hendel the sociology of organizations

8/13/2019 Hendel the Sociology of Organizations

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M ax Webe r

The socio lo gy o f o rgan izatio ns beg in s w ith th e w ork of the G erm a n s ociologis t

M ax W eber (1864-1920), w hose w ork on bureaucracy w as f irs t transla te d into

Eng li sh in the late 1940s (Read in g 1).Weber s posit ion as th e intell ectu al founder

o f the field is in teres ting be cau se , although he w ro te from a histori cal perspecti ve

and was m ain ly concern ed w ith changing patt ern s of poli tical authority and

governm ental o rganization, m ost subsequent re search focuses on business

o rganizations and has li tt le in te res t in the kinds o f histo ri cal com pari sons th at

mot ivat ed W eber, Y et W eber s id eas rem ain a cen tra l contr ib u tion rich w ith im pli

cations, though not unchall enged by la ter w ri te rs .

W eber w as a rational system s theori st w ho beli eved that bureaucracy w as the

m ost effic ient form of org an izatio n an d a p il lar of modern so ciety . Americans

to day d o not usual ly th ink of burea ucracy as efficient. In dee d, European w ri ter s

and popular opinio n scorn ed th e ri g id ity , pettiness, and excessive influence of

their govern m en t bureaucra cies as ear ly as th e la te eigh te en th c en tu ry (A lbrow

1970). H owever, W eber s beli ef in bureaucra cy s technical supe rior it y makes

m ore sense when it is com pare d to previo us form s of state administra tion , an d

especiall y when seen in li ght of th e specta cu lar success and discip li ne of the

Prussian civil ser v ic e and army , which turn ed Germ any into a majo r Euro pean

power af ter their re org anizati on in th e n in eteen th cen tury in re sponse to Pru ssia s

defeat by Nap oleon in 1806 (A lbrow 1970).

W eber com pared modem burea ucratic au thori ty to tw o o ther kinds of autho rity ,chari sm ati c and tra d iti onal. C harism atic auth ori ty is based o n the un ique personal

quali ties o f an ex ceptional individual, such as a relig ious pro phet o r m ag neti c

A . EARLY DEFIN ITION SJJF ORGA N IZ A TION AN D M A N A GEM EN T

E arly D e fin itio ns o f O rg an iza tio n a nd M a n ag em e ntB S cien tific M a n ag em e nt a nd th e T rea tm e nt o f L ab or

C lassic Th eo ries o f Bu reau crac y an d Adm in istratio n

ORGAN IZA~T IONS AS

RA TION AL SY STEM S I



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belonged to the organizati on and to the officia ls ho lding posit ion s w ith in it. In th is

contex t, it is easy to see w hy W eber w o uld see ra tionality and effic ie ncy as defin

in g fe atures o f m odern b ure aucracy.A num ber of these contr asts also ho ld for the

comparison of bureaucra tic and chari sm atic authori ty , w h ich has an even m ore

personalis ti c , f lu id, a nd u nstable quality th an tra d i tional au thori ty .

For Weber , th e use of exper t specia lists , impersona l norms , wr i tt en d o cu m e nts,

a n d the discipline of a com mand h ie ra rchy g ive bureaucratic o rganiza ti on s a r el iability , re gu lari ty , a nd p re cision in the executi on of tasks th at no oth er fo rm of

authori ty equals In? bureaucra cy, ea ch member re l e- atedly exe l_ ltesa particul ar

functi o n a cc or ding to prespecifi ed standard s in th e service of a larger coll ective

goal. It is not surp ri si ng that W eber fam ously descri bed bu re au cr ac y a s a g iant

human m a ch in e, symboli zing not only its efficie n cy , bu t a lso its dehumanizing

potentia l; and he also believed i ts f ur ther extensio n in to a ll are as o f s oc ia l1 ife wa s

.in evit ab le .

Webe r belie ved moderni ty m eant ra tiona li ty and th e sp read of a scienti fic

approach to li v ing , and he saw bureaucracy as the em bodim ent of these princi

p le s. B y divid ing tasks in to logical pieces and parceling them out to fu ll-tim especia li st s, bu re aucra cies w e re ide a lly su ited to accompli shin g co mp lex job s of

all sorts on a large scale. Mode rni ty me an t the sp re ad o f b ureaucracy as the scale

o f tasks and the rationality w ith w h ich they w ere approached increased . N ot only

the govern m en t civ il serv ic e, but a l § churc hes, poli tica l parties, i nt er est g roup s,

arm ies, hospit a ls, chantie s, volu ntary , associations, busin ess en terp rises, indeed

a ll large organizations becom e in creasingly bureaucra ti c i nsofar as th ey require

continuous adm in istr a ti ve w ork by qualified professionals. Even in ti m ate s ph er es

such as th e family are affected by governmen t c hild w elfare regu latio ns , s chools,

and the social service bureaucracy . W e be r p re dic ted that s oc ia list econom ies

w ou ld be even m ore bureaucratic than cap itali st system s, desp it e th eir u to pia n

aspirations, because a planned econom y requ ir es coll ection of m ore technical

know ledge than m arket economies and tri es to ex ercise m ore conscious and

directive contr ol over th e e co no m y th ro ugh g o ve rn m e nt p lanning -a perceptive

insight considering th at W e be r d ied b ef or e the Sov ie t system to ok s hape.

