Frederick Winslow Taylor-shop Management Mobile

7/28/2019 Frederick Winslow Taylor-shop Management Mobile

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SHOP MANAGEMENT

FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR

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Although the day of trusts is here, stillpractically each of the component compa-nies of the trusts was developed and builtup largely through the energies and especialability of some one or two men who were themaster spirits in directing its growth. As arule, this leader rose from a more or less

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humble position in one of the departments,say in the commercial or the manufacturingdepartment, until he became the head of hisparticular section. Having shown especialability in his line, he was for that reasonmade manager of the whole establishment.

In examining the organization of worksof this class, it will frequently be found thatthe management of the particular depart-

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ment in which this master spirit has grownup towers to a high point of excellence, hissuccess having been due to a thorough knowl-edge of all of the smallest requirements ofhis section, obtained through personal con-tact, and the gradual training of the menunder him to their maximum efficiency.

The remaining departments, in whichthis man has had but little personal experi-

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ence, will often present equally glaring ex-amples of inefficiency. And this, mainly be-cause management is not yet looked upon asan art, with laws as exact, and as clearly de-fined, for instance, as the fundamental prin-ciples of engineering, which demand longand careful thought and study. Manage-ment is still looked upon as a question ofmen, the old view being that if you have

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the right man the methods can be safelyleft to him.

The following, while rather an extremecase, may still be considered as a fairly typ-ical illustration of the unevenness of man-agement. It became desirable to combinetwo rival manufactories of chemicals. Thegreat obstacle to this combination, however,and one which for several years had proved

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insurmountable was that the two men, eachof whom occupied the position of owner andmanager of his company, thoroughly despisedone another. One of these men had risento the top of his works through the officeat the commercial end, and the other hadcome up from a workman in the factory.Each one was sure that the other was a fool,if not worse. When they were finally com-

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bined it was found that each was right in hisjudgment of the other in a certain way. Acomparison of their books showed that themanufacturer was producing his chemicalsmore than forty per cent cheaper than hisrival, while the business man made up thedifference by insisting on maintaining thehighest quality, and by his superiority inselling, buying, and the management of the

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commercial side of the business. A combi-nation of the two, however, finally resultedin mutual respect, and saving the forty percent formerly lost by each man.

The second fact that has struck the writeras most noteworthy is that there is no ap-parent relation in many, if not most cases,between good shop management and thesuccess or failure of the company, many un-

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successful companies having good shop man-agement while the reverse is true of manywhich pay large dividends.

We, however, who are primarily inter-ested in the shop, are apt to forget that suc-cess, instead of hinging upon shop manage-ment, depends in many cases mainly uponother elements, namely,the location of thecompany, its financial strength and ability,

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the efficiency of its business and sales de-partments, its engineering ability, the su-periority of its plant and equipment, or theprotection afforded either by patents, com-bination, location or other partial monopoly.

And even in those cases in which theefficiency of shop management might playan important part it must be rememberedthat for success no company need be better

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organized than its competitors.The most severe trial to which any sys-

tem can be subjected is that of a businesswhich is in keen competition over a largeterritory, and in which the labor cost ofproduction forms a large element of the ex-pense, and it is in such establishments thatone would naturally expect to find the besttype of management.

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Yet it is an interesting fact that in sev-eral of the largest and most important classesof industries in this country shop practiceis still twenty to thirty years behind whatmight be called modern management. Notonly is no attempt made by them to do ton-nage or piece work, but the oldest of old-fashioned day work is still in vogue underwhich one overworked foreman manages the

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men. The workmen in these shops are stillherded in classes, all of those in a class be-ing paid the same wages, regardless of theirrespective efficiency.

In these industries, however, althoughthey are keenly competitive, the poor typeof shop management does not interfere withdividends, since they are in this respect allequally bad.

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It would appear, therefore, that as anindex to the quality of shop managementthe earning of dividends is but a poor guide.

Any one who has the opportunity andtakes the time to study the subject will seethat neither good nor bad management isconfined to any one system or type. He willfind a few instances of good managementcontaining all of the elements necessary for

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permanent prosperity for both employersand men under ordinary day work, the tasksystem, piece work, contract work, the pre-mium plan, the bonus system and the dif-ferential rate; and he will find a very muchlarger number of instances of bad manage-ment under these systems containing as theydo the elements which lead to discord andultimate loss and trouble for both sides.

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If neither the prosperity of the companynor any particular type or system furnishesan index to proper management, what thenis the touchstone which indicates good orbad management?

The art of management has been de-fined, as knowing exactly what you wantmen to do, and then seeing that they doit in the best and cheapest way. No con-

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cise definition can fully describe an art, butthe relations between employers and menform without question the most importantpart of this art. In considering the subject,therefore, until this part of the problem hasbeen fully discussed, the other phases of theart may be left in the background.

The progress of many types of manage-ment is punctuated by a series of disputes,

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disagreements and compromises between em-ployers and men, and each side spends morethan a considerable portion of its time think-ing and talking over the injustice which itreceives at the hands of the other. All suchtypes are out of the question, and need notbe considered.

It is safe to say that no system or schemeof management should be considered which

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does not in the long run give satisfaction toboth employer and employee, which doesnot make it apparent that their best inter-ests are mutual, and which does not bringabout such thorough and hearty coopera-tion that they can pull together instead ofapart. It cannot be said that this conditionhas as yet been at all generally recognizedas the necessary foundation for good man-

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agement. On the contrary, it is still quitegenerally regarded as a fact by both sidesthat in many of the most vital matters thebest interests of employers are necessarilyopposed to those of the men. In fact, thetwo elements which we will all agree aremost wanted on the one hand by the menand on the other hand by the employers aregenerally looked upon as antagonistic.

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What the workmen want from their em-ployers beyond anything else is high wages,and what employers want from their work-men most of all is a low labor cost of man-ufacture.

These two conditions are not diametri-cally opposed to one another as would ap-pear at first glance. On the contrary, theycan be made to go together in all classes of

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work, without exception, and in the writersjudgment the existence or absence of thesetwo elements forms the best index to eithergood or bad management.

This book is written mainly with the ob-ject of advocating high wages and low la-bor cost as the foundation of the best man-agement, of pointing out the general prin-ciples which render it possible to maintain

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these conditions even under the most tryingcircumstances, and of indicating the vari-ous steps which the writer thinks should betaken in changing from a poor system to abetter type of management.

The condition of high wages and low la-bor cost is far from being accepted either bythe average manager or the average work-man as a practical working basis. It is safe

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to say that the majority of employers havea feeling of satisfaction when their work-men are receiving lower wages than those oftheir competitors. On the other hand verymany workmen feel contented if they findthemselves doing the same amount of workper day as other similar workmen do andyet are getting more pay for it. Employersand workmen alike should look upon both

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of these conditions with apprehension, aseither of them are sure, in the long run, tolead to trouble and loss for both parties.

