Measurement

CHAPTER IV

MEASUREMENT

DEFINITION OF MEASUREMENT.--"Measurement," according to the Century Dictionary,--"is the act of measuring," and to measure is--"to ascertain the length, extent, dimensions, quantity or capacity of, by comparison with a standard; ascertain or determine a quantity by exact observation," or, again, "to estimate or determine the relative extent, greatness or value of, appraise by comparison with something else."

MEASUREMENT IMPORTANT IN PSYCHOLOGY.--Measurement has always been of importance in psychology; but it is only with the development of experimental psychology and its special apparatus, that methods of accurate measurements are available which make possible the measurement of extremely short periods of time, or measurements "quick as thought," These enable us to measure the variations of different workers as to their abilities and their mental and physical fatigue;[1] to study mental processes at different stages of mental and physical growth; to compare different people under the same conditions, and the same person under different conditions; to determine the personal coefficient of different workers, specialists and foremen, and to formulate resultant standards. As in all other branches of science, the progress comes with the development of measurement.

METHODS OF MEASUREMENT IN PSYCHOLOGY.--No student of management, and of measurement in the field of management, can afford not to study, carefully and at length, methods of measurement under psychology. This, for at least two most important reasons, which will actually improve him as a measurer, i.e.--

1. The student will discover, in the books on experimental psychology and in the "Psychological Review," a marvelous array of results of scientific laboratory experiments in psychology, which will be of immediate use to him in his work.

2. He will receive priceless instruction in methods of measuring. No where better than in the field of psychology, can one learn to realize the importance of measurements, the necessity for determination of elements for study, and the necessity for accurate apparatus and accuracy in observation.

Prof. George M. Stratton, in his book "Experimental Psychology and Culture,"--says "In mental measurements, therefore, there is no pretense of taking the mind's measure as a whole, nor is there usually any immediate intention of testing even some special faculty or capacity of the individual. What is aimed at is the measurement of a limited event in consciousness, such as a particular perception or feeling. The experiments are addressed, of course, not to the weight or size of such phenomena, but usually to their duration and intensity."[2]

The emphasis laid on a study of elements is further shown in the same book by the following,--"The actual laboratory work in time-measurement, however, has been narrowed down to determining, not the time in general that is occupied by some mental action, but rather the shortest possible time in which a particular operation, like discrimination or choice or association or recognition, can be performed under the simplest and most favorable circumstances.[3] The experimental results here are something like speed or racing records, made under the best conditions of track and training. A delicate chronograph or chronoscope is used, which marks the time in thousandths of a second."

MEASUREMENT IN PSYCHOLOGY RELATED TO MEASUREMENT IN MANAGEMENT.--Measurement in psychology is of importance to measurement in management not only as a source of information and instruction, but also as a justification and support. Scientific Management has suffered from being called absurd, impractical, impossible, over-exact, because of the emphasis which it lays on measurement. Yet, to the psychologist, all present measurement in Scientific Management must appear coarse, inaccurate and of immediate and passing value only. With the knowledge that psychologists endorse accurate measurement, and will cooeperate in discovering elements for study, instruments of precision and methods of investigation, the investigator in industrial fields must persist in his work with a new interest and confidence.[4]

Scientific Management cannot hope to furnish psychology with either data or methods of measurement. It can and does, however, open a new field for study to experimental psychology, and shows itself willing to furnish the actual working difficulties or problems, to do the preliminary investigation, and to utilize results as fast as they can be obtained.

PSYCHOLOGISTS APPRECIATE SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--The appreciation which psychologists have shown of work done by Scientific Management must be not only a matter of gratification, but of inspiration to all workers in Scientific Management.

So, also, must the new divisions of the Index to the Psychological Review relating to Activity and Fatigue, and the work being so extensively done in these lines by French, German, Italian and other nations, as well as by English and American psychologists.

MEASUREMENT IMPORTANT IN MANAGEMENT.--The study of individuality and of functionalization have made plain the necessity of measurement for successful management. Measurement furnishes the means for obtaining that accurate knowledge upon which the science of management rests, as do all sciences--exact and inexact.[5] Through measurement, methods of less waste are determined, standards are made possible, and management becomes a science, as it derives standards, and progressively makes and improves them, and the comparisons from them, accurate.

PROBLEM OF MEASUREMENT IN MANAGEMENT--One of the important problems of measurement in management is determining how many hours should constitute the working day in each different kind of work and at what gait the men can work for greatest output and continuously thrive. The solution of this problem involves the study of the men, the work, and the methods, which study must become more and more specialized; but the underlying aim is to determine standards and individual capacity as exactly as is possible.[6]

CAPACITY.--There are at least four views of a worker's capacity.

