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Title: Shop Management

 

Author: Frederick Winslow Taylor

 

Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6464]

[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]

[This file was first posted on December 17, 2002]

 

Edition: 10

 

Language: English

 

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHOP MANAGEMENT ***

 

Transcribed by Charles E. Nichols

 

Shop Management

 

By

 

Frederick Winslow Taylor

 

1911

 

Through his business in changing the methods of shop management, the

writer has been brought into intimate contact over a period of years

with the organization of manufacturing and industrial establishments,

covering a large variety and range of product, and employing workmen in

many of the leading trades.

 

In taking a broad view of the field of management, the two facts which

appear most noteworthy are:

 

(a) What may be called the great unevenness, or lack of uniformity

shown, even in our best run works, in the development of the several

elements, which together constitute what is called the management.

 

(b) The lack of apparent relation between good shop management and the

payment of dividends.

 

Although the day of trusts is here, still practically each of the

component companies of the trusts was developed and built up largely

through the energies and especial ability of some one or two men who

were the master spirits in directing its growth. As a rule, this leader

rose from a more or less humble position in one of the departments, say

in the commercial or the manufacturing department, until he became the

head of his particular section. Having shown especial ability in his

line, he was for that reason made manager of the whole establishment.

 

In examining the organization of works of this class, it will frequently

be found that the management of the particular department in which this

master spirit has grown up towers to a high point of excellence, his

success having been due to a thorough knowledge of all of the smallest

requirements of his section, obtained through personal contact, and the

gradual training of the men under him to their maximum efficiency.

 

The remaining departments, in which this man has had but little personal

experience, will often present equally glaring examples of inefficiency.

And this, mainly because management is not yet looked upon as an art,

with laws as exact, and as clearly defined, for instance, as the

fundamental principles of engineering, which demand long and careful

thought and study. Management is still looked upon as a question of men,

the old view being that if you have the right man the methods can be

safely left to him.

 

The following, while rather an extreme case, may still be considered as

a fairly typical illustration of the unevenness of management. It became

desirable to combine two rival manufactories of chemicals. The great

obstacle to this combination, however, and one which for several years

had proved insurmountable was that the two men, each of whom occupied

the position of owner and manager of his company, thoroughly despised

one another. One of these men had risen to the top of his works through

the office at the commercial end, and the other had come up from a

workman in the factory. Each one was sure that the other was a fool, if

not worse. When they were finally combined it was found that each was

right in his judgment of the other in a certain way. A comparison of

their books showed that the manufacturer was producing his chemicals

more than forty per cent cheaper than his rival, while the business man

made up the difference by insisting on maintaining the highest quality,

and by his superiority in selling, buying, and the management of the

commercial side of the business. A combination of the two, however,

finally resulted in mutual respect, and saving the forty per cent

formerly lost by each man.

 

The second fact that has struck the writer as most noteworthy is that

there is no apparent relation in many, if not most cases, between good

shop management and the success or failure of the company, many

unsuccessful companies having good shop management while the reverse is

true of many which pay large dividends.

 

We, however, who are primarily interested in the shop, are apt to forget

that success, instead of hinging upon shop management, depends in many

cases mainly upon other elements, namely,—the location of the

company, its financial strength and ability, the efficiency of its

business and sales departments, its engineering ability, the superiority

of its plant and equipment, or the protection afforded either by

patents, combination, location or other partial monopoly.

 

And even in those cases in which the efficiency of shop management might

play an important part it must be remembered that for success no company

need be better organized than its competitors.

 

The most severe trial to which any system can be subjected is that of a

business which is in keen competition over a large territory, and in

which the labor cost of production forms a large element of the expense,

and it is in such establishments that one would naturally expect to find

the best type of management.

 

Yet it is an interesting fact that in several of the largest and most

important classes of industries in this country shop practice is still

twenty to thirty years behind what might be called modern management.

Not only is no attempt made by them to do tonnage or piece work, but the

oldest of old-fashioned day work is still in vogue under which one

overworked foreman manages the men. The workmen in these shops are still

herded in classes, all of those in a class being paid the same wages,

regardless of their respective efficiency.

 

In these industries, however, although they are keenly competitive, the

poor type of shop management does not interfere with dividends, since

they are in this respect all equally bad.

 

It would appear, therefore, that as an index to the quality of shop

management the earning of dividends is but a poor guide.

 

Any one who has the opportunity and takes the time to study the subject

will see that neither good nor bad management is confined to any one

system or type. He will find a few instances of good management

containing all of the elements necessary for permanent prosperity for

both employers and men under ordinary day work, the task system, piece

work, contract work, the premium plan, the bonus system and the

differential rate; and he will find a very much larger number of

instances of bad management under these systems containing as they do

the elements which lead to discord and ultimate loss and trouble for

both sides.

 

If neither the prosperity of the company nor any particular type or

system furnishes an index to proper management, what then is the

touchstone which indicates good or bad management?

 

The art of management has been defined, “as knowing exactly what you

want men to do, and then seeing that they do it in the best and cheapest

way.’” No concise definition can fully describe an art, but the

relations between employers and men form without question the most

important part of this art. In considering the subject, therefore, until

this part of the problem has been fully discussed, the other phases of

the art may be left in the background.

 

The progress of many types of management is punctuated by a series of

disputes, disagreements and compromises between employers and men, and

each side spends more than a considerable portion of its time thinking

and talking over the injustice which it receives at the hands of the

other. All such types are out of the question, and need not be

considered.

 

It is safe to say that no system or scheme of management should be

considered which does not in the long run give satisfaction to both

employer and employee, which does not make it apparent that their best

interests are mutual, and which does not bring about such thorough and

hearty cooperation that they can pull together instead of apart. It

cannot be said that this condition has as yet been at all generally

recognized as the necessary foundation for good management. On the

contrary, it is still quite generally regarded as a fact by both sides

that in many of the most vital matters the best interests of employers

are necessarily opposed to those of the men. In fact, the two elements

which we will all agree are most wanted on the one hand by the men and

on the other hand by the employers are generally looked upon as

antagonistic.

 

What the workmen want from their employers beyond anything else is high

wages, and what employers want from their workmen most of all is a low

labor cost of manufacture.

 

These two conditions are not diametrically opposed to one another as

would appear at first glance. On the contrary, they can be made to go

together in all classes of work, without exception, and in the writer’s

judgment the existence or absence of these two elements forms the best

index to either good or bad management.

 

This book is written mainly with the object of advocating high wages and

low labor cost as the foundation of the best management, of pointing out

the general principles which render it possible to maintain these

conditions even under the most trying circumstances, and of indicating

the various steps which the writer thinks should be taken in changing

from a poor system to a better type of management.

 

The condition of high wages and low labor cost is far from being

accepted either by the average manager or the average workman as a

practical working basis. It is safe to say that the majority of

employers have a feeling of satisfaction when their workmen are

receiving lower wages than those of their competitors. On the other hand

very many workmen feel contented if they find themselves doing the same

amount of work per day as other similar workmen do and yet are getting

more pay for it. Employers and workmen alike should look upon both of

these conditions with apprehension, as either of them are sure, in the

long run, to lead to trouble and loss for both parties.

 

Through unusual personal influence and energy,