Through unusual personal influence andenergy, or more frequently through especialconditions which are but temporary, such asdull times when there is a surplus of labor, asuperintendent may succeed in getting mento work extra hard for ordinary wages. Af-

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ter the men, however, realize that this is thecase and an opportunity comes for them tochange these conditions, in their reactionagainst what they believe unjust treatmentthey are almost sure to lean so far in theother direction as to do an equally great in-justice to their employer.

On the other hand, the men who use theopportunity offered by a scarcity of labor to

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exact wages higher than the average of theirclass, without doing more than the averagework in return, are merely laying up trou-ble for themselves in the long run. Theygrow accustomed to a high rate of living andexpenditure, and when the inevitable turncomes and they are either thrown out ofemployment or forced to accept low wages,they are the losers by the whole transaction.

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The only condition which contains theelements of stability and permanent satis-faction is that in which both employer andemployees are doing as well or better thantheir competitors are likely to do, and thisin nine cases out of ten means high wagesand low labor cost, and both parties shouldbe equally anxious for these conditions toprevail. With them the employer can hold

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his own with his competitors at all timesand secure sufficient work to keep his menbusy even in dull times. Without themboth parties may do well enough in busytimes, but both parties are likely to sufferwhen work becomes scarce.

The possibility of coupling high wageswith a low labor cost rests mainly upon theenormous difference between the amount of

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work which a first-class man can do underfavorable circumstances and the work whichis actually done by the average man.

That there is a difference between theaverage and the first-class man is known toall employers, but that the first-class mancan do in most cases from two to four timesas much as is done by an average man isknown to but few, and is fully realized only

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by those who have made a thorough andscientific study of the possibilities of men.

The writer has found this enormous dif-ference between the first-class and averageman to exist in all of the trades and branchesof labor which he has investigated, and thesecover a large field, as he, together with sev-eral of his friends, has been engaged withmore than usual opportunities for thirty years

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past in carefully and systematically study-ing this subject.

The difference in the output of first-classand average men is as little realized by theworkmen as by their employers. The first-class men know that they can do more workthan the average, but they have rarely madeany careful study of the matter. And thewriter has over and over again found them

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utterly incredulous when he informed them,after close observation and study, how muchthey were able to do. In fact, in most caseswhen first told that they are able to do twoor three times as much as they have donethey take it as a joke and will not believethat one is in earnest.

It must be distinctly understood that inreferring to the possibilities of a first-class

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man the writer does not mean what he cando when on a spurt or when he is over-exerting himself, but what a good man cankeep up for a long term of years without in-jury to his health. It is a pace under whichmen become happier and thrive.

The second and equally interesting factupon which the possibility of coupling highwages with low labor cost rests, is that first-

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class men are not only willing but glad towork at their maximum speed, providingthey are paid from 30 to 100 per cent morethan the average of their trade.

The exact percentage by which the wagesmust be increased in order to make themwork to their maximum is not a subject tobe theorized over, settled by boards of di-rectors sitting in solemn conclave, nor voted

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upon by trades unions. It is a fact inherentin human nature and has only been deter-mined through the slow and difficult pro-cess of trial and error.

The writer has found, for example, af-ter making many mistakes above and be-low the proper mark, that to get the maxi-mum output for ordinary shop work requir-ing neither especial brains, very close ap-

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plication, skill, nor extra hard work, such,for instance, as the more ordinary kindsof routine machine shop work, it is neces-sary to pay about 30 per cent more thanthe average. For ordinary day labor requir-ing little brains or special skill, but callingfor strength, severe bodily exertion, and fa-tigue, it is necessary to pay from 50 percent to 60 per cent above the average. For

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work requiring especial skill or brains, cou-pled with close application, but without se-vere bodily exertion, such as the more diffi-cult and delicate machinists work, from 70per cent to 80 per cent beyond the average.And for work requiring skill, brains, closeapplication, strength, and severe bodily ex-ertion, such, for instance, as that involvedin operating a well run steam hammer do-

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ing miscellaneous work, from 80 per cent to100 per cent beyond the average.

There are plenty of good men ready todo their best for the above percentages ofincrease, but if the endeavor is made to getthe right men to work at this maximum forless than the above increase, it will be foundthat most of them will prefer their old rateof speed with the lower pay. After trying

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the high speed piece work for a while theywill one after another throw up their jobsand return to the old day work conditions.Men will not work at their best unless as-sured a good liberal increase, which mustbe permanent.

It is the writers judgment, on the otherhand, that for their own good it is as impor-tant that workmen should not be very much

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over-paid, as it is that they should not beunder-paid. If over-paid, many will work ir-regularly and tend to become more or lessshiftless, extravagant, arid dissipated. Itdoes not do for most men to get rich toofast. The writers observation, however, wouldlead him to the conclusion that most mentend to become more instead of less thriftywhen they receive the proper increase for

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an extra hard days work, as, for exam-ple, the percentages of increase referred toabove. They live rather better, begin tosave money, become more sober, and workmore steadily. And this certainly forms oneof the strongest reasons for advocating thistype of management.

In referring to high wages and low laborcost as fundamental in good management,

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the writer is most desirous not to be mis-understood.

By high wages he means wages whichare high only with relation to the averageof the class to which the man belongs andwhich are paid only to those who do muchmore or better work than the average oftheir class. He would not for an instantadvocate the use of a high-priced trades-

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man to do the work which could be doneby a trained laborer or a lower-priced man.No one would think of using a fine trotterto draw a grocery wagon nor a Percheronto do the work of a little mule. No moreshould a mechanic be allowed to do workfor which a trained laborer can be used,and the writer goes so far as to say that al-most any job that is repeated over and over

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again, however great skill and dexterity itmay require, providing there is enough ofit to occupy a man throughout a consider-able part of the year, should be done by atrained laborer and not by a mechanic. Aman with only the intelligence of an aver-age laborer can be taught to do the mostdifficult and delicate work if it is repeatedenough times; and his lower mental caliber

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renders him more fit than the mechanic tostand the monotony of repetition. It wouldseem to be the duty of employers, there-fore, both in their own interest and in thatof their employees, to see that each work-man is given as far as possible the high-est class of work for which his brains andphysique fit him. A man, however, whosemental caliber and education do not fit him

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to become a good mechanic (and that gradeof man is the one referred to as belongingto the laboring class), when he is trainedto do some few especial jobs, which wereformerly done by mechanics, should not ex-pect to be paid the wages of a mechanic. Heshould get more than the average laborer,but less than a mechanic; thus insuring highwages to the workman, and low labor cost

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to the employer, and in this way making itmost apparent to both that their interestsare mutual.

To summarize, then, what the aim ineach establishment should be:

(a) That each workman should be givenas far as possible the highest grade of workfor which his ability and physique fit him.

(b) That each workman should be called49


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upon to turn out the maximum amount ofwork which a first-rate man of his class cando and thrive.