1. What he thinks his capacity is. 2. What his associates think his capacity is. 3. What those over him think his capacity is. 4. What accurate measurement determines his actual capacity to be.

IGNORANCE OF REAL CAPACITY.--Dr. Taylor has emphasized the fact that the average workman does not know either his true efficiency or his true capacity.[7] The experience of others has also gone to show that even the skilled workman has little or inaccurate knowledge of the amount of output that a good worker can achieve at his chosen vocation in a given time.[8]

For example,--until a bricklayer has seen his output counted for several days, he has little idea of how many bricks he can lay, or has laid, in a day.[9]

The average manager is usually even more ignorant of the capacity of the workers than are the men themselves.[10] This is because of the prevalence of, and the actual necessity for the worker's best interest, under some forms of management, of "soldiering." Even when the manager realizes that soldiering is going on, he has no way, especially under ordinary management, of determining its extent.

LITTLE MEASUREMENT IN TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT.--Under Traditional Management there was little measurement of a man's capacity. The emphasis was entirely on the results. There was, it is true, in everything beyond the most elementary of Traditional Management, a measurement of the result. The manager did know, at the end of certain periods of time, how much work had been done, and how much it had cost him. This was a very important thing for him to know. If his cost ran too high, and his output fell too low, he investigated. If he found a defect, he tried to remedy it; but much time had to be wasted in this investigation, because often he had no idea where to start in to look for the defects. The result of the defects was usually the cause for the inquiry as to their presence.

He might investigate the men, he might investigate the methods, he might investigate the equipment, he might investigate the surroundings, and so on,--and very often in the mind of the Traditional manager, there was not even this most elementary division. If things went wrong he simply knew,--"Something is wrong somewhere," and it was the work of the foremen to find out where the place was, or so to speed up the men that the output should be increased and the cost lowered. Whether the defects were really remedied, or simply concealed by temporarily speeding up, was not seriously questioned.

Moreover, until measuring devices are secured, the only standard is what someone thinks about things, and the pity of it is that even this condition does not remain staple.

TRANSITORY MANAGEMENT REALIZES VALUE OF MEASUREMENT.--One of the first improvements introduced when Traditional Management gives place to the Transitory stage is the measurement of the separated output of individual workers. These outputs are measured and recorded. The records for extra high outputs are presented to the worker promptly, so that he may have a keen idea constantly of the relation of effort to output, while the fatigue and the effort of doing the work is still fresh in his mind.

The psychology of the prompt reward will be considered later at length, but it cannot be emphasized too often that the prompter the reward, the greater the stimulus. The reward will become associated with the fatigue in such a way that the worker will really get, at the time, more satisfaction out of his fatigue than he will discomfort; at the least, any dissatisfaction over his fatigue will be eliminated, by the constant and first thought of the reward which he has gotten through his efforts.

This record of efficiency is often so presented to the workers that they get an excellent idea of the numerical measure of their efficiency and its trend. This is best done by a graphical chart.

The records of the outputs of others on the same kind of work done concurrently, or a corresponding record on work done previously, will show the relative efficiency of any worker as compared with the rest. These standards of comparison are a strong incentive and, if they are shown at the time that such work is done, they also become so closely associated not only with the mental but the bodily feeling of the man that the next time the work is repeated, the thoughts that the same effort will probably bring greater results, and that it has done so in the past with others, will be immediately present in the mind.

MEASUREMENT IS BASIC UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Under Scientific Management measurement is basic. Measurement is of the work, of outputs, of the methods, the tools, and of the worker, with the individual as a unit, and motion study, time study and micro-motion study and the chrono-cyclegraph as the methods of measurement.

Measurement is a most necessary adjunct to selecting the workers and the managers and to assigning them to the proper functions and work. They cannot be selected to the greatest advantage and set to functionalized work until--

(a) the unit of measurement that will of itself tend to reduce costs has been determined. (b) methods of measurement have been determined. (c) measurement has been applied. (d) standards for measurement have been derived. (e) devices for cheapening the cost of measuring have been installed.

UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT MEASUREMENT DETERMINES THE TASK.--An important aim of measurement under Scientific Management is to determine the Task, or the standard amount of any kind of work that a first class man can do in a certain period of time. The "standard amount" is the largest amount that a first class man can do and continuously thrive.

The "first-class" man is the man who can eventually become best fitted, by means of natural and acquired capabilities, to do the work. The "certain period of time" is that which best suits the work and the man's thriving under the work. The amount of time allowed for a task consists of three parts--

1. time actually spent at work. 2. time for rest for overcoming fatigue. 3. time for overcoming delays.

Measurement must determine what percentage of the task time is to be spent at work and what at rest, and must also determine whether the rest period should all follow the completed work, or should be divided into parts, these parts to follow certain cycles through the entire work period.

