their hand on the method of least waste,
remain at the beginning of their industrial education. "Experience,"
from an earning standpoint, does not exist when the mind does not
retain a memory of the method. The instruction card, then, acts as a
form of transferable memory--it conserves memory. Once it is made,
it furnishes the earning power without the necessity of the former
experience having been had more than once.
Plans, details, free-hand sketches, and two-dimension
photographs surpass the highest form of mental imagery, and such
cultivated imagery is undoubtedly a high achievement. There is no
kind of memory, visualization, nor constructive imagination that can
equal the stereoscopic or three-dimension photographs that may
accompany the instruction card for enabling the worker to "see the
completed work before it is begun." Probably the greatest hindrance
to development of lower forms of animal life is their inability to
picture past experiences, and the reason for the intellectual
strides made by the worker under Scientific Management is the
development of this faculty.
A CONSERVER OF INDIVIDUAL MEMORIES.--Many people believe that
the memory of a person ceases at his death. Whether this is so or
not, the loss to the world, and particularly the industrial world,
of not having the instruction card for the passing on of the
worker's experience to the workers who follow is stupendous and
incalculable, and this loss, like so many other losses, can be
eliminated by the process of making written standards.
MOTOR MEMORY IMPROVED BY STANDARDIZATION.--Not only are the
retentive powers of the brain improved, but also the brain centers,
and the muscles, etc., become trained through standardization. With
standardization a long sequence of muscular motions or operations
can be noted at a glance, and can be remembered without difficulty.
STANDARDS PREVENT MEN FROM BECOMING MACHINES.--Those who object
to the worker taking advantage of these scientifically derived
standards which aid the memory, can only be compared to such people
as desire the workers to turn into unthinking animals. Psychologists
believe that some of the lower animals have no memory. Turning the
workers into machines which do not in any way utilize thought-saving
devices is simply putting them but little above the class of these
lower, memory-less, animals.
THROUGH STANDARDS THE WORKER'S ATTENTION IS GAINED AT THE
START.--The general act of attention plays an important part in
Scientific Management. The insistence upon standardized performance
requires the utmost attention at the beginning of learning a new
method of performance. This extra output of mental activity, which
is always required for accomplishing new methods of work, could not
be continuously maintained, but after the new method has once been
learned, its repetition requires less attention, consequently less
fatigue. The attention of the worker is, therefore, strongly
demanded at the beginning and when, later, it is not needed except
for new and unfamiliar work, an opportunity arises for invention and
mental advancement.
ATTENTION ALLOWED TO LAPSE AND THEN RECALLED.--Standardization
shifts the objects of attention and eliminates the need for constant
concentration. The standardization of processes relieves the worker
to a marked extent from the extremely fatiguing mental effort of
unproductive fixed, valueless, and unnecessary attention on the
stream of consciousness. The repeated elements which form a part
of all standards reconcentrates the attention if it is allowed
to lapse.
STANDARDIZATION ELIMINATES THE SHIFTING VIEWPOINT.--Under
old-time Traditional Management the way that the man happened to
feel at the particular time made a great difference, not only in his
work, but in his relations with other men. The standardization not
only of the relationship between the men, but of the relationships
between the foreman, the manager, and the worker, the fact that the
disciplining is put in the hands of a man who is not biased by his
personal feelings in his dealings with the men;--all of these things
mean that the viewpoint of the men as to their work and their
relationship remains fixed. This standardizing of the viewpoint is
an enormous help toward increasing output.
THE COMMON VIEWPOINT IS AN IMPETUS.--There are those who believe
that the concerted standard process of thought of the many minds
assists the operation of any one mind. However this may be, there is
no doubt that the fact that the standard thought is present in all
minds at one time at least eliminates some cause for discussion and
leads to unity and consequent success in the work.
INVENTION IS STIMULATED.--Chances for invention and construction
are provided by standardization.[14] By having a scientifically
derived standard method as a starter, the worker can exert much of
his mental power toward improvement from that point upward, instead
of being occupied with methods below it and in wasting, perhaps, a
lifetime in striving to get up to it,[15] this in distinction to the
old plan, where a worker knew only what he could personally remember
of what had been handed down by tradition, tradition being the
memory of society. Under Scientific Management a worker has many
repetitions of experience, some of which he does not always
recognize as such. When he does recognize them, he has the power and
daring for rapid construction that come to those only who "know that
they know."
Standardization of ultimate subdivisions, as such, brings that
power to the worker sooner. The conscious knowledge of familiarity
of process is an essential for attaining the complete benefits of
experience.
Far from making machines out of the men, standardization causes
a mental state that leads to invention, for the reason that the
worker's brain is in most intimate contact with the work, and yet
has not been unnecessarily fatigued by the work itself. No more
monotonous work could be cited than that of that boy whose sole duty
was to operate by hand the valve to the engine, yet he invented the
automatic control of the slide valve used throughout the world
to-day.
STANDARDIZATION PREVENTS ACCIDENTS.--The results of
standardization so far given, concern changes in the worker's mental
capacity, or attitude. Such changes, and other changes, will be
discussed from a different viewpoint under "Teaching." As for
results to the worker's body, one of the most important is the
elimination of causes for accidents.
The rigid inspection, testing, and repairing provided for by
Scientific Management provides against accidents from defects in
equipment, tools, or material. The fact that instructions are
written, provides against wrong methods of handling work.[16] The
concentrated attention caused by standardization, is a safeguard
against accidents that occur from the worker's carelessness.[17] The
proper allowance of rest for overcoming fatigue, insures that the
worker's mind is fresh enough to enable him to comply with
standards, and, finally, the spirit of coöperation that underlies
Scientific Management is an added check against accidents, in that
everyone is guarding his fellows as well as himself.
