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Congress.
House. S
to investigate the Taylor and other e
Shop management
62D CONGRESS,
2d Session.
***
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. {
Te ma
TAYLOR AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT,
т
REPORT
No. 403. 58
45
1912.
MARCH 9, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.
Mr. WILSON of Pennsylvania, from the Special Committee to Inves-
tigate the Taylor and Other Systems of Shop Management, sub-
mitted the following
REPORT.
Your committee, appointed under House resolution 90, adopted
August 21, 1911, respectfully submits the following report:
By the provisions of the resolution under which it was appointed
your committee was directed—
to investigate the Taylor and other systems of shop management, which investigation
shall include its applicability to Government works, its effect on the health and
pay of employees, its effect on wages and labor cost, and such other matters connected
therewith as may give a thorough understanding of the results of the installation of
this system.
We have examined a number of witnesses relative to the various
systems of shop management which have been worked out and are
being introduced in a limited number of establishments throughout
the country, but we have given especial attention to an investigation
of the Taylor system because we found that this system is being
introduced in part in two Government arsenals and its extension
into other Government plants being seriously considered by the
officers in charge of the Ordnance Bureau of the War Department.
All of these systems, including the Taylor system, have become
known by the general term "scientific management" and are referred
to as such throughout the hearings, a copy of which accompanies this
report.
A great amount of good work has been done by Mr. Taylor and
others in working out the details of scientific methods of shop man-
agement, but neither Mr. Taylor nor anyone else has presented to
this committee a system so complete and perfect as to justify a
recommendation that it be imposed in its entirety in any Govern-
ment shop.
Any radical change in factory management should be a gradual
evolution out of that which has preceded. The present systems, or
lack of systems, with their good and their bad points are them-
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selves the result of long evolution. No drastic or radical change in
them should be suddenly or even quickly imposed by fiat from
above. Men Lave become accustomed alike to the good and the
bad that are in the systems under which they work. They know
and approve the good; they know how to combat the evil. They
are naturally and properly suspicious that motives purely selfish
may be behind the sudden change. Confidence is a plant of slow
growth. Neither the Taylor system nor any other should be imposed
fror above on an unwilling working force. Any system of shop
management ought to be the result of mutual conference and mutual
consent, and that takes time.
TAYLOR AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT.
Government in a mill should be like government in a State-
'with the consent of the governed."
It appears to your committee that no one can seriously object,
and as a matter of fact no one has objected, to any system which so
standardizes and systematizes the work to be performed that a
greater amount of production is secured with the same expenditure
of labor. Employer and employee alike and the public generally
are interested in securing the largest amount and the best quality of
production that can possibly be secured by the amount of labor
expended. All men have a mutual interest in the accomplishment
of that end. It is only when it comes to a division of that which
has been produced that their interests diverge. It, therefore, fol-
lows that any system of management, which has a tendency to
destroy the power of employees, individually or collectively, to secure
the equivalent of the production which properly belongs to them
must be looked upon as being dangerous to the welfare of the com-
munity at large.
Efficiency must not be had at the cost of the men, women, and
children who labor and who should be the primary beneficiaries from
efficiency. We should study how to produce the best results in
output while also producing conditions to make the most efficient
men and women to produce that output and this must be done by
conserving in every way not only their health and physical and
nervous vigor, but by creating such conditions as will permit them to
work out their own happiness and contentment, secure wages which
will enable them to live in such a manner as to maintain their own
self-respect and sufficient leisure to enjoy the refreshing influence of
mental and moral recreation.
The Taylor system of shop management may be divided into three
general heads: Standardization, systematization, and stimulation.
Efficiency may be gained in whole or in part by any of these ways,
by any two of them, or by all three combined. Any or all of these
devices may be carried to an extreme. In the first two devices,
namely, standardization and systematization, the expense which
would be created by carrying them to an extreme would act as a
check against the continuance of such a condition, but that check
would not exist in that portion of stimulation which is applied to the
workman.
The expenses of standardization and systematization are borne by the
management, while the expense of stimulation in the form of increased
energy is borne by the workman. Any system of shop management
which creates a burden charge through standardization or systemati-
zation which is too heavy for the shop to bear or which imposes bur-
TAYLOR AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT.
