SEUBERT, THE TAYLOR SYSTEM IN PRACTICE (original) (raw)

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

NOTEBOOK “β”

(“BETA”)

SEUBERT, THE TAYLOR SYSTEM IN PRACTICE

Dipl. Ing. Rudolf Seubert, The Taylor System in Practice, Berlin, 1914.

The author spent eight months studying the Tabor Manufacturing Co. (Philadelphia) and promises a detailed practical description.

| | p. 6: “Those well acquainted with German andAmerican conditions will at once concede that,as regards economic use of material, Germanindustry is far in advance of American, but,on the other hand, as regards economic use ofhuman labour-power, Germany has still muchto learn from the U.S.A.” (7).... | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ---------------- | | | | | | | | | | charac-teristic! |

“Time studies” are better called “productivity studies”: not only is the time observed, but the best work methods are studied and deduced (9-10)....

| —“The science of work” (10)Movement is studied by the cinematograph—a slanting position facilitates handling of thematerial (without looking) etc., etc. “No unnec-essary or purposeless movements” (15).The method must be put into effect cautiously,in keeping with American _democratic_customs (p. 22) so that it shall not be regardedas “torture” (22).The wage increase is usually one-third, wherebythe worker receivesan amount that, “as regards his position,already puts him (if + one-third) at the eco-nomic level of a fairly well-paid tradesman ortechnician” (22)....p. 30: “On the average” the Taylor reformtakes “five years”. The Tabor Manufac-turing Co. was “in danger of bankruptcy”because of the expense of introducing theTaylor system. | | | | | | N.B. | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | ----------- | --------------------- | | ---- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | N.B. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | sic!!!!N.B. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | N.B.bour-geoisi-fying | | | | | !! | | | | | | |

The Tabor Manufacturing Co. was founded in the 1890s. In 1904 there was a strike (half-won). Things were going badly. Taylor offered to provide money if he were allowed to reorganise (32). Accepted.

| After five years: production increased 80%; costs decreased 30%; wages increased 25%; | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | in 1912 | 45 workers (33)48 (!!sic!!!) officials and fore-men ((usually 1 : 3)) (clerks) (office work-ers and foremen). | |

Next come copies of the “keys” (abbreviations), formulas, papers, instructions—a mass of written material, highly complex ... office workers call it the “talmud” (p. 35)....

One employee is engaged solely in studying productivity (time studies), which enables him to study deeply all hand movements and operations, and to improve them.

| | ...“In this way, hardly a day passes in the TaborManufacturing Co. without some aspect of the workbeing tested through productivity studies for itsexpediency and found capable of improvement” (107). | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | N.B. | | |

| | | | | | | | ------- | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | N.B. | | | p. 153: “Time and motion studies” = themost “interesting” and the most “sensational” fea-ture of the Taylor system. | | | | | | | | |

[Hours—hours and hundredths of an hour (p. 124). More convenient.]

| | Difficulties in applying the system in Germany:“In Germany, the social stratification of the workingclasses is a difficulty that should not be under-estimated. In Germany, an academically educatedman prefers to address one not so educated in a toneof command, and the same thing applies betweenthe engineer and the foreman, and between theforeman and the worker. Under the Taylor system,where they must feel themselves co-workers, sucha tone will no longer be permissible” (152).... Itwill take years to become accustomed to “workersbeing promoted to the posts of foremen and officials”.... | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | !!N.B. | | | | | | | | |

End