PROGRESS OF STANDARDIZATION ASSURED.--As Scientific Management
becomes older, progress will be faster, because up to this time
there has been a hindrance standing in the way of rapid advancement
of the best standards. This hindrance has been the tendency of
habits of thought coinciding with former practice. For example, the
design of concrete building for years followed the habit of thinking
in terms of brick, or wood, or steel, and then attempting to design
and construct in reinforced concrete. Again, in the case of the
motor car, habits of thinking in vehicles drawn by animals for years
kept the design unnecessarily leaning toward that of horse vehicles.
As soon as thought was in terms of power vehicles, the efficient
motor truck of to-day was made, using the power also for power
loading and power hoisting, as is now done in motor trucks specially
designed for transporting and handling pianos and safes. So, also,
while the thought was of traditional practice, standard practice was
held back. Now that the theories of standardization are well
understood, standardization and standards in general can advance
with great rapidity.
CHAPTER VI FOOTNOTES: ==============================================
1. Compare R.T. Dana and W.L. Sanders, _Rock Drilling_, chap. XVI.
2. The idea of perfection is not involved in the standard of
Scientific Management. Morris Llewellyn Cooke, Bulletin No. 5,
of _The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching_,
p. 6.
3. _Cost of Manufactures_.
4. Sully, _The Teacher's Handbook of Psychology_, pp. 290-292.
5. C.B. Going, _Methods of the Sante Fé_, p. 66.
6. For desirability of standard signals see R.T. Dana, _Handbook of
Steam Shovel Work_, p. 32.
7. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Culture_, pp. 268-269.
8. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management,_ para. 285, Harper Ed.,
pp. 123-124.
9. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management,_ revised 1911, pp. 124-125.
10. F.W. Taylor, _On the Art of Cutting Metals_, A.S.M.E., No. 1119.
11. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Culture_, p. 11.
12. Mary Whiton Calkins, _A First Book in Psychology_, p. 65.
13. C.G. Barth, A.S.M.E., Vol. 25, Paper 1010, p. 46.
14. Charles Babbage, _On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures_,
Secs. 224-225. Adam Smith, _Wealth of Nations_, Book 1, chap. 1,
p. 4.
15. F.W. Taylor, paper 1119, A.S.M.E., para. 51; para. 98-100.
16. F.A. Parkhurst, _Applied Methods of Scientific Management,
Industrial Engineering_, Oct. 1911, p. 251.
17. H.L. Gantt, paper 928, A.S.M.E., para. 15.
====================================================================
CHAPTER VII
RECORDS AND PROGRAMMES
DEFINITION OF RECORD.--A record is, according to the Century
Dictionary--"something set down in writing or delineated for the
purpose of preserving memory; specifically a register; an authentic
or official copy of any writing, or an account of any fact and
proceedings, whether public or private, usually entered in a book
for preservation; also the book containing such copy or account."[1]
The synonyms given are "note, chronicle, account, minute, memorandum."
FEW WRITTEN RECORDS UNDER TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT.--For the
purposes of this preliminary study of records, emphasis will be laid
on the fact that the record is written. Under Traditional Management
there are practically no such labor records. What records are kept
are more in the nature of "bookkeeping records," as Gillette and
Dana call them, records "showing debits and credits between
different accounts." In many cases, under Traditional Management,
not even such records of profit or loss from an individual piece of
work were kept, the manager, in extreme cases, oftentimes "keeping
his books in his head" and having only the vaguest idea of the state
of his finances.
IMPORTANCE OF RECORDS REALIZED UNDER TRANSITORY MANAGEMENT.--As
has been amply demonstrated in discussing Individuality and
Standardization, the recognition of the value of records is one of
the first indications of Transitory Management. Since this stage of
management has Scientific Management in view as "a mark to come to,"
the records evolved and used are not discarded by Scientific
Management, but are simply perfected. Therefore, there is no need to
discuss these transitory records, except to say that, from the
start, _quality_ of records is insisted upon before quantity of
records.
NO "BOOKKEEPING" RECORDS UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Under
Scientific Management there are no "bookkeeping records" kept of
costs as such. Instead, there are "time and cost records," so
called, of the time and efficiency of performance. From these, costs
can be deduced at any time. Items of cost without relation to their
causes, on work that is not to be repeated, have little value. Cost
records, as such, usually represent a needless, useless expenditure
of time and money. It must be emphasized that Scientific Management
can in no way be identified with "cost keeping," in the sense that
is understood to mean aimlessly recording unrelated costs. Under
Scientific Management costs are an ever-present by-product of the
system, not a direct product.
RECORDS MUST LOWER COSTS AND SIMPLIFY WORK.--The quantity of
records that should be made depends on the amount, diversity and
state of development of the work done. No record should be made,
which does not, directly or indirectly, actually reduce costs or in
some way increase efficiency. The purpose of the records, as of
Scientific Management in general, is to simplify work. Only when
this is recognized, can the records made be properly judged.
Numerous as they may at times seem to be, their number is determined
absolutely by the satisfactory manner in which they--
1. Reduce costs.
2. Simplify work.
3. Increase efficiency.
RECORDS OF WORK AND WORKERS.--Records may be of the work or of
the worker[2]--that is to say, of material used, tools used, output
produced, etc., or of individual efficiency, in one form or another.
Records of efficiency may be of workers, of foremen, and of
managers, and a record may be made of any man in several capacities;
for example, a record is kept of a functional foreman in the form of
the work of the men who are under him, while another record might be
kept of him as a worker himself; for example, the time being taken
that it took him to teach others their duties, the time to learn
what was to be done on any new work, etc.