3
den charges through stimulation which are too heavy for the workman
to bear should be discontinued.
That there is some loafing or soldiering amongst workmen has been
shown by the testimony before your committee, but it is not general
nor does it occur in numerous instances compared with the total num-
ber employed.
Ordinary intelligent management under any system could eliminate
it entirely, or at least reduce it to the point where it would not be a
serious hindrance to production. Because there are some loafers is
no reason why the remainder of the workmen should either be com-
pelled or induced to work up to the very edge of the breaking strain.
There is need for production at the lowest cost, but no economic neces-
sity can justify requiring workmen to speed up to the highest point
which they can continue from day to day and from year to year, even
without injury to their health and strength. To place workmen in a
'position of that kind is to put them in the position of a beast of burden
which is required to go on from day to day performing a given task.
There is a margin between the work performed by the loafer and
the maximum task for a man, and in that margin lies a proper day's
work. What constitutes a reasonable day's work can only be deter-
mined by practical experience and intelligent observation. It can
not be wholly determined by a stop watch or any other time-measuring
instrument used only for a brief period of time. By the stop watch you
may be able to determine the time in which a piece of work can be
done, but you do not thereby alone determine the length of time in
which it ought to be done. The time study of the operations of any
machine can be made with a reasonable degree of accuracy, because
all of the elements can be taken into consideration in making the com-
putation. A machine is an inanimate thing-it has no life, no brain,
no sentiment, and no place in the social order. With a workman it is
different. He is a living, moving, sentient, social being; he is en-
titled to all the rights, privileges, opportunities, and respectful con-
sideration given to other men. He would be less than a man if he did
not resent the introduction of any system which deals with him in the
same way as a beast of burden or an inanimate machine.
<
In making a time study of the operations of a workman, all of the
elements can not be taken into consideration, and consequently the
computation can not be made with mathematical accuracy. There
is no work that can be performed, or that is performed, that is not
preceded by a mental process on the part of the workman. The more
skill needed in the work, the greater the mental process which pre-
ceeds the expression of it. So far as your committee has been able to
learn, there is no method known to scientific management by which a
time study can be made of the mental process preceding the physical
act.
The elements of the mental process not being susceptible of deter-
mination by a stop-watch time study, the study of itself must con-
sequently be inaccurate and the workmen are justified in objecting
to such a time study being used as a basis upon which to compute
their day's work and compensation when in their judgment injustice
is done them thereby.
K
In an effort to stimulate the workmen to increased activity various
methods are used under different systems-such as discharge, fear of
discharge, stop-watch time studies, and bonuses. The fear of dis-
4
TAYLOR AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT.
charge exists under any system and, no doubt, will continue to exist
and to act as stimulus. The establishment of a premium or bonus
presupposes the establishment of a task. The bonus system is based
upon the establishment of a task large enough for an ordinary day's
work and then giving additional compensation as an inducement to
a workman to do more than he would ordinarily do.
The proponents of the Taylor system assert that the workman will
be protected against any injustice either in the amount of work
required of him or the compensation for that work by a change in
the mental attitude brought about by the introduction of the system
A mental attitude which produces a spirit of cooperation between
the employer and the employee is much to be desired, but such a
spirit is not the result of any particular system of management, but is
due almost entirely to the personality of the management and em-
ployee and the spirit that prevails in their relations to each other.
Your committee is of the opinion that the mere mental attitude of
the employer is too variable and unsubstantial a basis upon which
to rest the material welfare of the wage worker. Standardizing and
systematizing of work can be introduced successfully without any
change in mental attitude from that which exists in the ordinary
shop, but when it comes to introducing stimulation, a change of
mental attitude by which the workman is willing to give a greater
amount of energy for the same amount of pay may be very desirable
to the employer of labor, but it is not always so desirable to the
employee.
STANDARDIZATION.
