The Psychology of Management by Lillian Moller Gilbreth
6. an offense against the system (disobeying orders), falling
2951 words | Chapter 98
down on schedule, or intentionally not coöperating.
The employé over him, or the foreman, to whom he is supposed to
have done some injustice, would be in no state of mind to judge as
to the man's culpability. In the case of an offense against an
employé of the same grade, the best that the injured employé could
do would be to appeal to his foreman, who oftentimes is not an
unprejudiced judge, and the multiplicity of whose duties give him
little time to give attention to the subject of disciplining.
If the offense is against quantity or quality of work, again the
old fashioned foreman, for lack of time, and for lack of training
and proper standards of measurement, will find it almost impossible
to know how guilty the man is, and what form of punishment and
what amount of punishment or loss of opportunity for progress will
be appropriate.
CHANGES IN DISCIPLINARIAN'S FUNCTION UNDER SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT.--All this is changed under Scientific Management. The
disciplinarian is a specially appointed functional foreman, and has
few other duties except those that are directly or indirectly
connected with disciplining. He is in touch with the requirements of
the work, because he is in the Planning Department; he is in touch
with the employment bureau, and knows which men should be employed;
he has a determining voice in deciding elementary rate fixing and
should always be consulted before wages are changed or a
reassignment of duties is determined. All of these are great
advantages to him in deciding justly and appropriately punishments
and promotion, not for the workers alone but also for the foremen
and the managers.
DUTIES OF THE DISCIPLINARIAN.--The Disciplinarian keeps a record
of each man's virtues and defects; he is in position to know all
about the man; where he comes from; what his natural and acquired
qualifications are; what his good points, possibilities and special
fitness are; what his wages are, and his need for them. All that it
is possible for the managers to know of the men is to be
concentrated in this disciplinarian. He is, in practice, more the
counsel and advocate of the worker than an unsympathetic judge, as
is indicated by the fact that his chief function is that of
"diplomat" and "peacemaker." His greatest duty is to see that the
"square deal" is meted out without fear or favor to employer or
to employé.
IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN DISCIPLINING.--Not only does the
position of disciplinarian under Scientific Management answer the
psychological requirements for such a function, but also the holder
of the position of disciplinarian must understand psychology and
apply, at least unconsciously, and preferably consciously, the known
laws of psychology, if he wishes to be successful.
The disciplinarian must consider not only what the man has done
and the relation of this act of his to his other acts; he must also
investigate the cause and the motive of the act, for on the cause
and motive, in reality, depends more than on the act itself. He must
probe into the physical condition of the man, as related to his
mental acts. He must note the effect of the same kind of discipline
under different conditions; for example, he must note that, on
certain types of people, disciplining in the presence of other
people has a most derogatory effect, just as rewards before people
may have a most advantageous effect. Upon others, discipline that is
meted out in the presence of other people is the only sort of
discipline which has the desired effect. The sensitiveness of the
person to be disciplined, the necessity for sharp discipline, and
for that particular sort of discipline which may require the element
of shame in it, must all be considered. He must be able to discover
and note whether the discipline should be meted out to a ringleader,
and whether the other employés, supposed to be blameworthy, are
really only guilty in acquiescing, or in failing to report one who
has really furnished the initiative. He must differentiate acts
which are the result of following a ringleader blindly from the
concerted acts of disobedience of a crowd, for the "mob spirit" is
always an element to be estimated and separately handled.
INADEQUACY OF TERMS IN DISCIPLINING.--The words "disciplinarian"
and "punishment" are most unfortunate. The "Disciplinarian" would be
far better called the "peacemaker," and the "punishment" by some
such word as the "adjustment." It is _not_ the duty of the
disciplinarian to "take out anybody's grudge" against a man; it _is_
his duty to adjust disagreements. He must remember constantly that
his discipline must be of such a nature that the result will be for
the permanent best interests of the one disciplined, his co-workers,
his associates and his family.
The aim is, not to put the man down, but to keep him up to his
standard, as will be shown later in a chapter on Incentives. If the
punishment is in the form of a fine, it must not in any way return
to the coffers of the management. The fines collected--even those
fines collected from the individuals composing the management,
should go in some form to the benefit of the men themselves, such,
for example, as contributions to a workman's sick benefit fund or to
general entertainment at the annual outing of employés. In practice,
the disciplinarian is rather the friend of the worker than of the
employer, if the two interests can possibly be separated. Again
"penalty" is a bad word to use. Any words used in this connection
should preferably have had taken from them any feeling that personal
prejudice affects the discipline. It is the nature of the offense
itself which should prescribe what the outcome of it shall be.
