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Scientific Management; a History and Criticism

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Scientific Management; a History and Criticism SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT A History and Criticism BY HORACE BOOKWALTER DRURY Instructor in Economics and Sociology The Ohio State University SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK 1915 COPYRIGHT, 1915 BY HORACE BOOKWALTER DRURY TO A. W. D. AND S. B. D. 311.450 PREFACE THIS monograph has been written under the super- vision of Professor Henry R. Seager, who suggested the field to be covered, and brightened the way by his en- couragement. From his teaching and counsel arose the wish to treat the subject from the broadly-social point of view. Most of the men whose work is described in the fol- lowing pages have given me more or less of their time. But my debt on this score is mainly to Robert T. Kent, editor of Industrial Engineering. He has been my most useful guide as to the personalities and concrete events which constitute the real scientific management. My friend, Mr. E. F. Simonds, gave indispensable as- sistance in the preparation of the first draft. I have recently profited by a number of suggestions offered by Dr. Carl E. Parry, of the Ohio State University, who read most of the manuscript. HORACE B. DRURY. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, March 9, 1915. 281] 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I A HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT CHAPTER I PACK THE MEANING OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT . 15 / i. The Origin of the Term 15 2. The Movement Described 22 ) Briefly \ 3. The Boundaries of Scientific Management 27 Vx CHAPTER II EARLY ATTEMPTS AT A SOLUTION OF THE WAGES PROBLEM 30 1. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers 31 2. The Wages Problem 32 3. Profit Sharing 36 4. Henry R. Towne's "Gain- Sharing" 38 " " 5. Frederick A. Halsey's Premium Plan 41 " " 6. The Rowan Plan t 50 CHAPTER III THE GENESIS OF THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT 53 1. The First Scientific Management 54 a. Elementary Time Study 56 b. The Differential Rate 59 c. Conclusions 63 2. The Scope of Scientific Management Enlarged 65 a. The First Phase of Complete Scientific Management : Securing the Initiative of the Workmen 66 283] 9 I0 TABLE OF CONTENTS [284 PACK b. The Second Phase of Complete Scientific Management : Improving Methods of Work 69 I Standardization of Tools and 1 ) Equipment 69 (2) Routing and Scheduling 71 (3) Instruction Cards 73 (4) Motion Study 77 (5) Selection of Workmen 79 (6) Supplies 80 (7) Conclusions < 81 c. The Third Phase of Complete Scientific Management : Organization 82 3. Conclusion : The Genesis of the Principles of Scientific Management . 87 CHAPTER IV LIVES OF THE LEADERS Including certain Contributions to the Enrich - ment of Scientific Management , 88 1. Frederick Winslow Taylor 88 2. Henry L. Gantt 92 3. Carl G. Earth 96 4. Horace K. Hathaway 99 5. Morris L. Cooke 101 6. Sanford E. Thompson 106 7. Frank B. Gilbreth 108 8. Harrington Emerson 113 9. The Scientific-Management Men as a Body 117 CHAPTER V A SURVEY OF THE TRADES AND PLANTS IN WHICH SCIENTIFIC MANAGE- MENT HAS BEEN INTRODUCED 1 20 1. The Present Status of the Historic Illustrations of Scientific Manage- ment , . 1 20 a. The Midvale Steel Company 120 b. The Bethlehem Steel Company 120 c. Bicycle-Ball-Bearing Inspection 124 d. Bricklaying , 125 e. The Santa Fe 126 f. Conclusions as to the Past of Scientific Management 129 2. A Study of Several Installations of Contemporary Importance .... 130 a. The Tabor Manufacturing Company 130 b. The Link-Belt Company 134 c. The Watertown Arsenal 138 d. The Cotton Industry , 141 3. Extent of the Introduction of Scientific Management 144 TABLE OF CONTENTS 285 ] 1 1 PART II A CRITICAL REVIEW OF IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT PACK CHAPTER VI THE PRODUCTIVITY OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT 153 1. The Value of the Initiative of Workmen 153 2. The Extent to which Planning may be Profitably Carried 157 3. The Place of Organization in Scientific Management 161 4. How Much can Scientific Management Increase the National Income? 163 CHAPTER VII SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT AS A SOLUTION OF THE LABOR PROBLEM ... 169 1. The Views of the Organization Experts with Respect to Trade Unions . 170 2. A Sketch of the Relations between Scientific Management and Organ- ized Labor 175 3. Is Scientific Management a Satisfactory Substitute for the Collective Bargain? 178 a. Scientific Management Removes from Labor Some Incentives towards Organization 179 b. Scientific Management, However, Does Not Adequately Perform the Functions of the Collective Bargain 181 4. The Possibility of Coordinating Trade Unionism and Scientific Manage- ment . 185 CHAPTER VIII THE HUMAN SIDE 188 1. The Charge that Employees are Overworked 189 2. The Charge that Men are made Automatons 195 3. Promotion Skill Wages 199 4. The Humanizing of Management 202 CHAPTER IX OTHER CRITICISMS AND CONCLUSIONS 205 1. Scientific Management But One Factor in Social Life 205 2. The Larger Significance of Scientific Management 207 210 3. The Originality of Scientific Management 4. The Future , 214 INDEX 217 PART I A HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT CHAPTER I THE MEANING OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT I. THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM THE significance which has come to be associated with the words scientific management may be traced to an event which occurred in the latter part of 1910. In the early summer of that year, the railroads of the United States north of the Ohio and Potomac rivers and east of the Mississippi had filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission new freight tariffs, so framed as to involve a general and considerable advance in rates. The Interstate Commerce Commission had, on July 13, instituted an inquiry into the reasonableness of the pro- posed advances, and there had then followed in Septem- ber, October, and November a series of hearings. The vast sums of money involved, and the fact that the im- pending decision might become an important prece- dent, led to a contest of extraordinary intensity on the part of both the railroads and their opponents, the shippers. It happened that Louis D. Brandeis had assumed the leading position among the fifteen or twenty attorneys lined up against the proposed advances. The railroads, upon whom the law had placed the burden of proof, had maintained that the advances were necessitated by an in- crease in operating costs, due mainly to a recent rise in wages. Wages, they pleaded, make up nearly one-half 289] 15 !6 SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT [290 of railroad of the total cost operation ; and wages had been advanced in the spring of 1910 by from five to eight per cent. Therefore the railroads must receive greater revenue; or they would not have funds enough to make desired improvements, or the credit requisite for the successful flotation of their securities. In the face of these arguments, Mr. Brandeis dramatically took the aggressive, and striking out on a novel and unex- pected tack, he declared that there was a means by which the railroads could raise wages, and at the same time instead of increasing costs actually reduce them. This system, which meant high wages and low labor-cost, he called scientific management. Where did Mr. Brandeis find scientific management? It may be stated that, prior to November, 1910, there was nothing which was generally known by that title. The actual principles of the industrial system which Brandeis had in mind had indeed been in process of forma- " " tion for but scientific about thirty years ; management, the name, had not yet become an all-embracing slogan. Research shows some adoption of the parts of this " phrase : the word "management had been very commonly " " used, as in the phrase modern management ;" and sci- " entific also was a favorite term. Even the combination, " scientific management," had occurred fortuitously in the writings of Frederick W. Taylor, the great leader in the x movement, as early as 1903. It is said, too, that the full expression was, at a later date, designedly used by Taylor in explaining his ideas to visitors at Chestnut Hill, Phila- delphia. But these instances are cited merely by way of for the exception ; there were other real names system "Shop Management," Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, vol. xxiv, p. 1366. MEANING OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT 291] ^ " names more precise and much more common. Scien- " tific management had a definite meaning for few per- sons, if any. Nor was this general ignorance merely one of words. The idea back of the new movement was itself unfamiliar to most persons. The essentials of scientific manage- ment had indeed been presented to an inner circle in papers read before the American Society of Mechanical while a wider had Engineers ; considerably public noted the results of its application on the Santa Fe railroad. But there was not, as later, a widespread popular move- ment, nor any general acquaintance with either principles or results. Such was the situation when Mr. Brandeis happened 1 to be retained by a manufacturer whose plant was operat- ing under the plan, today known by the name of scientific management, but then unchristened. Brandeis, after studying the plant's organization, had become convinced of its intrinsic merit. When therefore the railroads ad- vanced the plea outlined above, he determined to propose, as an alternate solution of their dilemma, the adoption of the new principles : he made preparation to put on the witness stand some ten of the leading men connected with the movement. As a preliminary step along this line, Mr. Brandeis called together several of his prospective witnesses for the purpose of working out a plan of presentation.
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