The Psychology of Management Part 17

from an earning standpoint, does not exist when the mind does not retain a memory of the method. The instruction card, then, acts as a form of transferable memory--it conserves memory. Once it is made, it furnishes the earning power without the necessity of the former experience having been had more than once.

Plans, details, free-hand sketches, and two-dimension photographs surpa.s.s the highest form of mental imagery, and such cultivated imagery is undoubtedly a high achievement. There is no kind of memory, visualization, nor constructive imagination that can equal the stereoscopic or three-dimension photographs that may accompany the instruction card for enabling the worker to "see the completed work before it is begun." Probably the greatest hindrance to development of lower forms of animal life is their inability to picture past experiences, and the reason for the intellectual strides made by the worker under Scientific Management is the development of this faculty.

A CONSERVER OF INDIVIDUAL MEMORIES.--Many people believe that the memory of a person ceases at his death. Whether this is so or not, the loss to the world, and particularly the industrial world, of not having the instruction card for the pa.s.sing on of the worker's experience to the workers who follow is stupendous and incalculable, and this loss, like so many other losses, can be eliminated by the process of making written standards.

MOTOR MEMORY IMPROVED BY STANDARDIZATION.--Not only are the retentive powers of the brain improved, but also the brain centers, and the muscles, etc., become trained through standardization. With standardization a long sequence of muscular motions or operations can be noted at a glance, and can be remembered without difficulty.

STANDARDS PREVENT MEN FROM BECOMING MACHINES.--Those who object to the worker taking advantage of these scientifically derived standards which aid the memory, can only be compared to such people as desire the workers to turn into unthinking animals. Psychologists believe that some of the lower animals have no memory. Turning the workers into machines which do not in any way utilize thought-saving devices is simply putting them but little above the cla.s.s of these lower, memory-less, animals.

THROUGH STANDARDS THE WORKER'S ATTENTION IS GAINED AT THE START.--The general act of attention plays an important part in Scientific Management. The insistence upon standardized performance requires the utmost attention at the beginning of learning a new method of performance. This extra output of mental activity, which is always required for accomplishing new methods of work, could not be continuously maintained, but after the new method has once been learned, its repet.i.tion requires less attention, consequently less fatigue. The attention of the worker is, therefore, strongly demanded at the beginning and when, later, it is not needed except for new and unfamiliar work, an opportunity arises for invention and mental advancement.

ATTENTION ALLOWED TO LAPSE AND THEN RECALLED.--Standardization shifts the objects of attention and eliminates the need for constant concentration. The standardization of processes relieves the worker to a marked extent from the extremely fatiguing mental effort of unproductive fixed, valueless, and unnecessary attention on the stream of consciousness. The repeated elements which form a part of all standards reconcentrates the attention if it is allowed to lapse.

STANDARDIZATION ELIMINATES THE SHIFTING VIEWPOINT.--Under old-time Traditional Management the way that the man happened to feel at the particular time made a great difference, not only in his work, but in his relations with other men. The standardization not only of the relationship between the men, but of the relationships between the foreman, the manager, and the worker, the fact that the disciplining is put in the hands of a man who is not biased by his personal feelings in his dealings with the men;--all of these things mean that the viewpoint of the men as to their work and their relationship remains fixed. This standardizing of the viewpoint is an enormous help toward increasing output.

THE COMMON VIEWPOINT IS AN IMPETUS.--There are those who believe that the concerted standard process of thought of the many minds a.s.sists the operation of any one mind. However this may be, there is no doubt that the fact that the standard thought is present in all minds at one time at least eliminates some cause for discussion and leads to unity and consequent success in the work.

INVENTION IS STIMULATED.--Chances for invention and construction are provided by standardization.[14] By having a scientifically derived standard method as a starter, the worker can exert much of his mental power toward improvement from that point upward, instead of being occupied with methods below it and in wasting, perhaps, a lifetime in striving to get up to it,[15] this in distinction to the old plan, where a worker knew only what he could personally remember of what had been handed down by tradition, tradition being the memory of society. Under Scientific Management a worker has many repet.i.tions of experience, some of which he does not always recognize as such. When he does recognize them, he has the power and daring for rapid construction that come to those only who "know that they know."

Standardization of ultimate subdivisions, as such, brings that power to the worker sooner. The conscious knowledge of familiarity of process is an essential for attaining the complete benefits of experience.

Far from making machines out of the men, standardization causes a mental state that leads to invention, for the reason that the worker's brain is in most intimate contact with the work, and yet has not been unnecessarily fatigued by the work itself. No more monotonous work could be cited than that of that boy whose sole duty was to operate by hand the valve to the engine, yet he invented the automatic control of the slide valve used throughout the world to-day.

STANDARDIZATION PREVENTS ACCIDENTS.--The results of standardization so far given, concern changes in the worker's mental capacity, or att.i.tude. Such changes, and other changes, will be discussed from a different viewpoint under "Teaching." As for results to the worker's body, one of the most important is the elimination of causes for accidents.

The rigid inspection, testing, and repairing provided for by Scientific Management provides against accidents from defects in equipment, tools, or material. The fact that instructions are written, provides against wrong methods of handling work.[16] The concentrated attention caused by standardization, is a safeguard against accidents that occur from the worker's carelessness.[17] The proper allowance of rest for overcoming fatigue, insures that the worker's mind is fresh enough to enable him to comply with standards, and, finally, the spirit of cooperation that underlies Scientific Management is an added check against accidents, in that everyone is guarding his fellows as well as himself.

PROGRESS OF STANDARDIZATION a.s.sURED.--As Scientific Management becomes older, progress will be faster, because up to this time there has been a hindrance standing in the way of rapid advancement of the best standards. This hindrance has been the tendency of habits of thought coinciding with former practice. For example, the design of concrete building for years followed the habit of thinking in terms of brick, or wood, or steel, and then attempting to design and construct in reinforced concrete. Again, in the case of the motor car, habits of thinking in vehicles drawn by animals for years kept the design unnecessarily leaning toward that of horse vehicles.

As soon as thought was in terms of power vehicles, the efficient motor truck of to-day was made, using the power also for power loading and power hoisting, as is now done in motor trucks specially designed for transporting and handling pianos and safes. So, also, while the thought was of traditional practice, standard practice was held back. Now that the theories of standardization are well understood, standardization and standards in general can advance with great rapidity.

CHAPTER VI FOOTNOTES: ==============================================

1. Compare R.T. Dana and W.L. Sanders, _Rock Drilling_, chap. XVI.

2. The idea of perfection is not involved in the standard of Scientific Management. Morris Llewellyn Cooke, Bulletin No. 5, of _The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching_, p. 6.

3. _Cost of Manufactures_.

4. Sully, _The Teacher's Handbook of Psychology_, pp. 290-292.

5. C.B. Going, _Methods of the Sante Fe_, p. 66.

6. For desirability of standard signals see R.T. Dana, _Handbook of Steam Shovel Work_, p. 32.

7. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Culture_, pp. 268-269.

8. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management,_ para. 285, Harper Ed., pp. 123-124.

9. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management,_ revised 1911, pp. 124-125.

10. F.W. Taylor, _On the Art of Cutting Metals_, A.S.M.E., No. 1119.

11. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Culture_, p. 11.

12. Mary Whiton Calkins, _A First Book in Psychology_, p. 65.

13. C.G. Barth, A.S.M.E., Vol. 25, Paper 1010, p. 46.

14. Charles Babbage, _On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures_, Secs. 224-225. Adam Smith, _Wealth of Nations_, Book 1, chap. 1, p. 4.

15. F.W. Taylor, paper 1119, A.S.M.E., para. 51; para. 98-100.

16. F.A. Parkhurst, _Applied Methods of Scientific Management, Industrial Engineering_, Oct. 1911, p. 251.

17. H.L. Gantt, paper 928, A.S.M.E., para. 15.

CHAPTER VII

RECORDS AND PROGRAMMES

DEFINITION OF RECORD.--A record is, according to the Century Dictionary--"something set down in writing or delineated for the purpose of preserving memory; specifically a register; an authentic or official copy of any writing, or an account of any fact and proceedings, whether public or private, usually entered in a book for preservation; also the book containing such copy or account."[1]

The synonyms given are "note, chronicle, account, minute, memorandum."

FEW WRITTEN RECORDS UNDER TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT.--For the purposes of this preliminary study of records, emphasis will be laid on the fact that the record is written. Under Traditional Management there are practically no such labor records. What records are kept are more in the nature of "bookkeeping records," as Gillette and Dana call them, records "showing debits and credits between different accounts." In many cases, under Traditional Management, not even such records of profit or loss from an individual piece of work were kept, the manager, in extreme cases, oftentimes "keeping his books in his head" and having only the vaguest idea of the state of his finances.

IMPORTANCE OF RECORDS REALIZED UNDER TRANSITORY MANAGEMENT.--As has been amply demonstrated in discussing Individuality and Standardization, the recognition of the value of records is one of the first indications of Transitory Management. Since this stage of management has Scientific Management in view as "a mark to come to,"

the records evolved and used are not discarded by Scientific Management, but are simply perfected. Therefore, there is no need to discuss these transitory records, except to say that, from the start, _quality_ of records is insisted upon before quant.i.ty of records.

NO "BOOKKEEPING" RECORDS UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Under Scientific Management there are no "bookkeeping records" kept of costs as such. Instead, there are "time and cost records," so called, of the time and efficiency of performance. From these, costs can be deduced at any time. Items of cost without relation to their causes, on work that is not to be repeated, have little value. Cost records, as such, usually represent a needless, useless expenditure of time and money. It must be emphasized that Scientific Management can in no way be identified with "cost keeping," in the sense that is understood to mean aimlessly recording unrelated costs. Under Scientific Management costs are an ever-present by-product of the system, not a direct product.

RECORDS MUST LOWER COSTS AND SIMPLIFY WORK.--The quant.i.ty of records that should be made depends on the amount, diversity and state of development of the work done. No record should be made, which does not, directly or indirectly, actually reduce costs or in some way increase efficiency. The purpose of the records, as of Scientific Management in general, is to simplify work. Only when this is recognized, can the records made be properly judged.

Numerous as they may at times seem to be, their number is determined absolutely by the satisfactory manner in which they--

1. Reduce costs.

2. Simplify work.

3. Increase efficiency.

RECORDS OF WORK AND WORKERS.--Records may be of the work or of the worker[2]--that is to say, of material used, tools used, output produced, etc., or of individual efficiency, in one form or another.

Records of efficiency may be of workers, of foremen, and of managers, and a record may be made of any man in several capacities; for example, a record is kept of a functional foreman in the form of the work of the men who are under him, while another record might be kept of him as a worker himself; for example, the time being taken that it took him to teach others their duties, the time to learn what was to be done on any new work, etc.

RECORDS OF INITIATIVE.--Records of initiative are embodied in the Suggestion Card. Even under advanced Traditional Management the cards are furnished to the men upon which to write any ideas as to improvements. These suggestions are received, and, if accepted, are rewarded.

Under Scientific Management such suggestions become more valuable, for, as has been shown, they are based upon standards; thus if accepted, they signify not only a real, but a permanent improvement. Their greatest value, however, is in the stimulus that they furnish to the worker, in the information that they furnish the management as to which workers are interested, and in the spirit of cooperation that they foster.

The worker receives not only a money-reward, but also publicity, for it is made known which worker has made a valuable suggestion.

This indicates that the worker has shown good judgment. His interest is thus stimulated, his attention is held to his work, and the habit of initiative comes to him. That this habit of initiative can be fostered, is shown by the actual fact that in many sorts of work the same man constantly makes suggestions. It becomes a habit with him to look for the new way, and as he is constantly rewarded, the interest is not allowed to diminish.

RECORDS OF GOOD BEHAVIOR.--Records of good behavior are incorporated in the White List File. The White List File contains the names of all men who have ever been employed who merit a recommendation, if they should go to work for others, and would deserve to be given work as soon as possible, if they came back.

This White List File should be filled out with many details, but even if it contains nothing but a record of the names, and the addresses where the men can be reached when new work starts up, it has a stimulating effect upon the worker. He feels, again, the element of permanence; there is a place for individuality, and not only does the manager have the satisfaction of actually having this list, and of using it, but a feeling that his men know that he is in some way recognizing them, and endeavoring to make them and their good work permanent.

RECORDS OF ACHIEVEMENT.--Records of achievement vary with the amount and nature of the work done. Such records are, as far as possible, marked upon programmes.

RECORDS MADE BY WORKER WHERE POSSIBLE.--Wherever possible the worker makes his own records. Even when this is not advisable he is informed of his record at as short intervals as are practicable.[3]

RECORDS MADE ON THE "EXCEPTION PRINCIPLE."--Much time is saved by separating records for the inspection of the man above, simply having him examine the exceptions to some desired condition,--the records which are exceptionally good, the records which are exceptionally bad. This not only serves as a reward to the man who has a good record, and a punishment for the man who has had a bad record, but it also enables the manager to discover at once what is wrong and where it is wrong, and to remedy it.

The value of the exception principle can hardly be overestimated. It would be of some value to know of exceptionally good or poor work, even if the cause were not known. At least one would be made to observe the signpost of success or of danger. But, under Scientific Management, the cause appears simultaneously with the fact on the record,--thus not only indicating the proper method of repeating success, or avoiding failure, in the future, but also showing, and making clear, the direct relation of cause to effect, to the worker himself.