RECORDS OF INITIATIVE.--Records of initiative are embodied in
the Suggestion Card. Even under advanced Traditional Management the
cards are furnished to the men upon which to write any ideas as to
improvements. These suggestions are received, and, if accepted,
are rewarded.
Under Scientific Management such suggestions become more
valuable, for, as has been shown, they are based upon standards;
thus if accepted, they signify not only a real, but a permanent
improvement. Their greatest value, however, is in the stimulus that
they furnish to the worker, in the information that they furnish the
management as to which workers are interested, and in the spirit of
coöperation that they foster.
The worker receives not only a money-reward, but also publicity,
for it is made known which worker has made a valuable suggestion.
This indicates that the worker has shown good judgment. His interest
is thus stimulated, his attention is held to his work, and the habit
of initiative comes to him. That this habit of initiative can be
fostered, is shown by the actual fact that in many sorts of work the
same man constantly makes suggestions. It becomes a habit with him
to look for the new way, and as he is constantly rewarded, the
interest is not allowed to diminish.
RECORDS OF GOOD BEHAVIOR.--Records of good behavior are
incorporated in the White List File. The White List File contains
the names of all men who have ever been employed who merit a
recommendation, if they should go to work for others, and would
deserve to be given work as soon as possible, if they came back.
This White List File should be filled out with many details, but
even if it contains nothing but a record of the names, and the
addresses where the men can be reached when new work starts up, it
has a stimulating effect upon the worker. He feels, again, the
element of permanence; there is a place for individuality, and not
only does the manager have the satisfaction of actually having this
list, and of using it, but a feeling that his men know that he is in
some way recognizing them, and endeavoring to make them and their
good work permanent.
RECORDS OF ACHIEVEMENT.--Records of achievement vary with the
amount and nature of the work done. Such records are, as far as
possible, marked upon programmes.
RECORDS MADE BY WORKER WHERE POSSIBLE.--Wherever possible the
worker makes his own records. Even when this is not advisable he is
informed of his record at as short intervals as are practicable.[3]
RECORDS MADE ON THE "EXCEPTION PRINCIPLE."--Much time is saved
by separating records for the inspection of the man above, simply
having him examine the exceptions to some desired condition,--the
records which are exceptionally good, the records which are
exceptionally bad. This not only serves as a reward to the man who
has a good record, and a punishment for the man who has had a bad
record, but it also enables the manager to discover at once what is
wrong and where it is wrong, and to remedy it.
The value of the exception principle can hardly be
overestimated. It would be of some value to know of exceptionally
good or poor work, even if the cause were not known. At least one
would be made to observe the signpost of success or of danger. But,
under Scientific Management, the cause appears simultaneously with
the fact on the record,--thus not only indicating the proper method
of repeating success, or avoiding failure, in the future, but also
showing, and making clear, the direct relation of cause to effect,
to the worker himself.
THIS DISCUSSION NECESSARILY INCOMPLETE.--The records mentioned
above are only a few of the types of records under Scientific
Management. Discussion has been confined to these, because they have
the most direct effect upon the mind of the worker and the manager.
Possible records are too numerous, and too diverse, to be described
and discussed in detail. They constitute a part of the "how" of
Scientific Management,--the manner in which it operates. This is
covered completely in the literature of Scientific Management,
written by men who have made Scientific Management and its
installation a life study. We need only further discuss the posting
of records, and their effect.
POSTING OF RECORDS BENEFICIAL.--As has been already noted under
Individuality, and must be again noted under Incentives, much
benefit is derived from posting records, especially when these are
of such a character, or are so posted, that the worker may see at a
glance the comparative excellence of his results.
SUMMARY
RESULTS OF RECORDS TO THE WORK.[4]--The results of recording are
the same under all forms of management, if the records are correct.
Output increases where records are kept. Under Traditional
Management there is the danger that pressure for quantity will
affect quality, especially if insufficient records of the resultant
quality are kept. Under Transitory and Scientific Management,
quality is maintained or improved, both because previous records set
the standard, and because following records exhibit the quality.
RESULTS TO THE WORKER.--James says, "A man's social use is the
recognition which he gets from his mates. We are not only gregarious
animals, liking to be liked in sight of our fellow, but we have an
innate propensity to get ourselves noticed, and noticed favorably,
by our kind. No more fiendish punishment could be devised, were such
a thing physically possible, than that one should be turned loose in
society and remain absolutely unnoticed by all the members thereof.
If no one turned around when we entered, answered when we spoke or
minded what we did, but if every person we met 'cut us dead' and
acted as if we were non-existing things, a kind of rage and impotent
despair would ere long well up in us, from which the cruelest bodily
tortures would be a relief; for these would make us feel that,
however bad might be our plight, we had not sunk to such a depth as
to be unworthy of attention at all."[5] This recognition the worker
gets partly through the records which are made of him.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE ATTAINED THROUGH RECORDS.--Through records of
output, and especially through charts of such records, and timed
motion-picture films, or micro-motion study pictures the worker may,
if he be naturally observant, or if he be taught to observe, gain a
fine knowledge of himself.
The constant exhibit of cause and effect of the relation of
output to, for example,--drink of alcoholic beverages; to smoking;
to food values; to nutrition; to family worries; and to other
outside influences;--in fact, the effects of numerous different
modes of living, are shown promptly to the worker in the form of
records.
Two things should here be noted:
1. The necessity of having more accurate records of the
worker and the work, that the relation o£ cause to effect may be
more precise and authentic.
