gantt - industrial leadership.pdf

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T 58.G3 Cornell University LibranIndustrial leadership,

, " " H mi i mil3 1924 002 249 161


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THE LIBRARYOF THENEW YORK STATE SCHOOLOF

INDUSTRIAL AND LABORRELATIONS

ATCORNELL UNIVERSITY


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The original of this book is inthe Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions inthe United States on the use of the text.

http://archive.org/details/cu31924002249161


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP


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PAGE LECTURESPUBLISHED BY TALE UNIVEBSITY PEESS

MOBALS IN MODEBN BUSINESS. Addresses by EdwardD. Page, George W, Alger, Heney Holt, A. Barton Hep-burn, Edward W. Bemis and James McKeen.

(Second printing) ISmo, cloth binding, leather label, 162pages, syllabi. Price $1.25 net, delivered.EVEEYDAY ETHICS. Addresses by Norman Hapgood,Joseph E. Sterrett, John Brooks Leavitt, Charles A.Protttt and H. C. Emery.12mo, cloth binding, leather label, ISO pages, index.

Price $1.25 net, delivered.INDUSTEY AND PEOGEESS. By Norman Hapgood.

12mo, cloth binding, 123 pages. Price $1.25 net, deliv-ered.

POLITICIAN, PAETY AND PEOPLE. By Henry C.Emery.12mo, cloth binding, 183 pages. Price $1.25 net, deliv-

ered.QUESTIONS OP PUBLIC POLICY. Addresses by J. W.Jenks, A. Piatt Andrew, Emory E. Johnson and WillardV. King.

12mo, cloth binding, leather label, 1S4 pages, index.Price $1.25 net, delivered.TEADE MOEALS: THEIE OEIGIN, GEOWTH ANDPEOVINCE. By Edward D. Page.

12mo, cloth binding, 287 pages, index. Price $1.50 net,delivered.ETHICS IN SERVICE. By William Howard Taft.

12mo, cloth binding, 101 pages, index. Price $1.00 net,delivered.INDUSTRIAL LEADEBSHIP. By H. L. Gantt.12mo, cloth binding, 128 pages, 6 charts. Price $1.00 net,

delivered.


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Industrial LeadershipBy

H. L. GANTT

Addresses Delivered in the Page LectureSeries, 1915, before the Senior Class of theSheffield Scientific School, YaleUniversity

YROPERTY OF I "HEW YCRX SfAl f-' :;'Lindustrial m urn mmvaCORNELL UNIVERSITYNEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORDOXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESSMDCCCCXVI

>'\ - "


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Copyright, 1916BY

Yalr University PressFirst printed February, 1916, 1500 copies


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TO THE MEMORY OFCOL. WILLIAM ALLAN

THE "DOCTOR ARNOLD" OF AMERICA


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PAGEForeword . . . . . xiChapter I. Industrial Leadership 1Chapter II. Training Workmen . 31Chapter III. Principles . 55Chapter IV. Eesults of Task "Work . 83Chapter V. Production and Sales . 107


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSFacingPageChart I. Hemming on Sewing Machine 76

Chart II. Operating on Sewing Ma-chine 79

Chart III. Bonns Record of Girls Puton Task "Work First. Bonus Rec-ord of Girls Put on Task WorkLast 94

Chart IV. Task and Bonus Record ofWorkers Winding Weaving Bob-bins 96

Chart V. Bonus Record, Three YearsLater, of Winders' Department . 100

Chart VI. Task Performance andWages on Punch-Press Work . 101

Chart VII. Task Performance andWages on Milling-Machine Work . 101

Chart VIII. Effect of Selling Priceon Profits 113

Chart IX. Effect of Selling Price onConsumption .... 115


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FOREWORDThe great war now being waged in Europe

is making clear the superiority which autoc-racy has had in the past in its ability toorganize a nation for both industrial andmilitary efficiency.

If democracy is to compete successfullywith autocracy in the long run, it mustdevelop organizing and executive methodswhich will be at least equal to those ofautocracy.In this course of lectures I have tried to

set forth the principles on which I believe anindustrial democracy can be based which willbe even more effective than any system ofindustrialism which can be developed underautocracy.One of the most important questions which

I have raised is, how far the state should gowith industrial and vocational training. Itis generally conceded that it is the functionof the state to give such broad general train-ing as is applicable to our industries ingeneral, but that it is a function of theindustries themselves to give as much of the


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xii FOREWORDtraining which is special to those industriesas it is possible for them to give, and to relyupon the state only for that residuum whichcannot be given by the industries themselves.Before the state commits itself to schemes

for vocational training, it is exceedinglyimportant that an effort be made to makethis residuum as small as possible, and it issurprising how much more can be done inindustries by the methods herein outlinedthan has generally been thought possible, andhow good are the results.

H. L. Gantt.December 11, 1915.


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INDUSTKIAL LEADEESHIPI have chosen the subject of Industrial

Leadership as my first lecture because I wishto emphasize it over all other elements thatmake for industrial progress. What states-man, or warrior, ever produced such perma-nently far-reaching results in the world asany one of the great industrial leaders sowell known to us"Watt, Fulton, "Whitney,Stephenson, Morse, Bessemer, Siemens, Bell,Edison, Westinghouse, Wright ? These greatinventors were pioneers, but the host thatdeveloped their inventions to the high stateof perfection which they have attained arenot less valuable members of society. Indeed,we have today so much undigested andunutilized knowledge that I am inclined tothink that the man who shows us how to useit satisfactorily is quite as important as hewho discovers it.

It is these great men and their followersthat during the past forty years have abso-


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2 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPlutely revolutionized the conditions of life.Forty years ago the great majority of ourpeople lived on farms, and were, to a largeextent, themselves producing the necessitiesof life; today they are collected into largecommunities and engaged in special occupa-tions which do not directly supply theirneeds. In fact the great mass of people buyalmost everything they use. This result hascome to pass because we have changed froman agricultural community, largely to amanufacturing, or industrial community.

This progressive change, which is stillrapidly going on, has introduced problemsfor the solution of which there is no prece-dent. Modern industrialism is so modernthat its greatest problems have hardly beenclearly grasped even by those who have giventhem most study.Twenty years ago the financier thought hehad found a panacea for most of the evils

which the new developments began to show,in his combination of industrial plants intolarge organizations. Undoubtedly he didsucceed for a while in securing a larger profitfor the promoters of the organizations; butthe most important problems, those concern-ing the relations of employer to employee,


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 3have not been solved any better by tbe largecorporation than by the individual employer.In fact the large corporation seems in manycases to have accentuated the troubles whichhad arisen. This has undoubtedly been due,in a large measure, to the lack of personaltouch between employer and employee, whichseems impossible in the large corporations,where there was at first an apparent tend-ency to ignore entirely the human factor asan influence in industrial work.Men who promoted these large corpora-tions were in many cases financiers or mer-chants, who previously had dealt almostexclusively with money and goods. They hadbought in the cheapest markets and sold atthe best price they could get. Their naturaltendency, therefore, was to apply to the pur-chase of labor the same rules which they hadapplied to the purchase of materials, namely,to buy it as cheaply as possible. The greatdifficulty which stood in the way of accom-plishing this result was that there was noexact means of measuring the labor received,and the best that could be done was to buy aman's time, on the theory that time consumedwas a measure of labor performed. Whilethis is in a measure correct if the workman


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4 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPfeels that he is being equitably rewarded forthe work done, it may be far from correctwhen he does not have this feeling. When herealizes, as is often the case, that the em-ployer, taking advantage of his necessity,gives him the smallest hourly rate he can behired for, he naturally does only just enoughwork to hold his job.Moreover, there has seldom been anyattempt to keep a record of the work anyman did in order that a more equitablecompensation might be accorded him; and,whether he did much or little, he wasaccorded the hourly rate of wages commonto his class. The railroad companies, per-haps more than any other organizations,have offended in this manner, and the ratesof wages, which they were willing to pay fordifferent classes of workmen were not onlyfixed by employers, but maintained with alltheir power. A mechanic, therefore, had butlittle chance of getting a higher compensationthan his class rate, no matter how industrious,or conscientious he might be.\ The introduction of piece work, by whichI the workman was paid for the work he did,instead of the time he worked, promisedbetter results ; but, as piece prices were com-