Though developed as part of a com p ar at iv e h istorica l invest ig a ti on , Web er s

contr ast between bureaucr at ic r ationali ty an d n onbureaucratic principles o f orga

n izati on applies to m any contem porary situations. The separa tio n o f personal and

organizational property w ould seem an obvious distin cti on to day , but c orp ora

tions and govern m ent agen cie s h ave had to develop incre asin gly strict ru les

regard in g the value of gifts th at purcha sin g m anagers and others w ith p ow er to

aw ard c on tra cts m ay accept from suppliers o r p otenti a l contractors. som eone

ru ns a very sm all busin ess as an avo ca ti on a nd it g ro ws, then at a certa in poin t he

or she w il l have to set up a business account separ at e f rom h is or her personal

fi nances to keep clear track of the business p rofi ts. The ow ner w ill also fa ce th e

pro b lem o f how to choose a successor the com pany is to contin ue to o pe ra te

a fte r c ur re nt o w n er -m a n ag er retir es or d ies, ju st li ke a charismatic or other

person-cen te red co ll ec tiv it y .

Succession is a problem fo r nonprofi ts as w ell . M edia re ports regularl y

describe exceptionall y successfu l social se rv ic e organ izations that genera te excit em ent and hope th at th eir ach ievem ents can be repli ca ted elsew here , but that ow e

th eir success to an unusuall y energetic and charism ati c le ader rather than to

rganization s as Ra tional System s • 7



The eve n ts S lo a n described oc cu rre d in 1919 . T hough th is p ro jec t w as success

fu l, by 1920 , GM s cred ito rs and investo rs fo rced D uran t to resign as presiden t o fthe com pany he had founded a dozen years earlie r. A chaotic expansion p lan had

coll ided w ith a downturn in th e econom y , and Duran t w as d is covere d using his

I m en ti oned these th ing s to M r . D u rant, w hereupon he said that the nex t tim e w e w en t

to D etroit w e wou ld all go up and ta k e a look at [th e s i te], w h ich w e d id ... . H e sta rt ed

a t the com er of Cass A venue,paced a cert a in d is tance w est. .. . T hen he s topped, for no

apparen t reason , a t som e apar tm en t h o uses .... H e sa id that th is w as about th e g round

w e w an ted , and tu rn ed to m e and sa id , A l f re d, wil l you go and b u y th ese p ro pert ie s for

u s and rPrentis [th e GM Treasurer] w il l pay w hatever you decide to pay for th em . I

w asn t in t he r eal-e sta te b u sin ess. I d idn t even li ve in Detr o it. (Sloan 1963 ,p . 2 6)

S loan gave an exam ple of Duran t s sty le . D uran t w as p lann in g a new office

bu il d in g inDetro it th at w as to be the largest in th e w orld and nam ed the D uran t

B uilding , though later it w as re named the G enera l M o to rs Bu il ding. B oth S loan

and D uran t w orked out of a New Y ork C ity offic e at the tim e. S loan w andered into

a p lanning m eeting one day and in fo rm a lly s ug ge sted a su ita b le site f or th e new

buil d ing , g iv ing a num ber of reasons:

I w as of tw o m inds about rDuran t. I adm ired h is au tom o tive genius, h is im ag ina

t ion, h is genero us hum an qua li ti es , a n d his integ ri ty.... B u t I th ought he w as too

casual in h is w ays fo r an adm in istrato r, and he overloaded h im self . Im portan t dec ision s

had to w ait un til h e w a s f ree , and w ere o ften m ade im pu lsive ly . (S loan 1963, p. 2 5)

so lve staffing problem s by using kinship or nepotism ra th er than ability o r m erit

to fill posit ions . These rep re sen t contempora ry con trasts be tw een charism atic o r

tradi tio nal au thor ity and bureaucratic p rincip le s, w h ic h p re scrib e p ro fessio nal

m anagem ent and an im personal system of ru les, such as accountin g and succes

s io n pro cedu re s.

