Shop Management

Frederick Winslow Taylor

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

unjust treatment they are almost sure to lean so far in the other

direction as to do an equally great injustice to their employer.

On the other hand, the men who use the opportunity offered by a scarcity

of labor to exact wages higher than the average of their class, without

doing more than the average work in return, are merely laying up trouble

for themselves in the long run. They grow accustomed to a high rate of

living and expenditure, and when the inevitable turn comes and they are

either thrown out of employment or forced to accept low wages, they are

the losers by the whole transaction.

The only condition which contains the elements of stability and

permanent satisfaction is that in which both employer and employees are

this in nine cases out of ten means high wages and low labor cost, and

The possibility of coupling high wages with a low labor cost rests

mainly upon the enormous difference between the amount of work which a

first-class man can do under favorable circumstances and the work which

is actually done by the average man.

That there is a difference between the average and the first-class man

is known to all employers, but that the first-class man can do in most

cases from two to four times as much as is done by an average man is

known to but few, and is fully realized only by those who have made a

thorough and scientific study of the possibilities of men.

The difference in the output of first-class and average men is as little

realized by the workmen as by their employers. The first-class men know

that they can do more work than the average, but they have rarely made

any careful study of the matter. And the writer has over and over again

found them utterly incredulous when he informed them, after close

observation and study, how much they were able to do. In fact, in most

cases when first told that they are able to do two or three times as

much as they have done they take it as a joke and will not believe that

of a first-class man the writer does not mean what he can do when on a

trade.

The exact percentage by which the wages must be increased in order to

make them work to their maximum is not a subject to be theorized over,

settled by boards of directors sitting in solemn conclave, nor voted

upon by trades unions. It is a fact inherent in human nature and has

only been determined through the slow and difficult process of trial and

error.

The writer has found, for example, after making many mistakes above and

below the proper mark, that to get the maximum output for ordinary shop

work requiring neither especial brains, very close application, skill,

nor extra hard work, such, for instance, as the more ordinary kinds of

than the average. For ordinary day labor requiring little brains or

beyond the average. And for work requiring skill, brains, close

application, strength, and severe bodily exertion, such, for instance,

as that involved in operating a well run steam hammer doing

miscellaneous work, from 80 per cent to 100 per cent beyond the average.

There are plenty of good men ready to do their best for the above

percentages of increase, but if the endeavor is made to get the right

men to work at this maximum for less than the above increase, it will be

found that most of them will prefer their old rate of speed with the

lower pay. After trying the high speed piece work for a while they will

one after another throw up their jobs and return to the old day work

conditions. Men will not work at their best unless assured a good

dissipated. It does not do for most men to get rich too fast. The

writer's observation, however, would lead him to the conclusion that

most men tend to become more instead of less thrifty when they receive

the proper increase for an extra hard day's work, as, for example, the

percentages of increase referred to above. They live rather better,

begin to save money, become more sober, and work more steadily. And this

certainly forms one of the strongest reasons for advocating this type of

management.

management, the writer is most desirous not to be misunderstood.

By high wages he means wages which are high only with relation to the

is repeated over and over again, however great skill and dexterity it

may require, providing there is enough of it to occupy a man throughout

a considerable part of the year, should be done by a trained laborer and

not by a mechanic. A man with only the intelligence of an average

laborer can be taught to do the most difficult and delicate work if it

is repeated enough times; and his lower mental caliber renders him more

fit than the mechanic to stand the monotony of repetition. It would seem

to be the duty of employers, therefore, both in their own interest and

in that of their employees, to see that each workman is given as far as

possible the highest class of work for which his brains and physique fit

him. A man, however, whose mental caliber and education do not fit him

to become a good mechanic (and that grade of man is the one referred to

as belonging to the "laboring class"), when he is trained to do some few

to be paid the wages of a mechanic. He should get more than the average

(a) That each workman should be given as far as possible the highest

grade of work for which his ability and physique fit him.

(b) That each workman should be called upon to turn out the maximum

amount of work which a first-rate man of his class can do and thrive.

(c) That each workman, when he works at the best pace of a first-class

man, should be paid from 30 per cent to 100 per cent according to the

nature of the work which he does, beyond the average of his class.

And this means high wages and a low labor cost. These conditions not

Under these conditions the writer has seen many first-class men

developed who otherwise would have remained second or third class all of

their lives.

Is not the presence or absence of these conditions the best indication

that any system of management is either well or badly applied? And in

considering the relative merits of different types of management, is not

that system the best which will establish these conditions with the

greatest certainty, precision, and speed?

In comparing the management of manufacturing and engineering companies

of those which are best organized have attained even approximately the

this loss to both parties are: First (and by far the most important),

the profound ignorance of employers and their foremen as to the time in

which various kinds of work should be done, and this ignorance is shared

largely by the workmen. Second: The indifference of the employers and

their ignorance as to the proper system of management to adopt and the

method of applying it, and further their indifference as to the

individual character, worth, and welfare of their men. On the part of

the men the greatest obstacle to the attainment of this standard is the

slow pace which they adopt, or the loafing or "soldiering,'" marking

time, as it is called.

This loafing or soldiering proceeds from two causes. First, from the

natural instinct and tendency of men to take it easy, which may be

and reasoning caused by their relations with other men, which may be

There are, of course, men of unusual energy, vitality, and ambition who

naturally choose the fastest gait, set up their own standards, and who

will work hard, even though it may be against their best interests. But

these few uncommon men only serve by affording a contrast to emphasize

the tendency of the average.