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 5monly set on a basis of what had been doneby a man dissatisfied with his daily wage, itsoon became clear that the men could domuch more work than had been done, andearned correspondingly higher wages, withthe result that the employer reduced theprice per piece. This "cutting" of pieceprices was common practice whenever theworkman earned much more than his classrate; and the capable workman, recognizingthe impossibility of increasing his compensa-tion through more, or better work, soonceased to make any effort in that direction,and devoted his spare time to the organiza-tion of a union with the object of advancingthe class rate.A careful consideration of this subjectwill show that the employers who insisted onclass rates, irrespective of the ability andservice of the individuals themselves, thusfurnished the strongest incentive for theformation of the unions, which have been,and are now, so effective in increasing theclass rate, and which have done much for theamelioration of the condition of the workmen.The neglect on the part of the employer torecognize individual ability, and to rewardit correspondingly, coupled with his effort


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6 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPto secure workmen at the lowest possibledaily wage rate, forced the workman to con-centrate his attention on the wages hereceived, and made him comparatively indif-ferent to the amount of work he did. Inother words, both employer and employeeignored to a large extent the amount of workdone, and devoted their efforts, the one topaying as little wages as possible, and theother to getting as much as possible for thework he did.Under such conditions it is not surprising

that costs should be high, and that thereshould be antagonism between employer andemployee. It is, of course, impossible to paypermanently high wages unless a largeamount of work is done for those wages. Atfirst the workmen apparently did not see this,nor did the employer see that there was noadvantage to him in forcing workmen to workat low wages, for by so doing, he failed toget a proper return even for the small wagehe paid. Both employer and employee thusput a premium on inefficiency.Within the past ten years this portion of

the subject has been given much more atten-tion, and it is becoming recognized amongthe most progressive manufacturers of the


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 7day, that the ratio between the wages paidand the work done is more important thanthe absolute amount of wages paid, and thatthe absolute amount of work done is moreimportant than either.Moreover, it is becoming recognized that

the good man at high wages not only doesmore work per dollar of wages than the poorman at low wages, but better work. In themost prosperous factories, and those turningout the highest grade of product, we inva-riably find high-grade, well-paid workmen;while in those factories which are makingbut little profit, and where the work is of apoor quality, the workmen are usually poorlypaid and of low grade. The unsuccessfulmanufacturer, when this matter is pointedout to him, too often says that the successfulowner can afford to hire good men at highwages, because he is successful. Evidenceseems to indicate, however, that he is success-ful because he hires the good men at highwages, and that the policy of paying satis-factory wages has been more influential inproducing low costs than any other item.This leads us to the broad subject ofadministration, and we naturally ask if thereare any general principles on which success-


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8 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPful business administration is based. Thissubject has been much discussed, but thefactors ordinarily entering into the successof an industrial enterprise are so varied thatit is often hard to say which has been themost important one in producing the successobtained.

If there is any one principle, which morethan any other, is influential in promotingthe success of an organization it is thefollowingThe authority to issue an order involves

the responsibility to see that it is properlyexecuted.The system of management which we advo-cate is based on this principle, which elimi-nates "bluff" as a feature in management,for a man can only assume the responsibilityfor doing a thing properly when he not onlyknows how to do it, but can also teach some-body else to do it.The fact that our system of management

sooner or later exposes the bluffer makes itsinstallation in a factory very difficult, forthere is in every organization, especiallywhen it is large, a surprisingly large propor-tion of bluffers, who are smart enough to seepromptly that under such a principle they


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 9will not last very long. Moreover, the higherup they are, the quicker they are affected.Professor E. D. Jones of the Universityof Michigan has recently written a seriesof articles which are now published in a bookentitled "The Business Administrator," inwhich he attempts to segregate the principlesof administration. "While his success hasapparently not been entirely complete inthis matter, yet he has made clear some veryimportant facts, the first of which is, thatadministration means administration ofhuman affairs, and that the one commonelement in all enterprises is the humanelement. The materials and forces withwhich we deal are comparatively unimpor-tant, being subject to laws which in generalhave been pretty definitely determined. Ourknowledge, however, of the best methods ofhandling men is still far from complete. Inorder to collect data on this subject, Profes-sor Jones has studied the great leaders andadministrators of the past of whom historygives us an account. He has developed thefact, that in the past, great success ofco-operative human effort has been attainedonly under great leaders. Even a casualstudy of industrialism today indicates


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10 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPthat leadership performs a most importantfunction.A few years ago there was a strong feel-ing in this country that the most importantelement in any enterprise was the financialelement, and that if there was only moneyenough available, nothing else mattered verymuch. This idea has not held good, for weare beginning to realize that there is an endto the largest bank account, and are rapidlycoming to the conclusion that neither moneynor organization will permanently insuresuccess without proper direction. It is there-fore imperative upon us to study leadership,and to find the laws on which successfuladministration is based.The absolute necessity for proper leader-

ship in industry thus becomes clear, and webegin to see a close parallel to leadership inwar, the necessity for which today is becom-ing increasingly apparent. History hasgiven us very accurate accounts of greatgenerals, and it is of this class of leadershipthat we can learn most. After a little studywe realize that leadership in war and leader-ship in industry are not only based on thesame principles, but are equally important.It seems therefore that in order to give this


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 11subject the attention it deserves, we shouldprofit by the account that history gives us ofgreat warriors. Industrial leadership hasbeen largely overlooked in the past for thereason that accidental conditions have inmany cases been quite as effective in securingwealth as leadership. Such opportunitiesare, however, no longer numerous, especiallyin our industries, and a study of industrialleadership is forcing itself upon us.

Just as war is the great training schoolfor those who are to make war, so industryis the great training school for those whoare to create industry. Leaders in war andin industry hold the same relative impor-tance in their respective spheres. If this isthe case, it is well for us to see what thegreatest warrior of modern times has to sayabout the importance of leadership in war,and thus arrive at some appreciation ofthe importance of leadership in industry.Napoleon said:

In war men are nothing; it is the man who iseverything. The general is the head, the whole ofany army. It was not the Roman army that con-quered Gaul, but Caesar; it was not the Cartha-ginian army that made Rome tremble in her gates,but Hannibal ; it was not the Macedonian army that


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12 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPreached the Indus, but Alexander ; it was not theFrench army that carried the war to the Weser andthe Inn, but Turenne ; it was not the Prussian armywhich, for seven years, defended Prussia against thethree greatest Powers of Europe, but Frederick theGreat.

The historian in making this quotationstated that Napoleon reiterated a truth con-firmed by the experience of successive ages,that a wise direction is of more avail thanoverwhelming numbers, sound strategy thanthe most perfect armament. Similarly inindustry a wise policy is of more availthan a large plant; good management, thanperfect equipment.The historian goes on to say:Even a professional army of long standing and

old traditions is what its commander makes it ; itscharacter sooner or later becomes the reflex of hisown; from him the officers take their tone; hisenergy or his inactivity, his firmness or vacillation,are rapidly communicated even to the lower ranksand so far-reaching is the influence of the leader,that those who record his campaigns concern them-selves but little, as a rule, with the men who fol-lowed him. The history of famous armies is thehistory of great generals, for no army has ever


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 13achieved great things unless it has been well com-manded. If the general be second-rate, the armyalso will be second-rate.These facts in military history have their

exact counterpart in industrialism, for theFACTOBY INVARIABLY BEFLECTS THE MANAGES.The real problem of today is, then, how toselect and train, or rather how to train andselect our industrial leaders.Professor Jones states the indisputable

fact that the possession of wealth and hencepower, does not necessarily fit a man forleadership. There is a general feeling, how-ever, that because our industries have in thepast been directed in an autocratic manner,that autocracy will continue to be the rule,and that there is apparently no escape fromit. This feeling seems to be quite wide-spread, and to be substantiated by the mar-velous industrial development of Germanyunder autocratic rule. While it is possiblethat autocracy in industry is the final stage,I do not think the case is by any meansproven. Has not the development of indus-trial organization been in a large measureparallel to the development of politicalorganization? In both, we had individual-