2. The necessity for so training the worker, before, as well
as after, he enters the industrial world, that he can better
understand and utilize the lesson taught by his own records and
those of others.
EDUCATIVE VALUE OF WORKER MAKING HIS OWN RECORD.--Under
Scientific Management in its most highly developed form, the worker
makes his own records on his return cards and hands them in. The
worker thus not only comes to realize, by seeing them and by writing
them down, what his records are, but he also realizes his individual
position to-day compared to what it was yesterday, and compared to
that of his fellows in the same line of work. Further, he gains
accuracy, he gains judgment, he gains a method of attack. He
realizes that, as the managers are more or less recorders, so also
he, in recording himself, is vitally connected with the management.
It is, after all, more or less an attitude of mind which he gains by
making out these records himself. It is because of this attitude of
mind, and of the value which it is to him, that he is made to make
out his own record under the ultimate form of management, even
though at times this may involve a sacrifice of the time in which he
must do it, and although he may work slower than could a specialist
at recording, who perhaps would, in spite of that, be paid less for
doing the work.
EXACT KNOWLEDGE VALUABLE.--We cannot emphasize too often in this
connection the far-reaching psychological effect upon the worker of
exact knowledge of the comparative efficiency of methods. The value
of this is seldom fully appreciated; for example, we are familiar
with the many examples where the worker has been flattered until he
believes that he cannot make mistakes or do inefficient work. This
is most often found where the glowing compliments to the
manufacturing department, found in the advertising pages of the
magazine and in the praises sung in print by the publicity
department, oftentimes ends in an individual overconfidence. This
unjustified self-esteem is soon shattered by accurate comparative
records.
On the other hand, hazing of the new worker and the sneers of
the jealous, accompanied by such trite expressions as--"You can't
teach an old dog new tricks," have often destroyed self-confidence
in a worker, who, in the absence of accurate records of his
efficiency, is trying to judge himself at new methods. The jibes and
jokes at the new man at the new work, and especially at the
experienced, efficient man at unfamiliar work cease, or at least are
wholly impotent, so far as discouraging the man is concerned,
provided the worker sees by the records of a true measuring device,
or method, that his work compares favorably with others of the same
experience, made under the same conditions.
DEFINITION OF PROGRAMME.--The word "programme" is defined by the
Century Dictionary as "a method of operation or line of procedure
prepared or announced beforehand. An outline or abstract of
something to be done or carried out."
TWO MEANINGS OF "PROGRAMME" IN MANAGEMENT.--The word "programme"
has two meanings in management.
1. the work, as it comes to the management to be done
2. the work as it is planned out by the managers, and handed
over to the worker to be done.
Programme as here used is a plan for doing work, the plan which
the planning department lays out and hands over for the performers,
or the workers, to do.
UNDER TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT NO ACCURATE PROGRAMME IS
POSSIBLE.--Under Traditional Management the plan is at best a
repetition of records of unscientifically planned work. The most
that the managers can hope to do is to lay out the time in which
they expect, after consulting previous elapsed time records, the
work to be done. Methods are not prescribed, so there is no
assurance that the calendar will be followed, for the times are set
by guess, or at best by referring to old unscientifically made
records.
UNDER TRANSITORY MANAGEMENT CALENDARS CAN BE DESIGNED.--Under
Transitory Management, with the introduction of systems, that is,
records of how the work has been done best at various times, come
methods and a possibility of a more exact calendar. There is some
likelihood under Transitory System of the work being done on time,
as the method has been considered and, in many cases, is specified.
UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT ACCURATE CALENDARS POSSIBLE.--Under
Scientific Management programmes are based on accurate records
scientifically made and standardized, and a calendar may be made
that can be conformed to with exactness.
PROGRAMMES A MATTER OF ROUTING.--The problems of a programme
under Scientific Management are two, both problems of routing:--
1. to route materials to the work place.
2. to route the worker to the placed materials.
At first glance it might seem simpler to consider the worker as
static and the materials as in motion. The "routing" of the worker
is really often not a question of motion at all, as the worker, if
he were operating a machine, for example, would not change his
position between various pieces of work--except to rest from
fatigue--enough to be considered. The word "routing" is used
figuratively as regards the worker. He is considered as transported
by the management through the day's work.
But, whether the work move, or the worker, or both, programmes
must so plan out the progress of each, in detail, for as many days
ahead as possible, that the most efficient outcome will ensue.
ROUTING OF WORK.--The work is routed through schedules of
materials to buy, schedules of material to handle, and schedules of
labor to be performed. The skilled worker finds all the materials
for his work ready and waiting for him when he arrives at the task,
this being provided for by programmes made out many tasks ahead.
ROUTING OF WORKERS.--The workers themselves are routed by means
of the route sheet, route chart, pin plan and bulletin board.
The devices for laying out the work of the workers appeal to the
imagination as well as the reason. The route chart is a graphical
representation of a large river, starting with the small
stream,--the first operation, gathering to itself as the
tributaries, the various other operations,--till it reaches its full
growth, the completed work.
The pin plan, with each pin or flag representing a worker, or
work place, and following his progress on a plan of the work,
presents a bird's-eye view in miniature of the entire working force;
and the bulletin board, with its cards that represent work ahead,
not only eliminates actual delay of shifting from one task to
another, but permits studying out one task while doing another, and
also destroys all fear of delay between jobs.
IMPOSSIBILITY OF DESCRIBING ROUTING DEVICES ACCURATELY.--These
routing devices might all be described at length, but no description
could do them justice. A visit to a shop, or factory, or other
industrial organization operating under Scientific Management is
necessary, in order to appreciate not only their utility, but the
interest that they arouse. These programmes are no dead, static
things. They are alive, pulsing, moving, progressing with the
progress of the work.
