The Psychology of Management by L. M. Gilbreth (best large ebook reader .txt) 📕

|   not written         ---|(a) made by man
                    for another  |                  |3. written programme      |(b)  "   " manager
                                 |                  |4. standardized programme |(a) made by man
                                 (b) Individual----|                          |(b)  "   " manager
                                      output        |                          |(a) made by man
                                                                              (b)  "   " manager

Interrelation of These Types. — The man is classified first, as working for himself, or working for another. There will usually be a fundamental difference, at the outset, in the minds of these two men, for the man working for himself will be of a more independent cast of thought. There will be no question as to the man's output showing up separately, unless he chooses to prevent this by having others work with him. Neither will there be any question but that, if a record is made, he makes it himself, unless someone who is not vitally connected with the work, as some onlooker, interested or disinterested, should make the records for him. But the typical case of the man working for himself would be that he was working as an individual, and that the record was made by himself. There would then be four kinds of records — an unconscious record, a conscious record not written, a written record and a standardized record. The "unconscious record" would be, in reality, no record at all. It would simply be, that somewhere in the man's mind there would be a record of what he had done, which, except as a "fringe of consciousness" would not particularly influence his programme. What we mean by a "conscious record" would be more of a set habit, the man knowing that he had done the work in a certain way. This would begin to influence, more or less, his programme, and also his knowledge of his capacity for work. With a written record, would come a thorough knowledge on his part of what he had done and how he had done it, and we must note that with this written record comes the possibility for some sort of a set programme, the man knowing what it will be possible to do, and how he had best do it. With the standardized record comes the standardized method.

Relationships Complex. — When we consider the man working for another, he may either be one of a gang, or one whose work is considered as that of an individual. In either case, any of the four sorts of records can be made of his work that have been already described for the man working for himself. Each one of these records may be made by the man, or by the management; for with the man working for another, naturally the second mind, that of the other, or the manager, enters in, and a great many more combinations are possible.

For example, — there might be an unconscious record made by the man and a conscious record, or a written record, made by the manager. There might be a conscious record made by the man, but an unconscious or a written record made by the manager, etc. There are too many combinations made to be here considered. Each one of these combinations would have a definite and a different effect, both upon the mind of the man, and upon the mind of the manager; and also upon their relation to each other. The second half of this chart is similar, but treats of programmes, as many variables enter here.

It may be thought that the details of the preceding chart and the three following charts are uninteresting, obvious, and show too many possible combinations. If this be so, then it is most necessary to include them to illustrate the conditions that are passed through and slipped back into too often in our schools, our apprenticeship and in all but the best of managements.

The outline of advancement must be known and recognized if the quality of teaching, efficiency, and management is to be graded in its right class.

When we consider that each type of record bears a relation to each type of programme, the complexity of the problems involved become apparent. This will be better shown in Table II.

TABLE II I. Man working for himself.  1. Unconscious record, unconscious programme.
 2. Conscious record, unconscious programme.
 3. Unconscious record, conscious programme.
 4. Conscious record, conscious programme.
 5. Unconscious record, written programme.
 6. Written record, unconscious programme.
 7. Conscious record, written programme.
 8. Written record, conscious programme.
 9. Written record, written programme.
10. Standardized record, standardized programme.

Illustration of This Complexity. — Table II represents the man working for himself, with subdivisions under it showing the possible relationship between his record and his programme. We find that these are at least ten, reaching all the way from the unconscious record and unconscious programme of the migrating transitory laborer to the standardized record and the standardized programme of the manager who manages himself scientifically.

Each one of these represent a distinct psychological stage. The progression may not be regular and smooth as is here given, — it may be a jump, possibly even from one to nine. It may, however, be a slow progression from one stage to another, largely to be determined by the type of mind that is considered, and the opportunities for development along scientific lines which are afforded. It is the writer's intention to discuss these at length at some other time. Here it is only possible to enumerate, in order to show the size and complexity of the problem which is here involved.

The table does not indicate, as perhaps it should, the fact that the relationship between an unconscious record and an unconscious programme is slight, while the relation between a written programme and a written record is very close indeed. In Table IV this will be indicated.

TABLE III II. Man working for himself. 1. One of a gang, unconscious record, unconscious programme, on part of both manager and man.



