The Psychology of Management by Lillian Moller Gilbreth
2. for use by the instruction card clerk in explaining to
2124 words | Chapter 172
the men why the rules on the instruction card are given.
RELATION OF SYSTEMS TO STANDARDS SHOULD BE EMPHASIZED.--The
worker is too often not made to understand the relation of Systems
to Standards. The average worker does not object to Systems, because
he realizes that the System is a collection of his best, least
wasteful methods of doing work. When he can be convinced that
standards are only efficient elements of his own methods
scientifically studied and combined, any opposition to them
will disappear.
THE PERSONAL NOTE OF THE "SYSTEM" SHOULD BE PRESERVED.--Perhaps
one thing that makes the typical "Systems" so attractive is the
personal note that they contain. Illustrated with pictures of
successful work that the workers themselves have done, often
containing pictures of the men themselves that illustrate successful
methods, with mention of the names of men who have offered valuable
suggestions or inventions, they make the worker feel his part in
successful results. They conserve the old spirit of coöperation
between the master and his apprentices.
The conditions of modern industry make it extremely difficult to
conserve this feeling. Scientific Management is successful not only
because it makes possible a more effective coöperation than has ever
existed since the old "master-and-apprentice" relation died out, but
also because it conserves in the Systems the interim channel for
personal communication between the various members of the
organization.
SYSTEMS A VALUABLE ASSISTANCE IN TRANSITION TO SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT.--One great problem which those introducing Scientific
Management have to face is exactly how to make the worker understand
the relation of the new type of management to the old. The
usefulness of the written system in use in most places where it is
planned to introduce Scientific Management as a means of making the
worker understand the transition has, perhaps, not been appreciated.
The development of the standard from the system is easy to
explain. This being done, all parts of Scientific Management are
so closely related that their interrelation can be readily made
apparent.
It is the worker's right as well as privilege to understand the
management under which he works, and he only truly coöperates, with
his will and judgment as well as with his hands, when he feels that
his mind is a part of the directing mind.
STANDARDIZATION UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT ELIMINATES WASTE
SCIENTIFICALLY.--Under Scientific Management the elimination of
waste by the use of standards becomes a science. Standards are no
longer based on opinions, as under Traditional Management, but are
based upon scientific investigation of the elements of experience.
As James says, in the "Psychology, Briefer Course," page 156,
paragraph 4,--"It is obvious and palpable that our state of mind is
never precisely the same. Every thought we have of a given fact is,
strictly speaking, unique and only bears a resemblance of kind with
our other thoughts of the same facts. When the identical fact recurs
we must think of it in a fresh manner, see it under a somewhat
different angle, apprehend it in different relations from those in
which it last appeared."
THE STANDARD THE RESULT OF MEASUREMENT.--It is obvious,
therefore, that a scientifically derived standard can never be the
outcome of an opinion. Whenever the opinion returns, the different
thoughts with which it would be accompanied would so color it as to
change it, and the standard with it. It is obvious, therefore, that
a standard must be the result of definite mathematical and other
measured proof, and not of an opinion, and that the standard must be
in such physical shape that the subject-matter will always be
clearly defined, otherwise the ultimate losses resulting from
dependent sequences of the standard schedule and time-tables would
be enormous.
SUCCESSFUL STANDARDIZATION DEMANDS COMPLETE CONFORMITY TO
STANDARDS.--The laws for establishment of standards; the laws of
achieving them; the laws for preventing deviations from those paths
that will permit of their achievement; the dependent sequences
absolutely necessary to perform the complete whole; these have been
worked out and given to the world by Dr. Taylor, who recognized, as
James has said, page 157, that, "a permanently existing 'Idea' which
makes its appearance before the footlights of consciousness at
periodic intervals, is as mythological an entity as the Jack of
Spades." The entire organization from the highest to the lowest must
conform to these standards. It is out of the question to permit the
deviations resulting from individual initiative. Individual
initiative is quite as objectionable in obtaining the best
results,--that is, high wages and low production cost,--as service
would be on a railroad if each locomotive engineer were his own
train despatcher, determining at what time and to what place he
would go.
INITIATIVE PROVIDED FOR.--There is a distinct place for
initiative in Scientific Management, but that place is not outside
of the planning department, until the planning department's method
has been proved to be fully understood by achieving it. The
standards must be made by the men to whom this work is assigned, and
they must be followed absolutely by the worker. He is willing to
follow them, under Scientific Management, because he realizes that a
place for his suggestions is supplied, and that, if his suggestions
are accepted, they will be incorporated into the new standards which
must then be followed by all thereafter.
STANDARDIZATION APPLIES TO THE WORK OF ALL.--It is important to
note that standardizing is applied to the work of all. This, if
understood by all, will do away with all question of discrimination
or the lack of a "square deal." It will make the worker feel ready
to follow his standard exactly, just as he knows the manager is
following his. So, also, the worker should be made to realize that
the very fact that there is a standardization means, under
Scientific Management, that that applies to every man, and that
there is no discrimination against him in any possible way.
STANDARDIZATION CONSERVES AND DEVELOPS INDIVIDUALITY.--
Standardization conserves individual capacity by doing away with the
wasteful process of trial and error of the individual workman. It
develops individuality by allowing the worker to concentrate his
initiative upon work that has not before been done, and by providing
incentive and reward for inventions.