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14 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPism; then paternalism; and then tribalism,or something approximating it; next we hadautocracy. In our political organization wehave passed one step beyondwe, in thiscountry, believe in democracy, and the greatstruggle now going on in Europe is largelya question as to whether democracy orautocracy shall be the final phase in the oldworld.The marvelous efficiency of Germany as

an industrial and military nation has claimedthe attention of the whole world ; but we mustrealize that Germany is the only nation whichhas made any serious attempt at nationalorganization of industry. When, therefore,we compare the industrial condition of Ger-many with the industrial conditions of anyother country, we are not comparing oneorganization with another, but a highly per-fected organization with lack of organization.In the slimmer of 1913, three hundred

members of the American Society of Me-chanical Engineers visited Germany at theinvitation of the "Verein deutscher Inge-nieure." We spent three weeks touring thecountry and visited most of their great cities,where we were entertained with the greatestpossible hospitality, and had thrown open to


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 15us many of their most successful industrialplants."We were much impressed with whatwe saw, and the universal prevalence ofsystem and order elicited our unboundedadmiration.When, however, we came to the considera-

tion of the industrial plants as units, we werein almost entire accord that, with the excep-tion of a few industries, plant for plant,America had nothing to fear from Germany.The greatest power in Germany in the past

has been that of their autocratic rulers, whonot only encouraged scientific development,but demanded it, and used all the power ofthe state to further it. This tendency rapidlybrought Germany to the front in the scientificworld, and the application of the scientificknowledge thus attained has brought her tothe front in both the industrial and themilitary world. How effective autocraticpower may become in the industrial worldwhen guided by science we have long known,but it is only recently that we have realizedhow effective such a power might become ina military world under the same guidance.The goal for which Germany is now striv-

ing by military power seemed to many of us


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16 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPmuch more likely of attainment through theirindustrial development, for the rapidity withwhich industrial development can be carriedon by autocratic means is far greater thanthat which has so far been possible underdemocratic methods. On the other hand, theresults obtained under democratic methodsare far more permanent and less liable to beperverted to false ends.

This leads us, therefore, to ask if autocracyin industry is not just as much a phase inindustrial development, as we in this countryconsider it to be in political development.As a matter of fact, during the past ten

years it has been my effort to introducemethods of equal opportunity into industry,and to select leaders in the most democraticmanner possible. I am pleased to say thatthe efficiency of the organization thus pro-duced has seemed to be almost in directproportion to the success of introducing themethod of equal opportunity for selectingleaders.Too little work has been done in this line,

and there are too few results available toallow us to make any very strong statements,but the success so far attained is such as tomake us feel that we are on the right track,


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 17and that the nation, which first does awaywith autocracy and special privilege, willtake the lead in industrialism.The scientific method thrives best when all

have equal opportunity, and our chance ofgetting proper industrial leaders is fargreater when we have a whole people tochoose from than if they are to be selectedfrom any one class.

Professor Jones ' emphasis of the fact thatin all problems of administration the mostimportant element is the human element,compels acceptance of the democratic idea,for no manager can attain the highest idealsunless he is thoroughly familiar with all theelements with which he has to deal. It isgeneral experience that unless men arestudied from a democratic standpoint, thestudent fails to get a proper appreciation ofthe human element.

This brings me to what I consider one ofthe most important activities of the SheffieldScientific School, namely, the Social ServiceWork which was described in ProfessorRoe's paper before the American Society ofMechanical Engineers at their meeting inSt. Paul in June, 1914.

I like the title "Social Service Work."


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18 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPAll of the engineer's work is service workin that he makes his living by serving some-body, and much is social service work, for inmnch of what he does, he serves the commu-nity. This is not exactly the meaning of thetitle of Professor Eoe's paper, but it givesme an opportunity to emphasize the fact thatin an organized community we all earn ourliving by giving service. When one manhires another it is his service he wants.When a man buys a machine it is the serviceof that machine he wantsnot the specificmachineany other machine which couldperform the same service equally well andequally economically would do.

In a civilized country we are all buyingand selling service. The bread we eat, andthe coal we burn are available to us throughthe service of many people. Likewise ourvalue to the community is measured by theservice we render, and in the long run ourreward is apt to be in proportion to thatservice."Social Service Work," although nar-rower in meaning than what I have described,

is not only a most excellent method of bring-ing together the workman and the futureleader, but of producing in the mind of the


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 19student a conception of the pleasure andvalue of serving. This is a comparatively-new idea to many people, and its growth isfostered only under democratic conditions.Under autocratic methods to render serviceis a sign of inferiority; the man of powercompels the service of others. Under demo-cratic methods the man of power uses thatpower to serve others. Under autocraticrule the man in authority is a master ; underdemocratic rule he is a servant.Engineering schools have successfully

taught the laws of materials and forces, andthe methods of adapting these materials andforces to the use of man; but they havealmost entirely disregarded the human ele-ment, a knowledge of which is absolutelyessential for the proper utilization of anymechanisms which the engineer may contrive.If we would direct successfully the opera-tion of any mechanism, we must have ascomplete knowledge of the men who aregoing to operate it as we have of the mechan-ism itself, and the Social Service Work,which has become such a feature in thisInstitution, is, to my mind, the best avail-able method of supplementing the knowledgeobtained in the classroom.


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20 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPWithout an intimate knowledge of the

workman, a college graduate is too apt toassume, because the workman has not thesame kind of knowledge that he has, that heis necessarily ignorant and a fit subject forcontempt. A little association with him, how-ever, soon dispels this idea, for the collegeman finds out that although the workman'sknowledge may be quite different from theknowledge that he has, it is very extensive,and embraces subjects of which he is entirelyignorant. The workman has indeed a greatdeal of knowledge, much of which is far morepractical and better suited to his needs thanthat the college man can give him. More-over, the workman readily recognizes thatthe college man knows but little about thosesubjects with which he is most familiar, andthe contempt which the college man is apt toget for the workman before he knows himis only a small fraction of the contempt whichthe workman frequently gets for the collegeman.The Social Service Work which has at-

tracted the interest of so many of our menis certainly the best way which has yet beendevised to enable the college man and theworkman to learn to know and to appreciate


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 21the good qualities of each other. The collegeman is too apt to feel that by reading a fewbooks on industrialism, or political economy,that he has acquired a broad knowledge ofworking conditions, but he very soon findsthat many of the general principles so widelyexploited in such books, produce, in specialcases, results which are not even hinted atin the books.The fact that the average wage rate in an

industry is high, does not at all prove thatthere may not be quite as much, or more,suffering in that industry than in an industryin which the average wage rate is muchlower.

I have confidence that some of the mentrained in industrial service work will therebybe enabled to see more clearly the properrelations between employer and employee,and in the near future will contribute muchto the solution of our industrial problems.

In the past much emphasis has been laidupon the importance of our "captains ofindustry," and other men who have attainedgreat wealth through industrial enterprises.A few years ago their methods were exten-sively advertised in the magazines, and theywere as a class pretty generally looked up to.


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22 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPTimes have changed, however, and the

world has advanced. Mr. Eockefeller'smethod of acquiring his fortune was notgreatly different from the methods pursuedby other men in his day. He was only justa little more shrewd, and perhaps a littlemore ruthless. The same thing may be saidof Mr. Harriman and Mr. Carnegie, but Ibelieve the time is past when the methods ofthese three prominent figures can ever beduplicated. The industrial leader of thefuture must practice methods which areapproved by the people, and they must besuch as not to take unfair advantage of any-body. The term "unfair competition" hasgained much publicity of late. It is similarto spiking a man in a game of baseball.As was said before, the world advances

through leadership, and I feel that it is justas much the function of our engineeringschools to train our industrial leaders as it isthat of our military schools to train ourmilitary leaders.

This being the case, our engineeringschools should have a broad knowledge ofall matters affecting our industrial system.