(c) That each workman, when he worksat the best pace of a first-class man, shouldbe paid from 30 per cent to 100 per centaccording to the nature of the work whichhe does, beyond the average of his class.

And this means high wages and a low50


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labor cost. These conditions not only servethe best interests of the employer, but theytend to raise each workman to the highestlevel which he is fitted to attain by mak-ing him use his best faculties, forcing himto become and remain ambitious and ener-getic, and giving him sufficient pay to livebetter than in the past.

Under these conditions the writer has51


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seen many first-class men developed whootherwise would have remained second orthird class all of their lives.

Is not the presence or absence of theseconditions the best indication that any sys-tem of management is either well or badlyapplied? And in considering the relativemerits of different types of management, isnot that system the best which will estab-

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lish these conditions with the greatest cer-tainty, precision, and speed?

In comparing the management of manu-facturing and engineering companies by thisstandard, it is surprising to see how far theyfall short. Few of those which are best or-ganized have attained even approximatelythe maximum output of first-class men.

Many of them are paying much higher53


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prices per piece than are required to securethe maximum product while owing to a badsystem, lack of exact knowledge of the timerequired to do work, and mutual suspicionand misunderstanding between employersand men, the output per man is so smallthat the men receive little if any more thanaverage wages, both sides being evidentlythe losers thereby. The chief causes which

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produce this loss to both parties are: First(and by far the most important), the pro-found ignorance of employers and their fore-men as to the time in which various kindsof work should be done, and this ignoranceis shared largely by the workmen. Second:The indifference of the employers and theirignorance as to the proper system of man-agement to adopt and the method of ap-

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plying it, and further their indifference asto the individual character, worth, and wel-fare of their men. On the part of the menthe greatest obstacle to the attainment ofthis standard is the slow pace which theyadopt, or the loafing or soldiering, mark-ing time, as it is called.

This loafing or soldiering proceeds fromtwo causes. First, from the natural instinct

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and tendency of men to take it easy, whichmay be called natural soldiering. Second,from more intricate second thought and rea-soning caused by their relations with othermen, which may be called systematic sol-diering. There is no question that the ten-dency of the average man (in all walks oflife) is toward working at a slow, easy gait,and that it is only after a good deal of thought

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and observation on his part or as a resultof example, conscience, or external pressurethat he takes a more rapid pace.

There are, of course, men of unusual en-ergy, vitality, and ambition who naturallychoose the fastest gait, set up their ownstandards, and who will work hard, eventhough it may be against their best inter-ests. But these few uncommon men only

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serve by affording a contrast to emphasizethe tendency of the average.

This common tendency to take it easyis greatly increased by bringing a numberof men together on similar work and at auniform standard rate of pay by the day.

Under this plan the better men gradu-ally but surely slow down their gait to thatof the poorest and least efficient. When

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a naturally energetic man works for a fewdays beside a lazy one, the logic of the situ-ation is unanswerable: Why should I workhard when that lazy fellow gets the samepay that I do and does only half as muchwork?

A careful time study of men working un-der these conditions will disclose facts whichare ludicrous as well as pitiable.

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To illustrate: The writer has timed anaturally energetic workman who, while go-ing and coming from work, would walk at aspeed of from three to four miles per hour,and not infrequently trot home after a dayswork. On arriving at his work he would im-mediately slow down to a speed of aboutone mile an hour. When, for example, wheel-ing a loaded wheelbarrow he would go at a

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good fast pace even up hill in order to beas short a time as possible under load, andimmediately on the return walk slow downto a mile an hour, improving every opportu-nity for delay short of actually sitting down.In order to be sure not to do more than hislazy neighbor he would actually tire himselfin his effort to go slow.

These men were working under a fore-62


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man of good reputation and one highly thoughtof by his employer who, when his attentionwas called to this state of things, answered:Well, I can keep them from sitting down,but the devil cant make them get a moveon while they are at work.

The natural laziness of men is serious,but by far the greatest evil from which bothworkmen and employers are suffering is the

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systematic soldiering which is almost uni-versal under all of the ordinary schemes ofmanagement and which results from a care-ful study on the part of the workmen ofwhat they think will promote their best in-terests.

The writer was much interested recentlyto hear one small but experienced golf caddyboy of twelve explaining to a green caddy

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who had shown special energy and inter-est the necessity of going slow and laggingbehind his man when he came up to theball, showing him that since they were paidby the hour, the faster they went the lessmoney they got, and finally telling him thatif he went too fast the other boys would givehim a licking.

This represents a type of systematic sol-65


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diering which is not, however, very serious,since it is done with the knowledge of theemployer, who can quite easily break it upif he wishes.

The greater part of the systematic sol-diering, however, is done by the men withthe deliberate object of keeping their em-ployers ignorant of how fast work can bedone.

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So universal is soldiering for this pur-pose, that hardly a competent workman canbe found in a large establishment, whetherhe works by the day or on piece work, con-tract work or under any of the ordinary sys-tems of compensating labor, who does notdevote a considerable part of his time tostudying just how slowly he can work andstill convince his employer that he is going

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at a good pace.The causes for this are, briefly, that prac-

tically all employers determine upon a max-imum sum which they feel it is right for eachof their classes of employees to earn per day,whether their men work by the day or piece.

Each workman soon finds out about whatthis figure is for his particular case, and healso realizes that when his employer is con-

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vinced that a man is capable of doing morework than he has done, he will find sooneror later some way of compelling him to doit with little or no increase of pay.

Employers derive their knowledge of howmuch of a given class of work can be donein a day from either their own experience,which has frequently grown hazy with age,from casual and unsystematic observation

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of their men, or at best from records whichare kept, showing, the quickest time in whicheach job has been done. In many casesthe employer will feel almost certain thata given job can be done faster than it hasbeen, but he rarely cares to take the dras-tic measures necessary to force men to doit in the quickest time, unless he has an ac-tual record, proving conclusively how fast

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the work can be done.It evidently becomes for each mans in-

terest, then, to see that no job is done fasterthan it has been in the past. The youngerand less experienced men are taught thisby their elders, and all possible persuasionand social pressure is brought to bear uponthe greedy and selfish men to keep themfrom making new records which result in

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temporarily increasing their wages, whileall those who come after them are made towork harder for the same old pay.

Under the best day work of the ordi-nary type, when accurate records are keptof the amount of work done by each manand of his efficiency, and when each manswages are raised as he improves, and thosewho fail to rise to a certain standard are

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discharged and a fresh supply of carefullyselected men are given work in their places,both the natural loafing and systematic sol-diering can be largely broken up. This canbe done, however, only when the men arethoroughly convinced that there is no inten-tion of establishing piece work even in theremote future, and it is next to impossibleto make men believe this when the work

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is of such a nature that they believe piecework to be practicable. In most cases theirfear of making a record which will be usedas a basis for piece work will cause them tosoldier as much as they dare.