This common tendency to "take it easy" is greatly increased by bringing

a number of men together on similar work and at a uniform standard rate

of pay by the day.

Under this plan the better men gradually but surely slow down their gait

facts which are ludicrous as well as pitiable.

To illustrate: The writer has timed a naturally energetic workman who,

while going and coming from work, would walk at a speed of from three to

four miles per hour, and not infrequently trot home after a day's work.

On arriving at his work he would immediately slow down to a speed of

about one mile an hour. When, for example, wheeling a loaded wheelbarrow

he would go at a good fast pace even up hill in order to be as short a

speed problem rests entirely with the management; and, on the other

that under it the question of speed is settled entirely by the men

though from diametrically opposite causes, there is undivided control,

The great defect, then, common to all the ordinary systems of management

(including the Towne-Halsey system, the best of this class) is that

their starting-point, their very foundation, rests upon ignorance and

deceit, and that throughout their whole course in the one element which

is most vital both to employer and workmen, namely, the speed at which

work is done, they are allowed to drift instead of being intelligently

directed and controlled.

The writer has found, through an experience of thirty years, covering a

large variety in manufactures, as well as in the building trades,

structural and engineering work, that it is not only practicable but

comparatively easy to obtain, through a systematic and scientific time

a first-class or an average man can do in a day, and with this

With accurate time knowledge as a basis, surprisingly large results can

be obtained under any scheme of management from day work up; there is no

question that even ordinary day work resting upon this foundation will

give greater satisfaction than any of the systems in common use,

standing as they do upon soldiering as a basis.

To many of the readers of this book both the fundamental objects to be

aimed at, namely, high wages with low labor cost, and the means

advocated by the writer for attaining this end; namely, accurate time

study, will appear so theoretical and so far outside of the range of

their personal observation and experience that it would seem desirable,

because the results attained there have been greater than in many other

instances, but because the case is so elementary that the results are

evidently due to no other cause than thorough time study as a basis,

followed by the application of a few simple principles with which all of

us are familiar.

In almost all of the other more complicated cases the large increase in

output is due partly to the actual physical changes, either in the

machines or small tools and appliances, which a preliminary time study

illustration the simple case chosen is the better, although the gain

the system.

them being either talking to them or discharging them; occasionally,

however, a man was selected from among these men and given a better

class of work with slightly higher wages in some of the companies'

shops, and this had the effect of slightly stimulating them. From four

to six hundred men were employed on this class of work throughout the

year.

The work of these men consisted mainly of unloading from railway cars

and shoveling on to piles, and from these piles again loading as

required, the raw materials used in running three blast furnaces and

seven large open-hearth furnaces, such as ore of various kinds, varying

from fine, gravelly ore to that which comes in large lumps, coke,

limestone, special pig, sand, etc., unloading hard and soft coal for

stored coal as required for use, loading the pig-iron produced at the

Before undertaking the management of these men, the writer was informed

that they were steady workers, but slow and phlegmatic, and that nothing

would induce them to work fast.

The first step was to place an intelligent, college-educated man in

charge of progress in this line. This man had not before handled this

class of labor, although he understood managing workmen. He was not

familiar with the methods pursued by the writer, but was soon taught the

art of determining how much work a first-class man can do in a day. This

was done by timing with a stop watch a first-class man while he was

working fast. The best way to do this, in fact almost the only way in

which the timing can be done with certainty, is to divide the man's work

a pile (time in hundredths of a minute); (e) walking back empty to get a

load (time per foot walked).

In case of important elements which were to enter into a number of

rates, a large number of observations were taken when practicable on

different first-class men, and at different times, and they were

averaged.

The most difficult elements to time and decide upon in this, as in most

allow for accidental or unavoidable delays.

In the case of the yard labor at Bethlehem, each class of work was

The writer had so many other duties that his personal help was confined

to teaching the proper methods and approving the details of the various

changes which were in all cases outlined in written reports before being

carried out.

As soon as a careful study had been made of the time elements entering

into one class of work, a single first-class workman was picked out and

started on ordinary piece work on this job. His task required him to do

between three and one-half and four times as much work in a day as had

been done in the past on an average.

Between twelve and thirteen tons of pig-iron per man had been carried

from a pile on the ground, up an inclined plank, and loaded on to a

The men in doing this work had worked in gangs of from five to twenty

He regarded this task as an entirely fair one, and earned on an average,

from the start, $1.85 per day, which was 60 per cent more than he had

been paid by the day. This man happened to be considerably lighter than

the average good workman at this class of work. He weighed about 130

pounds. He proved however, to be especially well suited to this job, and

was kept at it steadily throughout the time that the writer was in

Bethlehem, and some years later was still at the same work.

Being the first piece work started in the works, it excited considerable

opposition, both on the part of the workmen and of several of the

leading men in the town, their opposition being based mainly on the old

they were given other work by those interested in preventing piece work,

at wages higher than the ruling wages. In the meantime, however, the

first man who started on the work earned steadily $1.85 per day, and

this object lesson gradually wore out the concerted opposition, which

ceased rather suddenly after about two months. From this time on there

was no difficulty in getting plenty of good men who were anxious to

start on piece work, and the difficulty lay in making with sufficient

rapidity the accurate time study of the elementary operations or "unit

times" which forms the foundation of this kind of piece work.

Throughout the introduction of piece work, when after a thorough time

each new job, and not more than one man was allowed to work at it until

As stated above, the greater part of the time was taken up in studying

"unit times," and this time study was greatly delayed by having

successively the two leading men