Until recently our financiers, on accountof the power of their wealth, have exercised


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 23almost complete control of our industrialinstitutions, and have too often dominatednot only the financial and selling policies, butthe policy employed in handling workmen.Of the first two subjects they frequently hadquite a good deal of knowledge, but it isseldom that their knowledge of industrialconditions was such as to enable them toformulate an intelligent policy where theworkmen are concerned. This fact is comingto be more and more recognized, and thehandling of the workmen is being delegatedmore and more to those who have made astudy of the subject.The fact, as stated before, that our indus-

tries have been handled in general in anautocratic manner is no sign that they willcontinue to be so handled, and almost everyday we see increasing symptoms that peopleare realizing what true democracy means.None of us today really believe that men

are created equal, but we do believe that theyare entitled to an equal opportunity. More-over, developments seem to indicate that themore nearly we can accord men equal oppor-tunities for advancement, the more pros-perous the individuals and the country as awhole will be.


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24 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPThis seems to make incumbent upon the

engineering schools a thorough study of allindustrial conditions. Books on politicaleconomy are all very well, but in most casesthey were written before the advent ofmodern industrialism, or by people who havetoo many times studied it from the academicstandpoint. Every opportunity, therefore,should be given to the student to study theconditions at first hand as they exist todayin our industries, for by such a course onlycan the industrial leader of the future acquiresuch knowledge as will enable him to inspireconfidence in those whom he will be calledupon to lead.As I look back over my own history I can

pick out five or six men who have influencedmy life more than all others combined ; someof these were school teachers, some collegeprofessors and others were in industry.Each man in this audience may have, prob-ably will have, marked influence on the livesof a large number of workmen. People learnbut little from what they are told, but theyreadily imitate what appeals to them. If,therefore, a man would be a leader he mustknow thoroughly the people whom he wouldlead, and be able to shape his actions in such


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 25a manner that they will not only be under-stood but thoroughly appreciated by hisfollowers.In a paper on "Training Workmen in

Habits of Industry and Cooperation" readbefore the American Society of MechanicalEngineers in December, 1908, I made thefollowing statement: "The general policy ofthe past has been to drive, but the era offorce must give way to that of knowledge,and the policy of the future will be to teachand to lead, to the advantage of all con-cerned." I did not then realize how rapidlymy prediction would come true.As an illustration of the difference between

leading and driving, I may cite an incidentthat occurred in my presence in a steelfoundry. For the benefit of those who maynot know, I may say that steel is pouredthrough a nozzle in the bottom of a ladle, andnot over the top as is the case of cast iron.This nozzle is closed with a plug, but for onereason or another this plug sometimes doesnot close the nozzle entirely after pouring amold, and the steel leaking out splashes overthe ground and the flasks, not only makingthe neighborhood of the ladle a very hot


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26 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPplace, but setting fire to anything combustiblewithin reach.

In order to protect himself from beingburnt, should a "bad shut off" occur, theladleman usually wears thick woolen clothes,including, if possible, an old overcoat.On the occasion in mind the "shut off,"while the ladle was being taken from onemold to the next, was very bad, and thesplashing and the heat of the molten steelwere almost unbearable.

It must be understood that a leaky nozzleis very apt to "freeze" up, not only leavingthe molds unpoured, but leaving the steel inthe ladle in a large solid mass which it isvery difficult to utilize. Moreover, the flasksto be poured are usually needed by the mold-ers the next day, so if they are not poured itis usually impossible to get a full day's workmolded the following day.Notwithstanding these facts, which theladleman knew perfectly well, he decided thathe could not face the heat of the steel fromthe leaky nozzle, and left his ladle hangingon the crane with the steel running out.The superintendent, who was standingnear, did not say anything; but, signaling to

the craneman to move to the next mold, went


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INDUSTEIAL LEADERSHIP 27up, and taking the handle of the ladle beganto pour the metal. Before he had finishedpouring the first mold, the ladleman came up,and taking the handle poured the remainderof the heat.The flying sparks had ruined a suit of

clothes, but the superintendent had estab-lished himself in the estimation of the work-men, and the ladleman as far as I know neveragain forsook his post.

This is a good example of physical leader-ship, which, while absolutely essential to anykind of success, can only affect the few peoplewho are immediately concerned. There isanother and higher leadership, that of theintellect, by which the methods and thoughtsof one man may affect the whole civilizedworld. Industrial leaders who have mostprominently attracted our attention in thepast are those who have, by their inventionsor their direction of activities, accumulatedlarge fortunes ; but none of these are as greatas the man who by the force of his intellectleads people throughout the civilized worldto benefit themselves and others. Such aman was the late Frederick Winslow Taylorwho, in his determination to eliminate errorand to base our industrial relations on fact,


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28 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPset an example which will have an effect allover the world.His great contribntion to the world's work

was to substitute knowledge of human activi-ties for opinion as a basis of action.His insistence that all industrial questions

could be best answered by a scientific inves-tigation was at first scoffed at by many ofour industrial leaders, and it was nearlytwenty years before he got much support.Now, however, at the end of thirty-five yearshis persistence is bearing fruit so rapidlythat the whole industrial world is undergoinga revolution due to his ideas.His death cut short the activities of a man

who had the welfare of his fellow man atheart, and who spent much of his life intrying to establish a basis on which therelations between employer and employeecould be made mutually satisfactory."When he began his work, almost all suchrelations were established by opinions.Today there are few industries in which facthas not supplanted many opinions.He had the feeling that waste was a crime,and that efficiency in work was a duty notonly to ourselves and to our employers, butto the community at large.


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INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP 29His name will live as that of a man who

could rise ahove individual cases, and graspgeneral laws that would make for the happi-ness and prosperity of all.We cannot all be Taylors, but each of uscan add his little mite to the sum of indus-trial knowledge with the confident expecta-tion that it will ultimately be used for thebenefit of mankind. I earnestly recommendthe reading of Mr. Taylor's writings as apreparation for your life work.


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II

TRAINING WORKMENIn my last lecture I emphasized the impor-tance of leadership, and the responsibility of

engineering schools for the training of indus-trial leaders. Many men, however, who riseto leadership in industry have not had thebenefit of a technical education, and conse-quently lack the special training to be hadonly in technical schools. For a long time tocome, and perhaps always, a large numberof industrial leaders will be men who havehad only an elementary school education. Itis therefore necessary in the adoption ofmethods for the training of workmen tobear in mind that many men have thenatural ability to become leaders if onlythey have set before them the proper ideals,methods, and opportunity.Napoleon claimed that one of the principal

elements of the success of his armies was thefact that every common soldier carried thebaton of a marshal in his haversack.


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34 INDUSTEIAL LEADERSHIPIn the same way the success of our indus-

tries, and hence of the country, will in a largemeasure depend upon the opportunity for theman in the ranks to better himself, and themethods of training so far as the state con-tributes to them should be such as to enablehim to take advantage of that opportunity.How far it is the duty of the state tocompel individual employers or corporations,to conform to this standard may be open todebate, but I feel that in the long run theywill get the greatest benefit by conforming toit absolutely.The widespread adoption of the publicschool system has committed our country to

the responsibility of training our youthintellectually, and the time seems rapidlyapproaching when the state will assume theresponsibility for training the youth inmanual dexterity. There is no question thatthis is the logical outcome of our industrialconditions, and one of the problems whichfaces us, is just how far the state should goin special training. In other words, if thestate accepts the responsibility for indus-trial training, how far shall it accept theresponsibility for vocational training?

Just as some knowledge of engineering and


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TRAINING WORKMEN 35of industrial processes has become one of theessentials of a liberal education, so also is anelementary knowledge of the use of theordinary tools of our common industriesbecoming an essential part of any education.