The method of constructing the task is discussed under two chapters that follow, Analysis and Synthesis, and Standardization. Here we note only that the task is built up of elementary units measured by motion study, time study, and micro-motion study.

When this standard task has been determined the worker's efficiency can be measured by his performance of, or by the amount that he exceeds, the task.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE OBSERVER OR MEASURER.--The position of observer, or as he has well been called, "trade revolutionizer," should be filled by a man specially selected for the position on account of his special natural fitness and previous experience. He also should be specially trained for his work. As in all other classes of work, the original selection of the man is of vital importance. The natural qualities of the successful hunter, fisherman, detective, reporter and woodsman for observation of minute details are extremely desirable. It is only by having intimate knowledge of such experiences as Agassiz had with his pupils, or with untrained "observers" of the trade, that one can realize the lack of powers of observation of detail in the average human being.

Other natural qualifications required to an efficient observer are that of being

(a) an "eye worker"; (b) able to concentrate attention for unusually long periods; (c) able to get every thought out of a simple written sentence; (d) keenly interested in his work; (e) accurate; (f) possessed of infinite patience; (g) an enthusiastic photographer.

The measurer or observer should, preferably, have the intimate knowledge that comes from personal experience of the work to be observed, although such a man is often difficult if not impossible to obtain.

The position of observer illustrates another of the many opportunities of the workmen for promotion from the ranks to higher positions when they are capable of holding the promotion. Naturally, other things being equal, no man is so well acquainted with the work to be observed as he who has actually done it himself, and if he have also the qualifications of the worker at the work, which should, in the future, surely be determined by study of him and by vocational guidance, he will be able to go at once from his position in the ranks to that of observer, or time study man.

The observer must also familiarize himself with the literature regarding motion study and time study, and must form the habit of recording systematically the minutest details observable.

The effect upon the man making the observation of knowing that his data, even though at the time they may seem unimportant, can be used for the deduction of vital laws, is plain. He naturally feels that he is a part of a permanent scheme, and is ready and willing to put his best activity into the work. The benefits accruing from this fact have been so well recognized in making United States surveys and charts, that the practice has been to have the name of the man in charge of the work printed on them.

ANYONE INTERESTED MAY BECOME AN OBSERVER.--A review of the mental equipment needed by a measurer, or observer, will show that much may be done toward training oneself for such a position by practice. Much pleasure as well as profit can be obtained by acquiring the habit of observation, both in the regular working and in the non-working hours. Vocational Guidance Bureaus should see that this habit of observation is cultivated, not only for the aesthetic pleasure which it gives, but also for its permanent usefulness.

UNBIASED OBSERVATION NECESSARY.--In order to take observations properly, the investigator should be absolutely impartial, unprejudiced, and unbiased by any preconceived notions. Otherwise, he will be likely to think that a certain thing ought to happen. Or he may have a keen desire to obtain a certain result to conform to a pet theory. In other words, the observer must be of a very stable disposition. He must not be carried away by his observations.

The elimination of any charting by the man who makes the observations, or at least its postponement until all observations are made, will tend to decrease the dangers of unconscious effect of what he considers the probable curve of the observations should be.

As has been well said, watching the curve to be charted before all of the data have been obtained develops a distinct theory in the mind of the investigator and is apt to "bend the curve" or, at least, to develop a feeling that if any new, or special, data do not agree with the tendency of the curve--so much the worse for the reputation of the data for reliability.

OBSERVED WORKER SHOULD REALIZE THE PURPOSE OF THE MEASUREMENT.--The observed worker should be made to realize the purpose and importance of the measurement. The observing should always be done with his full knowledge and hearty cooeperation. He will attain much improvement by intelligent cooeperation with the observer, and may, in turn, be able to be promoted to observing if he is interested enough to study and prepare himself after hours.

WORKER SHOULD NEVER BE OBSERVED SURREPTITIOUSLY.--No worker should ever be observed, timed and studied surreptitiously. In the first place, if the worker does not know that he is being observed, he cannot cooeperate with the observer to see that the methods observed are methods of least waste. Therefore the motion study and time study records that result will not be fundamental standards in any case and will probably be worthless.

In the second place, if the worker discovers that he is being observed secretly, he will feel that he is being spied upon and is not being treated fairly. The stop watch has too long been associated with the idea of "taking the last drop of blood from the worker." Secret observations will tend strongly to lend credence to this idea. Even should the worker thus observed not think that he was being watched in order to force him, at a later time, to make higher outputs, after he has once learned that he is being watched secretly, his attention will constantly be distracted by the thought that perhaps he is being studied and timed again. He will be constantly on the alert to see possible observers. This may result in "speeding him up," but the speed will not be a legitimate speed, that results to his good as well as to that of his employer.