The position of disciplinarian requires a man who has a keen
sense of justice, who has had such experience as to enable him to
smooth out difficulties until all are in a frame of mind where they
can look upon their own acts and the acts of others calmly. He must
be able so to administer his duties that each decision inspires the
realization that he acted to the best of his knowledge and belief.
He must be one who is fearless, and has no tendency to have
favorites. He must have a clear knowledge of the theories and
principles of Scientific Management, in order that he can fill the
position of enforcer of its laws.
THE GANG BOSS.--The duties of The Gang Boss are to see that the
worker has plenty of work ahead, to see that everything that he will
need with which to do the work is at hand, and to see that the work
is actually "set," or placed and performed correctly. This position
calls for a practical demonstrator, who must himself be able and
willing actually to prepare and help on the work. It calls
particularly for a man with teaching ability, with special emphasis
on ability to teach, with great exactness, the prescribed method and
to follow the orders of the planning department implicitly.
THE SPEED BOSS.--The speed boss is responsible for the methods
of doing work with machinery. He has charge of overseeing the work,
and teaching the worker, during the entire time that the work is
being done. He must be prepared constantly to demonstrate at any
time not only _how_ the work is done, but also that it can be done
in the specified time called for in order to earn the bonus. This
position calls for a man who is able, personally, to carry out the
detailed written orders of the instruction card in regard to speeds,
feeds, cuts, methods of operation, quality and quantity.
He must be proficient at the art of imparting his knowledge to
other workmen, and at the same time be able to secure the prescribed
outputs and quantities. He need not be the fastest worker in the
shop, but he should be one of the most intelligent workers and best
teachers, with a keen desire to coöperate, both with the workers and
with the other foremen.
THE REPAIR BOSS.--The repair boss has charge of the plant and
its maintenance. He must have a natural love of order and of
cleanliness, and a systematic type of mind. This position calls for
a man with an experience that will enable him to detect liability of
breakdowns before they actually occur. He must be resourceful in
repairing unexpected breakdowns in an emergency, and be able at all
times to carry out literally the directions given on the instruction
cards of the Planning Department for cleaning, maintaining, and
repairing the machines.
THE INSPECTOR.--The function of inspector under scientific or
the Taylor plan of management is most important, especially in
connection with the "first inspection." During the manufacture of
the first piece and after it is finished the inspector passes and
reports upon it before the worker proceeds with the other pieces.
Here the worker gets a return in person for each successive act on
the first piece he makes under a new instruction card, or, if he is
a new worker, under an old instruction card. Ambiguity of
instructions, if present, is thus eliminated, and wrong actions or
results are corrected before much damage to material has been done
and before much time and effort are wasted. The first erroneous
cycles of work are not repeated, and the worker is promptly shown
exactly how efficiently he has succeeded in determining the
requirements of his instructions.
The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work. He
fulfills the requirements of Schloss, who says, in speaking of the
danger, under some managements, that the foreman will sacrifice
quality to speed, if he gets a bonus for quantity of output,--"The
best safeguard against this serious danger would be found in the
appointment of a distinct staff of inspectors whose duty it should
be to ascertain, as the work proceeds, that the stipulated standards
of excellence are at all times scrupulously maintained." This
position of inspector requires an observant man who naturally is
inclined to give constructive rather than destructive-criticism. He
should be a man who can coöperate with the workman and foreman to
rescue condemned or damaged material with the least expenditure of
time, effort and expense.
FUNCTIONALIZING THE WORKER.--Under Scientific Management,
the worker as well as the foreman, is a specialist. This he
becomes by being relieved of everything that he is not best fitted
to do, and allowed to concentrate upon doing, according to exact
and scientifically derived methods, that work at which he is
an expert.[13]
RELIEVING THE WORKER OF THE PLANNING.--The planning is taken
away from the worker, not because it is something too choice, sacred
or entertaining for him to do, or something which the managers
desire to do themselves, but because it is best, for the workers
themselves as well as the work, that the planning be done by
specialists at planning. If he is expert enough to plan, the worker
will be promoted to the planning department. In the meantime, he is
working under the best plan that experts can devise.
MASTER PLANNING A LIFE STUDY.--The best planner is he who,--
other things being equal,--is the most ingenious, the most
experienced and the best observer. It is an art to observe; it
requires persistent attention. The longer and the more the observer
observes, the more details, and variables affecting details, he
observes. The untrained observer could not expect to compete with
one of special natural talent who has also been trained. It is not
every man who is fitted by nature to observe closely, hence to plan.
To observe is a condition precedent to visualizing. Practice in
visualizing makes for increasing the faculty of constructive
imagination. He with the best constructive imagination is the
master planner.