It is my feeling, however, that when ourpublic school system has given this generaltraining, it has assumed all the responsibilityfor the training of workmen that can belegitimately put upon it. Any additionaltraining must have special reference to aparticular industry, and is generally termedvocational training. Such training it is thefunction of the industries themselves to givebut in order that a workman may develophimself to the best advantage, vocationaltraining should always be preceded by indus-trial training, which gives him the ability tolearn more than one trade with surprisingrapidity, and thus develops in him a spiritof independence and self-reliance, the valueof which it is hard to overestimate.The rapidly changing conditions in our

industries, which make it necessary that theworkman shall be able to adapt himselfreadily to new conditions, emphasize theimportance of the more general industrialtraining as a precedent to vocational train-


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36 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPing, which without the former is apt to makemany men slaves of the industry in whichthey were trained. Such men suffer a greathardship when a change of industrial condi-tions throws out of employment those whoselimited training makes them unfitted for anyother industry.Aside from this viewpoint, it is the duty

of the state as a whole to see that our train-ing methods are such as will make the mostvaluable citizens. In order to determinewhat course the state should take to accom-plish this result, we must ask what qualitiesin the workman are most beneficial to thestate as a whole.In order to answer that question, I will tell

of a story I heard years ago of a well-knownBaltimore judge who went to visit a friendin one of the southern counties of Maryland,a large part of which is composed of sandhills and pines. His host met him at thesteamboat wharf, and as they were drivingslowly homeward through the deep sand ofthe road, the judge finally said, "What doyou raise in this country, anyhow?" He gotthe reply:"Raise men."This answer showed a deep insight in the


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TRAINING WORKMEN 37most important problem of all ages. Thatcountry which, as a whole, has the best menwill surely assert its supremacy in the longrun. As far as the state is concerned, there-fore, in its connection with industries, itshould carry out that policy which has thetendency to produce the highest grade ofmen.Wealth is convenient, luxury is pleasant;but the nation which does not so develop itsindustries as to produce men, will not for anygreat length of time hold its place in theworld. The Eoman Empire, just before itsfall, had wealth and luxury in abundance;but wealth and luxury both have enervatingtendencies, and the empire succumbed beforethe strong manhood of the Goths.

It is imperative, therefore, in seekingthe proper industrial methods to bear inmind the fact that the men produced by themare far more important to the life and pros-perity of a nation than the wealth and luxuryby which we set so much store. We, as anation, have been accused, and with a certaindegree of justice, of putting the almightydollar above everything else. One of theobjects of this lecture is to make clear that


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38 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPthere is something in the world not onlyhigher, but more powerful than money.As I said in my last lecture, the idea so

prevalent a few years ago in the industrialworld that money was the most powerfulfactor, and that if we only had money enough,nothing else mattered very much, is begin-ning to lose force, for it is becoming clearthat there is an end to the largest bankaccount, and that the size of the business isnot so important as the policy by which it isdirected. Some of our large industrialcombinations have already felt the force ofthis fact, but I doubt very much if those attheir heads have a very clear idea of theexact cause of their misfortune.Too often the system of cost accounting

has been to a large extent to blame, for thesystems in general use often fail to disclosethe real troubles, and content themselveswith blaming the shop with inefficiency.

It is true that many shops are managedinefficiently, but it is also true that thisinefficiency is often due to financial or sellingpolicies over which the superintendent hasno control. As a matter of fact the call forefficiency which has been so loudly pro-claimed throughout the country for several


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TRAINING WORKMEN 39years has had a great deal of influence onshop organizations, but it has hardly beenheeded at all in the financial and selling endsof business, where it is needed even worsethan in the shops.The cost keeping and accounting methods

in general use in our industries today are sodevised as to put all blame for failure on theproducing portion of the business, and do notshow the loss due to improper businesspolicies, which it is safe to say are a morefertile source of failure than mistakes madeby the production end of the business. Iquote from my last lecture: "A wise policyis of more avail than a large plant; goodmanagement than perfect equipment."

It is necessary that our cost keeping andaccounting methods of the future shall showwhat losses are due to an unwise policy, orto poor management. In other words, ourindustrial scheme will not be rounded outuntil we have a means of measuring theability with which those at the head of thebusiness perform their functions, that is atleast as good as that which we use to measurethe efficiency of the operative.The crying need of such a measure is

recognized on all sides, but more especially


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40 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPby those who are engaged in trying to installbetter methods of management.A man, who was sent by an independentset of employers to investigate the Lawrencestrike, told me that he fonnd much moreintelligence among the labor leaders thanamong the employers concerned, and thatthey had a far clearer comprehension of theproblems involved. His mission in the inves-tigation was to report to those who engagedhim as to the best method of combating theI. W. W. They got the answer that nothingpermanent could be done until the employerslearned more about the industrial problemswith which they had to deal.My experience is that business policies areoften as crude as labor policies, but account-ing systems as a rule are not so devised asto show such to be the fact.The time will come, however, and indeedis not far distant, when cost keeping and

accounting methods, which in the past havebeen so devised as to put all blame on theproducer, will be so changed as to placeblame for failure where it belongs, and givecredit to whom credit is due.Such a change will do much to help thecapable workman toward advancement, and


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TRAINING WORKMEN 41will show most clearly the advantage ofproper training methods.

Vocational training in the past was ac-quired through the apprenticeship system,which has apparently broken down under therequirements of modern industrialism. Afew years ago it was possible to hire menwho had been trained under the apprentice-ship system, and the factory manager did notconsider it as one of his functions to trainworkmen, but was in general able to hire,ready trained, the workmen he needed. Ifhe chanced to hire a man who was not suitedto the job, he simply discharged him andhired another.As the number of skilled workmen, whomove from place to place, and were in oldtimes known as journeymen, became fewerand fewer, the "hiring and firing" methodbecame less and less satisfactory, until wecame face to face with the fact that it toohad broken down.The factory manager is forced, therefore,

to accept the responsibility, which undoubt-edly is his, of training the workmen he needs,and the question which presents itself to usis how can this best be done. The firstmethod adopted was to allow the "helpers"


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42 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPor "laborers" in a shop to learn from thosemechanics with whom they came most incontact, and to promote such of those asseemed to be most capable. Such a systemis far from satisfactory, for the methodwhich the helper learns depends largely uponhis capacity for imitation, and the ability ofthe man imitated. A much better method isto select as a trainer or instructor a goodworkman, who has the proper qualificationsfor teaching. This produces far betterresults, for the helper may thus be taughtboth how to do the work and why it is done.The best method so far devised is to havethe problem studied by a first-class mechanic

who is versed in the methods of scientificinvestigation, and who undertakes to teachthe new man the best methods he has beenable to devise, the learner being accordedsuch compensation for success as will inducehim to put forth his best efforts.Because of the fact that in every operation

the element of time is an exceedingly impor-tant one, and that the only satisfactorymethod for measuring this element is bymeans of a stop-watch, the method of inves-tigation in which a stop-watch is used hasbeen called "time study," which gives an


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TRAINING WORKMEN 43erroneous idea of the processes involved.Moreover, as the stop-watch is the onlyevidence to the ordinary man of what istaking place, many feel, when they have seenan investigator timing an operation, that thework he is doing is very simple, and that theyare capable of doing it themselves. Theyhave not seen the planning of the work sothat it can be done conveniently and withoutunnecessary motions or delay, nor do theyunderstand what has been done so thatmaterial and tools shall always be readywhen wanted by the workmen. They haveonly seen the stop-watch, which is used tofind out how long the workman took. Thismay bear but little relation to the time heshould have taken. In fact the superficialobserver usually gets an entirely erroneousidea as to what is going on, and if he under-takes to imitate the work of the trainedinvestigator gets only superficial results.For instance, if he does not thoroughly

understand the work being done, he maycarefully time an operation which is abso-lutely useless, or one which is being done withimproper tools. In other words, if the inves-tigator is not thoroughly familiar with theprocess he is studying, and with the tools or


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44 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPappliances available, his results may beabsolutely worthless, in spite of the fact thatthe operator may have performed the opera-tion very efficiently, or have used the toolsmost skillfully.

"Efficiency" then, which has been so muchadvertised, is not the whole answer. To doefficiently something that is not wanted is,of course, better than doing it inefficiently,for some time is saved, good habits are main-tained, and the loss is less ; but to do the rightthing, however inefficiently, will accomplishan end much quicker than doing the wrongthing, however efficiently. This brings usagain to the importance of wise direction, orproper leadership. Our ideals must be cor-rect, or our whole scheme of efficiency fallsto the ground. Striving efficiently for im-proper ends may involve all concerned in acatastrophe, the extent of which is measuredonly by the efficiency with which the end hasbeen striven for.

