Shop Management, Frederick Winslow Taylor [most important books of all time .txt] 📗

the task idea can be used to advantage when there

is enough work of the same general character to keep a number of men

busy regularly; such work, for instance, as the Bethlehem yard labor

previously described, or the work of bicycle ball inspection referred to

later on. In piece work of this class the task idea should always be

maintained by keeping it clearly before each man that his average daily

earnings must amount to a given high sum (as in the case of the

Bethlehem laborers, $1.85 per day), and that failure to average this

amount will surely result in his being laid off. It must be remembered

that on plain piece work the less competent workmen will always bring

what influence and pressure they can to cause the best men to slow down

towards their level and that the task idea is needed to counteract this

influence. Where the labor market is large enough to secure in a

reasonable time enough strictly first-class men, the piece work rates

should be fixed on such a basis that only a first-class man working at

his best can earn the average amount called for. This figure should be,

in the case of first-class men as stated above, from 30 per cent to 100

per cent beyond the wages usually paid. The task idea is emphasized with

this style of piece work by two things—the high wages and the laying

off, after a reasonable trial, of incompetent men; and for the success

of the system, the number of men employed on practically the same class

of work should be large enough for the workmen quite often to have the

object lesson of seeing men laid off for failing to earn high wages and

others substituted in their places.

 

There are comparatively few machine shops, or even manufacturing

establishments, in which the work is so uniform in its nature as to

employ enough men on the same grade of work and in sufficiently close

contact to one another to render piece work preferable to the other

systems. In the great majority of cases the work is so miscellaneous in

its nature as to call for the employment of workmen varying greatly in

their natural ability and attainments, all the way, for instance, from

the ordinary laborer, through the trained laborer, helper, rough

machinist, fitter, machine hand, to the highly skilled special or

all-round mechanic. And while in a large establishment there may be

often enough men of the same grade to warrant the adoption of piece work

with the task idea, yet, even in this case, they are generally so

scattered in different parts of the shop that laying off one of their

number for incompetence does not reach the others with sufficient force

to impress them with the necessity of keeping up with their task.

 

It is evident then that, in the great majority of cases, the four

leading principles in management can be best applied through either task

work with a bonus or the differential piece rate in spite of the slight

additional clerical work and the increased difficulty in planning ahead

incident to these systems of paying wages. Three of the principles of

management given above, namely, (a) a large daily task, (b) high pay for

success, and (c) loss in case of failure form the very essence of both

of these systems and act as a daily stimulant for the men. The fourth

principle of management is a necessary preliminary, since without having

first thoroughly standardized all of the conditions surrounding work,

neither of these two plans can be successfully applied.

 

In many cases the greatest good resulting from the application of these

systems of paying wages is the indirect gain which comes from the

enforced standardization of all details and conditions, large and small,

surrounding the work. All of the ordinary systems can be and are almost

always applied without adopting and maintaining thorough shop standards.

But the task idea can not be carried out without them.

 

The differential rate piece work is rather simpler in its application

than task work with bonus and is the more forceful of the two. It should

be used wherever it is practicable, but in no case until after all the

accompanying conditions have been perfected and completely standardized

and a thorough time study has been made of all of the elements of the

work. This system is particularly useful where the same kind of work is

repeated day after day, and also whenever the maximum possible output is

desired, which is almost always the case in the operation of expensive

machinery or of a plant occupying valuable ground or a large building.

It is more forceful than task work with a bonus because it not only

pulls the man up from the top but pushes him equally hard from the

bottom. Both of these systems give the workman a large extra reward when

he accomplishes his full task within the given time. With the

differential rate, if for any reason he fails to do his full task, he

not only loses the large extra premium which is paid for complete

success, but in addition he suffers the direct loss of the piece price

for each piece by which he falls short. Failure under the task with a

bonus system involves a corresponding loss of the extra premium or

bonus, but the workman, since he is paid a given price per hour,

receives his ordinary day’s pay in case of failure and suffers no

additional loss beyond that of the extra premium whether he may have

fallen short of the task to the extent of one piece or a dozen.

 

In principle, these two systems appear to be almost identical, yet this

small difference, the slightly milder nature of task work with a bonus,

is sufficient to render it much more flexible and therefore applicable

to a large number of cases in which the differential rate system cannot

be used. Task work with a bonus was invented by Mr. H. L. Gantt, while

he was assisting the writer in organizing the Bethlehem Steel Company.

