The Psychology of Management by Lillian Moller Gilbreth

of these duties would probably be mentally ill fitted for performing others in the best possible way that they could be performed. WORK NOT WELL DONE.--Not only does the foreman under Traditional Management do a great deal of work which can be done by cheaper men, but he also wastes his time on clerical work in which he is not a specialist, and, therefore, which he does not do as well as the work can be done by a cheaper man, and this takes more of his time than he ought to devote to it. The result is that the work is not done as well as it can and should be done. A most perfect illustration of a common form of Traditional Management is the old story of the foreman, who, in making his rounds of the various parts of the work, comes to the deep hole being excavated for a foundation pier and says hurriedly--"How many of yez is there in the hole?" "Seven." "The half of yez come up." The theoretical defects of the old type of management often seen before the advent of the trained engineer on the work include:--