Summer 1

THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

Frederick Taylor

1911

The writer has found that there are three questions uppermost in the

minds of men when they become interested in scientific management.

First. Wherein do the principles of scientific management differ

essentially from those of ordinary management?

Second. Why are better results attained under scientific management than

under the other types?

Third. Is not the most important problem that of getting the right man

at the head of the company? And if you have the right man cannot the

choice of the type of management be safely left to him?

One of the principal objects of the following pages will be to give a

satisfactory answer to these questions.

THE FINEST TYPE OF ORDINARY MANAGEMENT

Before starting to illustrate the principles of scientific management,

or "task management" as it is briefly called, it seems desirable to

outline what the writer believes will be recognized as the best type of

management which is in common use. This is done so that the great

difference between the best of the ordinary management and scientific

management may be fully appreciated.

In an industrial establishment which employs say from 500 to 1000

workmen, there will be found in many cases at least twenty to thirty

different trades. The workmen in each of these trades have had their

knowledge handed down to them by word of mouth, through the many years

in which their trade has been developed from the primitive condition, in

which our far-distant ancestors each one practiced the rudiments of many

different trades, to the present state of great and growing subdivision

of labor, in which each man specializes upon some comparatively small

class of work.

The ingenuity of each generation has developed quicker and better

methods for doing every element of the work in every trade. Thus the

methods which are now in use may in a broad sense be said to be an

evolution representing the survival of the fittest and best of the ideas

which have been developed since the starting of each trade. However,

while this is true in a broad sense, only those who are intimately

acquainted with each of these trades are fully aware of the fact that in

hardly any element of any trade is there uniformity in the methods which

are used. Instead of having only one way which is generally accepted as

a standard, there are in daily use, say, fifty or a hundred different

ways of doing each element of the work. And a little thought will make

it clear that this must inevitably be the case, since our methods have

been handed down from man to man by word of mouth, or have, in most

cases, been almost unconsciously learned through personal observation.

Practically in no instances have they been codified or systematically

analyzed or described. The ingenuity and experience of each

generation--of each decade, even, have without doubt handed over better

methods to the next. This mass of rule-of-thumb or traditional knowledge

may be said to be the principal asset or possession of every tradesman.

Now, in the best of the ordinary types of management, the managers

recognize frankly the fact that the 500 or 1000 workmen, included in the

twenty to thirty trades, who are under them, possess this mass of

traditional knowledge, a large part of which is not in the possession of

the management. The management, of course, includes foremen and

superintendents, who themselves have been in most cases first-class

workers at their trades. And yet these foremen and superintendents know,

better than any one else, that their own knowledge and personal skill

falls far short of the combined knowledge and dexterity of all the

workmen under them. The most experienced managers therefore frankly

place before their workmen the problem of doing the work in the best and

most economical way. They recognize the task before them as that of

inducing each workman to use his best endeavors, his hardest work, all

his traditional knowledge, his skill, his ingenuity, and his

good-will--in a word, his "initiative," so as to yield the largest

possible return to his employer. The problem before the management,

then, may be briefly said to be that of obtaining the best initiative of

every workman. And the writer uses the word "initiative" in its broadest

sense, to cover all of the good qualities sought for from the men.

On the other hand, no intelligent manager would hope to obtain in any

full measure the initiative of his workmen unless he felt that he was

giving them something more than they usually receive from their

employers. Only those among the readers of this paper who have been

managers or who have worked themselves at a trade realize how far the

average workman falls short of giving his employer his full initiative.

It is well within the mark to state that in nineteen out of twenty

industrial establishments the workmen believe it to be directly against

their interests to give their employers their best initiative, and that

instead of working hard to do the largest possible amount of work and

the best quality of work for their employers, they deliberately work as

slowly as they dare while they at the same time try to make those over

them believe that they are working fast.*

[*Footnote: The writer has tried to make the reason for this unfortunate

state of things clear in a paper entitled "Shop Management," read before

the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.]