PROPHECY BECOMES POSSIBLE UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--The
calendar, or chronological chart, becomes a true prophecy of what
will take place. This is based on the standardized elementary units,
and the variations from it will be so slight as to allow of being
disregarded.
SUMMARY
RESULTS OF PROGRAMME TO THE WORK.--Under Traditional Management
the tentative calendar might cause speed, but could not direct
speed. Under Transitory Management elimination of waste by
prescribed methods and routing increases output. This increase
becomes greater under Scientific Management. Standardized routing
designs the shortest paths, the least wasteful sequence of events,
the most efficient speed, the most fitting method. The result is
more and better work.
RESULTS OF PROGRAMMES TO THE WORKER.--A programme clarifies the
mind, is definite. The Traditional worker was often not sure what he
had better do next. The worker under Scientific Management knows
exactly what he is to do, and where and how he is to do it.
The attention is held, a field of allied interests are provided
for possible lapses, as are also methods for recalling attention.
The programme provides for a look ahead, and the relief that
comes from seeing the path before one. This ability to foresee also
leads to a feeling of stability. The knowledge that there is a large
amount of work ahead, ready to be attacked with no delay, eliminates
anxiety as to future employment. This allows of concentration on the
work in hand, and a feeling that, this work being properly done, one
is free to turn to the next piece of work with the absolute
assurance that what has been done will be satisfactory.
RELATION BETWEEN RECORDS AND PROGRAMMES.--No discussion of
records and programmes would be complete that did not consider the
relation between them.
IMPORTANCE OF THIS RELATION.--The relation between records and
programmes in the various types of management is most important, for
the progress from one type to another may be studied as exemplified
in the change in these relations.
A BROADENING OF THE DEFINITIONS.--In order to understand more
plainly the complexity of this relation, we will not confine
ourselves here to the narrower definition of a record as a written
account, but will consider it to mean a registering of an experience
in the mind, whether this expresses itself in a written record or
not, A programme will, likewise, be a mental plan.
MANY POSSIBLE TYPES OF RECORDS AND PROGRAMMES.--In order to
understand the number of different types of records and programmes
that can be made for a worker, the table that follows may be
examined (Table I). It exemplifies twelve possible records and
twelve possible programmes.
TABLE I
/ /
| |1. unconscious record
| |2. conscious record,
/1. Man -----| | not written
| working | |3. written record
| for | |4. standardized record
| himself \ \
I. |
RECORDS----| /1. unconscious record
| |2. conscious record, not written
| /(a) One of a ---|3. written record
| | gang |4. standardized record
| | \ /(a) made by man
\2. Man -----| |(b) " " manager
working | /1. unconscious |(a) made by man
for | | record |(b) " " manager
another | |2. conscious -|(a) made by man
| | record, |(b) " " manager
\(b) Individual -| not written |(a) made by man
output |3. written |(b) " " manager
| record |(a) made by man
|4. standardize \(b) " " manager
\ record
/
|1. unconscious programme
/1. Man ------------------|2. conscious programme
| working |3. written programme
| for |4. standardized programme
| himself \
II. |
PROGRAMMES-|
| /1. unconscious /(a) made by man
| /(a) One of a ---| programme |(b) " " manager
| | gang |2. conscious |(a) made by man
| | | programme, |(b) " " manager
\2. Man --| | not written -|(a) made by man
working | |3. written |(b) " " manager
for | | programme |(a) made by man
another \(b) Individual -|4. standardized |(b) " " manager
output | programme |(a) made by man
\ \(b) " " manager
INTERRELATION OF THESE TYPES.--The man is classified first, as
working for himself, or working for another. There will usually be a
fundamental difference, at the outset, in the minds of these two
men, for the man working for himself will be of a more independent
cast of thought. There will be no question as to the man's output
showing up separately, unless he chooses to prevent this by having
others work with him. Neither will there be any question but that,
if a record is made, he makes it himself, unless someone who is not
vitally connected with the work, as some onlooker, interested or
disinterested, should make the records for him. But the typical case
of the man working for himself would be that he was working as an
individual, and that the record was made by himself. There would
then be four kinds of records--an unconscious record, a conscious
record not written, a written record and a standardized record. The
"unconscious record" would be, in reality, no record at all. It
would simply be, that somewhere in the man's mind there would be a
record of what he had done, which, except as a "fringe of
consciousness" would not particularly influence his programme. What
we mean by a "conscious record" would be more of a set habit, the
man knowing that he had done the work in a certain way. This would
begin to influence, more or less, his programme, and also his
knowledge of his capacity for work. With a written record, would
come a thorough knowledge on his part of what he had done and how he
had done it, and we must note that with this written record comes
the possibility for some sort of a set programme, the man knowing
what it will be possible to do, and how he had best do it. With the
standardized record comes the standardized method.
RELATIONSHIPS COMPLEX.--When we consider the man working for
another, he may either be one of a gang, or one whose work is
considered as that of an individual. In either case, any of the four
sorts of records can be made of his work that have been already
described for the man working for himself. Each one of these records
may be made by the man, or by the management; for with the man
working for another, naturally the second mind, that of the other,
or the manager, enters in, and a great many more combinations
are possible.
For example,--there might be an unconscious record made by the
man and a conscious record, or a written record, made by the
manager. There might be a conscious record made by the man, but an
unconscious or a written record made by the manager, etc. There are
too many combinations made to be here considered. Each one of these
combinations would have a definite and a different effect, both upon
the mind of the man, and upon the mind of the manager; and also upon
their relation to each other. The second half of this chart is
similar, but treats of programmes, as many variables enter here.