2. Individual output, — standardized record and programme, known to, or made by, both manager and man.

Elimination of Waste Possible. — The third table — that of the man working for another man — attempts to do no more than indicate the first and last step of a long series, beginning with the man, one of a gang, an unconscious record, and an unconscious programme, on the part of both the manager and the man, down to the final stage of individual output, with the written record and programme known to both manager and man. It would be a most interesting problem to work out the various steps stretching between these two, and the various ways in which progression might be made through these steps, either taking one step after another slowly or making the various possible jumps long and short. A psychological discussion of each step would be of value, and certainly must in time be made, but this book has not the scope, nor can the time be devoted to such a discussion.

If this third chart had no other purpose, it would be useful to suggest to the student the wide tracts which still remain for study and development. It must not be thought that any of the steps omitted on this chart are not in existence. Every single possible combination of record and programme is in existence to-day, and must be studied by the manager of men. Not until these are all discovered, described, and standardized, the progression noted, and standard progressions outlined, can methods of least waste be adopted.

With a more thorough experimental study of the mind will come a possible prediction as to which stages the various types of mind must pass through. So, too, with the training of the young mind in the primary schools and in the methods of Scientific Management, will come the elimination of many stages now necessary, and the possibility, even, that the final stage may be introduced at the outset, and the enormous waste of time, energy and wearing of unnecessary brain paths be absolutely abolished.

The Programme Derived from the Record. — Having considered the various records and programmes and their relation, we will now consider the four stages of the record, — (1) unconscious, (2) conscious, (3) written, (4) standardized, and trace the derivation of the programme from each stage.

TABLE IV I. Record unconscious. Programme cannot be definite.
Method is indefinite. II. Record conscious. Programme becomes more definite.
Method becomes more definite. III. Record written. Programme yet more definite.
Method definite. IV. Record standardized. Programme standardized, i.e.,
Results predictable.
Methods standard.

Unconscious Records Mean Indefinite Programmes. — First, then, suppose that the records are unconscious. What does this imply? It implies in the first place that the worker has no idea of his capacity; never having thought of what he has done, he has no idea what can be done, neither has he a comparative idea of methods, that is, of how to do it. It is impossible for a definite programme to be laid out by such a worker, — that is to say, no predictions by him as to the time of completing the work are possible. Neither could a method be derived by him from his previous work.

Note here the alarming amount of waste. All good methods which the worker may possibly have acquired are practically lost to the world, and perhaps also to him. Not only this, but all bad methods which he has fallen into will be fallen into again and again, as there are no warning signs to keep him out of them.

As there is no possibility of an accurate chronological chart, the worker may undertake more than he can do, thus delaying work which should have been done by others. On the other hand, he may underestimate his capacity, and be left idle because work he should have done has been assigned to others. Either of these leads to a sense of insecurity, to wavering attention, to "hit or miss" guess work, "rule-of- thumb methods," which are the signs of Traditional Management.

With Conscious and Written Records Come Definite Programmes. — We turn now to the case where the record is conscious, — that is, where the worker keeps in mind exactly what he has done. With this conscious record the idea of capacity develops. The man realizes what he can do. So also, the idea of method develops, and the man realizes how he can do the work. Third, there comes gradually an idea of a margin; that is, of a possible way by which capacity can be increased for a higher speed, or methods can be slightly varied to meet any particular deviation in the work to be done.

From this ability to estimate capacity, and to plan the method ahead, comes the ability to lay out a more definite programme. When the record becomes written the exactness of the programme increases. Methods also become written, and, though accurate prediction is not possible, such prediction is more and more nearly approached. This increasing accuracy is the work of Transitory System in all its stages.

Standard Records Permit of Standard Programmes. — In the last case, the record is standardized, that is, the result of the method of processes of analysis and synthesis. Through this process, as has been shown, the reason for success is discovered and rendered usable. The programme becomes standard, results can be predicted accurately, and methods by which these results can be best obtained are also standard.

It may at first escape notice that these standardized records, of the ultimate or scientific management type, imply not a greater rigidity, but a greater elasticity. This because of the nature of the elements of the records, which may, in time, be combined into a great number of different, predictable programmes.

SUMMARY

Results of Relations Between Records and Programmes on the Work. — The most noteworthy result of the closer relations between records and programmes which appear during the evolution of Scientific Management is the fact that they cause constant