It is, however, under piece work that theart of systematic soldiering is thoroughlydeveloped. After a workman has had theprice per piece of the work he is doing low-

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ered two or three times as a result of hishaving worked harder and increased his out-put, he is likely to entirely lose sight ofhis employers side of the case and to be-come imbued with a grim determination tohave no more cuts if soldiering can preventit. Unfortunately for the character of theworkman, soldiering involves a deliberateattempt to mislead and deceive his employer,

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and thus upright and straight-forward work-men are compelled to become more or lesshypocritical. The employer is soon lookedupon as an antagonist, if not as an enemy,and the mutual confidence which should ex-ist between a leader and his men, the enthu-siasm, the feeling that they are all workingfor the same end and will share in the re-sults, is entirely lacking.

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The feeling of antagonism under the or-dinary piecework system becomes in manycases so marked on the part of the men thatany proposition made by their employers,however reasonable, is looked upon with sus-picion. Soldiering becomes such a fixed habitthat men will frequently take pains to re-strict the product of machines which theyare running when even a large increase in

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output would involve no more work on theirpart.

On work which is repeated over and overagain and the volume of which is sufficientto permit it, the plan of making a contractwith a competent workman to do a certainclass of work and allowing him to employhis own men subject to strict limitations, issuccessful.

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As a rule, the fewer the men employedby the contactor and the smaller the va-riety of the work, the greater will be thesuccess under the contract system, the rea-son for this being that the contractor, un-der the spur of financial necessity, makespersonally so close a study of the quickesttime in which the work can be done thatsoldiering on the part of his men becomes

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difficult and the best of them teach labor-ers or lower-priced helpers to do the workformerly done by mechanics.

The objections to the contract systemare that the machine tools used by the con-tractor are apt to deteriorate rapidly, hischief interest being to get a large output,whether the tools are properly cared for ornot, and that through the ignorance and

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inexperience of the contractor in handlingmen, his employees are frequently unjustlytreated.

These disadvantages are, however, morethan counterbalanced by the comparativeabsence of soldiering on the part of the men.

The greatest objection to this system isthe soldiering which the contractor himselfdoes in many cases, so as to secure a good

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price for his next contract.It is not at all unusual for a contractor

to restrict the output of his own men and torefuse to adopt improvements in machines,appliances, or methods while in the midst ofa contract, knowing that his next contractprice will be lowered in direct proportionto the profits which he has made and theimprovements introduced.

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Under the contract system, however, therelations between employers and men aremuch more agreeable and normal than un-der piece work, and it is to be regrettedthat owing to the nature of the work donein most shops this system is not more gen-erally applicable.

The writer quotes as follows from hispaper on A Piece Rate System, read in

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1895, before The American Society of Me-chanical Engineers:

Cooperation, or profit sharing, has en-tered the mind of every student of the sub-ject as one of the possible and most at-tractive solutions of the problem; and therehave been certain instances, both in Eng-land and France, of at least a partial successof cooperative experiments.

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So far as I know, however, these trialshave been made either in small towns, re-mote from the manufacturing centers, or inindustries which in many respects are notsubject to ordinary manufacturing condi-tions.

Cooperative experiments have failed,and, I think, are generally destined to fail,for several reasons, the first and most im-

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portant of which is, that no form of coop-eration has yet been devised in which eachindividual is allowed free scope for his per-sonal ambition. Personal ambition alwayshas been and will remain a more powerfulincentive to exertion than a desire for thegeneral welfare. The few misplaced drones,who do the loafing and share equally in theprofits with the rest, under cooperation are

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sure to drag the better men down towardtheir level.

The second and almost equally strongreason for failure lies in the remoteness ofthe reward. The average workman (I dontsay all men) cannot look forward to a profitwhich is six months or a year away. Thenice time which they are sure to have to-day, if they take things easily, proves more

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attractive than hard work, with a possiblereward to be shared with others six monthslater.

Other and formidable difficulties in thepath of cooperation are, the equitable divi-sion of the profits, and the fact that, whileworkmen are always ready to share the prof-its, they are neither able nor willing to sharethe losses. Further than this, in many cases,

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it is neither right nor just that they shouldshare either in the profits or the losses, sincethese may be due in great part to causes en-tirely beyond their influence or control, andto which they do not contribute.

Of all the ordinary systems of manage-ment in use (in which no accurate scien-tific study of the time problem is under-taken, and no carefully measured tasks are

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assigned to the men which must be accom-plished in a given time) the best is the planfundamentally originated by Mr. Henry R.Towne, and improved and made practicalby Mr. F. A. Halsey. This plan is describedin papers read by Mr. Towne before TheAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineersin 1886, and by Mr. Halsey in 1891, and hassince been criticized and ably defended in a

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series of articles appearing in the Ameri-can Machinist.

The Towne-Halsey plan consists in record-ing the quickest time in which a job hasbeen done, and fixing this as a standard. Ifthe workman succeeds in doing the job in ashorter time, he is still paid his same wagesper hour for the time he works on the job,and in addition is given a premium for hav-

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ing worked faster, consisting of from one-quarter to one-half the difference betweenthe wages earned and the wages originallypaid when the job was done in standardtime. Mr. Halsey recommends the paymentof one third of the difference as the bestpremium for most cases. The difference be-tween this system and ordinary piece workis that the workman on piece work gets the

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whole of the difference between the actualtime of a job and the standard time, whileunder the Towne-Halsey plan he gets onlya fraction of this difference.

It is not unusual to hear the Towne-Halsey plan referred to as practically thesame as piece work. This is far from thetruth, for while the difference between thetwo does not appear to a casual observer to

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be great, and the general principles of thetwo seem to be the same, still we all knowthat success or failure in many cases hingesupon small differences.

In the writers judgment, the Towne-Halsey plan is a great invention, and, likemany other great inventions, its value liesin its simplicity.

This plan has already been successfully94


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adopted by a large number of establishments,and has resulted in giving higher wages tomany workmen, accompanied by a lower la-bor cost to the employer, and at the sametime materially improving their relations bylessening the feeling of antagonism betweenthe two.

This system is successful because it di-minishes soldiering, and this rests entirely

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upon the fact that since the workman onlyreceives say one-third of the increase in paythat he would get under corresponding con-ditions on piece work, there is not the sametemptation for the employer to cut prices.

After this system has been in operationfor a year or two, if no cuts in prices havebeen made, the tendency of the men to sol-dier on that portion of the work which is

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being done under the system is diminished,although it does not entirely cease. Onthe other hand, the tendency of the mento soldier on new work which is started,and on such portions as are still done onday work, is even greater under the Towne-Halsey plan than under piece work.