It may be thought that the details of the preceding chart and
the three following charts are uninteresting, obvious, and show too
many possible combinations. If this be so, then it is most necessary
to include them to illustrate the conditions that are passed through
and slipped back into too often in our schools, our apprenticeship
and in all but the best of managements.
The outline of advancement must be known and recognized if the
quality of teaching, efficiency, and management is to be graded in
its right class.
When we consider that each type of record bears a relation to
each type of programme, the complexity of the problems involved
become apparent. This will be better shown in Table II.
TABLE II
1. Unconscious record, unconscious programme.
2. Conscious record, unconscious programme.
3. Unconscious record, conscious programme.
4. Conscious record, conscious programme.
I. Man working 5. Unconscious record, written programme.
for himself. 6. Written record, unconscious programme.
7. Conscious record, written programme.
8. Written record, conscious programme.
9. Written record, written programme.
10. Standardized record, standardized programme.
ILLUSTRATION OF THIS COMPLEXITY.--Table II represents the man
working for himself, with subdivisions under it showing the possible
relationship between his record and his programme. We find that
these are at least ten, reaching all the way from the unconscious
record and unconscious programme of the migrating transitory laborer
to the standardized record and the standardized programme of the
manager who manages himself scientifically.
Each one of these represent a distinct psychological stage. The
progression may not be regular and smooth as is here given,--it may
be a jump, possibly even from one to nine. It may, however, be a
slow progression from one stage to another, largely to be determined
by the type of mind that is considered, and the opportunities for
development along scientific lines which are afforded. It is the
writer's intention to discuss these at length at some other time.
Here it is only possible to enumerate, in order to show the size and
complexity of the problem which is here involved.
The table does not indicate, as perhaps it should, the fact that
the relationship between an unconscious record and an unconscious
programme is slight, while the relation between a written programme
and a written record is very close indeed. In Table IV this will
be indicated.
TABLE III
1. One of a gang, unconscious
record, unconscious programme,
on part of both
manager and man.
II. Man working
for another.
2. Individual output,--standardized
record and programme,
known to, or made by, both
manager and man.
ELIMINATION OF WASTE POSSIBLE.--The third table--that of the man
working for another man--attempts to do no more than indicate the
first and last step of a long series, beginning with the man, one of
a gang, an unconscious record, and an unconscious programme, on the
part of both the manager and the man, down to the final stage of
individual output, with the written record and programme known to
both manager and man. It would be a most interesting problem to work
out the various steps stretching between these two, and the various
ways in which progression might be made through these steps, either
taking one step after another slowly or making the various possible
jumps long and short. A psychological discussion of each step would
be of value, and certainly must in time be made, but this book has
not the scope, nor can the time be devoted to such a discussion.
If this third chart had no other purpose, it would be useful to
suggest to the student the wide tracts which still remain for study
and development. It must not be thought that any of the steps
omitted on this chart are not in existence. Every single possible
combination of record and programme is in existence to-day, and must
be studied by the manager of men. Not until these are all
discovered, described, and standardized, the progression noted,
and standard progressions outlined, can methods of least waste
be adopted.
With a more thorough experimental study of the mind will come a
possible prediction as to which stages the various types of mind
must pass through. So, too, with the training of the young mind in
the primary schools and in the methods of Scientific Management,
will come the elimination of many stages now necessary, and the
possibility, even, that the final stage may be introduced at the
outset, and the enormous waste of time, energy and wearing of
unnecessary brain paths be absolutely abolished.
THE PROGRAMME DERIVED FROM THE RECORD.--Having considered the
various records and programmes and their relation, we will now
consider the four stages of the record,--(1) unconscious, (2)
conscious, (3) written, (4) standardized, and trace the derivation
of the programme from each stage.
TABLE IV
============================================================
I. Record unconscious. Programme cannot be definite.
Method is indefinite.
============================================================
II. Record conscious. Programme becomes more definite.
Method becomes more definite.
============================================================
III. Record written. Programme yet more definite.
Method definite.
============================================================
IV. Record standardized. Programme standardized, i.e.,
Results predictable.
Methods standard.
============================================================
UNCONSCIOUS RECORDS MEAN INDEFINITE PROGRAMMES.--First, then,
suppose that the records are unconscious. What does this imply? It
implies in the first place that the worker has no idea of his
capacity; never having thought of what he has done, he has no idea
what can be done, neither has he a comparative idea of methods, that
is, of how to do it. It is impossible for a definite programme to be
laid out by such a worker,--that is to say, no predictions by him as
to the time of completing the work are possible. Neither could a
method be derived by him from his previous work.
Note here the alarming amount of waste. All good methods which
the worker may possibly have acquired are practically lost to the
world, and perhaps also to him. Not only this, but all bad methods
which he has fallen into will be fallen into again and again, as
there are no warning signs to keep him out of them.
As there is no possibility of an accurate chronological chart,
the worker may undertake more than he can do, thus delaying work
which should have been done by others. On the other hand, he may
underestimate his capacity, and be left idle because work he should
have done has been assigned to others. Either of these leads to a
sense of insecurity, to wavering attention, to "hit or miss" guess
work, "rule-of-thumb methods," which are the signs of Traditional
Management.
WITH CONSCIOUS AND WRITTEN RECORDS COME DEFINITE PROGRAMMES.--We
turn now to the case where the record is conscious,--that is, where
the worker keeps in mind exactly what he has done. With this
conscious record the idea of capacity develops. The man realizes
what he can do. So also, the idea of method develops, and the man
realizes how he can do the work. Third, there comes gradually an
idea of a margin; that is, of a possible way by which capacity can
be increased for a higher speed, or methods can be slightly varied
to meet any particular deviation in the work to be done.
