Taylor on Taylorism
In most trades the
science is developed through a comparatively simple analysis and time study of
the movements required by the workmen to do some small part of his work, and
this study is usually made by a man equipped merely with a stop watch and a
properly ruled notebook. Hundreds of these “time study men” are now engaged in
developing elementary scientific knowledge where before existed only
rule-of-thumb. Even the motion study of Mr. Gilbreth
in bricklaying involves a much more elaborate investigation than that which
occurs in most cases. The general steps to be taken in developing a simple law
of this class are as follows:
Find, say, 10 to 15
different men (preferably in as many separate establishments and different
parts of the country) who are especially skillful in doing the particular work
to be analyzed.
Second. Study the
exact series of elementary operations or motions which each of these men uses
in doing the work which is being investigated, as well as the implements each
man uses.
Third. Study with a stop
watch the time required to make each of these elementary movements and then
select the quickest way of doing each element of the work.
Fourth. Eliminate all false
movements, slow movements, and useless movements.
Fifth. After doing away
with all unnecessary movements, collect into one series the quickest and best
movements, as well as the best implements.
This new method,
involving that series of motions which can be made quickest and best, is then
substituted in place of the 10 or 15 inferior series which were formerly in
use. This best method becomes standard and remains standard, to be taught first
to the teachers (or functional foremen) and by them to every workman in the establishment
until it is superseded by a quicker and better series of movements. In this
simple way one element after another of the science is developed. In the same
way each type of implement used in a trade is studied.
. . .Now, what I want to bring out and make clear to you is that
under scientific management there is nothing too small to become the subject of
scientific investigation. Every single motion of every man in the shop sooner
or later becomes the subject of accurate, careful study to see whether that
motion is the best and quickest that can be used, and as you see, this is a new
mental attitude assumed by the employer which differs radically from the old.
The old idea, both of employer and employee, was to leave all of these details
to someone’s judgment. The new idea is that everything requires scientific
investigation, and that is what I am trying to make clear to you.