I intend to make clear in my succeedinglectures that the amount of good workturned out by a factory is of greater impor-tance than any other single item with whichthe workmen may be concerned. If we candouble the output of a factory by paying


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TRAINING WORKMEN 45higher wages, and providing a few extraappliances, we are far better off than if weget the increased output by building anadditional factory. Many people do notseem to understand this, and the manageroften has an operation studied with a stop-watch, not so much with a view of increasingthe output of a man or machine per unit oftime, but only with the idea of fixing a propercompensation for the output produced. Thishas led many people to lay undue emphasison the use of -the stop-watch, and to considerthat the sole function of "time study" wasto fix a piece rate or set a task.The term "time study" is most unfortu-nate, inasmuch as it suggests to many peoplethe idea that getting the time of performingan operation with a stop-watch is necessarilya- valuable or important thing. This is oftenfar from a fact. An inexperienced man candraw as many false conclusions from thereadings of a stop-watch as from anythingelse. To make a careful study with a stop-watch of an operation which is being per-formed improperly is sheer folly, for not onlyare the results worthless, but the contemptwhich such a performance naturally stimu-lates in the mind of an intelligent workman


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46 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPis hard to eradicate. The practice of allow-ing clerks with stop-watches to go. into afactory to study operations about which theyare entirely ignorant cannot be too severelycondemned. It is this too common practicewhich is largely responsible for the storm ofopposition to the stop-watch on the part ofthe workmen. When, however, a capableman who has studied a job, and in whoseintegrity the workmen have confidence, usesa stop-watch in an intelligent manner to getthe facts about a piece of work, it is seldomthat a workman protests, and even if he doesprotest, he almost always withdraws hisprotest when he understands that the inves-tigator is only seeking facts. There are fewworkmen who do not prefer to have tasks, oreven piece rates, based on facts, rather thanon guess. When based on facts, tasks, orpiece rates, under any reasonable system ofmanagement are permanent; when based onguess, or records, nobody ever expects theywill be permanent. The fixing of tasks, orrates, in such a manner is simply laying uptrouble for the future.While the benefit to be derived from theuse of a stop-watch in the hands of a capable

investigator is undoubtedly great, experience


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TRAINING WORKMEN 47shows that there is far more liability to over-estimate the benefit to be derived from itsproper use than to foresee the harm thatmay result from its improper use.Such improper methods are to a high de-

gree detrimental to the general industrialwelfare, for not only do they fail to accom-plish the object sought, but they produce inthe mind of the workman a suspicion of allmethods of investigation, and are apt to causehim to become antagonistic to all employers,much to the detriment of all concerned.On the other hand, if by a proper study

the best method of doing a piece of work hasbeen discovered, and the time it should takea good man to do it determined, nobody isbetter pleased than the workman, who by thismeans is taught to do with ease far morework than he ever thought possible. Theeffect of such training is most marked, andfew, who have learned better methods thanthey knew, are ever willing to go back to theold methods after getting accustomed to thenew.Good habits are often quite as persistent

as bad ones, and habits of industry acquiredunder a proper system of training are a most


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48 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPvaluable asset to their possessor. One of themost important industrial problems, then,becomes that of training workmen in habitsof industry, which are essential for any kindof success.We all know that when a man becomesinterested in his work, it frequently becomesnot only the source of his livelihood, but ofhis amusement as well, and he works at itwith unremitting industry. The first stepthen, in attempting to establish habits ofindustry, is to make the workman interestedin his work. If this can be done, the forma-tion of the proper habits with regard to itfollows as a matter of course. The mosteffective method of stimulating interest inpeople in general is to set a task, for theaccomplishment of which an attractive re-ward is offered. This seems fundamental,for the earliest form of education given achild is by setting it a task.The invariable method is to show the child

as clearly as possible what is wanted, andthen to set a task for it to accomplish. Itmay be noted that the accomplishment ofthe task is rendered much easier for both thechild and the parent if a suitable reward is


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TRAINING WORKMEN 49offered for its proper performance. As amatter of fact, setting tasks and rewardingperformance is the standard method ofteaching and training children. The school-master invariably sets tasks, and, while theyare not always performed as well as hewishes, he gets far more done than if he hadnot set them. The college professor findsthe task his most effective instrument ingetting work out of his students ; and, whenwe in our personal work have somethingstrenuous or disagreeable to accomplish, itis not infrequent that we utilize the sameidea to help ourselves, and it does.The inducement to perform the task is

always some benefit or reward. It may notbe so immediate as the lump of sugar thechild gets, but the work is still done for somereward, immediate or prospective. Further,it is a well-acknowledged fact that to workat a task, which we recognize as being withinour power to accomplish without overexert-ing ourselves, is less tiring and far morepleasant than to work at the same rate withno special goal ahead.

It is simply the difference between workingwith an object, and without one.


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50 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPThe hunter who enjoys following the trail

of the moose, day after day, through snowand bitter cold weather, would find the sametraveling very disagreeable except for thetask he has set himself. To the uninitiated,golf seems a very inane sort of game, but itsdevotees work at it with tremendous energyjust for the satisfaction of reducing theirscore a few strokes. As they become moreproficient, they become more enthusiastic,for, having performed one task, there isalways one just a little harder to work for.A consideration of this subject convinces usthat in the vast majority of people therereadily springs up the desire to do somethingspecific if the opportunity offers, and if anadequate reward can be obtained for doing it.The idea of setting for each worker a task

with a bonus for its accomplishment seems,then, to be in accord with human nature, andhence the proper foundation for a system ofmanagement. Our problem, then, is to findout how to set a proper task and what thereward should be for its accomplishment.The ideal industrial community would be

one in which every member should have hisproper daily task and receive a correspond-


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TRAINING WORKMEN 51ing reward. Such a community would repre-sent the condition of which Kipling says

We shall work for an age at a sittingand never be tired at all.

This is what modern methods of manage-ment are devised to help us accomplish, forunder such methods we aim to assign to each,from the highest to the lowest, a definite taskeach day, and secure to every individualsuch a reward as will make his task not onlyacceptable, but agreeable and pleasant.Under such a system the necessity fordriving rapidly disappears, and the develop-

ment of the best qualities in men goes onapace. Is it not the relative freedom fromrestrictions and driving methods whichmakes the Americanized foreigner in a fewyears so different from his brother inEurope? Opportunity to work for what heconceives to be his own interest, rather thanfor that of some one else, has undoubtedly amost stimulating effect on a workman.Was it not this experience that made theAmerican contingent of the Greek army inthe Balkan War so superior to the Europeanportion?


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52 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPA task system, then, which makes a man

interested in his work has a beneficial effectfar out of proportion to the financial benefitsderived.The task idea is really so common that we

do not recognize it* Every railroad schedule -consists of a series of tasks, and in the manu-facture of such articles as sewing machines,typewriters, and locomotives the task idea isillustrated by the schedules according towhich the various parts are started on theirway through the different departments, andday by day make such progress as will bringthem to the erecting shop at the proper timeto be incorporated into the finished machinewithout delay.A study of management in general dis-closes the fact that the "task idea" has helda prominent place in all the most successfulsystems of management not only of the pres-ent, but of the past. The term ' 'task master 'is an old one in our language, and symbolizesthe time, now happily passing away, whenmen were compelled to work, not for theirown interests, but for those of some one else.Under a democratic system of governmenttasks may be set, but the worker must be


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TRAINING WORKMEN 53made to feel that it is to his interest toperform them.

It is safe to say that it is only under a tasksystem of management that the highestdevelopment can be reached, and it is ourproblem therefore to develop a task systemon the basis of democracy that will yield asgood, or better, results than those now inoperation under autocracy.The truest definition of democracy is

equality op opportunity. There is nothingin such democracy that at all conflicts witha task system based on knowledge. In factthe two ideas are completely in harmony, forunder the modern task system an effort ismade to assign men to the work for whichthey are best fitted naturally, and to trainthem to do it efficiently. Our effort then isto approach as nearly as possible that idealcommunity in which each man shall do thework for which he is best fitted and receivea commensurate reward.