From this ability to estimate capacity, and to plan the method
ahead, comes the ability to lay out a more definite programme. When
the record becomes written the exactness of the programme increases.
Methods also become written, and, though accurate prediction is not
possible, such prediction is more and more nearly approached. This
increasing accuracy is the work of Transitory System in all its
stages.
STANDARD RECORDS PERMIT OF STANDARD PROGRAMMES.--In the last
case, the record is standardized, that is, the result of the method
of processes of analysis and synthesis. Through this process, as has
been shown, the reason for success is discovered and rendered
usable. The programme becomes standard, results can be predicted
accurately, and methods by which these results can be best obtained
are also standard.
It may at first escape notice that these standardized records,
of the ultimate or scientific management type, imply _not_ a greater
rigidity, but a greater elasticity. This because of the nature of
the elements of the records, which may, in time, be combined into a
great number of different, predictable programmes.
SUMMARY
RESULTS OF RELATIONS BETWEEN RECORDS AND PROGRAMMES ON THE
WORK.--The most noteworthy result of the closer relations between
records and programmes which appear during the evolution of
Scientific Management is the fact that they cause constant
simplification. The more carefully records are standardized, the
simpler becomes the drafting of the programme. As more and more
records become standard, the drafting of programmes becomes
constantly an easier and cheaper process.
PROGRAMMES BECOME RECORDS.--Under Traditional Management the
record that follows a programme may appear very different from the
programme. Under Scientific Management the record that follows a
programme most closely resembles the programme. Improvements are not
made between the programme and the following record,--they find
their place between the record and the following programme. Thus
programmes and records may be grouped in pairs, by similarity, with
a likelihood of difference between any one pair (one programme plus
one record) and other pairs.
RESULT ON THE WORKER.--The greatest effect, on the worker, of
these relations of record to programme under Scientific Management
is the confidence that he gains in the judgment that is an outcome
of Scientific Management. When the worker sees that Scientific
Management makes possible accurate predictions of times, schedules,
tasks, and performance; that the methods prescribed invariably
enable him to achieve prescribed results, his confidence in
Scientific Management grows. So also does the manager's confidence
in Scientific Management grow,--and in this mutual confidence in the
system of management is another bond of sympathy.
The place left for suggestions and improvements, in the
ever-present opportunities to better standards, fulfills that
longing for a greater efficiency that is the cause of progress.
CHAPTER VII FOOTNOTES: =============================================
1. Gillette and Dana, _Cost Keeping and Management Engineering_,
p. 65.
2. H.L. Gantt, Paper No. 1002, A.S.M.E., page 2.
3. Gillette and Dana, _Cost Keeping and Management Engineering_,
p. VII.
4. H.L. Gantt, Paper No. 1002, A.S.M.E., p. 1336.
5. William James, _Psychology, Briefer Course_, p. 179.
====================================================================
CHAPTER VIII
TEACHING
DEFINITION OF TEACHING.--The Century Dictionary defines
"teaching" as "the act or business of instructing," with synonyms:
"training" and "education;" and "to teach" is defined:--
1. "to point out, direct, show;" "to tell, inform, instruct,
explain;"
2. "to show how (to do something); hence, to train;"
3. "to impart knowledge or practical skill to;" "to guide in
learning, educate."
"Educate," we find meaning "to instruct, to teach methodically,
to prescribe to; to indoctrinate;" and by "indoctrinate" is meant
"to cause to hold as a doctrine or belief." "To educate," says the
same authority, "is to develop mentally or morally by instruction;
to qualify by instruction and training for the business and duty
of life."
UNDER TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT NO DEFINITE PLAN OF TEACHING.--
Under Traditional Management there is either no definite scheme of
teaching by the management itself, or practically none; at least,
this is usually the condition under the most elementary types of
Traditional Management. In the very highest examples of the
traditional plan the learner may be shown how, but this showing is
not usually done in a systematic way, and under so-called
Traditional Management is seldom in the form of written
instructions.
NO SPECIFIED TIME FOR OR SOURCE OF THE TEACHING.--Under
Traditional Management there is no particular time in which this
teaching goes on, no particular time allowed for the worker to ask
for the instruction, nor is there any particular source from which
he obtains the instructions. There is, moreover, almost every
hindrance against his getting any more instruction than he
absolutely must have in order to get the work done. The persons to
whom he can possibly appeal for further information might discharge
him for not already knowing. These persons are, if he is an
apprentice, an older worker; if he is a journeyman, the worker next
to him, or the foreman, or someone over him. An important fact
bearing on this subject is that it is not to the pecuniary advantage
of any particular person to give this teaching. In the first place,
if the man be a fellow-worker, he will want to do his own work
without interruption, he will not want to take the time off;
moreover, he regards his particular skill as more or less of a trade
secret, and desires to educate no more people than necessary, to be
as clever as he is. In the third place, there is no possible reward
for giving this instruction. Of course, the worker necessarily
improves under any sort of teaching, and if he has a receptive mind,
or an inventive mind, he must progress constantly, either by
teaching himself or by the instruction, no matter how haphazard.
GREAT VARIATION UNDER TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT.--Only discussion
of teaching under this type of management with many men who have
learned under it, can sufficiently emphasize the variations to be
found. But the consensus of opinion would seem to prove that an
apprentice of only a generation ago was too often hazed, was
discouraged from appealing for assistance or advice to the workers
near him, or to his foreman; was unable to find valuable literature
for home-study on the subject of his trade. The experience of many
an apprentice was, doubtless, different from this, but surely the
mental attitude of the journeymen who were the only teachers must
have tended toward some such resulting attitude of doubt or
hesitancy in the apprentice.
