| Frederick Winslow Taylor |
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from The Principles of Scientific Management (1911)
INTRODUCTION
President Roosevelt, in his address to the Governors at the White House, prophetically remarkedthat "The conservation of our national resources is only preliminary to the larger question of
national efficiency."
The whole country at once recognized the importance of conserving our material resources and a
large movement has been started which will be effective in accomplishing this object. As yet,
however, we have but vaguely appreciated the importance of "the larger question of increasing
our national efficiency."
We can see our forests vanishing, our water-powers going to waste, our soil being carried by
floods into the sea; and the end of our coal and our iron is in sight. But our larger wastes of
human effort, which go on every day through such of our acts as are blundering, ill-directed,
or inefficient, and which Mr Roosevelt refers to as a lack of "national efficiency," are less
visible, less tangible, and are but vaguely appreciated.
We can see and feel the waste of material things. Awkward, inefficient, or ill-directed
movements of men, however, leave nothing visible or tangible behind them. Their appreciation
calls for an act of memory, an effort of the imagination. And for this reason, even though our
daily loss from this source is greater than from our waste of material things, the one has
stirred us deeply, while the other has moved us but little.
As yet there has been no public agitation for "greater national efficiency," no meetings have
been called to consider how this is to be brought about. And still there are signs that the
need for greater efficiency is widely felt.
The search for better, for more competent men, from the presidents of our great companies down
to our household servants, was never more vigorous than it is now. And more than ever before is
the demand for competent men in excess of the supply.
What we are all looking for, however, is the ready-made, competent man; the man whom some one
else has trained. It is only when we fully realize that our duty, as well as our opportunity,
lies in systematically cooperating to train and to make this competent man, instead of in
hunting for a man whom some one else has trained, that we shall be on the road to national
efficiency. . . .
Our first step was the scientific selection of the workman. In dealing with workmen under this
type of management, it is an inflexible rule to talk to and deal with only one man at a time,
since each workman has his own special abilities and limitations, and since we are not dealing
with men in masses, but are trying to develop each individual man to his highest state of
efficiency and prosperity. Our first step was to find the proper workman to begin with. We
therefore carefully watched and studied these 75 men for three or four days, at the end of
which time we had picked out four men who appeared to be physically able to handle pig iron at
the rate of 47 tons per day. A careful study was then made of each of these men.
We looked up their history as far back as practicable and thorough inquiries were made as to
the character, habits, and the ambition of each of them. Finally we selected one from among the
four as the most likely man to start with. He was a little Pennsylvania Dutchman who had been
observed to trot back home for a mile or so after his work in the evening about as fresh as he
was when he came trotting down to work in the morning. We found that upon wages of $1.15 a day
he had succeeded in buying a small plot of ground, and that he was engaged in putting up the
walls of a little house for himself in the morning before starting to work and at night after
leaving. He also had the reputation of being exceedingly "close," that is, of placing a very
high value on a dollar. As one man whom we talked to about him said, "A penny looks about the
size of a cart-wheel to him." This man we will call Schmidt. The task before us, then, narrowed
itself down to getting Schmidt to handle 47 tons of pig iron per day and making him glad to do
it. This was done as follows. Schmidt was called out from among the gang of pig-iron handlers
and talked to somewhat in this way:
"Schmidt, are you a high-priced man?"
"Vell, I don't know vat you mean."
"Oh yes, you do. What I want to know is whether you are a high-priced man or not."
"Vell, I don't know vat you mean."
"Oh, come now, you answer my questions. what I want to find out is whether you are a
high-priced man or one of these cheap fellows here. What I want to find out is whether you want
to earn $1.85 a day or whether you are satisfied with $1.15, just the same as all those cheap
fellows are getting."
"Did I vant $1.85 a day? Vas dot a high-priced man? Vell, yes, I vas a high-priced man."
"Oh, you're aggravating me. Of course you want $1.85 a day every one wants it! You know
perfectly well that that has very little to do with your being a high-priced man. For goodness'
sake answer my questions, and don't waste any more of my time. Now come over here. You see that
pile of pig iron?"
"Yes."
"You see that car?"
"Yes."
"Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will load that pig iron on that car to-morrow for
$1.85. Now do wake up and answer my question. Tell me whether you are a high-priced man or
not."
"Vell -- did I got $1.85 for loading dot pig iron on dot car to-morrow?"
"Yes, of course you do, and you get $1.85 for loading a pile like that every day right through
the year. That is what a high-priced man does, and you know it just as well as I do."
"Vell, dot's all right. I could load dot pig iron on the car to-morrow for $1.85, and I get it
every day, don't I?"
"Certainly you do -- certainly you do."
"Vell, den, I vas a high-priced man."
"Now, hold on, hold on. You know just as well as I do that a high-priced man has to do exactly
as he's told from morning till night. You have seen this man here before, haven't you?"
"No, I never saw him."