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PEINCIPLES OF TASK WORK


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Ill

PRINCIPLES OF TASK WORKThe essential differences between the best

systems of today and those of the past are,the manner in which the tasks are set, andthe manner in which their performance isrewarded.To set proper tasks of any kind requiresa high degree of knowledgemuch higher

than even the most capable people engagedin any work usually possess. The result ofthis condition is, that in the past most taskshave been set by what is called judgment,which is usually another word for guess.Even today this method is largely in vogue,for most people have only a vague idea ofhow to acquire exact knowledge. The usualmethod is to get together a "committee" ofmen, often equally ignorant on the subject,and decide by a discussion and a vote. As amethod of acquiring knowledge this is aboutthe worst that can be imagined, but I am


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58 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPsorry to say that it is still used even by someeducated people.The result of such a discussion can onlybe an opinion, which many very good citizensoftentimes cannot distinguish from a fact.

I once asked a successful man what themost important thing was that he learned atcollege, and promptly got the reply, theability to distinguish between an opinion anda fact. Those of us who have had a scientifictraining should be able to make this distinc-tion. It is upon us, therefore, that must fallthe responsibility for proper guidance of theworkman during the transition period, whilefact is slowly taking the place of opinion inindustrial affairs.In most matters concerning materials and

forces, the transition has taken place, and themisuse of either is today generally inexcus-able; but in matters concerning administra-tion, where the human element is the largestfactor, but little has yet been accomplished,and most people still seem to feel that theonly way to settle such matters is by con-sensus of opinion.There was a time, not very far in the past,when the shape of the earth and the distance

of the moon were matters of opinion, and


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PEINCIPLES OF TASK WORK 59when everybody was ignorant of the natureof fire; but the advance of the scientificmethod has cleared up most matters of thiskind, which have thus been withdrawn fromspeculation. This, however, is not so withreference to human activities, to which theattention of scientific investigators has onlyrecently been turned. Few people under-stand the methods of analysis and scientificinvestigation as applied to human affairs. Itis only to be expected, therefore, that anyattempt to withdraw this subject from therealm of opinion, and put it into the categoryof fact, will be opposed by most people, whodo not understand the process.

Nevertheless, the scientific study of humanactivities, and of the capacity of a man forwork is making some progress, and it willnot be very long before it will be recognizedas just as proper a subject of investigationas inanimate materials and forces.The attempt to substitute scientific knowl-

edge for opinion in the administration ofhuman affairs is what is known as "scientificmanagement," which might better be called"the scientific method in management."

This movement is simply a step in theevolution of industry, and is sure to expand,


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60 INDUSTKIAL LEADERSHIPas the number of scientifically trained menin industry increases. So far scientific man-agement has been looked upon by mostpeople as a specific method; this is far froma fact. It is simply a movement, and thevarious "systems" that have been devised byleading engineers and others, are simplymechanisms to enable them to give concreteexpression to their ideas on the subject.People are asking what scientific manage-

ment does. The answer is, "no system everdoes anything." It is the man who doesthings by using one of the mechanisms thathas been developed under the name of"scientific management."The terms "efficiency" and "efficiency

engineer," have gained great publicity inthe last few years, and we hear muchabout "personal efficiency." Correspond-ence school courses are offered for hometraining. While I am not in sympathy witha great deal of what has been offered.underthese heads, I believe the net result has beenbeneficial; but I cannot help feeling that allsuch isolated efforts will produce only tem-porary results unless they are based on somefundamentally correct principle.Too many people are seeking results re-


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PRINCIPLES OF TASK WORK 61gardless of how they are obtained, for Ihave more than once been told that resultswere wanted, not methods. My reply was,that I was not so much interested in resultsas in methods, for if we had proper methodsthe proper results would follow. Men whodemand results regardless of methods arelargely responsible for the great army ofmen who call themselves "efficiency engi-neers," many of whom are not engineers atall. but simply "stunt" peddlers. Neverthe-less they are doing some good, for the manwho today buys a few valuable stunts, atleast learns that he does not possess allavailable knowledge, and may be led someday to apply the scientific method to hisbusiness. Nevertheless, colleges should notcater to such a class, which is already largeenough, but should prepare students tograpple with the problem of basing theiractions on facts rather than opinions, andthus help train the industrial leaders of thefuture.The great problem of the industrial leader

is to solve the labor problem. The financierhas assumed this task in the past, and thepresent deplorable conditions are the result.He has failed.


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62 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPOn men such as you must largely fall this

task of training future leaders, who have nothad the benefit of a college education. Toaccomplish this you must study all the ele-ments entering into it, of which the humanelement is the most important.A recognition of the importance of thehuman element is quite new. Until recentlythe engineer had regarded his work done,when he had developed an improved machineor apparatus, and proved by operating it fora short while that its capacity was all heclaimed for it. It has then too often beenacquired by men imperfectly trained me-chanically, but who had the commercialinstinct highly developed. Such men usuallyturn it over to a "cheap" man to operate,and its maintenance is nearly always lookedafter by a second-rate mechanic, for thecommercial man can seldom see why heshould have a high-priced man doing repairs.The efficiency of the machine naturally

decreases, and a factory run on these prin-ciples must necessarily be more inefficientstill.

Fortunately this condition is not universal,for the advantage of having an engineer fora manager has for years been recognized by


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PRINCIPLES OP TASK WORK 63some, and the number of such, is increasing.This number is not sufficiently great, nor hasthe engineer yet had sufficient training inthe art of management to make untrue thestatement, which has been so loudly pro-claimed recently, that the majority of ourindustries are very inefficiently managed.Inasmuch as most factories are controlledby men of commercial instincts or training,

their gauge is necessarily not efficiency, ofwhich they know nothing, but profits, ofwhich they know a great deal.

If we would increase the efficiency of aplant, the problem must be put up to a manwho knows at least what the word means.Fortunately, the man who knows most aboutefficiency also knows most, not only about theapplication of science to the mechanic arts,but also about workmen, by whose side hehas obtained his knowledge of and acquiredhis skill in the use of tools. This man is theengineer. He is the only man who spansthe whole gap between the capitalist and theworkman, and knows the mental attitudeand necessities of each. It is on hisshoulders therefore that must fall theburden of harmonizing their interests.The problem of developing new and better


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64 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPappliances is not so important today as thatof properly utilizing those we have. Therecognition of this fact has given rise to thetremendous interest in the subject of man-agement which has become manifest in thelast few years. This brings us back againto the training of workmen, for the firstthing needed to make any kind of manage-ment or administration successful is trainedpeople.In attempting to train men we must recog-

nize the fact that they are just as susceptibleto petty annoyances as their superiors, andthat as a rule they are just as anxious totake advantage of any opportunities that areafforded them, if they are benefited by sodoing. No sooner do we, as a rule, affordopportunities for men to show their abilityand to advance themselves than some beginto come to the front. We must not, however,expect by any system of management toproduce a revolution. If we can put in asystem by which the workman is benefitedand enabled to utilize his powers to betteradvantage, although he will gradually appre-ciate it, we must not expect him to do so atonce. His experience in the past has taughthim that his employer has usually but little


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PRINCIPLES OP TASK WORK 65interest in his advancement, and will givehim only such compensation as he is forcedto give. Having lived nnder such a conditionfor years, which is necessarily one of antago-nism for his employer, time mnst alwayselapse before he will believe that the oppor-tunities apparently offered him are real.