To illustrate: Workmen, like the rest ofmankind, are more strongly influenced by

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object lessons than by theories. The effecton men of such an object lesson as the fol-lowing will be apparent. Suppose that twomen, named respectively Smart and Hon-est, are at work by the day and receivethe same pay, say 20 cents per hour. Eachof these men is given a new piece of workwhich could be done in one hour. Smartdoes his job in four hours (and it is by no

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means unusual for men to soldier to this ex-tent). Honest does his in one and one-halfhours.

Now, when these two jobs start on thisbasis under the Towne-Halsey plan and areultimately done in one hour each, Smartreceives for his job 20 cents per hour + apremium of 20 cents = a total of 40 cents.Honest receives for his job 20 cents per hour

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+ a premium of 3 1/8 cents = a total of 231/8 cents.

Most of the men in the shop will followthe example of Smart rather than that ofHonest and will soldier to the extent ofthree or four hundred per cent if allowedto do so. The Towne-Halsey system shareswith ordinary piece work then, the greatestevil of the latter, namely that its very foun-

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dation rests upon deceit, and under bothof these systems there is necessarily, as wehave seen, a great lack of justice and equal-ity in the starting-point of different jobs.

Some of the rates will have resulted fromrecords obtained when a first-class man wasworking close to his maximum speed, whileothers will be based on the performance of apoor man at one-third or one quarter speed.

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The injustice of the very foundation ofthe system is thus forced upon the work-man every day of his life, and no man, how-ever kindly disposed he may be toward hisemployer, can fail to resent this and be se-riously influenced by it in his work. Thesesystems are, therefore, of necessity slow andirregular in their operation in reducing costs.They drift gradually toward an increased

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output, but under them the attainment ofthe maximum output of a first-class man isalmost impossible.

Objection has been made to the use ofthe word drifting in this connection. Itis used absolutely without any intention ofslurring the Towne-Halsey system or in theleast detracting from its true merit.

It appears to me, however, that drift-103


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ing very accurately describes it, for thereason that the management, having turnedover the entire control of the speed problemto the men, the latter being influenced bytheir prejudices and whims, drift sometimesin one direction and sometimes in another;but on the whole, sooner or later, underthe stimulus of the premium, move towarda higher rate of speed. This drifting, ac-

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companied as it is by the irregularity anduncertainty both as to the final result whichwill be attained and as to how long it willtake to reach this end, is in marked contrastto the distinct goal which is always kept inplain sight of both parties under task man-agement, and the clear-cut directions whichleave no doubt as to the means which areto be employed nor the time in which the

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work must be done; and these elements con-stitute the fundamental difference betweenthe two systems. Mr. Halsey, in objectingto the use of the word drifting as describ-ing his system, has referred to the use ofhis system in England in connection with arate-fixing or planning department, andquotes as follows from his paper to showthat he contemplated control of the speed

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of the work by the management:On contract work undertaken for the

first time the method is the same exceptthat the premium is based on the estimatedtime for the execution of the work.

In making this claim Mr. Halsey ap-pears to have entirely lost sight of the realessence of the two plans. It is task man-agement which is in use in England, not

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the Towne-Halsey system; and in the abovequotation Mr. Halsey describes not his sys-tem but a type of task management, in whichthe men are paid a premium for carryingout the directions given them by the man-agement.

There is no doubt that there is more orless confusion in the minds of many of thosewho have read about the task management

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and the Towne-Halsey system. This ex-tends also to those who are actually usingand working under these systems. This ispractically true in England, where in somecases task management is actually being usedunder the name of the Premium Plan. Itwould therefore seem desirable to indicateonce again and in a little different way theessential difference between the two.

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The one element which the Towne-Halseysystem and task management have in com-mon is that both recognize the all-importantfact that workmen cannot be induced towork extra hard without receiving extra pay.Under both systems the men who succeedare daily and automatically, as it were, paidan extra premium. The payment of thisdaily premium forms such a characteristic

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feature in both systems, and so radicallydifferentiates these systems from those whichwere in use before, that people are apt tolook upon this one element as the essenceof both systems and so fail to recognize themore important, underlying principles uponwhich the success of each of them is based.

In their essence, with the one exceptionof the payment of a daily premium, the sys-

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tems stand at the two opposite extremes inthe field of management; and it is owing tothe distinctly radical, though opposite, po-sitions taken by them that each one owesits success; and it seems to me a matterof importance that this should be under-stood. In any executive work which involvesthe cooperation of two different men or par-ties, where both parties have anything like

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equal power or voice in its direction, thereis almost sure to be a certain amount ofbickering, quarreling, and vacillation, andthe success of the enterprise suffers accord-ingly. If, however, either one of the partieshas the entire direction, the enterprise willprogress consistently and probably harmo-niously, even although the wrong one of thetwo parties may be in control.

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Broadly speaking, in the field of man-agement there are two partiesthe super-intendents, etc., on one side and the menon the other, and the main questions at is-sue are the speed and accuracy with whichthe work shall be done. Up to the timethat task management was introduced inthe Midvale Steel Works, it can be fairlysaid that under the old systems of man-

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agement the men and the management hadabout equal weight in deciding how fast thework should be done. Shop records show-ing the quickest time in which each job hadbeen done and more or less shrewd guessingbeing the means on which the managementdepended for bargaining with and coercingthe men; and deliberate soldiering for thepurpose of misinforming the management

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being the weapon used by the men in self-defense. Under the old system the incen-tive was entirely lacking which is needed toinduce men to cooperate heartily with themanagement in increasing the speed withwhich work is turned out. It is chiefly due,under the old systems, to this divided con-trol of the speed with which the work shallbe done that such an amount of bickering,

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quarreling, and often hard feeling exists be-tween the two sides.

The essence of task management lies inthe fact that the control of the speed prob-lem rests entirely with the management; and,on the other hand, the true strength of theTowne-Halsey system rests upon the factthat under it the question of speed is settledentirely by the men without interference on

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the part of the management. Thus in bothcases, though from diametrically oppositecauses, there is undivided control, and thisis the chief element needed for harmony.

The writer has seen many jobs success-fully nursed in several of our large and wellmanaged establishments under these drift-ing systems, for a term of ten to fifteenyears, at from one-third to one-quarter speed.

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The workmen, in the meanwhile, apparentlyenjoyed the confidence of their employers,and in many cases the employers not onlysuspected the deceit, but felt quite sure ofit.

The great defect, then, common to allthe ordinary systems of management (in-cluding the Towne-Halsey system, the bestof this class) is that their starting-point,

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their very foundation, rests upon ignoranceand deceit, and that throughout their wholecourse in the one element which is most vi-tal both to employer and workmen, namely,the speed at which work is done, they are al-lowed to drift instead of being intelligentlydirected and controlled.

The writer has found, through an expe-rience of thirty years, covering a large vari-

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ety in manufactures, as well as in the build-ing trades, structural and engineering work,that it is not only practicable but compara-tively easy to obtain, through a systematicand scientific time study, exact informationas to how much of any given kind of workeither a first-class or an average man cando in a day, and with this information as afoundation, he has over and over again seen

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the fact demonstrated that workmen of allclasses are not only willing, but glad to giveup all idea of soldiering, and devote all oftheir energies to turning out the maximumwork possible, providing they are sure of asuitable permanent reward.

