Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1137IR // #c1137Synthesis

"Schmidt, are you a high-priced man?" "He worked when he was told to work, and rested when he was told to rest, and at half-past five in the afternoon had his 47 and a half tons loaded on the car."

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

[Use when]

You are offering more pay in exchange for following a prescribed method exactly.

[Why it matters]

Taylor tied the job to a wage the man wanted ($1.85 against $1.15) and to doing exactly what a man with a stopwatch said, including when to rest. He says the pitch kept Schmidt's attention "on the high wages which he wants." This is Taylor's account; it has not been checked against outside sources.

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.

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