Worst of all, he will lose confidence in the "squareness" of his employer. Hence he will fail to co-operate, and one of the greatest advantages of Scientific Management will thus be lost.

It is a great advantage of micro-motion study that it demands cooeperation of the man studied, and that its results are open to study by all.

AN EXPERT BEST WORKER TO OBSERVE.--The best worker to observe for time study is he who is so skilled that he can perform a cycle of prescribed standard motions automatically, without mental concentration. This enables him to devote his entire mental activity to deviating the one desired variable from the accepted cycle of motions.

The difficulty in motion study and time study is not so often to vary the variable being observed and studied, as it is to maintain the other variables constant. Neither skill nor appreciation of what is wanted is enough alone. The worker who is to be measured successfully must

1. have the required skill. 2. understand the theory of what is being done. 3. be willing to cooeperate.

EVERYONE SHOULD BE TRAINED IN BEING MEASURED.--Accurate measurement of individuals, in actual practice, brings out the fact that lamentably few persons are accustomed to be, or can readily be, measured. It has been a great drawback to the advance of Scientific Management that the moment a measurer of any kind is put on the work, either a device to measure output or a man to measure or to time reactions, motions, or output, the majority of the workers become suspicious. Being unaccustomed to being measured, they think, as is usually the case with things to which we are unaccustomed, that there is something harmful to them in it. This feeling makes necessary much explanation which in reality should not be needed.

The remedy for this condition is a proper training in youth. A boy brought up with the fundamental idea of the importance of measurement to all modern science, for all progress, accustomed to being measured, understanding the "why" of the measuring, and the results from it, will not hesitate or object, when he comes to the work, to being measured in order that he may be put where it is best for himself, as well as for the work, that he be put.

The importance of human measurement to vocational guidance and to the training of the young for life work has never been properly realized. Few people understand the importance of psychological experiment as a factor in scientific vocational guidance. For this alone, it will probably in time be a general custom to record and keep as close track as possible of the psychological measurements of the child during the period of education, vocational guidance and apprenticeship. Not only this, but he also should be accustomed to being measured, physically and psychologically, from his first years, just as he is now accustomed to being weighed.

The child should be taught to measure himself, his faculties, his reactions, his capabilities as compared with his former self and as compared with the capabilities of others. It is most important that the child should form a habit not only of measuring, but of being measured.

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY ARE THE METHOD OF MEASUREMENT UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Under Scientific Management, much measuring is done by motion study and time study, which measure the relative efficiency of various men, of various methods, or of various kinds of equipment, surroundings, tools, etc. Their most important use is as measuring devices of the men. They have great psychological value in that they are founded on the "square deal" and the men know this from the start. Being operated under laws, they are used the same way on all sorts of work and on all men. As soon as the men really understand this fact, and realize

1. that the results are applied to all men equally; 2. that all get an ample compensation for what they do; 3. that under them general welfare is considered; the objections to such study will vanish.

MOTION STUDY IS DETERMINING METHODS OF LEAST WASTE.--Motion Study is the dividing of the elements of the work into the most fundamental subdivisions possible; studying these fundamental units separately and in relation to one another; and from these studied, chosen units, when timed, building up methods of least waste.

TIME STUDY IS DETERMINING STANDARD UNIT TIMES.--Time study consists of timing the elements of the best method known, and, from these elementary unit times, synthesizing a standard time in which a standard man can do a certain piece of work in accordance with the finally accepted method.

Micro-motion study is timing sub-divisions, or elements of motions by carrying out the principles of motion study to a greater degree of accuracy by means of a motion picture camera, a clock that will record different times of day in each picture of a moving picture film together with a cross sectioned background and other devices for assisting in measuring the relative efficiency and wastefulness of motions. It also is the cheapest, quickest and more accurate method of recording indisputable time study records. It has the further advantage of being most useful in assisting the instruction card man to devise methods of least waste.[11]

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY MEASURE INDIVIDUAL EFFICIENCY.-- Motion Study and Time Study measure individual capacity or efficiency by providing data from which standards can be made. These standards made, the degree to which the individual approaches or exceeds the standard can be determined.

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY MEASURE METHODS.--Motion Study and Time Study are devices for measuring methods. By their use, old methods are "tried out," once and for all, and their relative value in efficiency, determined. By their use, also, new methods are "tried out." This is most important under Scientific Management.

Any new method suggested can be tested in a short time. Such elements of it as have already been tested, can be valued at the start, the new elements introduced can be motion studied and time studied, and waste eliminated to as great an extent as possible, with no loss of time or thought.

Under Scientific Management, the men who understand what motion study and time study mean, know that their suggested methods will be tested, not only fairly, but so effectively that they, and everyone else, can know at once exactly the worth of their suggestions.

