For the usual loads of 90 pounds, he
found that a first-class laborer must not work more than 43 per cent
of time working day and must be entirely without load 57 per cent. If
the load becomes lighter, the relation is changed. If the workman is
handling a half pig weighing 46 pounds, he can be under load 58 per
cent of the day and only has to rest during 42 per cent.[43]
As soon as these figures were experimentally secured, Taylor selected
fit men, and did not allow them to lift and to carry the loads as they
pleased, but every movement was exactly prescribed by foremen who
timed exactly the periods of work and rest. If he had simply promised
his men a high premium in case they should carry more than the usual
12 tons a day, they would have burdened themselves as heavily as
possible and would have carried the load as quickly as possible, thus
completely exhausting themselves after three or four hours of labor.
In spite of such senseless exaggeration of effort in the first hours,
the total output for the day would have been relatively small. Now the
foremen determined exactly when every individual should lift and move
the load and when he should sit quietly. The result was that the men,
without greater fatigue, were able to carry 47-1/2 tons a day instead
of the 12-1/2 tons. Their wages were increased 60 per cent. Such a
trivial illustration demonstrates very clearly the extreme difference
between an increase of the economic achievement by scientific,
experimental investigation and a mere enforcing of more work by
artificially whipping-up the mind with promises of extraordinary
wages.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190