always recognized that the work itself is a great Page 033 educator, and that acute cleverness in the line of work to which he is fitted comes to the worker.
Individuality Developed by Separating Outputs. — Under Scientific Management the work of each man is arranged either so that his output shows up separately and on the individual records, or, if the Work is such that it seems best to do it in gangs, the output can often be so recorded that the individual's output can be computed from the records.
Purpose of Separating Outputs. — The primary purpose of separating the output is to see what the man can do, to record this, and to reward the man according to his work, but this separating of output has also an individual result, which is even more important than the result aimed at, and that is the development of individuality.
Under Traditional Management and the usual "day work," much of the work is done by gangs and is observed or recorded as of gangs. Only now and then, when the work of some particular individual shows up decidedly better or worse than that of his fellows, and when the foreman or superintendent, or other onlooker, happens to observe this is the individual appreciated, and then only in the most inexact, unsystematic manner.
Under Scientific Management, making individual output show up separately allows of individual recording, tasks, teaching and rewards.
Effect on Athletic Contests. — Also, with this separation of the work of the individual under Scientific Management comes the possibility of a real, Page 034 scientific, "athletic contest." This athletic contest, which proves itself so successful in Traditional Management, even when the men are grouped as gangs and their work is not recorded or thought of separately, proves itself quite as efficient or more efficient under Scientific Management, when the work of the man shows up separately. It might be objected that the old gang spirit, or it might be called "team" spirit, would disappear with the separation of the work. This is not so, as will be noted by a comparison to a baseball team, where each man has his separate place and his separate work and where his work shows up separately with separate records, such as "batting average" and "fielding average." Team spirit is the result of being grouped together against a common opponent, and it will be the same in any sort of work when the men are so grouped, or given to understand that they belong on the same side.
The following twelve rules for an Athletic Contest under Transitory System are quoted as exemplifying the benefits which accrue to Individuality.
- Men must have square deal.
- Conditions must be similar.
- Men must be properly spaced and placed.
- Output must show up separately.
- Men must be properly started.
- Causes for delay must be eliminated.