COMPARISON OF METHODS FOSTERS INVENTION.--The value of such comparative study can be seen at a glance. When one such method after another is tried out, not only can one tell quickly what a new method is worth, but can also determine what it is worth compared to all others which have been considered. This is because the study is a study of elements, primarily, and not of methods as a whole. Not only can suggested methods be estimated, but also new methods which have never been suggested will become apparent themselves through this study. Common elements, being at once classified and set aside, the new ones will make themselves prominent, and better methods for doing work will suggest themselves, especially to the inventive mind.

BOOKS OF PRELIMINARY DATA NEEDED.--In order that this investigation may be best fostered, not only must books of standards be published, but also books of preliminary data, which other workers may attack if they desire, and where they can find common elements. Such books of preliminary data are needed on all subjects.[12]

MOTION STUDY AND TIME STUDY MEASURE EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS.--Time and motion study are measuring devices for ascertaining relative merits of different kinds of equipment, surroundings and tools. Through them, the exact capacities of equipment or of a tool or machine can be discovered at once, and also the relative value in efficiency. Also motion study and time study determine exactly how a tool or a piece of equipment can best be used.

In "On The Art of Cutting Metals" Dr. Taylor explains the effect of such study on determining the amount of time that tools should be used, the speed at which they should be used, the feed, and so on.[13] This paper exemplifies more thoroughly than does anything else ever written the value of Time Study, and the scientific manner in which it is applied.

THE SCOPE OF TIME AND MOTION STUDY IS UNLIMITED.--It is a great misfortune that the worker does not understand, as he should, that motion study and time study apply not only to his work, but also to the work of the managers. In order to get results from the start, and paying results, it often happens that the work of the worker is the first to be so studied, but when Scientific Management is in full operation, the work of the managers is studied exactly to the same extent, and set down exactly as accurately, as the work of the worker himself. The worker should understand this from the start, that he may become ready and willing to cooeperate.

DETAILED RECORDS NECESSARY.--Motion study and time study records must go into the greatest detail possible. If the observations are hasty, misdirected or incomplete they may be quite unusable and necessitate going through the expensive process of observation all over again. Dr. Taylor has stated that during his earlier experiences he was obliged to throw away a large quantity of time study data, because they were not in sufficient detail and not recorded completely enough to enable him to use them after a lapse of a long period from the time of their first use. No system of time study, and no individual piece of time study, can be considered a success unless by its use at any time, when new, or after a lapse of years, an accurate prediction of the amount of work a man can do can be made.

All results attained should invariably be preserved, whether they appear at the moment to be useful or valuable or not. In time study in the past it has been found, as in the investigations of all other sciences, that apparently unimportant details of today are of vital importance years after, as a necessary step to attain, or further proof of a discovery. This was exemplified in the case of the shoveling experiment of Dr. Taylor. The laws came from what was considered the unimportant portion of the data. There is little so unimportant that time and motion study would not be valuable. Just as it is a great help to the teacher to know the family history of the student, so it is to the one who has to use time and motion study data to know all possible of the hereditary traits, environment and habits of the worker who was observed.

SPECIALIZED STUDY IMPERATIVE.--As an illustration of the field for specialized investigation which motion study and time study present, we may take the subject of fatigue. Motion Study and Time Study aim to show,

1. the least fatiguing method of getting least waste. 2. the length of time required for a worker to do a certain thing. 3. the amount of rest and the time of rest required to overcome fatigue.

Dr. Taylor spent years in determining the percentage of rest that should be allowed in several of the trades, beginning with those where the making of output demands weight hanging on the arms; but there is still a great amount of investigation that could be done to advantage to determine the most advisable percentage of rest in the working day of different lengths of hours. Such investigation would probably show that many of our trades could do the same amount of work in fewer hours, if the quantity and time of rest periods were scientifically determined.

Again, there is a question of the length of each rest period. It has been proven that in many classes of work, and especially in those where the work is interrupted periodically by reason of its peculiar nature, or by reason of inefficient performance in one of the same sequence of dependent operations, alternate working and resting periods are best. There is to be considered in this connection, however, the recognized disadvantage of reconcentrating the attention after these rest periods. Another thing to be considered is that the rate of output does not decline from the beginning of the day, but rather the high point of the curve representing rate of production is at a time somewhat later than at the starting point. The period before the point of maximum efficiency is known as "warming up" among ball players, and is well recognized in all athletic sports.

As for the point of minimum efficiency, or of greatest fatigue, this varies for "morning workers," and "night workers." This exemplifies yet another variable.