The Taylor system undertakes to standardize the tools, machines,
nuts, bolts, etc., so as to eliminate as far as possible the loss of time and
waste energy resulting from the lack of standardization. This is "a
consummation devoutly to be wished." It was shown to your com-
mittee that in the Watertown Arsenal prior to the change in system
there were several kinds of gear cutters run by one man. They were
of different makes, capacities, and ages, and operated on different
principles. It was also shown that the nuts and bolts used were not
standardized and consequently much time was lost by the workman
in searching for sizes for his machine. This is not good practice.
The machinery should be standardized, made alike in principle, if not
in size, so that the time of the workman need not be wasted over
different kinds of tools in an effort to find the right one.
It is an
advantage to have standard hand tools in our shops, so far as possible,
that the question of selecting from among many need not come up.
Similar operations on similar work can be advantageously done in
a similar way. It is a great waste of effort and thought to perform
one operation in one way to-day and in another way to-morrow. It
is a still greater waste to perform one operation in three or four dif-
ferent ways at the same time. Where there is no standard a man
never gets a chance to produce the best results, and even when he
works hard he makes a comparatively poor showing. But standard-
izing can be carried too far. When standardization has reached the
point that the cost of maintaining it is greater than the saving result-
ing therefrom it should be discontinued.
G
TAYLOR AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT.
SYSTEMATIZATION.
10
5
Any system that eliminates unnecessary and wasted effort is good.
It does not necessarily follow, however, that because any particular
system has been branded as scientific that the brand alone makes it
such.
Conditions vary in different shops and a system which would be
effective in one might not be as effective in another. The work and
responsibility of selecting, evolving, or introducing a system suitable
to a particular shop must in a great measure depend upon the intelli-
gence of the management.
PLANNING.
The Taylor system undertakes to systematize the work first, by the
establishment of a planning department; second, by detail study of
the shop and the elements of a particular piece of work; third, by a
routing system; and out of these grow a multitude of other details
such as job cards, routing cards, time study, and many others. So
much of this kind of detail work is needed under this system that it
appears to your committee that constant care would have to be exer-
cised in order to prevent the overhead charges thus created from using
up all of the benefits which might be derived from the proper systema-
tization of the work.
Every well-regulated industrial establishment should have a
planning department proportioned to the size and need of the shop.
In establishing a planning department practical common sense
should be used the same as in everything else. In a small shop the
manager might easily be his own planning department. In large
establishments a separate department could be utilized to advantage
for the proper planning of the work. In other words, every shop
should be provided with the means of properly planning the handling
of all work that comes to it so as to get it through the shop with
the least possible waste of energy or loss of time to either men or
machines.
STUDY OF DETAILS OF SHOP AND WORK.
A detailed study of the elements of every piece of work for the
purpose of discovering the best system of handling it and the elimina-
tion of unnecessary work on the part of the workman may be and no
doubt is under some circumstances productive of good results. That
is particularly true when unskilled men are selected to do skilled
work and it becomes necessary to study their movements in order to
train them to that standard of efficiency which skilled men have
already attained; but it is neither as essential nor as beneficial where
men are employed who are trained and skilled in the particular line
of work they are expected to do. The elimination of unnecessary
motion in doing any work is always a benefit, because it conserves the
vitality of the workman and makes his labor more productive.
It should be the duty of every foreman to observe the methods.
of his workmen with a view of correcting any improper methods and
removing unnecessary motion in his work. It can not, however, be
expected that every workman who has spent the greater part of his
life in doing work by methods which have become familiar to him
would in all instances become more efficient by the adoption of some
6
other method even though the other method eliminated unnecessary
motion. In the judgment of your committee, the determination
of whether or not a detailed study of the methods of the workmen
should be made would, in a great measure, depend upon the skill or
lack of skill of those required to do the work.
TAYLOR AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT.
ROUTING.
It is always an advantage to have the work properly routed
through the shop, although it is not at all times necessary that a
routing card should be made out to accompany the work. In small
shops the routing might be done very effectively by the oral direc-
tion of the foreman. In larger establishments routing cards are
beneficial for the effective handling of the work and they are made
more effective when the machines are properly arranged and grouped
so that the work can pass through with as little handling as possible,
but even in large shops where the same work is being duplicated day
after day it would be a waste of time and an unnecessary expendi-
ture of energy to furnish a routing card for any job after the work
had reached the point where it automatically routes itself.