"Well, if you are a high-priced man, you will do exactly as this man tells you to-morrow, from
morning till night. When he tells you to pick up a pig and walk, you pick it up and you walk,
and when he tells you to sit down and rest, you sit down. You do that right straight through
the day. And what's more, no back talk. Now a high-priced man does just what he's told to do,
and no back talk. Do you understand that? When this man tells you to walk, you walk; when he
tells you to sit down, you sit down, and you don't talk back at him. Now you come on to work
here to-morrow morning and I'll know before night whether you are really a high-priced man or
not."
This seems to be rather rough talk. And indeed it would be if applied to an educated mechanic,
or even an intelligent laborer. With a man of the mentally sluggish type of Schmidt it is
appropriate and not unkind, since it is effective in fixing his attention on the high wages
which he wants and away from what, if it were called to his attention, he probably would
consider impossibly hard work.
What would Schmidt's answer be if he were talked to in a manner which is usual under the
management of "initiative and incentive"? say, as follows:
"Now, Schmidt, you are a first-class pig-iron handler and know your business well. You have
been handling at the rate of 12 1/2 tons per day. I have given considerable study to handling
pig iron, and feel sure that you could do a much larger day's work than you have been doing.
Now don't you think that if you really tried you could handle 47 tons of pig iron per day,
instead of 12 1/2 tons?"
What do you think Schmidt's answer would be to this?
Schmidt started to work, and all day long, and at regular intervals, was told by the man who
stood over him with a watch, "Now pick up a pig and walk. Now sit down and rest. Now walk --
now rest," etc. He worked when he was told to work, and rested when he was told to rest, and at
half-past five in the afternoon had his 47 1/2 tons loaded on the car. And he practically neverfailed to work at this pace and do the task that was set him during the three years that the
writer was at Bethlehem. And throughout this time he averaged a little more than $1.85 per day,
whereas before he had never received over $1.15 per day, which was the ruling rate of wages at
that time in Bethlehem. That is, he received 60 per cent higher wages than were paid to other
men who were not working on task work. One man after another was picked out and trained to
handle pig iron at the rate of 47 1/2 tons per day until all of the pig iron was handled at
this rate, and the men were receiving 60 per cent more wages than other workmen around them.
The writer has given above a brief description of three of the four elements which constitute
the essence of scientific management: first, the careful selection of the workman, and, second
and third, the method of first inducing and then training and helping the workman to work
according to the scientific method. Nothing has as yet been said about the science of handling
pig iron. The writer trusts, however, that before leaving this illustration the reader will be
thoroughlyconvinced that there is a science of handling pig iron, and further that this science
amounts to so much that the man who is suited to handle pig iron cannot possibly understand it,
nor even work in accordance with the laws of this science, without the help of those who are
over him.
To repeat then throughout all of these illustrations, it will be seen that the useful results
have hinged mainly upon (1) the substitution of a science for the individual judgment of the
workman; (2) the scientific selection and development of the workman, after each man has been
studied, taught, and trained, and one may say experimented with, instead of allowing the
workmen to select themselves and develop in a haphazard way; and (3) the intimate cooperation
of the management with the workmen, so that they together do the work in accordance with the
scientific laws which have been developed, instead of leaving the solution of each problem in
the hands of the individual workman. In applying these new principles, in place of the old
individual effort of each workman, both sides share almost equally in the daily performance of
each task, the management doing that part of the work for which they are best fitted, and the
workmen the balance.
It is for the illustration of this philosophy that this paper has been written, but some of the
elements involved in its general principles should be further discussed.
The development of a science sounds like a formidable undertaking, and in fact anything like a
thorough study of a science such as that of cutting metals necessarily involves many years of
work. The science of cutting metals, however, represents in its complication, and in the time
required to develop it, almost an extreme case in the mechanic arts. Yet even in this very
intricate science, within a few months after starting, enough knowledge had been obtained to
much more than pay for the work of experimenting. This holds true in the case of practically
all scientific development in the mechanic arts. The first laws developed for cutting metals
were crude, and contained only a partial knowledge of the truth, yet this imperfect knowledge
was vastly better than the utter lack of exact information or the very imperfect rule of thumb
which existed before, and it enabled the workmen, with the help of the management, to do far
quicker and better work.
For example, a very short time was needed to discover one or two types of tools which, though
imperfect as compared with the shapes developed years afterward, were superior to all other
shapes and kinds in common use. These tools were adopted as standard and made possible an
immediate increase in the speed of every machinist who used them. These types were superseded
in a comparatively short time by still other tools which remained standard until they in their
turn made way for later improvements.(6*)
The science which exists in most of the mechanic arts is, however, far simpler than the science
of cutting metals. In almost all cases, in fact, the laws or rules which are developed are so
simple that the average man would hardly dignify them with the name of a science. In most
trades, the science is developed through a comparatively simple analysis and time study of the
movements required by the workmen to do some small part of his work, and this study is usually
made by a man equipped merely with a stop-watch and a properly ruled notebook. Hundreds of
these "time-study men" are now engaged in developing elementary scientific knowledge where
before existed only rule of thumb. Even the motion study of Mr Gilbreth in bricklaying
(described on pages 77 to 84) involves a much more elaborate investigation than that which
occurs in most cases. The general steps to be taken in developing a simple law of this class
are as follows:
First. Find, say, 10 or 15 different men (preferably in as many separate establishments and
different parts of the country) who are especially skilful in doing the particular work to be
analyzed.