The possibilities of his system were immediately recognized by all of

the leading men engaged on the work, and long before it would have been

practicable to use the differential rate, work was started under this

plan. It was successful from the start, and steadily grew in volume and

in favor, and today is more extensively used than ever before.

 

Mr. Gantt’s system is especially useful during the difficult and

delicate period of transition from the slow pace of ordinary day work to

the high speed which is the leading characteristic of good management.

During this period of transition in the past, a time was always reached

when a sudden long leap was taken from improved day work to some form of

piece work; and in making this jump many good men inevitably fell and

were lost from the procession. Mr. Gantt’s system bridges over this

difficult stretch and enables the workman to go smoothly and with

gradually accelerated speed from the slower pace of improved day work to

the high speed of the new system.

 

It does not appear that Mr. Gantt has recognized the full advantages to

be derived through the proper application of his system during this

period of transition, at any rate he has failed to point them out in his

papers and to call the attention to the best method of applying his plan

in such cases.

 

No workman can be expected to do a piece of work the first time as fast

as he will later. It should also be recognized that it takes a certain

time for men who have worked at the ordinary slow rate of speed to

change to high speed. Mr. Gantt’s plan can be adapted to meet both of

these conditions by allowing the workman to take a longer time to do the

job at first and yet earn his bonus; and later compelling him to finish

the job in the quickest time in order to get the premium. In all cases

it is of the utmost importance that each instruction card should state

the quickest time in which the workman will ultimately be called upon to

do the work. There will then be no temptation for the man to soldier

since he will see that the management know accurately how fast the work

can be done.

 

There is also a large class of work in addition to that of the period of

transition to which task work with a bonus is especially adapted. The

higher pressure of the differential rate is the stimulant required by

the workman to maintain a high rate of speed and secure high wages while

he has the steady swing that belongs to work which is repeated over and

over again. When, however, the work is of such variety that each day

presents an entirely new task, the pressure of the differential rate is

some times too severe. The chances of failing to quite reach the task

are greater in this class of work than in routine work; and in many such

cases it is better, owing to the increased difficulties, that the

workman should feel sure at least of his regular day’s rate, which is

secured him by Mr. Gantt’s system in case he falls short of the full

task. There is still another case of quite frequent occurrence in which

the flexibility of Mr. Gantt’s plan makes it the most desirable. In many

establishments, particularly those doing an engineering business of

considerable variety or engaged in constructing and erecting

miscellaneous machinery, it is necessary to employ continuously a number

of especially skilful and high-priced mechanics. The particular work for

which these men are wanted comes, however, in many cases, at irregular

intervals, and there are frequently quite long waits between their

especial jobs. During such periods these men must be provided with work

which is ordinarily done by less efficient, lower priced men, and if a

proper piece price has been fixed on this work it would naturally be a

price suited to the less skilful men, and therefore too low for the men

in question. The alternative is presented of trying to compel these

especially skilled men to work for a lower price than they should

receive, or of fixing a special higher piece price for the work. Fixing

two prices for the same piece of work, one for the man who usually does

it and a higher price for the higher grade man, always causes the

greatest feeling of injustice and dissatisfaction in the man who is

discriminated against. With Mr. Gantt’s plan the less skilledworkman

would recognize the justice of paying his more experienced companion

regularly a higher rate of wages by the day, yet when they were both

working on the same kind of work each man would receive the same extra

bonus for doing the full day’s task. Thus, with Mr. Gantt’s system, the

total day’s pay of the higher classed man would be greater than that of

the less skilled man, even when on the same work, and the latter would

not begrudge it to him. We may say that the difference is one of

sentiment, yet sentiment plays an important part in all of our lives;

and sentiment is particularly strong in the workman when he believes a

direct injustice is being done him.

 

Mr. James M. Dodge, the distinguished Past President of The American

Society of Mechanical Engineers, has invented an ingenious system of

piece work which is adapted to meet this very case, and which has

especial advantages not possessed by any of the other plans.

 

It is clear, then, that in carrying out the task idea after the required

knowledge has been obtained through a study of unit times, each of the

four systems, (a) day work, (b)