The minuteness of the sub-fields that demand observation, is shown by an entry in the Psychological Index: "1202. Benedict, F.G. "Studies in Body--Temperature." 1. Influence of the Inversion of the Daily Routine; the Temperature of Night Workers."[14]

SELECTION OF BEST UNIT OF MEASUREMENT NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT.-- Selecting the unit of measurement that will of itself reduce costs is a most important element in obtaining maximum efficiency.[15] This is seldom realized.[16] Where possible, several units of measurements should be used to check each other.[17] One alone may be misleading, or put an incentive on the workers to give an undesirable result.

The rule is,--always select that unit of output that will, of itself, cause a reduction in costs.

For example:--In measuring the output of a concrete gang, counting cement bags provides an incentive to use more cement than the instruction card calls for. Counting the batches of concrete dumped out of the mixer, provides an incentive to use rather smaller quantities of broken stone and sand than the proportions call for,--and, furthermore, does not put the incentive on the men to spill no concrete in transportation, neither does it put an incentive to use more lumps for Cyclopean concrete.

Measuring the quantity actually placed in the forms puts no incentive to watch bulging forms closely.

While measuring outputs by all these different units of measurements would be valuable to check up accuracy of proportions, accuracy of stores account, and output records, the most important unit of measurement for selection would be, "cubic feet of forms filled," the general dimensions to be taken from the latest revised engineer's drawings.

NECESSITY FOR CHECKING ERRORS.--Dr. Stratton says,--"No measurements, whether they be psychic or physical, are exact beyond a certain point, and the art of using them consists largely in checks and counter checks, and in knowing how far the measurement is reliable and where the doubtful zone begins."[18]

Capt. Metcalfe says,--"Errors of observation may be divided into two general classes; the instrumental and those due to the personal bias of the observer; the former referring to the standard itself, and the latter to the application of the standard and the record of the measurement."[19]

The concrete illustration given above is an example of careful checking up. Under Scientific Management so many, and such careful records are kept that detecting errors becomes part of the daily routine.

SUMMARY

RESULTS OF MEASUREMENT TO THE WORK.--Under Traditional Management, even the crudest measurement of output and cost usually resulted in an increase in output. But there was no accuracy of measurement of individual efficiency, nor was there provision made to conserve results and make them permanently useful.

Under Transitory Management and measurement of individual output, output increased and rewards for the higher output kept up the standard.

UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT BETTER METHODS AND BETTER WORK RESULTS.--Under Scientific Measurement, measurement of the work itself determines

1. what kind of workers are needed. 2. how many workers are needed. 3. how best to use them.

Motion Study and Time Study measurement,--

1. divide the work into units. 2. measure each unit. 3. study the variables, or elements, one at a time. 4. furnish resulting timed elements to the synthesizer of methods of least waste.

ACCURATE MEASURING DEVICES PREVENT BREAKDOWNS AND ACCIDENTS.--The accurate measuring devices which accomplish measurement under Scientific Management prevent breakdowns and accidents to life and limb.

For example.--

1. The maintained tension on a belt bears a close relation to its delay periods. 2. The speed of a buzz planer determines its liability to shoot out pieces of wood to the injury of its operator, or to injure bystanders.

Scientific Management, by determining and standardizing methods and equipment both, provides for uninterrupted output.

EFFECT ON THE WORKER.--Under Traditional Management there is not enough accurate measurement done to make its effect on the worker of much value.

Under Transitory Management, as soon as individual outputs are measured, the worker takes more interest in his work, and endeavors to increase his output.

Under Scientific Management measurement of the worker tells

1. what the workers are capable of doing. 2. what function it will be best to assign them to and to cultivate in them.

WASTE ELIMINATED BY ACCURATE MEASUREMENT.--This accurate measurement increases the worker's efficiency in that it enables him to eliminate waste. "Cut and try" methods are eliminated. There is no need to test a dozen methods, a dozen men, a dozen systems of routing, or various kinds of equipment more than once,--that one time when they are scientifically tried out and measured. This accurate measurement also eliminates disputes between manager and worker as to what the latter's efficiency is.

EFFICIENCY MEASURED BY TIME AND MOTION STUDY.--Time and Motion Study.

(a) measure the man by his work; that is, by the results of his activities; (b) measure him by his methods; (c) measure him by his capacity to learn; (d) measure him by his capacity to teach.

Now measurement by result alone is very stimulating to increasing activities, especially when it shows, as it does under Scientific Management, the relative results of various people doing the same kind of work. But it does not, itself, show the worker _how_ to obtain greater results without putting on more speed or using up more activities. But when the worker's methods are measured, he begins to see, for himself, exactly why and where he has failed.

Scientific Management provides for him to be taught, and the fact that he sees through the measurements exactly what he needs to be taught will make him glad to have the teacher come and show him how to do better. Through this teaching, its results, and the speed with which the results come, the workers and the managers can see how fast the worker is capable of learning, and, at the same time, the worker, the teacher and the managers can see in how far the foreman is capable of instructing.