The writer repeats, therefore, that in order to have any hope of

obtaining the initiative of his workmen the manager must give some

special incentive to his men beyond that which is given to the average

of the trade. This incentive can be given in several different ways, as,

for example, the hope of rapid promotion or advancement; higher wages,

either in the form of generous piece-work prices or of a premium or

bonus of some kind for good and rapid work; shorter hours of labor;

better surroundings and working conditions than are ordinarily given,

etc., and, above all, this special incentive should be accompanied by

that personal consideration for, and friendly contact with, his workmen

which comes only from a genuine and kindly interest in the welfare of

those under him. It is only by giving a special inducement or

"incentive" of this kind that the employer can hope even approximately

to get the "initiative" of his workmen. Under the ordinary type of

management the necessity for offering the workman a special inducement

has come to be so generally recognized that a large proportion of those

most interested in the subject look upon the adoption of some one of the

modern schemes for paying men (such as piece work, the premium plan, or

the bonus plan, for instance) as practically the whole system of

management. Under scientific management, however, the particular pay

system which is adopted is merely one of the subordinate elements.

Broadly speaking, then, the best type of management in ordinary use may

be defined as management in which the workmen give their best initiative

and in return receive some special incentive from their employers. This

type of management will be referred to as the management of "initiative

and incentive" in contradistinction to scientific management, or task

management, with which it is to be compared.

The writer hopes that the management of "initiative and incentive" will

be recognized as representing the best type in ordinary use, and in fact

he believes that it will be hard to persuade the average manager that

anything better exists in the whole field than this type. The task which

the writer has before him, then, is the difficult one of trying to prove

in a thoroughly convincing way that there is another type of management

which is not only better but overwhelmingly better than the management

of "initiative and incentive."

The universal prejudice in favor of the management of "initiative and

incentive" is so strong that no mere theoretical advantages which can be

pointed out will be likely to convince the average manager that any

other system is better. It will be upon a series of practical

illustrations of the actual working of the two systems that the writer

will depend in his efforts to prove that scientific management is so

greatly superior to other types. Certain elementary principles, a

certain philosophy, will however be recognized as the essence of that

which is being illustrated in all of the practical examples which will

be given. And the broad principles in which the scientific system

differs from the ordinary or "rule-of-thumb" system are so simple in

their nature that it seems desirable to describe them before starting

with the illustrations.

Under the old type of management success depends almost entirely upon

getting the "initiative" of the workmen, and it is indeed a rare case in

which this initiative is really attained. Under scientific management

the "initiative" of the workmen (that is, their hard work, their

good-will, and their ingenuity) is obtained with absolute uniformity and

to a greater extent than is possible under the old system; and in

addition to this improvement on the part of the men, the managers assume

new burdens, new duties, and responsibilities never dreamed of in the

past. The managers assume, for instance, the burden of gathering

together all of the traditional knowledge which in the past has been

possessed by the workmen and then of classifying, tabulating, and

reducing this knowledge to rules, laws, and formulae which are immensely

helpful to the workmen in doing their daily work. In addition to

developing a science in this way, the management take on three other

types of duties which involve new and heavy burdens for themselves.

These new duties are grouped under four heads:

First. They develop a science for each element of a man's work, which

replaces the old rule-of.-thumb method.

Second. They scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop

the workman, whereas in the past he chose his own work and trained

himself as best he could.

Third. They heartily cooperate with the men so as to insure all of the

work being done in accordance with the principles of the science which

has been developed.

Fourth. There is an almost equal division of the work and the

responsibility between the management and the workmen. The management

take over all work for which they are better fitted than the workmen,

while in the past almost all of the work and the greater part of the

responsibility were thrown upon the men.

It is this combination of the initiative of the workmen, coupled with

the new types of work done by the management, that makes scientific

management so much more efficient than the old plan.

Three of these elements exist in many cases, under the management of

"initiative and incentive," in a small and rudimentary way, but they

are, under this management, of minor importance, whereas under

scientific management they form the very essence of the whole system.