With accurate time knowledge as a ba-sis, surprisingly large results can be obtainedunder any scheme of management from day

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work up; there is no question that even or-dinary day work resting upon this founda-tion will give greater satisfaction than anyof the systems in common use, standing asthey do upon soldiering as a basis.

To many of the readers of this book boththe fundamental objects to be aimed at,namely, high wages with low labor cost, andthe means advocated by the writer for at-

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taining this end; namely, accurate time study,will appear so theoretical and so far outsideof the range of their personal observationand experience that it would seem desir-able, before proceeding farther, to give abrief illustration of what has been accom-plished in this line.

The writer chooses from among a largevariety of trades to which these principles

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have been applied, the yard labor handlingraw materials in the works of the BethlehemSteel Company at South Bethlehem, Pa.,not because the results attained there havebeen greater than in many other instances,but because the case is so elementary thatthe results are evidently due to no othercause than thorough time study as a basis,followed by the application of a few simple

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principles with which all of us are familiar.In almost all of the other more compli-

cated cases the large increase in output isdue partly to the actual physical changes,either in the machines or small tools and ap-pliances, which a preliminary time study al-most always shows to be necessary, so thatfor purposes of illustration the simple casechosen is the better, although the gain made

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in the more complicated cases is none theless legitimately due to the system.

Up to the spring of the year 1899, allof the materials in the yard of the Beth-lehem Steel Company had been handled bygangs of men working by the day, and underthe foremanship of men who had themselvesformerly worked at similar work as labor-ers. Their management was about as good

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as the average of similar work, although itwas bad all of the men being paid the rul-ing wages of laborers in this section of thecountry, namely, $1.15 per day, the onlymeans of encouraging or disciplining thembeing either talking to them or discharg-ing them; occasionally, however, a man wasselected from among these men and givena better class of work with slightly higher

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wages in some of the companies shops, andthis had the effect of slightly stimulatingthem. From four to six hundred men wereemployed on this class of work throughoutthe year.

The work of these men consisted mainlyof unloading from railway cars and shovel-ing on to piles, and from these piles againloading as required, the raw materials used

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in running three blast furnaces and sevenlarge open-hearth furnaces, such as ore ofvarious kinds, varying from fine, gravellyore to that which comes in large lumps,coke, limestone, special pig, sand, etc., un-loading hard and soft coal for boilers gas-producers, etc., and also for storage andagain loading the stored coal as requiredfor use, loading the pig-iron produced at

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the furnaces for shipment, for storage, andfor local use, and handling billets, etc., pro-duced by the rolling mills. The work cov-ered a large variety as laboring work goes,and it was not usual to keep a man contin-uously at the same class of work.

Before undertaking the management ofthese men, the writer was informed thatthey were steady workers, but slow and phleg-

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matic, and that nothing would induce themto work fast.

The first step was to place an intelligent,college-educated man in charge of progressin this line. This man had not before han-dled this class of labor, although he un-derstood managing workmen. He was notfamiliar with the methods pursued by thewriter, but was soon taught the art of de-

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termining how much work a first-class mancan do in a day. This was done by timingwith a stop watch a first-class man whilehe was working fast. The best way to dothis, in fact almost the only way in whichthe timing can be done with certainty, isto divide the mans work into its elementsand time each element separately. For ex-ample, in the case of a man loading pig-

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iron on to a car, the elements should be:(a) picking up the pig from the ground orpile (time in hundredths of a minute); (b)walking with it on a level (time per footwalked); (c) walking with it up an incline tocar (time per foot walked); (d) throwing thepig down (time in hundredths of a minute),or laying it on a pile (time in hundredths ofa minute); (e) walking back empty to get a

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load (time per foot walked).In case of important elements which were

to enter into a number of rates, a large num-ber of observations were taken when prac-ticable on different first-class men, and atdifferent times, and they were averaged.

The most difficult elements to time anddecide upon in this, as in most cases, arethe percentage of the day required for rest,

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and the time to allow for accidental or un-avoidable delays.

In the case of the yard labor at Beth-lehem, each class of work was studied asabove, each element being timed separately,and, in addition, a record was kept in manycases of the total amount of work done bythe man in a day. The record of the grosswork of the man (who is being timed) is,

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in most cases, not necessary after the ob-server is skilled in his work. As the Beth-lehem time observer was new to this work,the gross time was useful in checking hisdetailed observations and so gradually ed-ucating him and giving him confidence inthe new methods.

The writer had so many other dutiesthat his personal help was confined to teach-

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ing the proper methods and approving thedetails of the various changes which were inall cases outlined in written reports beforebeing carried out.

As soon as a careful study had beenmade of the time elements entering into oneclass of work, a single first-class workmanwas picked out and started on ordinary piecework on this job. His task required him

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to do between three and one-half and fourtimes as much work in a day as had beendone in the past on an average.

Between twelve and thirteen tons of pig-iron per man had been carried from a pileon the ground, up an inclined plank, andloaded on to a gondola car by the averagepig-iron handler while working by the day.The men in doing this work had worked in

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gangs of from five to twenty men.The man selected from one of these gangs

to make the first start under the writerssystem was called upon to load on piecework from forty-five to forty-eight tons (2,240lbs. each) per day.

He regarded this task as an entirely fairone, and earned on an average, from thestart, $1.85 per day, which was 60 per cent

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more than he had been paid by the day.This man happened to be considerably lighterthan the average good workman at this classof work. He weighed about 130 pounds. Heproved however, to be especially well suitedto this job, and was kept at it steadily through-out the time that the writer was in Bethle-hem, and some years later was still at thesame work.

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Being the first piece work started in theworks, it excited considerable opposition,both on the part of the workmen and of sev-eral of the leading men in the town, theiropposition being based mainly on the oldfallacy that if piece work proved successfula great many men would be thrown out ofwork, and that thereby not only the work-men but the whole town would suffer.

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One after another of the new men whowere started singly on this job were eitherpersuaded or intimidated into giving it up.In many cases they were given other workby those interested in preventing piece work,at wages higher than the ruling wages. Inthe meantime, however, the first man whostarted on the work earned steadily $1.85per day, and this object lesson gradually

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wore out the concerted opposition, whichceased rather suddenly after about two months.From this time on there was no difficulty ingetting plenty of good men who were anx-ious to start on piece work, and the diffi-culty lay in making with sufficient rapiditythe accurate time study of the elementaryoperations or unit times which forms thefoundation of this kind of piece work.