MENTAL ATTITUDE OF THE WORKER-TEACHER.--Under the old plan of
management, the apprentice must appear to the journeyman more or
less of a supplanter. From the employee's standpoint it was most
desirable that the number of apprentices be kept down, as an
oversupply of labor almost invariably resulted in a lowering of
wages. The quicker and better the apprentice was taught, the sooner
he became an active competitor. There seldom existed under this type
of management many staff positions to which the workers could hope
to be promoted, certainly none where they could utilize to the
fullest extent their teaching ability. There was thus every reason
for a journeyman to regard the teaching of apprentices as
unremunerative, irksome, and annoying.
WORKER NOT TO BLAME FOR THIS.--The worker is not to be blamed
for this attitude. The conditions under which he worked made it
almost inevitable. Not only could he gain little or nothing by being
a successful teacher, but also the bullying instinct was appealed to
constantly, and the desire of the upper classmen in hazing days to
make the next class "pay up" for the hazing that they were obliged
to endure in their Freshman year.
ATTITUDE OF THE LEARNER.--The attitude of the typical learner
must frequently be one of hesitancy and self-distrust if not of
fear, though conditions were so varied as almost to defy
classification. One type of apprentice was expected to learn merely
by observation and imitation. Another was practically the chore boy
of the worker who was assigned to teach him. A third was under no
direct supervision at all, but was expected to "keep busy," finding
his work by himself. A fourth was put through a severe and valuable
training by a martinet teacher,--and so on.
TEACHING OFTEN PAINSTAKING.--It is greatly to the credit of the
worker under this type of management that he was, in spite of all
drawbacks, occasionally a painstaking teacher, to the best of his
lights. He insisted on application, and especially on quality of
work. He unselfishly gave of his own time and skill to help the
apprentice under him.
METHODS OF TEACHING USUALLY WRONG.--Unfortunately, through no
fault of the worker-teacher the teaching was usually done according
to wrong methods. Quality of resulting output was so emphasized that
neither speed nor correct motions were given proper consideration.
TEACHER NOT TRAINED TO TEACH.--The reason for this was that the
worker had no training to be a teacher. In the first place, he had
no adequate idea of his own capabilities, and of which parts of his
own method were fit to be taught. In the second place, he did not
know that right motions must be insisted on first, speed next, and
quality of output third; or in other words that if the motions were
precise enough, the quality would be first. In the fourth place he
had no pedagogical training.
LACK OF STANDARDS AN UNDERLYING LACK.--All shortcoming in the
old time teaching may be traced to lack of standards. The worker had
never been measured, hence had no idea of his efficiency, or of
possible efficiency. No standard methods made plain the manner in
which the work should be done. Moreover, no standard division and
assignment of work allowed of placing apprentices at such parts of
the work that quality could be given third place. No standard
requirements had determined his fitness as a teacher, nor the
specialty that he should teach, and no incentive held his interest
to the teaching. These standards the worker-teacher could not
provide for himself, and the wonder is that the teaching was of such
a high character as it was.
VERY LITTLE TEACHING OF ADULTS.--Under Traditional Management,
teaching of adults was slight,--there being little incentive either
to teacher or to learner, and it being always difficult for an adult
to change his method.[1] Moreover, it would be difficult for a
worker using one method to persuade one using another that his was
the better, there being no standard. Even if the user of the better
did persuade the other to follow his method, the final result might
be the loss of some valuable elements of the poorer method that did
not appear in the better.
FAILURE TO APPRECIATE THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING.--An
underestimation of the importance of teaching lay at the root of the
lack of progress. This is so directly connected with all the other
lacks of Traditional Management,--provision for adequate promotion
and pay, standards, and the other underlying principles of
Scientific Management, especially the appreciation of
coöperation,--that it is almost impossible to disentangle the
reasons for it. Nor would it be profitable to attempt to do so here.
In considering teaching under Scientific Management we shall show
the influence of the appreciation of teaching,--and may deduce the
lacks from its non-appreciation, from that discussion.
UNDER TRANSITORY SYSTEM TEACHING BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT.--Under
Transitory Management the importance of teaching becomes at once
more apparent. This, both by providing for the teaching of foremen
and journeymen as well as apprentices, and by the providing of
written systems of instructions as to best practice. The worker has
access to all the sources of information of Traditional Management,
and has, besides these, in effect, unsystematically derived
standards to direct him.
SYSTEMS MAKE INSTRUCTION ALWAYS AVAILABLE.--The use of written
systems enables every worker to receive instruction at any time, to
feel free to ask it, and to follow it without feeling in any way
humiliated.
The result of the teaching of these systems is a decided
improvement in methods. If the written systems are used exclusively
as a source of teaching, except for the indefinite teachers of the
Traditional Management, the improvement becomes definitely
proportioned to the time which the man spends upon the studying and
to the amount of receptive power which he naturally has.
INCENTIVES TO CONFORM TO SYSTEM.--The worker has incentives to
follow the systems--
1. In that he is required to render reasons in writing for
permanent filing, for every disobedience of system.
2. That, as soon as work is placed on the bonus basis, the
first bonus that is given is for doing work in accordance
with the prescribed method.
Even before the bonus is paid, the worker will not vary for any
slight reasons, if he positively knows at the time that he must
account for so doing, and that he will be considered to have
"stacked his judgment" against that of the manager. Being called to
account for deviations gives the man a feeling of responsibility for
his act, and also makes him feel his close relationship with the
managers.