FINAL OUTCOME BENEFICIAL TO MANAGERS AND MEN.--Through measurement in Scientific Management, managers acquire--

1. ability to select men, methods, equipment, etc.; 2. ability to assign men to the work which they should do, to prescribe the method which they shall use, and to reward them for their output suitably; 3. ability to predict. On this ability to predict rests the possibility of making calendars, chronological charts and schedules, and of planning determining sequence of events, etc., which will be discussed at length later.

Ability to predict allows the managers to state "premature truths," which the records show to be truths when the work has been done.

It must not be forgotten that the managers are enabled not only to predict what the men, equipment, machinery, etc., will do, but what they can do themselves.

THE EFFECT ON THE MEN IS THAT THE WORKER CO-OPERATES.--1. The worker's interest is held. The men know that the methods they are using are the best. The exact measurements of efficiency of the learner,--and under Scientific Management a man never ceases to be a learner,--give him a continued interest in his work. It is impossible to hold the attention of the intelligent worker to a method or process that he does not believe to> be the most efficient and least wasteful.

Motion study and time study are the most efficient measuring device of the relative qualities of differing methods. They furnish definite and exact proof to the worker as to the excellence of the method that he is told to use. When he is convinced, lack of interest due to his doubts and dissatisfaction is removed.

2. The worker's judgment is appealed to. The method that he uses is the outcome of cooeperation between him and the management. His own judgment assures him that it is the best, up to that time, that they, working together, have been able to discover.

3. The worker's reasoning powers are developed. Continuous judging of records of efficiency develops high class, well developed reasoning powers.

4. The worker fits his task, therefore there is no need of adjustment, and his attitude toward his work is right.

5. There is elimination of soldiering, both natural and systematic.[20]

ALL KNOWLEDGE BECOMES THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL.--Two outcomes may be confidently expected in the future, as they are already becoming apparent where-ever Scientific Management is being introduced:

1. The worker will become more and more willing to impart his knowledge to others. When the worker realizes that passing on his trade secrets will not cause him to lose his position or, by raising up a crowd of competitors, lower his wages, but will, on the contrary, increase his wages and chances of promotion, he is ready and willing to have his excellent methods standardized.

Desire to keep one's own secret, or one's own method a secret is a very natural one. It stimulates interest, it stimulates pride. It is only when, as in Scientific Management, the possessor of such a secret may receive just compensation, recognition and honor for his skill, and receive a position where he can become an appreciated teacher of others that he is, or should be, willing to give up this secret. Scientific Management, however, provides this opportunity for him to teach, provides that he receives credit for what he has done, and receive that publicity and fame which is his due, and which will give him the same stimulus to work which the knowledge that he had a secret skill gave him in the past.

One method of securing this publicity is by naming the device or method after its inventor. This has been found to be successful not only in satisfying the inventor, but in stimulating others to invent.

MEASUREMENT OF INDIVIDUAL EFFICIENCY WILL BE ENDORSED BY ALL.--2. The worker will, ultimately, realize that it is for the good of all, as well as for himself, that individual efficiency be measured and rewarded.

It has been advanced as an argument against measurement that it discriminates against the "weaker brother," who should have a right to obtain the same pay as the stronger, for the reason that he has equal needs for this pay to maintain life and for the support of his family.

Putting aside at the moment the emotional side of this argument, which is undoubtedly a strong side and a side worthy of consideration, with much truth in it, and looking solely at the logical side,--it cannot do the "weaker" brother any good in the long run, and it does the world much harm, to have his work overestimated. The day is coming, when the world will demand that the quantity of the day's work shall be measured as accurately where one sells labor, as where one sells sugar or flour. Then, pretending that one's output is greater than it really is will be classed with "divers weights and divers measures," with their false standards. The day will come when the public will insist that the "weaker brother's" output be measured to determine just how weak he is, and whether it is weakness, unfitness for that particular job, or laziness that is the cause of his output being low. When he reaches a certain degree of weakness, he will be assisted with a definite measured quantity of assistance. Thus the "weaker brother" may be readily distinguished from the lazy, strong brother, and the brother who is working at the wrong job. Measurement should certainly be insisted on, in order to determine whether these strong brothers are doing their full share, or whether they are causing the weaker brothers to over-exert themselves.

No one who has investigated the subject properly can doubt that it will be better for the world in general to have each man's output, weak and strong, properly measured and estimated regardless of whether the weak and strong are or are not paid the same wages. The reason why the unions have had to insist that the work shall not be measured and that the weaker brother's weakness shall not be realized is, that in the industrial world the only brotherhood that was recognized was the brotherhood between the workers, there being a distinct antagonism between the worker and the manager and little or no brotherhood of the public at large. When Scientific Management does away, as it surely will, with this antagonism, by reason of the cooeperation which is its fundamental idea, then the workers will show themselves glad to be measured.