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Throughout the introduction of piece work,when after a thorough time study a new sec-tion of the work was started, one man onlywas put on each new job, and not more thanone man was allowed to work at it until hehad demonstrated that the task set was afair one by earning an average of $1.85 perday. After a few sections of the work hadbeen started in this way, the complaint on

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the part of the better workmen was thatthey were not allowed to go on to piece workfast enough. It required about two yearsto transfer practically all of the yard laborfrom day to piece work. And the larger partof the transfer was made during the last sixmonths of this time.

As stated above, the greater part of thetime was taken up in studying unit times,

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and this time study was greatly delayed byhaving successively the two leading men whohad been trained to the work leave becausethey were offered much larger salaries else-where. The study of unit times for theyard labor took practically the time of twotrained men for two years. Throughout thistime the day and piece workers were underentirely separate and distinct management.

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The original foremen continued to managethe day work, and day and piece workerswere never allowed to work together. Grad-ually the day work gang was diminished andthe piece workers were increased as one sec-tion of work after another was transformedfrom the former to the latter.

Two elements which were important tothe success of this work should be noted:

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First, on the morning following each dayswork, each workman was given a slip of pa-per informing him in detail just how muchwork he had done the day before, and theamount he had earned. This enabled him tomeasure his performance against his earn-ings while the details were fresh in his mind.Without this there would have been greatdissatisfaction among those who failed to

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climb up to the task asked of them, andmany would have gradually fallen off in theirperformance.

Second, whenever it was practicable, eachmans work was measured by itself. Onlywhen absolutely necessary was the work oftwo men measured up together and the pricedivided between them, and then care wastaken to select two men of as nearly as pos-

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sible the same capacity. Only on few oc-casions, and then upon special permission,signed by the writer, were more than twomen allowed to work on gang work, dividingtheir earnings between them. Gang workalmost invariably results in a failing off inearnings and consequent dissatisfaction.

An interesting illustration of the desir-ability of individual piece work instead of

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gang work came to our attention at Beth-lehem. Several of the best piece workersamong the Bethlehem yard laborers wereinformed by their friends that a much higherprice per ton was paid for shoveling ore inanother works than the rate given at Beth-lehem. After talking the matter over withthe writer he advised them to go to theother works, which they accordingly did. In

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about a month they were all back at workin Bethlehem again, having found that atthe other works they were obliged to workwith a gang of men instead of on individualpiece work, and that the rest of the gangworked so slowly that in spite of the highprice paid per ton they earned much lessthan Bethlehem.

Table 1, on page 54, gives a summary153


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of the work done by the piece-work labor-ers in handling raw materials, such as ores,anthracite and bituminous coal, coke, pig-iron, sand, limestone, cinder, scale, ashes,etc., in the works of the Bethlehem SteelCompany, during the year ending April 30,1900. This work consisted mainly in load-ing and unloading cars on arrival or depar-ture from the works, and for local trans-

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portation, and was done entirely by hand,i.e., without the use of cranes or other ma-chinery.

The greater part of the credit for mak-ing the accurate time study and actuallymanaging the men on this work should begiven to Mr. A. B. Wadleigh, the writersassistant in this section at that time.

TABLE 1. -SHOWING RELATIVE COST155


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OF YARD LABOR UNDER TASK PIECEWORK AND OLD STYLE DAY WORK

[Transcribers note table 1 omitted]When the writer left the steel works,

the Bethlehem piece workers were the finestbody of picked laborers that he has everseen together. They were practically allfirst-class men, because in each case thetask which they were called upon to per-

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form was such that only a first-class mancould do it. The tasks were all purposelymade so severe that not more than one outof five laborers (perhaps even a smaller per-centage than this) could keep up.

[Footnotes to table 1]1) It was our intention to fix piece work

rates which should enable first-class work-men to average about 60 per cent more than

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they had been earning on day work, namely$1.85 per day. A years average shows themto have earned $1.88 per day, or three centsper man per day more than we expectedanerror of 1 6/10 per cent.

2) The piece workers handled on an av-erage 3 56/100 times as many tons per dayas the day workers.

[end footnotes to table 1]158


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It was clearly understood by each new-comer as he went to work that unless hewas able to average at least $1.85 per dayhe would have to make way for another manwho could do so. As a result, first-classmen from all over that part of the country,who were in most cases earning from $1.05to $1.15 per day, were anxious to try theirhands at earning $1.85 per day. If they suc-

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ceeded they were naturally contented, andif they failed they left, sorry that they wereunable to maintain the proper pace, butwith no hard feelings either toward the sys-tem or the management. Throughout thetime that the writer was there, labor wasas scarce and as difficult to get as it everhas been in the history of this country, andyet there was always a surplus of first-class

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men ready to leave other jobs and try theirhand at Bethlehem piece work.

Perhaps the most notable difference be-tween these men and ordinary piece work-ers lay in their changed mental attitude to-ward their employers and their work, andin the total absence of soldiering on theirpart. The ordinary piece worker would havespent a considerable part of his time in de-

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ciding just how much his employer wouldallow him to earn without cutting pricesand in then trying to come as close as pos-sible to this figure, while carefully guard-ing each job so as to keep the managementfrom finding out how fast it really could bedone. These men, however, were faced witha new but very simple and straightforwardproposition, namely, am I a first-class la-

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borer or not? Each man felt that if he be-longed in the first class all he had to do wasto work at his best and he would be paidsixty per cent more than he had been paidin the past. Each piece work price was ac-cepted by the men without question. Theynever bargained over nor complained aboutrates, and there was no occasion to do so,since they were all equally fair, and called

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for almost exactly the same amount of workand fatigue per dollar of wages.

A careful inquiry into the condition ofthese men when away from work developedthe fact that out of the whole gang only twowere said to be drinking men. This doesnot, of course, imply that many of themdid not take an occasional drink. The factis that a steady drinker would find it al-

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most impossible to keep up with the pacewhich was set, so that they were practicallyall sober. Many if not most of them weresaving money, and they all lived better thanthey had before. The results attained underthis system were most satisfactory both toemployer and workmen, and show in a con-vincing way the possibility of uniting highwages with a low labor cost.

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This is virtually a labor union of first-class men, who are united together to se-cure the extra high wages, which belongto them by right and which in this caseare begrudged them by none, and whichwill be theirs through dull times as wellas periods of activity. Such a union com-mands the unqualified admiration and re-spect of all classes of the community; the re-

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spect equally of workmen, employers, polit-ical economists, and philanthropists. Thereare no dues for membership, since all of theexpenses are paid by the company. The em-ployers act as officers of the Union, to en-force its rules and keep its records, sincethe interests of the company are identicaland bound up with those of the men. It isnever necessary to plead with, or persuade

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men to join this Union, since the employersthemselves organize it free of cost; the bestworkmen in the community are always anx-ious to belong to it. The feature most to beregretted about it is that the membershipis limited.

The words labor union are, however,unfortunately so closely associated in theminds of most people with the idea of dis-

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agreement and strife between employers andmen that it seems almost incongruous toapply them to this case. Is not this, how-ever, the ideal labor union, with charac-ter and special ability of a high order as theonly qualifications for membership.