WASTE ELIMINATED IS ELIMINATED PERMANENTLY.--Scientific
Management not only eliminates waste, but provides that waste shall
be eliminated for all time in the future.
The standard once written down, there can be no slipping back
into the old methods based upon opinions of the facts.
STANDARDIZATION UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT RESEMBLES
STANDARDIZATION OF SPELLING.--The need for standardization has
already been emphasized, but might further be illustrated by the
discussions, pro and con, of the question of simplified spelling.
Before the days of dictionaries, our spelling was not standardized--
it was the privilege of any good writer to spell much as he desired;
but the creation of written standards of spelling, that is to say
the making of dictionaries, fixed the forms of spelling at that
time, that is, created standards. The Simplified Spelling Board is
now endeavoring to make some new standards, their action being based
upon sufficient reasons for making a change, and also for not
changing the spelling of any word until it is determined that the
suggested spelling is more advisable than the old spelling.
Just so, under Scientific Management, the best known standards
are used continuously until better have been discovered. The
planning department, consisting of the best men available, whose
special duty it is to create new standards, acts as does the
Simplified Spelling Board, as a court of appeals for new standards,
which must pass this court before they can hope to succeed the old,
and which must, if they are to be accepted, possess many elements of
the old and be changed only in such a way that the users can,
without difficulty, shift to the new use.
UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT NOMENCLATURE IS STANDARDIZED.--Under
Standardization in Scientific Management the standardization of the
nomenclature, of the names and of the terms used must be noted. The
effect of this upon the mind is excellent, because the use of a word
very soon becomes a habit--its associations become fixed. If
different names are used for the same thing,--that is to say, if
different names are used indiscriminately, the thing itself becomes
hazy, in just such a degree as it possesses many names. The use of
the fixed term, the fixed word, leads to definiteness always. Just
so, also, the Mnemonic Symbol system in use by Scientific
Management, leads to swift identification of the subdivision of the
classification to which it is applied, and to elimination of waste
in finding and remembering where to find any particular thing or
piece of information desired. By it may be identified "the various
articles of manufacture and papers relating to it as well as the
operations to be performed on each piece and the various charges of
the establishment."
MNEMONIC SYMBOLS SAVE TIME AND EFFORT.--These Mnemonic Symbols
save actual motions and time in speaking and writing, and save time
in that they are so designed as to be readily remembered. They also
save time and effort in that the mind accustomed to them works with
them as collective groups of ideas, without stopping to elaborate
them into their more detailed form.
STANDARD PHRASEOLOGY ELIMINATES WASTE.--As typical of the
savings effected by standardization, we may cite a lineman talking
to the Central Telephone Office:--
"John Doe--1234 L. Placing Extension Station," This signified--
"My name is John Doe, I am telephoning from number 1234, party L.
I have finished installing an extension station. Where shall I
go next?"
In the same way standard signals are remembered best by the man
who signals and are understood quickest by the man who receives
them, with a direct increase in speed to the work done.
STANDARD MAN IS THE MAN UPON WHOM STUDIES ARE MADE.--The
standard man is the ideal man to observe and with whom to obtain the
best Motion Study and Time Study data. He is the fastest worker,
working under the direction of the man best informed in the
particular trade as to the motions of best present practice, and
being timed by a Time Study Expert.
RELATION BETWEEN THE STANDARD MAN, THE FIRST-CLASS MAN, THE
GIVEN MAN AND THE TASK.--The "first-class man" under Scientific
Management means the man who is best fitted by nature and by
training to do the task permanently or until promoted.
The "given man" is the man who is actually put to work at the
task, whether or not he is well fitted for its performance.
The "task" is that percentage of the standard man's achievement
that the given man to whom the task is to be assigned can do
continuously and thrive, that he can do easily enough to win his
bonus without injuring himself, temporarily or permanently, in
any way.
WRITING THE STANDARD MEANS FOR CONVEYING INFORMATION.--Under
Scientific Management, and even in the early stages of Transitory
Management, writing is the standard means of conveying information.
All orders, without exception, should be in writing. This
insures that the "eye workers" get their directions in the most
impressive form; does away with the need of constant oral
repetition; eliminates confusion; insures a clear impression in the
mind of the giver as well as of the receiver of the order as to
exactly what is wanted; and provides a record of all orders given.
Putting the instructions in writing in no way precludes utilizing
the worker's natural aptitude to learn by imitation, for he also
always has the opportunity to watch and imitate the workings of the
functional teachers as well as his scientifically taught
fellow-workers.
THE INSTRUCTION CARD THE STANDARD METHOD OF CONVEYING
INSTRUCTIONS AS TO THE TASK.--The records of the work of the
standard man are contained in data of the Motion Study and Time
Study department. These records, in the form in which they are to be
used by the man who is to perform the task, are, for the benefit of
that man, incorporated in what is known as the instruction card.
DEFINITION OF THE INSTRUCTION CARD.--The instruction card is a
set of directions for the man, telling him what he is to do, how he
is to do it, how long it should take him to do it, and what he will
receive for doing it, and giving him an opportunity to call for, and
obtain, assistance the instant that he finds he cannot do it, and
to report back to the managers as to how he has succeeded in
the performance.
The Instruction Card has been called "a self-producer of a
predetermined product."
COMPARATIVE DEFINITION OF INSTRUCTION CARDS, UNDER SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT.--There are three types of Instruction Cards, which may
be described as follows:
Type One:--Largely geographical, telling
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