The fourth of these elements, "an almost equal division of the

responsibility between the management and the workmen," requires further

explanation. The philosophy of the management of initiative and

incentive makes it necessary for each workman to bear almost the entire

responsibility for the general plan as well as for each detail of his

work, and in many cases for his implements as well. In addition to this

he must do all of the actual physical labor. The development of a

science, on the other hand, involves the establishment of many rules,

laws, and formulae which replace the judgment of the individual workman

and which can be effectively used only after having been systematically

recorded, indexed, etc. The practical use of scientific data also calls

for a room in which to keep the books, records*, etc., and a desk for

the planner to work at.

[*Footnote: For example, the records containing the data used under

scientific management in an ordinary machine-shop fill thousands of

pages.]

Thus all of the planning which under the old system was done by the

workman, as a result of his personal experience, must of necessity under

the new system be done by the management in accordance with the laws of

the science; because even if the workman was well suited to the

development and use of scientific data, it would be physically

impossible for him to work at his machine and at a desk at the same

time. It is also clear that in most cases one type of man is needed to

plan ahead and an entirely different type to execute the work.

The man in the planning room, whose specialty under scientific

management is planning ahead, invariably finds that the work can be done

better and more economically by a subdivision of the labor; each act of

each mechanic, for example, should be preceded by various preparatory

acts done by other men. And all of this involves, as we have said, "an

almost equal division of the responsibility and the work between the

management and the workman."

To summarize: Under the management of "initiative and incentive"

practically the whole problem is "up to the workman," while under

scientific management fully one-half of the problem is "up to the

management."

Perhaps the most prominent single element in modern scientific

management is the task idea. The work of every workman is fully planned

out by the management at least one day in advance, and each man receives

in most cases complete written instructions, describing in detail the

task which he is to accomplish, as well as the means to be used in doing

the work. And the work planned in advance in this way constitutes a task

which is to be solved, as explained above, not by the workman alone, but

in almost all cases by the joint effort of the workman and the

management. This task specifies not only what is to be done but how it

is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it. And whenever the

workman succeeds in doing his task right, and within the time limit

specified, he receives an addition of from 30 per cent to 100 per cent

to his ordinary wages. These tasks are carefully planned, so that both

good and careful work are called for in their performance, but it should

be distinctly understood that in no case is the workman called upon to

work at a pace which would be injurious to his health. The task is

always so regulated that the man who is well suited to his job will

thrive while working at this rate during a long term of years and grow

happier and more prosperous, instead of being overworked. Scientific

management consists very largely in preparing for and carrying out these

tasks.

The writer is fully aware that to perhaps most of the readers of this

paper the four elements which differentiate the new management from the

old will at first appear to be merely high-sounding phrases; and he

would again repeat that he has no idea of convincing the reader of their

value merely through announcing their existence. His hope of carrying

conviction rests upon demonstrating the tremendous force and effect of

these four elements through a series of practical illustrations. It will

be shown, first, that they can be applied absolutely to all classes of

work, from the most elementary to the most intricate; and second, that

when they are applied, the results must of necessity be overwhelmingly

greater than those which it is possible to attain under the management

of initiative and incentive.

The first illustration is that of handling pig iron, and this work is

chosen because it is typical of perhaps the crudest and most elementary

form of labor which is performed by man. This work is done by men with

no other implements than their hands. The pig-iron handler stoops down,

picks up a pig weighing about 92 pounds, walks for a few feet or yards

and then drops it on to the ground or upon a pile. This work is so crude

and elementary in its nature that the writer firmly believes that it

would be possible to train an intelligent, gorilla so as to become a

more efficient pig-iron handler than any man can be. Yet it will be

shown that the science of handling pig iron is so great and amounts to

so much that it is impossible for the man who is best suited to this

type of work to understand the principles of this science, or even to

work in accordance with these principles without the aid of a man better

educated than he is. And the further illustrations to be given will make

it clear that in almost all of the mechanic arts the science which

underlies each workman's act is so great and amounts to so much that the

workman who is best suited actually to do the work is incapable (either

through lack of education or through insufficient mental capacity) of

understanding this science. This is announced as a general principle,

the truth of which will become apparent as one illustration after

another is given. After showing these four elements in the handling of

pig iron, several illustrations will be given of their application to

different kinds of work in the field of the mechanic arts, at intervals

in a rising scale, beginning with the simplest and ending with the more

intricate forms of labor.

