Transcribed by Charles E. Nichols
Shop Management
By
Frederick Winslow Taylor
1911
Through his business in changing the methods of shop management, thewriter has been brought into intimate contact over a period of yearswith the organization of manufacturing and industrial establishments,covering a large variety and range of product, and employing workmen inmany of the leading trades.
In taking a broad view of the field of management, the two facts whichappear most noteworthy are:
(a) What may be called the great unevenness, or lack of uniformityshown, even in our best run works, in the development of the severalelements, which together constitute what is called the management.
(b) The lack of apparent relation between good shop management and thepayment of dividends.
Although the day of trusts is here, still practically each of thecomponent companies of the trusts was developed and built up largelythrough the energies and especial ability of some one or two men whowere the master spirits in directing its growth. As a rule, this leaderrose from a more or less humble position in one of the departments, sayin the commercial or the manufacturing department, until he became thehead of his particular section. Having shown especial ability in hisline, he was for that reason made manager of the whole establishment.
In examining the organization of works of this class, it will frequentlybe found that the management of the particular department in which thismaster spirit has grown up towers to a high point of excellence, hissuccess having been due to a thorough knowledge of all of the smallestrequirements of his section, obtained through personal contact, and thegradual training of the men under him to their maximum efficiency.
The remaining departments, in which this man has had but little personalexperience, will often present equally glaring examples of inefficiency.And this, mainly because management is not yet looked upon as an art,with laws as exact, and as clearly defined, for instance, as thefundamental principles of engineering, which demand long and carefulthought and study. Management is still looked upon as a question of men,the old view being that if you have the right man the methods can besafely left to him.
The following, while rather an extreme case, may still be considered asa fairly typical illustration of the unevenness of management. It becamedesirable to combine two rival manufactories of chemicals. The greatobstacle to this combination, however, and one which for several yearshad proved insurmountable was that the two men, each of whom occupiedthe position of owner and manager of his company, thoroughly despisedone another. One of these men had risen to the top of his works throughthe office at the commercial end, and the other had come up from aworkman in the factory. Each one was sure that the other was a fool, ifnot worse. When they were finally combined it was found that each wasright in his judgment of the other in a certain way. A comparison oftheir books showed that the manufacturer was producing his chemicalsmore than forty per cent cheaper than his rival, while the business manmade up the difference by insisting on maintaining the highest quality,and by his superiority in selling, buying, and the management of thecommercial side of the business. A combination of the two, however,finally resulted in mutual respect, and saving the forty per centformerly lost by each man.
The second fact that has struck the writer as most noteworthy is thatthere is no apparent rel