Second. Study the exact series of elementary operations or motions which each of these men uses
in doing the work which is being investigated, as well as the implements each man uses.
Third. Study with a stop-watch the time required to make each of these elementary movements and
then select the quickest way of doing each element of the work.
Fourth. Eliminate all false movements, slow movements, and useless movements.
Fifth. After doing away with all unnecessary movements, collect into one series the quickest
and best movements as well as the best implements.
This one new method, involving that series of motions which can be made quickest and best, is
then substituted in place of the ten or fifteen inferior series which were formerly in use.
This best method becomes standard, and remains standard, to be taught first to the teachers (or
functional foremen) and by them to every workman in the establishment until it is superseded by
a quicker and better series of movements. In this simple way one element after another of the
science is developed.
In the same way each type of implement used in a trade is studied. Under the philosophy of the
management of "initiative and incentive" each workman is called upon to use his own best
judgment, so as to do the work in the quickest time, and from this results in all cases a large
variety in the shapes and types of implements which are used for any specific purpose.
Scientific management requires, first, a careful investigation of each of the many
modifications of the same implement, developed under rule of thumb; and second, after a time
study has been made of the speed attainable with each of these implements, that the good points
of several of them shall be united in a single standard implement, which will enable the
workman to work faster and with greater ease than he could before. This one implement, then, is
adopted as standard in place of the many different kinds before in use, and it remains standard
for all workmen to use until superseded by an implement which has been shown, through motion
and time study, to be still better.
With this explanation it will be seen that the development of a science to replace rule of
thumb is in most cases by no means a formidable undertaking, and that it can be accomplished by
ordinary, every-day men without any elaborate scientific training; but that, on the other hand,
the successful use of even the simplest improvement of this kind calls for records, system, and
cooperation where in the past existed only individual effort.
There is another type of scientific investigation which has been referred to several times in
this paper, and which should receive special attention, namely, the accurate study of the
motives which influence men. At first it may appear that this is a matter for individual
observation and judgment, and is not a proper subject for exact scientific experiments. It is
true that the laws which result from experiments of this class, owing to the fact that the very
complex organism-the human being is being experimented with, are subject to a larger number of
exceptions than is the case with laws relating to material things. And yet laws of this kind,
which apply to a large majority of men, unquestionably exist, and when clearly defined are of
great value as a guide in dealing with men. In developing these laws, accurate, carefully
planned and executed experiments, extending through a term of years, have been made, similar in
a general way to the experiments upon various other elements which have been referred to in
this paper.
Perhaps the most important law belonging to this class, in its relation to scientific
management, is the effect which the task idea has upon the efficiency of the workman. This, in
fact, has become such an important element of the mechanism of scientific management, that by a
great number of people scientific management has come to be known as "task management."
There is absolutely nothing new in the task idea. Each one of us will remember that in his own
case this idea was applied with good results in his schoolboy days. No efficient teacher would
think of giving a class of students an indefinite lesson to learn. Each day a definite,
clear-cut task is set by the teacher before each scholar, stating that he must learn just so
much of the subject; and it is only by this means that proper, systematic progress can be made
by the students. The average boy would go very slowly if, instead of being given a task, he
were told to do as much as he could. All of us are grown-up children, and it is equally true
that the average workman will work with the greatest satisfaction, both to himself and to his
employer, when he is given each day a definite task which he is to perform in a given time, and
which constitutes a proper day's work for a good workman. This furnishes the workman with a
clear-cut standard, by which he can throughout the day measure his own progress, and the
accomplishment of which affords him the greatest satisfaction.
The writer has described in other papers a series of experiments made upon workmen, which have
resulted in demonstrating the fact that it is impossible, through any long period of time, to
get workmen to work much harder than the average men around them, unless they are assured a
large and a permanent increase in their pay. This series of experiments, however, also proved
that plenty of workmen can be found who are willing to work at their best speed, provided they
are given this liberal increase in wages. The workman must, however, be fully assured that this
increase beyond the average is to be permanent. Our experiments have shown that the exact
percentage of increase required to make a workman work at his highest speed depends upon the
kind of work which the man is doing.
It is absolutely necessary, then, when workmen are daily given a task which calls for a high
rate of speed on their part, that they should also be insured the necessary high rate of pay
whenever they are successful. This involves not only fixing for each man his daily task, but
also paying him a large bonus, or premium, each time that he succeeds in doing his task in the
given time. It is difficult to appreciate in full measure the help which the proper use of
these two elements is to the workman in elevating him to the highest standard of efficiency and
speed in his trade, and then keeping him there, unless one has seen first the old plan and
afterward the new tried upon the same man. And in fact until one has seen similar accurate
experiments made upon various grades of workmen engaged in doing widely different types of
work. The remarkable and almost uniformly good results from the correct application of the task
and the bonus must be seen to be appreciated.