If, however, the work is done under aproperly trained engineer, who recognizesthe advantages of co-operation, and is willingto share them with the workman, we have nodifficulty in ultimately bringing him to aproper frame of mind.Our difficulty in the past has been mainlywith the commercial man, wbo has certain

theories of efficiency gained from the costaccountant which are fatal to our efforts tomake improvements of any kind.Of these theories, there are two which have

stood most prominently in the way of any-thing looking to the advancement of theworkman. The first, which is, fortunately,coming to be discredited, is that in order toget low costs the expense of the supervisingforce must be small compared to that ofthose who are actually performing thephysical work. This ratio has for a long timebeen held by many accountants to be a


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66 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPmeasure of efficiency. The result of thistheory is that the foreman or superintendentwho wishes to make a good showing in theeyes of the cost accountant has as large a payroll as possible in order that the ratio of hissalary and that of his clerks to the wagesof the workmen may be small. I have knownforemen who objected to having their forcereduced because they would be criticised formaking a poorer showing. The other fallacy,viz., that it is necessary to have low wagesin order to have low costs, is equally detri-mental to all concerned. Inasmuch as it isfar easier, as a rule, to criticise a pay rollthan it is to criticise the amount of workdone by the people on that pay roll, the manin authority oftentimes concentrates hisefforts on keeping down the pay roll, regard-less of the amount of work done, which he hasmade no provision to measure.The usual method of holding down the pay

roll is to see that no man makes more thana very moderate wage. Under such manage-ment men invariably do only a very moderateamount of work, and the effort on the partof the manager to see how little money canbe spent usually has the effect of causing


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PRINCIPLES OF TASK WORK 67a correspondingly small amount of work tobe done.These two theories, which perhaps havedone more to hold back the advancementof our industries than any other causes,are gradually becoming 'discredited. Theincreasing productivity of our automaticmachinery, which requires but little directlabor, but oftentimes quite a good deal ofsupervision, has discredited one of them, andthe recognized efficiency of the well-paid,high-grade workman is rapidly doing awaywith the other.The fact that modern industrialism is

rapidly bringing into discredit his two pettheories is seriously disconcerting to theaverage accountant, who has been successfulas the principal adviser of the financier incommercial activities, for which his methodswere developed. He now begins to realizethat there is a radical difference betweentrade and industry, and that the methods ofaccounting, which were valuable in theformer case, may be worthless in the latter.In commerce, or trade, the comptroller andthe accountant are indeed extremely impor-tant people; for when the ships of Hollandand England brought the surplus silks of


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68 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPIndia and China to Europe, it mattered littleto the merchant who produced the goods, butit was extremely important that the financesshould be properly safeguarded. When,however, two rival producers today bid forthe privilege of supplying locomotives to arailroad, we have an entirely different stateof affairs; the producer now becomes theimportant man and the accountant primarilyhis record keeper. Inasmuch as modernmanufacturing developed out of the necessi-ties of the older form of trade, we should notbe surprised to find that it has inheritedhabits and beliefs that should long ago havebecome obsolete. The most serious of theseis the fact that the financier, in many cases,still sincerely believes the accountant to bemore important than the manufacturer, eventhough he only keeps a record of what themanufacturer does.

It is a great shock, therefore, to both thefinancier and the accountant, to realize thatthe ancient and honorable position of comp-troller is beginning to lose under modernmanufacturing methods, the relative impor-tance it acquired when physical labor was notesteemed as it now is, and when hewers of


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PRINCIPLES OP TASK WORK 69wood and drawers of water were held incontempt.Now, however, that labor is held to be

honorable, and the man who knows what todo and how to do it is claiming an equalplace with him who knows what was doneand who did it, we recognize that it istime we readjusted the traditional relativepositions of the record keeper and the doer.The record keeper is just as essential as

ever, but under modern methods he mustyield his supremacy to the producer, and giveup his privilege of being simply a critic.An accountant, as a rule, feels that he hasdone his duty when he, after two or threemonths, brings to the president his criticismsof the factory. Such an accountant is reallya "non-producer," and there is no place forhim in modern manufacturing. What isneeded is a man who will keep the recordsup to date, and furnish the superintendent,day by day if necessary, with an exactaccount of the money spent and the workdone. Such a man is not a "non-producer"but a great help to the superintendent.In the modern factory, there is no room

for the "non-producers," everybody musthelp, or he has no place; the accountant as an


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70 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPassistant to the superintendent takes on anew dignity as a producer.He no longer regards the ratio of indirectto direct labor as important, but co-operateswith the superintendent to reduce their sum,and for this purpose is glad to reduce either,or both, regardless of the effect on the ratio.

Until these fundamental ideas are fullycomprehended and acquiesced in, it is notpossible to establish a successful system oftask work.The reason why tasks or piece rates have

been, to a large extent, unsatisfactory in thepast, is because they have been based on whathas been done, or somebody's opinion of whatcould be done, instead of exact knowledgeof what could be done. Capable workmen,who exceeded the past records, or the amountwhich had been decided upon by the opinionof those in charge, were almost alwayspenalized for their extra efforts by havingtheir compensation reduced, or their taskincreased. This method of dealing withworkmen had been in vogue for many years,and the industrial relations between employerand employee were rapidly becoming worseand worse, due largely to the fact that the


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PRINCIPLES OF TASK WORK 71method of compensation of the workmen hadno fixed basis.

It was this fact that first aroused the lateDr. Frederick Winslow Taylor, who early inhis career concluded that if progress was tobe made in directing human activities, thatdirection must be founded neither on recordsof past performance, nor on the opinion ofany man as to what should be done, but onknowledge of the matter concerned. It waspainful to him to see a group of people dis-cussing a subject about which they wereequally ignorant, and deciding the questionby vote. The great work of his life was abattle with such methods, and the triumphof the scientific method over the debatingsociety as a means of establishing a basis foraction on questions involving the interest ofemployers and employees, is his great con-tribution to the world's work.The development of a method of treating

steel, which gave him great prominence atthe time, and which has so frequently beenreferred to, of the system of managementthat bears his name, and of the successfulprosecution of the various activities withwhich his name has been associated, are butincidents in his career, and only the logical


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72 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPoutcome of his determination to advance thesum of human knowledge on all subjects inwhich he became interestedthis he neverfailed to do.

It is his substitution of the scientificmethod of determining what can be done asa basis for action, instead of records of whathad been done, or opinion of what can bedone, that marks the new industrial spirit,with which I hope to inspire you.Modern industrial management aims to set

a task for each member of the organizationfrom the highest to the lowest, but task set-ting in its ordinarily accepted sense is not thefirst problem that confronts us. An indus-trial institution today is a large co-operativeundertaking. Before we can ask people toperform tasks, which we know are well withintheir ability, if they have available the propermaterials and appliances, it is necessaryfor us to provide such an organization aswill furnish them with the materials andappliances needed to perform those tasks.While it is impossible for me in a course of

this nature to go into the general problemof administration, and to describe to you amechanism which enables us to accomplishthe object we have in mind, it must be per-


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PRINCIPLES OF TASK WORK 73fectly evident that certain things are neces-sary. For instance, we must always be ableto supply the workmen with the materialsand equipment needed before we ask him toperform his task. To do this we must knowin advance what is to be done each day, andnot only that the materials on which he is towork are on hand, but that -the equipmentwhich he needs is not in use for some otherpurpose. It is not easy to establish in alarge organization a system of managementwhich can insure such condition of affairs;but before we can pretend to ask people toperform regularly tasks which we may assignto them, such an organization must be ingood working condition. To develop such anorganization and to get it in smooth workingorder involves a great deal of work and time,and oftentimes the changing of the viewpointand duties of many members of the staff.

This problem can seldom be accomplishedto such a degree as to warrant our beginningto set tasks in less than a year, and moreoften it takes nearly two years.

It is very important that this be thoroughlyunderstood, and also that there is but littlechance of success for a young man whoequips himself with a stop-watch and calls


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74 INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIPhimself an "efficiency engineer" unless hehas mastered this part of the subject.Proper task setting itself is not nearly so

simple an operation as most people think.Before we begin to study an operation in

detail with the object of setting a task wemust ask

1stIs the operation necessary?2dIs it being done in the best manner?When these are answered, other detailquestions follow.To answer these questions at all requires

a knowledge of the work to be done and ofthe equipment available, which rules out atonce the clerk with a stop-watch.Many unnecessary operations are beingdone in almost every shop. In many casesthese operations were once necessary, butwhen changes were made, it was not realizedthat they were no longer necessary, and thehabit of performing them continued. Thefirst duty therefore of the task setter is toanswer the first question and establish thefact that the operation is necessary before hebegins to study it.To answer the second question satisfac-torily it is necessary to have an extensive

knowledge of shop methods and appliances,


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PRINCIPLES OF TASK WORK 75for it is the height of absurdity to studycarefully an operation which is being doneby the wrong method or with inferior appli-ances. Having decided that an oper

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