One of the first pieces of work undertaken by us, when the writer

started to introduce scientific management into the Bethlehem Steel

Company, was to handle pig iron on task work. The opening of the Spanish

War found some 80,000 tons of pig iron placed in small piles in an open

field adjoining the works. Prices for pig iron had been so low that it

could not be sold at a profit, and it therefore had been stored. With

the opening of the Spanish War the price of pig iron rose, and this

large accumulation of iron was sold. This gave us a good opportunity to

show the workmen, as well as the owners and managers of the works, on a

fairly large scale the advantages of task work over the old-fashioned

day work and piece work, in doing a very elementary class of work.

The Bethlehem Steel Company had five blast furnaces, the product of

which had been handled by a pig-iron gang for many years. This gang, at

this time, consisted of about 75 men. They were good, average pig-iron

handlers, were under an excellent foreman who himself had been a

pig-iron handler, and the work was done, on the whole, about as fast and

as cheaply as it was anywhere else at that time.

A railroad switch was run out into the field, right along the edge of

the piles of pig iron. An inclined plank was placed against the side of

a car, and each man picked up from his pile a pig of iron weighing about

92 pounds, walked up the inclined plank and dropped it on the end of the

car.

We found that this gang were loading on the average about 12 and a half

long tons per man per day. We were surprised to find, after studying the

matter, that a first-class pig-iron handler ought to handle between 47,

and 48 long tons per day, instead of 12 and a half tons. This task

seemed to us so very large that we were obliged to go over our work

several times before we were absolutely sure that we were right. Once we

were sure, however, that 47 tons was a proper day's work for a

first-class pig-iron handler, the task which faced us as managers under

the modern scientific plan was clearly before us. It was our duty to see

that the 80,000 tons of pig iron was loaded on to the cars at the rate

of 47 tons per man per day, in place of 12 and a half tons, at which

rate the work was then being done. And it was further our duty to see

that this work was done without bringing on a strike among the men,

without any quarrel with the men, and to see that the men were happier

and better contented when loading at the new rate of 47 tons than they

were when loading at the old rate of 12 and a half tons.

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 tomorrow 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 tomorrow, 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 and a half 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 and a half 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 and a half tons loaded on the

car. And he practically never failed 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 and a half 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 thoroughly convinced

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.

The writer came into the machine-shop of the Midvale Steel Company in

1878, after having served an apprenticeship as a pattern-maker and as a

machinist. This was close to the end of the long period of depression

following the panic of 1873, and business was so poor that it was

impossible for many mechanics to get work at their trades. For this

reason he was obliged to start as a day laborer instead of working as a

mechanic. Fortunately for him, soon after he came into the shop the

clerk of the shop was found stealing. There was no one else available,

and so, having more education than the other laborers (since he had been

prepared for college) he was given the position of clerk. Shortly after

this he was given work as a machinist in running one of the lathes, and,

as he turned out rather more work than other machinists were doing on

similar lathes, after several months was made gang boss over the lathes.

Almost all of the work of this shop had been done on piece work for

several years. As was usual then, and in fact as is still usual in most

of the shops in this country, the shop was really run by the workmen,

and not by the bosses. The workmen together had carefully planned just

how fast each job should be done, and they had set a pace for each

machine throughout the shop, which was limited to about one-third of a

good day's work. Every new workman who came into the shop was told at

once by the other men exactly how much of each kind of work he was to

do, and unless he obeyed these instructions he was sure before long to

be driven out of the place by the men.

As soon as the writer was made gang-boss, one after another of the men

came to him and talked somewhat as follows:

"Now, Fred we're very glad to see that you've been made gang-boss. You

know the game all right, and we're sure that you're not likely to be a

piece-work hog. You come along with us, and every-thing will be all

right, but if you try breaking any of these rates you can be mighty sure

that we'll throw you over the fence."