The art of observing is founded on a study of fundamental
elements. In order that planning may be done best, previous to
starting work, the entire sequence of operations must be laid out,
so that the ideas of value of every element of every subdivision of
the process of working may be corrected to act most efficiently in
relation with each and all of the subsequent parts and events that
are to follow. This planning forwards and backwards demands an
equipment of time study, motion study and micro-motion study records
such as can be used economically only when all the planning is done
in one place, with one set of records. The planner must be able to
see and control the whole problem in all of its aspects.
For example,--the use that is to be made of the work after it is
completed may entirely change the methods best used in doing it.
Thus, the face of a brick wall that is to be plastered does not
require and should not have the usual excellence of nicely ruled
joints required on a face that is not to be plastered. In fact, the
roughest, raggedest joints will be that quality of wall that will
make the plaster adhere the best.
As an example of professional observation and investigation with
which no untrained observer could compete, we cite the epoch making
work of Dr. Taylor in determining the most efficient speeds, feeds,
cuts and shape of tools to use for the least wastefulness in cutting
metals.[14]
Dr. Taylor, an unusually brilliant man, at the end of twenty-six
years, working with the best scientists, engineers, experimenters,
and workmen, after an expenditure of literally hundreds of thousands
of dollars, was able to determine and write down a method for
cutting metals many times less wasteful in time than was ever known
before; but the data from the experiments was so complex and
involved that a considerable knowledge of higher mathematics had to
be used to apply the data. Furthermore, the data was in such form
that it took longer to use the knowledge contained therein than it
did to do the work on any given piece of metal cutting. After
gathering this knowledge, Dr. Taylor, with his assistants, first Mr.
Gantt and finally Mr. Barth, reduced it to such a form that now it
can be used in a matter of a few seconds or minutes. This was done
by making slide rules.[15] Today workers have this knowledge in a
form that any machinist can use with a little instruction. As a
result, Dr. Taylor's observations have revolutionized the design of
metal cutting machinery and the metal cutting industry, and the data
he collected is used in every metal cutting planning department.
Furthermore, as a by-product to his observations and
investigations, he discovered the Taylor-White process of making
high speed steel, which revolutionized the steel tool industry. No
untrained workman could expect ever to compete with such work as
this in obtaining results for most efficient planning and at the
same time perform his ordinary work.
WASTEFULNESS OF INDIVIDUAL PLANNING.--Even if it were possible
so to arrange the work of every worker that he could be in close
proximity to the equipment for planning and could be given the
training needed, individual planning for "small lots" with no
systematized standardization of planning-results would be an
economic waste that would cause an unnecessary hardship on the
worker, the employer and the ultimate consumer. Individual planning
could not fit the broad scheme of planning, and at best would cause
delays and confusion, and make an incentive to plan for the
individual self, instead of planning for the greatest good of the
greatest number.
Again, even if it were possible to plan best by individual
planning, there is a further waste in changing from one kind of work
to another. This waste is so great and so obvious that it was
noticed and recognized by the earliest manufacturers and economists.
HARDSHIP TO THE WORKER OF INDIVIDUAL PLANNING.--To obtain the
most wages and profits there must be the most savings to divide.
These cannot be obtained when each man plans for himself (except in
the home trades), because all large modern operations have the
quantity of output dependent upon the amount of blockades, stoppages
and interferences caused by dependent sequences. It is not,
therefore, possible to obtain the most profit or most wages by
individual planning. Planning is a general function, and the only
way to obtain the best results is by organized planning, and by
seeing that no planning is done for one worker without proper
consideration of its bearing and effect upon any or all the other
men's outputs.
THE MAN WHO DESIRES TO BE A PLANNER CAN BE ONE.--If the worker
is the sort of a man who can observe and plan, or who desires to
plan, even though he is not at first employed in the planning
department, he is sure to get there finally, as the system provides
that each man shall go where he is best fitted. Positions in
planning departments are hard to fill, because of the scarcity of
men equipped to do this work. The difficulty of teaching men to
become highly efficient planners is one of the reasons for the slow
advance of the general adoption of Scientific Management.
THE MAN WHO DISLIKES PLANNING CAN BE RELIEVED.--It must not be
forgotten that many people dislike the planning responsibility in
connection with their work. For such, relief from planning makes the
performance of the planned work more interesting and desirable.
PROVISION FOR PLANNING BY ALL UNDER SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT.--Much
has been said about the worker's "God-given rights to think," and
about the necessity for providing every worker with an opportunity
to think.
Scientific Management provides the fullest opportunities for
every man to think, to exercise his mental faculties, and to plan
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