As for the "weaker" brother idea, it is a natural result of such ill treatment. It has become such a far-reaching emotion that even Scientific Management, with its remedy for many ills, cannot expect in a moment, or in a few years, to alter the emotional bias of the multitudes of people who have held it for good and sufficient reasons for generations.

THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD CONSERVE MEASUREMENT DATA.--The one thing which can permanently alter this feeling forms the natural conclusion to this chapter. That is, measurements in general and motion study and time study in particular must become a matter of government investigation. When the government has taken over the investigation and established a bureau where such data as Scientific Management discovers is collected and kept on file for all who will to use, then the possessor of the secret will feel that it can safely place the welfare of its "weaker brothers" in the hands of a body which is founded and operates on the idea of the "square deal."

APPRECIATION OF TIME STUDY BY WORKERS THE FIRST STEP.--The first step of the workers in this direction must be the appreciation of time study, for on time study hangs the entire subject of Scientific Management. It is this great discovery by Dr. Taylor that makes the elimination of waste possible. It has come to stay. Many labor leaders are opposed to it, but the wise thing for them to do is to study, foster and cultivate it. They cannot stop its progress. There is no thing that can stop it. The modern managers will obtain it, and the only way to prevent it from being used by unscrupulous managers is for the workman also to learn the facts of time study. It is of the utmost importance to the workers of the country, for their own protection, that they be as familiar with time study data as the managers are. Time study is the foundation and frame work of rate setting and fixing, and certainly the subject of rate fixing is the most important subject there is to the workmen, whether they are working on day work, piece work, premium, differential rate piece, task with bonus, or three-rate system.

Dr. Taylor has proved by time study that many of the customary working days are too long, that the same amount of output can be achieved in fewer hours per day. Time study affords the means for the only scientific proof that many trades fatigue the workers beyond their endurance and strength. Time study is the one means by which the workers can prove the real facts of their unfortunate condition under the Traditional plan of management.

The workers of the country should be the very ones that should insist upon the government taking the matter in hand for scientific investigation. Knowledge is power,--a rule with no exception, and the knowledge of scientific time study would prepare the workers of any trade, and would provide their intelligent leaders with data for accurate decisions for legislation and other steps for their best interests. The national bodies should hire experts to represent them and to cooeperate with the government bureau in applying science to their life work.

The day is fast approaching when makers of machinery will have the best method of operating their machines micro-motion studied and cyclegraphed and description of methods of operation in accordance with such records will be everywhere considered as a part of the "makers' directions for using."

Furthermore associations of manufacturers will establish laboratories for determining methods of least waste by means of motion study, time study and micro-motion study, and the findings of such laboratories will be put in standardized shape for use by all its members. The trend today shows that soon there will be hundreds of books of time study tables. The government must sooner or later save the waste resulting from this useless duplication of efforts.

CHAPTER IV FOOTNOTES: ==============================================

1. Hugo Muensterberg, _American Problems,_ p. 34. 2. G.M. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Its Bearing upon Culture_, p. 37. 3. _Ibid_., p. 38. 4. For apparatus for psychological experiment see Stratton, p. 38, p. 171, p. 265. 5. H.L. Gantt, _Work, Wages and Profits,_ p. 15. 6. Morris Llewellyn Cooke, Bulletin No. 5, _The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching,_ p. 7. 7. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management,_ para. 29. Harper Ed., p. 25. 8. H.L. Gantt, Paper No. 928, A.S.M.E., para. 6. 9. F.B. Gilbreth, _Cost Reducing System_. 10. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, para. 61. Harper Ed., p. 33. 11. _Industrial Engineering_, Jan., 1913. 12. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, pp. 398-391. Harper Ed., p. 179. Compare, U.S. Bulletin of Agriculture No. 208. _The Influence of Muscular and Mental Work on Metabolism_. 13. President's Annual Address, Dec., 1906. Vol. 28, Transactions A.S.M.E. 14. _American Journal of Physiology_, 1904, XI, pp. 145-170. 15. R.T. Dana, For Construction Service Co., _Handbook of Steam Shovel Work_, p. 161. H.P. Gillette, Vol. I, p. 71, A.S.E.C. 16. F.W. Taylor, Vol. 28, A.S.M.E., Paper 1119, para. 68. 17. Hugo Muensterberg, _American Problems_, p. 37. 18. G.M. Stratton, _Experimental Psychology and Culture_, p. 59. 19. Henry Metcalfe, _Cost of Manufactures_. 20. F.W. Taylor, _Shop Management_, para. 46. Harper Ed., p. 30. F.W. Taylor, _A Piece Rate System_, Paper 647, A.S.M.E., para. 22.

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