The writer told them plainly that he was now working on the side of the

management, and that he proposed to do whatever he could to get a fair

day's work out of the lathes. This immediately started a war; in most

cases a friendly war, because the men who were under him were his

personal friends, but none the less a war, which as time went on grew

more and more bitter. The writer used every expedient to make them do a

fair day's work, such as discharging or lowering the wages of the more

stubborn men who refused to make any improvement, and such as lowering

the piece-work price, hiring green men, and personally teaching them how

to do the work, with the promise from them that when they had learned

how, they would then do a fair day's work. While the men constantly

brought such pressure to bear (both inside and outside the works) upon

all those who started to increase their output that they were finally

compelled to do about as the rest did, or else quit. No one who has not

had this experience can have an idea of the bitterness which is

gradually developed in such a struggle. In a war of this kind the

workmen have one expedient which is usually effective. They use their

ingenuity to contrive various ways in which the machines which they are

running are broken or damaged--apparently by accident, or in the regular

course of work--and this they always lay at the door of the foreman, who

has forced them to drive the machine so hard that it is overstrained and

is being ruined. And there are few foremen indeed who are able to stand

up against the combined pressure of all of the men in the shop. In this

case the problem was complicated by the fact that the shop ran both day

and night.

The writer had two advantages, however, which are not possessed by the

ordinary foreman, and these came, curiously enough, from the fact that

he was not the son of a working man.

First, owing to the fact that he happened not to be of working parents,

the owners of the company believed that he had the interest of the works

more at heart than the other workmen, and they therefore had more

confidence in his word than they did in that of the machinists who were

under him. So that, when the machinists reported to the Superintendent

that the machines were being smashed up because an incompetent foreman

was overstraining them, the Superintendent accepted the word of the

writer when he said that these men were deliberately breaking their

machines as a part of the piece-work war which was going on, and he also

allowed the writer to make the only effective answer to this Vandalism

on the part of the men, namely: "There will be no more accidents to the

machines in this shop. If any part of a machine is broken the man in

charge of it must pay at least a part of the cost of its repair, and the

fines collected in this way will all be handed over to the mutual

beneficial association to help care for sick workmen." This soon stopped

the willful breaking of machines.

Second. If the writer had been one of the workmen, and had lived where

they lived, they would have brought such social pressure to bear upon

him that it would have been impossible to have stood out against them.

He would have been called "scab" and other foul names every time he

appeared on the street, his wife would have been abused, and his

children would have been stoned. Once or twice he was begged by some of

his friends among the workmen not to walk home, about two and a half

miles along the lonely path by the side of the railway. He was told that

if he continued to do this it would be at the risk of his life. In all

such cases, however, a display of timidity is apt to increase rather

than diminish the risk, so the writer told these men to say to the other

men in the shop that he proposed to walk home every night right up that

railway track; that he never had carried and never would carry any

weapon of any kind, and that they could shoot and be d------.

After about three years of this kind of struggling, the output of the

machines had been materially increased, in many cases doubled, and as a

result the writer had been promoted from one gang-boss-ship to another

until he became foreman of the shop. For any right-minded man, however,

this success is in no sense a recompense for the bitter relations which

he is forced to maintain with all of those around him. Life which is one

continuous struggle with other men is hardly worth living. His workman

friends came to him continually and asked him, in a personal, friendly

way, whether he would advise them, for their own best interest, to turn

out more work. And, as a truthful man, he had to tell them that if he

were in their place he would fight against turning out any more work,

just as they were doing, because under the piece-work system they would

be allowed to earn no more wages than they had been earning, and yet

they would be made to work harder.

Soon after being made foreman, therefore, he decided to make a

determined effort to in some way change the system of management, so

that the interests of the workmen and the management should become the

same, instead of antagonistic. This resulted, some three years later, in

the starting of the type of management which is described in papers

presented to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers entitled "A

Piece-Rate System" and "Shop Management."

