The Psychology of Management by Lillian Moller Gilbreth

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: