It must not be forgotten that the managers are enabled not only to predict what the men, equipment, machinery, etc., will do, but what they can do themselves.
The Effect on the Men Is That the Worker Co-operates.
— 1. The worker's interest is held. The men know that the methods they are using are the best. The exact measurements of efficiency of the learner, — and under Scientific Management a man never ceases to be a learner, — give him a continued interest in his work. It is impossible to hold the attention of the intelligent worker to a method or process Page 117 that he does not believe to> be the most efficient and least wasteful.
Motion study and time study are the most efficient measuring device of the relative qualities of differing methods. They furnish definite and exact proof to the worker as to the excellence of the method that he is told to use. When he is convinced, lack of interest due to his doubts and dissatisfaction is removed.
- The worker's judgment is appealed to. The method that he uses is the outcome of coöperation between him and the management. His own judgment assures him that it is the best, up to that time, that they, working together, have been able to discover.
- The worker's reasoning powers are developed. Continuous judging of records of efficiency develops high class, well developed reasoning powers.
- There is elimination of soldiering, both natural and systematic.1
All Knowledge Becomes the Knowledge of All. — Two outcomes may be confidently expected in the future, as they are already becoming apparent where-ever Scientific Management is being introduced:
- The worker will become more and more willing Page 118 to impart his knowledge to others. When the worker realizes that passing on his trade secrets will not cause him to lose his position or, by raising up a crowd of competitors, lower his wages, but will, on the contrary, increase his wages and chances of promotion, he is ready and willing to have his excellent methods standardized.
Desire to keep one's own secret, or one's own method a secret is a very natural one. It stimulates interest, it stimulates pride. It is only when, as in Scientific Management, the possessor of such a secret may receive just compensation, recognition and honor for his skill, and receive a position where he can become an appreciated teacher of others that he is, or should be, willing to give up this secret. Scientific Management, however, provides this opportunity for him to teach, provides that he receives credit for what he has done, and receive that publicity and fame which is his due, and which will give him the same stimulus to work which the knowledge that he had a secret skill gave him in the past.
One method of securing this publicity is by naming the device or method after its inventor. This has been found to be successful not only in satisfying the inventor, but in stimulating others to invent.
Measurement of Individual Efficiency Will Be Endorsed by All. — 2. The worker will, ultimately, realize that it is for the good of all, as well as for himself, that individual efficiency be measured and rewarded.
It has been advanced as an argument against measurement that it discriminates against the "weaker brother," who should have a right to obtain the same Page 119 pay as the stronger, for the reason that he has equal needs for this pay to maintain life and for the support of his family.