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Card #c1128IR // #c1128Synthesis

"…when the vote was taken the girls were unanimous that 10 1/2 hours was good enough for them and they wanted no innovation of any kind." "…with each shortening of the working day the output increased instead of diminishing."

— In our words · Source: The Principles of Scientific Management (Frederick Winslow Taylor)

[Use when]

You plan to put a change to a group vote that people agreed to one by one.

[Why it matters]

Individually the inspectors agreed ten hours would do. As a group they voted it down. Months later Taylor cut hours in steps to 8 1/2 at the same pay and output rose each time. He calls the vote a lapse into tact he regretted.

Filed under situations:When the team is looking to you to lead

More from The Principles of Scientific Management

#c1113"The greater part of the systematic soldiering, however, is done by the men with the deliberate object of keeping their employers ignorant…Your team's estimates never get shorter no matter how familiar the work becomes. #c1114"…after a workman has had the price per piece of the work he is doing lowered two or three times as a result of his having worked harder…You are tempted to raise a quota because someone beat it. #c1115"…since they were paid by the hour, the faster they went the less money they got, and finally telling him that if he went too fast the…You are setting up pay for work where you can't easily see the pace.

Same situation, different book

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