STIMULATION.
Here is the crux of the difficulty in the introduction of the Taylor
or any other system of so-called scientific management. So far as
the workmen are concerned, they have not made any serious objec-
tions before your committee to standardizing or systematizing of the
work, but they have vigorously protested against stimulation on
the grounds that it tends to injure their health through overwork,
and that while their wages may be temporarily increased, the result
is that they are ultimately required to expend the greater amount
of energy without receiving any additional pay. In the judgment
of your committee the best and most effective stimulus that can be
given to the work in a shop is to secure and hold a fine spirit of
cooperation with the management on the part of the workmen.
That can not be secured through timing the operations of the work-
man with a stop watch when he considers such a procedure an indig-
nity which recognizes him as being in the same class as a beast of
burden or a machine, or when he considers such a time study inac-
curate, and therefore unjust to him, or when he knows that it is to
be used as a basis from which to compute the speed at which he
must work and the wages he is to receive, when in his judgment the
work, speed, and wage rate are being established in order to secure
greater profits for the employer at the expense of the workmen. A
straight piecework basis may be used as a stimulus to workmen
without injury to them on work that is continuously duplicated for
a prolonged period of time, provided the workmen are so situated
that they can protect themselves against the entire power of the
management being centered upon them individually to compel
them to work beyond their normal capacity, and provided, further,
that they can secure a satisfactory guaranty that when the piece
rate has been once established it will not be reduced unless the
methods of production are materially changed, and reduced then
only in proportion to the reduction in mental and physical energy
required in the production of the article.
Q
7
In any form that stimulation may be used, except that of true
cooperation, continuous care must be had that quality is not sacri-
ficed to quantity.
Neither the Taylor system, the Emerson system, the Gantt system,
the Brombacher system, the Stimpson system, nor any of the sys-
tems of so-called scientific management have been in existence long
enough for your committee to determine with accuracy their effect
on the health and pay of employees and their effect on wages and
labor cost. The conclusions we have arrived at are all based upon
what we consider to be the logical sequence of the conditions existing
or proposed. The selection of any system of shop management for
the various Government works must be to a great extent a matter of
administration, and your committee does not deem it advisable nor
expedient to make any recommendations for legislation upon the
subject at this time.
TAYLOR AN OTHER SYSTEMS OF SHOP MANAGEMENT.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
We recommend, wherever possible, in Government work the
machines, tools, nuts, and bolts should be standardized, the manage-
ment using continuous care that the cost of standardization shall not
exceed the benefits to be derived from the same.
Second. That the management should at all times give studious
attention to the proper systematizing and routing of work, the
grouping of machines, the furnishing of proper tools and equipment,
and the elimination of waste motion and waste energy on the part of
the workmen.
Third. That careful study should be made of machines in order
to attain the speed and feed which will secure the highest and best
possible production.
Fourth. The management should put forth every effort to invite
and induce full cooperation between the working force and them-
selves, and should, therefore, deal with the working force in the
most open, frank, and candid way, affording the fullest opportunity
for consultation and explanation in advance of proposed action
affecting the interests of the workmen. Stop-watch time study
should not be made of workmen without their consent or any condi-
tions be imposed upon them by authority which imply any indignity;
piecework may be introduced where the work to be performed is a
continuous duplication, but with the express understanding that piece-
work rates shall not be cut unless the conditions of production are
materially changed; in other cases the rate should be a straight day-
wage rate at the highest prevailing rate for a similar class of work
in the neighborhood where the Government work is to be performed,
except that by mutual consent bonus and premium work may be
introduced, but only with scrupulous care that the workman shall
have full opportunity for increasing his earnings without risk of
overstrain, for collective bargaining if he should so desire, and for
easy and direct appeal to the management in any cases where he
may think his interests threatened.
Respectfully submitted.
O
W. B. WILSON, Chairman.
WILLIAM C. REDFIELD.
JOHN Q. TILSON.

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