In preparation for this system the writer realized that the greatest

obstacle to harmonious cooperation between the workmen and the

management lay in the ignorance of the management as to what really

constitutes a proper day's work for a workman. He fully realized that

although he was foreman of the shop, the combined knowledge and skill of

the workmen who were under him was certainly ten times as great as his

own. He therefore obtained the permission of Mr. William Sellers, who

was at that time the President of the Midvale Steel Company, to spend

some money in a careful, scientific study of the time required to do

various kinds of work.

Mr. Sellers allowed this more as a reward for having, to a certain

extent, "made good" as foreman of the shop in getting more work out of

the men, than for any other reason. He stated, however, that he did not

believe that any scientific study of this sort would give results of

much value.

Among several investigations which were undertaken at this time, one was

an attempt to find some rule, or law, which would enable a foreman to

know in advance how much of any kind of heavy laboring work a man who

was well suited to his job ought to do in a day; that is, to study the

tiring effect of heavy labor upon a first-class man. Our first step was

to employ a young college graduate to look up all that had been written

on the subject in English, German, and French. Two classes of

experiments had been made: one by physiologists who were studying the

endurance of the human animal, and the other by engineers who wished to

determine what fraction of a horse-power a man-power was. These

experiments had been made largely upon men who were lifting loads by

means of turning the crank of a winch from which weights were suspended,

and others who were engaged in walking, running, and lifting weights in

various ways. However, the records of these investigations were so

meager that no law of any value could be deduced from them. We therefore

started a series of experiments of our own.

Two first-class laborers were selected, men who had proved themselves to

be physically powerful and who were also good steady workers. These men

were paid double wages during the experiments, and were told that they

must work to the best of their ability at all times, and that we should

make certain tests with them from time to time to find whether they were

"soldiering" or not, and that the moment either one of them started to

try to deceive us he would be discharged. They worked to the best of

their ability throughout the time that they were being observed.

Now it must be clearly understood that in these experiments we were not

trying to find the maximum work that a man could do on a short spurt or

for a few days, but that our endeavor was to learn what really

constituted a full day's work for a first-class man; the best day's work

that a man could properly do, year in and year out, and still thrive

under. These men were given all kinds of tasks, which were carried out

each day under the close observation of the young college man who was

conducting the experiments, and who at the same time noted with a

stop-watch the proper time for all of the motions that were made by the

men. Every element in any way connected with the work which we believed

could have a bearing on the result was carefully studied and recorded.

What we hoped ultimately to determine was what fraction of a horse-power

a man was able to exert, that is, how many foot-pounds of work a man

could do in a day.

After completing this series of experiments, therefore, each man's work

for each day was translated into foot-pounds of energy, and to our

surprise we found that there was no constant or uniform relation between

the foot-pounds of energy which the man exerted during a day and the

tiring effect of his work. On some kinds of work the man would be tired

out when doing perhaps not more than one-eighth of a horse-power, while

in others he would be tired to no greater extent by doing half a

horse-power of work.

We failed, therefore, to find any law which was an accurate guide to the

maximum day's work for a first-class workman.

A large amount of very valuable data had been obtained, which enabled us

to know, for many kinds of labor, what was a proper day's work. It did

not seem wise, however, at this time to spend any more money in trying

to find the exact law which we were after. Some years later, when more

money was available for this purpose, a second series of experiments was

made, similar to the first, but some what more thorough.

This, however, resulted as the first experiments, in obtaining valuable

information but not in the development of a law. Again, some years

later, a third series of experiments was made, and this time no trouble

was spared in our endeavor to make the work thorough. Every minute

element which could in anyway affect the problem was carefully noted and

studied, and two college men devoted about three months to the

experiments. After this data was again translated into foot-pounds of

energy exerted for each man each day, it became perfectly clear that

there is no direct relation between the horse-power which a man

exerts (that is, his foot-pounds of energy per day) and the tiring effect

of the work on the man. The writer, however, was quite as firmly

convinced as ever that some definite, clear-cut law existed as to what

constitutes a full day's work for a first-class laborer, and our data

had been so carefully collected and recorded that he felt sure that the

necessary information was included somewhere in the records. The problem

of developing this law from the accumulated facts was therefore handed

over to Mr. Carl G. Barth, who is a better mathematician than any of the

rest of us, and we decided to investigate the problem in a new way, by

graphically representing each element of the work through plotting

curves, which should give us, as it were, a bird's-eye view of every

element. In a comparatively short time Mr. Barth had discovered the law

governing the tiring effect of heavy labor on a first-class man. And it

is so simple in its nature that it is truly remarkable that it should

not have been discovered and clearly understood years before. The law

which was developed is as follows:

