OCR Text |
Show TH PRINCIPLE O SCIENTIFI MANAGEMEN 2 tages of task work over the old-fashioned day work and piece work in doing a very elementary class of work The Bethlehem Steel Company had five blast-furnaces, the produc i I Clenc 3% 1 i work 30 ducate make i D underch tha capabl menta das e give of th h th te Stee ng o sma o e hfi iee O Thi Thi of which had been handled by a pig-iron gang for many years They were good gang, at this time, consisted of about 75 men average pig-iron handlers, were under an excellent foreman wh himself had been a pig-iron handler, and the work was done, on th whole, about as fast and as cheaply as it was anywhere else at tha time A railroad switch was run out into the field, right along the edg An inclined plank was placed against th of the piles of pig-iron side of a car, and each man picked up from his pile a pig of iro weighing about 92 pounds, walked up the inclined plank and droppe it on the end of the car We found that this gang were loading on the average about 12 We were surprised to find, after studylong tons per man per day ing the matter, that a first-class pig-iron handler ought to handl Thi between 47! and 48 long tons per day, instead of 123 tons task seemed to us so very large that we were obliged to go over ou work several times before we were absolutely sure that we wer Once we were sure, however, that 47 tons was a proper day' right work for a first-class pig-iron handler, the task which faced us a managers under the modern scientific plan was clearly before us It was our duty to see that 80,000 tons of pig-iron was loaded on t the cars at the rate of 47 tons per man per day, in place of 121 tons And it was furthe at which rate the work was then being done our duty to see that this work was done without bringing on a strik among the men, without any quarrel with the men, and to se that the men were happier and better contented when loading a the new rate of 47 tons than they were when loading at the old rat of 123 tons I Our first step was the scientific selection of the workman dealing with workmen under this type of management, it is a inflexible rule to talk to and deal with only one man at a time, sinc each workman has his own special abilities and limitations, and sinc we are not dealing with men in masses, but are trying to develo each individual man to his highest state of efficiency and prosperity W Our first step was to find the proper workman to begin with therefore carefully watched and studied these 75 men for thre or four days, at the end of which time we had picked out four me who appeared to be physically able to handle pig-iron at the rat N th v 1 See foot-note on page 35 |