When to this is added the fact that the method is taught, and
that the reward is ample, fixed, prompt and assured, the attractive
features of the task under Scientific Management have been made plain.
TASK IDEA APPLIES TO WORK OF EVERYONE.--Under Scientific
Management there is a task for every member of the organization,
from the head of the management to the worker at the most
rudimentary work. This is too often not known, or not appreciated by
the worker, who feels that what is deemed best for him should be
good for everyone. The mental attitude will never be right till all
understand that the task idea will increase efficiency when applied
to any possible kind of work. With the application of the task idea
to all, will come added coöperation.
TASK IDEA APPLIES TO THE WORK OF THE ORGANIZATION.--The work
which is to be done by the organization should be considered the
task of the organization, and this organization task is studied
before individual tasks are set. The methods used in determining
this organization task are analysis and synthesis, just as in the
case of the individual task.
INDIVIDUAL TASKS ARE ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATION TASK.--The
individual tasks are considered as elements of the organization
task. The problem is, to determine the best arrangement of these
individual tasks, the best schedule, and routing. The individual
task may be thought of as something moving, that must be gotten out
of the way.
Management has been called largely a matter of transportation.
It may be "transportation" or moving of materials, revolution of
parts of fixed machinery, or merely transportation of parts of one's
body in manual movements;[7] in any case, the laws governing
transportation apply to all. This view of management is most
stimulating to the mind. A moving object attracts attention and
holds interest. Work that is interesting can be accomplished with
greater speed and less fatigue. Thinking in terms of the methods of
Scientific Management as the most accurate and efficient in
transporting the finished output and its "chips"[8] will be a great
aid towards attaining the best results possible by means of a new
method of visualizing the problem.
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SYNTHESIST.--The synthesist must have a
constructive mind, for he determines the sequence of events as well
as the method of attack. He must have the ability to see the
completed whole which he is trying to make, and to regard the
elements with which he works not only as units, but in relation to
each other. He must feel that any combination is influenced not only
by the elements that go into it, but by the inter-relation between
these elements. This differs for different combinations as in
a kaleidoscope.
THE SYNTHESIST A CONSERVER.--The Synthesist must never be
thought of as a destructive critic. He is, in reality, a conserver
of all that is valuable in old methods. Through his work and that of
the analyst, the valuable elements of traditional methods are
incorporated into standard methods. These standard methods will,
doubtless, be improved as time goes on, but the valuable elements
will be permanently conserved.
SYNTHESIST AN INVENTOR.--The valuable inventions referred to as
the result of measurement are the work of the synthetic mind. It
discovers new, better methods of doing work, and this results in the
invention of better means, such as tools or equipment.
For example,--in the field of Bricklaying, the Non-stooping
Scaffold, the Packet and the Fountain Trowel were not invented until
the analysis of bricklaying was made, and the synthesis of the
chosen elements into standard methods made plain the need and
specifications for new equipment.
RELATION OF INVENTION TO SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT IMPORTANT.--There
has been much discussion as to the relation of Invention to
Scientific Management. It has been claimed by many otherwise able
authorities that many results claimed as due to Scientific
Management are really the results of new machinery, tools or
equipment that have been invented.[9] Scientific Management
certainly can lay no claim to credit for efficiency which comes
through inventions neither suggested nor determined by it. But the
inventions from the results of which Scientific Management is said
to have borrowed credit are usually, like the bricklaying inventions
cited, not only direct results of Scientific Management, but
probably would not have sprung from any other source for years
to come.
SYNTHESIST A DISCOVERER OF LAWS.--It is the synthetic type of
mind that discovers the laws. For example--it was Dr. Taylor, with
the aid of a few of his specially trained co-workers, who discovered
the following governing laws: