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.
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.