The law is confined to that class of work in which the limit of a man's

capacity is reached because he is tired out. It is the law of heavy

laboring, corresponding to the work of the cart horse, rather than that

of the trotter. Practically all such work consists of a heavy pull or a

push on the man's arms, that is, the man's strength is exerted by either

lifting or pushing something which he grasps in his hands. And the law

is that for each given pull or push on the man's arms it is possible for

the workman to be under load for only a definite percentage of the day.

For example, when pig iron is being handled (each pig weighing 92

pounds), a first-class workman can only be under load 43 per cent of the

day. He must be entirely free from load during 57 per cent of the day.

And as the load becomes lighter, the percentage of the day under which

the man can remain under load increases. So that, if the workman is

handling a half-pig, weighing 46 pounds, he can then be under load 58

per cent of the day, and only has to rest during 42 per cent. As the

weight grows lighter the man can remain under load during a larger and

larger percentage of the day, until finally a load is reached which he

can carry in his hands all day long without being tired out. When that

point has been arrived at this law ceases to be useful as a guide to a

laborer's endurance, and some other law must be found which indicates

the man's capacity for work.

When a laborer is carrying a piece of pig iron weighing 92 pounds in his

hands, it tires him about as much to stand still under the load as it

does to walk with it, since his arm muscles are under the same severe

tension whether he is moving or not. A man, however, who stands still

under a load is exerting no horse-power whatever, and this accounts for

the fact that no constant relation could be traced in various kinds of

heavy laboring work between the foot-pounds of energy exerted and the

tiring effect of the work on the man. It will also be clear that in all

work of this kind it is necessary for the arms of the workman to be

completely free from load (that is, for the workman to rest) at frequent

intervals. Throughout the time that the man is under a heavy load the

tissues of his arm muscles are in process of degeneration, and frequent

periods of rest are required in order that the blood may have a chance

to restore these tissues to their normal condition.

To return now to our pig-iron handlers at the Bethlehem Steel Company.

If Schmidt had been allowed to attack the pile of 47 tons of pig iron

without the guidance or direction of a man who understood the art, or

science, of handling pig iron, in his desire to earn his high wages he

would probably have tired himself out by 11 or 12 o'clock in the day. He

would have kept so steadily at work that his muscles would not have had

the proper periods of rest absolutely needed for recuperation, and he

would have been completely exhausted early in the day. By having a man,

however, who understood this law, stand over him and direct his work,

day after day, until he acquired the habit of resting at proper

intervals, he was able to work at an even gait all day long without

unduly tiring himself.

Now one of the very first requirements for a man who is fit to handle

pig iron as a regular occupation that he shall be so stupid and so

phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental make-up the ox

than any other type. The man who is mentally alert and intelligent is

for this very reason entirely unsuited to what would, for him, be the

grinding monotony of work of this character. Therefore the workman who

is best suited to handling pig iron is unable to understand the real

science of doing this class of work. He is so stupid that the word

"percentage" has no meaning to him, and he must consequently be trained

by a man more intelligent than himself into the habit of working in

accordance with the laws of this science before he can be successful.

The writer trusts that it is now clear that even in the case of the most

elementary form of labor that is known, there is a science, and that

when the man best suited to this class of work has been carefully

selected, when the science of doing the work has been developed, and

when the carefully selected man has been trained to work in accordance

with this science, the results obtained must of necessity be

overwhelmingly greater than those which are possible under the plan of

"initiative and incentive."

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Taylor, F. W. (1911). The principles of scientific management (pp. 30-60). New York, NY: Harper Brothers.