It is a curious fact that with the peo-ple to whom the writer has described thissystem, the first feeling, particularly among

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those more philanthropically inclined, is oneof pity for the inferior workmen who losttheir jobs in order to make way for the first-class men. This sympathy is entirely mis-placed. There was such a demand for laborat the time that no workman was obliged tobe out of work for more than a day or two,and so the poor workmen were practicallyas well off as ever. The feeling, instead of

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being one of pity for the inferior workmen,should be one of congratulation and rejoic-ing that many first-class menwho throughunfortunate circumstances had never hadthe opportunity of proving their worthatlast were given the chance to earn high wagesand become prosperous.

What the writer wishes particularly toemphasize is that this whole system rests

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upon an accurate and scientific study of unittimes, which is by far the most importantelement in scientific management. With it,greater and more permanent results can beattained even under ordinary day work orpiece work than can be reached under anyof the more elaborate systems without it.

In 1895 the writer read a paper beforeThe American Society of Mechanical Engi-

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neers entitled A Piece Rate System. Hischief object in writing it was to advocatethe study of unit times as the foundationof good management. Unfortunately, heat the same time described the differen-tial rate system of piece work, which hadbeen introduced by him in the Midvale SteelWorks. Although he called attention to thefact that the latter was entirely of secondary

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importance, the differential rate was widelydiscussed in the journals of this country andabroad while practically nothing was saidabout the study of unit times. Thirteenmembers of the Society discussed the piecerate system at length, and only two brieflyreferred to the study of the unit times.

The writer most sincerely trusts thathis leading object in writing this book will

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not be overlooked, and that scientific timestudy will receive the attention which it mer-its. Bearing in mind the Bethlehem yardlabor as an illustration of the application ofthe study of unit times as the foundation ofsuccess in management, the following wouldseem to him a fair comparison of the oldermethods with the more modern plan.

For each job there is the quickest time175


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in which it can be done by a first-class man.This time may be called the quickest time,or the standard time for the job. Un-der all the ordinary systems, this quickesttime is more or less completely shroudedin mist. In most cases, however, the work-man is nearer to it and sees it more clearlythan the employer.

Under ordinary piece work the manage-176


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ment watch every indication given them bythe workmen as to what the quickest timeis for each job, and endeavor continually toforce the men toward this standard time,while the workmen constantly use every ef-fort to prevent this from being done and tolead the management in the wrong direc-tion. In spite of this conflict, however, thestandard time is gradually approached.

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Under the Towne-Halsey plan the man-agement gives up all direct effort to reachthis quickest time, but offers mild induce-ments to the workmen to do so, and turnsover the whole enterprise to them. Theworkmen, peacefully as far as the manage-ment is concerned, but with considerablepulling and hauling among themselves, andwithout the assistance of a trained guiding

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hand, drift gradually and slowly in the di-rection of the standard time, but rarelyapproach it closely.

With accurate time study as a basis, thequickest time for each job is at all times inplain sight of both employers and workmen,and is reached with accuracy, precision, andspeed, both sides pulling hard in the samedirection under the uniform simple and just

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agreement that whenever a first-class manworks his best he will receive from 30 to 100per cent more than the average of his trade.

Probably a majority of the attempts thatare made to radically change the organiza-tion of manufacturing companies result ina loss of money to the company, failure tobring about the change sought for, and areturn to practically the original organiza-

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tion. The reason for this being that thereare but few employers who look upon man-agement as an art, and that they go at adifficult task without either having under-stood or appreciated the time required fororganization or its cost, the troubles to bemet with, or the obstacles to be overcome,and without having studied the means tobe employed in doing so.

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Before starting to make any changes inthe organization of a company the follow-ing matters should be carefully considered:First, the importance of choosing the gen-eral type of management best suited to theparticular case. Second, that in all casesmoney must be spent, and in many casesa great deal of money, before the changesare completed which result in lowering cost.

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Third, that it takes time to reach any resultworth aiming at. Fourth, the importanceof making changes in their proper order,and that unless the right steps are taken,and taken in their proper sequence, thereis great danger from deterioration in thequality of the output and from serious trou-bles with the workmen, often resulting instrikes.

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As to the type of management to be ulti-mately aimed at, before any changes what-ever are made, it is necessary, or at leasthighly desirable, that the most careful con-sideration should be given to the type to bechosen; and once a scheme is decided uponit should be carried forward step by stepwithout wavering or retrograding. Work-men will tolerate and even come to have

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great respect for one change after anothermade in logical sequence and according toa consistent plan. It is most demoralizing,however, to have to recall a step once taken,whatever may be the cause, and it makesany further changes doubly difficult.

The choice must be made between someof the types of management in common use,which the writer feels are properly desig-

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nated by the word drifting, and the moremodern scientific management based on anaccurate knowledge of how long it shouldtake to do the work. If, as is frequentlythe case, the managers of an enterprise findthemselves so overwhelmed with other de-partments of the business that they can givebut little thought to the management of theshop, then some one of the various drift-

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ing schemes should be adopted; and of thesethe writer believes the Towne-Halsey planto be the best, since it drifts safely andpeacefully though slowly in the right direc-tion; yet under it the best results can neverbe reached. The fact, however, that man-agers are in this way overwhelmed by theirwork is the best proof that there is some-thing radically wrong with the plan of their

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organization and in self defense they shouldtake immediate steps toward a more thor-ough study of the art.

It is not at all generally realized thatwhatever system may be used, providing abusiness is complex in its naturethe build-ing up of an efficient organization is neces-sarily slow and sometimes very expensive.Almost all of the directors of manufactur-

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ing companies appreciate the economy ofa thoroughly modern, up-to-date, and effi-cient plant, and are willing to pay for it.Very few of them, however, realize that thebest organization, whatever its cost may be,is in many cases even more important thanthe plant; nor do they clearly realize that nokind of an efficient organization can be builtup without spending money. The spend-

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ing of money for good machinery appealsto them because they can see machines af-ter they are bought; but putting money intoanything so invisible, intangible, and to theaverage man so indefinite, as an organiza-tion seems almost like throwing it away.

There is no question that when the workto be done is at all complicated, a good or-ganization with a poor plant will give bet-

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ter results than the best plant with a poororganization. One of the most successfulmanufacturers in this country was asked re-cently by a number of financiers whetherhe thought that the difference between onestyle of organization and another amountedto much providing the company had an up-to-date plant properly located. His answerwas, If I had to choose now between aban-

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doning my present organization and burn-ing down all of my plants which have costme millions, I should choose the latter. Myplants could be rebuilt in a short while withborrowed money, but I could hardly replacemy organization in a generation.

Modern engineering can almost be calledan exact science; each year removes it fur-ther from guess work and from rule-of-thumb

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Frederick Winslow Taylor-shop Management Mobile

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