- "a tax, an assessment, an impost
- "labor imposed, especially a definite quantity or amount of labor; work to be done; one's stint; that which duty or necessity imposes; duty or duties collectively
- "a lesson to be learned; a portion of study imposed by a teacher Page 132
- "work undertaken, — an undertaking
- "burdensome employment; toil."
Only the fourth meaning, as here given, covers in any way what is meant by the task in Scientific Management.
The ideas included in the other four definitions are most unpleasant. The thought of labor; the thought that the labor is imposed; the thought that the imposition is definite; that duty makes it necessary that it be done; that it is burdensome; that it is toilsome: these are most unfortunate ideas and have been associated with the word so long in the human mind that it will be a matter of years before a new set of associations can be formed which will be pleasant, and which will render the word "task" attractive and agreeable to the worker and to the public in general.
No Other Adequate Word Has Been Suggested. —
However, there seems to be no better word forthcoming; therefore, one can but follow the example of the masters in management, who have accepted this word, and have done their best to make it attractive by the way they themselves have used it.
To the writer, the word "stint" is far more attractive and more truly descriptive than is "task." Perhaps because of the old-fashioned idea that a reward, usually