_W eb er p laced such a great em phasis on rati onal i ty , p re cisio n , and calc u lation

in bureaucratic admin istra tio n and m odem li fe tha t the contem porary re ader

m ig ht find his assertio ns puzzling ly obv io us . H ow ever, th ese principles a lso have

relevance for b oth the recen t pas t and present . A ro und the tim e th a t W eber wrote

abou t th e spre ad of bu reaucracy , one of the larg est U .S . corpora tions, G enera l

Motors, en tered a c risis tha t w ou ld define it s fu tu re. W illiam Duran t, th e founder

and then-president of GM , w as a fre ewheeli ng , n ine teenth -century . style en tr e

p reneur w ho had littl e inc lin a tion fo r standard ru les or procedure s and who ran

th e business w ith little m ore th an his own intu it ion . In h is m em oir s, A lf red S loan ,

ano th er GM executiv e, descri bed his im p re ssio n s o f h is boss:

a standard formu la . B ecause th e R efo rm Party d id no t so lve the succession

problem when it s charism ati c le ader w ithdrew fro m activ e part icipa ti on , the party

fizz led in to irr ele vance just e ig h t years after hav in g rece ived the largest share of

vo te s of any third party in the tw entie th cen tury in 1992. Authori ta rian govern

ments run by strong leaders on personalis tic ra th er than ra ti onal-l ega l basis

face simi lar succession prob lem s, bu t in th e ir case th e fa ilu re to p lan for a

successor can resu lt in destab il iz ing coups and civ il wars .

Both personalistic po litical o rganiza tion s and fam ily businesses m ay be ,;_.,,_;._ . .J ~ ,, -- :11 L.; l- r ; t~ ..-1:t;.~ .,nl ra ther ].,AM 0J... ;C 11,, ,· t;(\ t> ,, 1 n ri nc in le s t(\LCJ.u1 f \,,rU V lull Ud _ v 1 I.l .l· J_........U1H.(. . ;.~[.Lil _ ~ t_1t tlt t v _L~ _L iJ H h vd 11 ~ • • • \,...1 ...... . · _.....

8 • THE SOC IOLOGY OF ORGANIZATION S



personal w ealth and credit to try to p rop up G M's stock price . T his tied the

o rg an iza tio n's su cc ess to D u ran t's p erso na l fo rtu nes m o re th an G M 's b ac kers

f ou n d c om fo rta bl e. Du ra nt wa s s uc ce ss fu l a t f ou n di ng a v er y l ar ge c or po ra ti on ,

b ut d id n ot k no w h ow to o rg an ize o r o pe rate it o n a lo gica l b asis. R atio na lity in

business decision m ak ing w as no t alw ays an obvious or standard m atter in

Ame r ic an c or po ra ti on s, e ve n b y 1920 .

Th e p ro b lem is r ep ea te d to d ay in many sma ll - and med ium-s iz e bu sine s se s tha tgrow larger.They often face difficul tieswhen informalprocedures and intuit ivedeci

Si0TI m8 dng by f am ily 1T emb e O f other nonpro fe s si ona ls a r e n o lo ng er adequate to

so lv enew and l arge rp rob lems .Leade rs o f t he o rg ani za ti on th en f ac e the need to for

ma l ize p rocedures, add more s t ruc tu re to the ir ope rat ions ,and h i re ou tside expert ise

t hey d id no t n e ed when p rob lems we re s imp ler .The o rgan iz a ti on move s away f rom

a f am i ly o r in fo rma l b as is a nd t owa rd a mo r e b u re au cr atic b a si s ( se e Re ad in g 2 4) .

S lo an , w h o b ec am e p re sid en t o f GM s ho rtly a fte r D u ra nt's re sig na tio n, re or

g an iz ed th e c omp an y a lo ng lin es th at s et th e s ta nd ard fo r th e mo de rn Ame ric an

c orp ora tio n. T h ou gh ma ny wo uld c ome to s ee h is c re atio n a s to o rig id ly b ou nd to

bu re auc ra ti cr u le s and p rocedu r es in a l at er , l es s s tab le e ra ( se eRead ing 25 ), t he re i sn o d oub t t h at t he c ompany c ou ld n o t h av e c on tin u ed t o o p er at e i n th e p er so n al is tic

a nd h ap ha za rd f as hio n o f Du ra nt .

Ano th er k ey i ns ig ht f rom Weber 's wo rk a ct ua lly emer ge s f rom on e o f i ts f law s

o r amb ig u it ie s. Sometimes , Web er s ug g es ts th at b ur ea uc ra tic a uth o rit y is b as ed J •• •

on position-in the h ie ra rchy of com m an d, but o th er tim es he sugg es ts it is based

o n e xp er t k n ow ledge; indee d ,W ebe r c onsid e red them c lo s ely r elate d s o th at t ho se

mak in g mo s t d ec isio ns had high ly developed e x pertise. Webe r did no t c lea r ly d is

ti ng uis h m anagers, w ho g ive directions, from professio na ls , who a pp ly te ch n ic al

know ledge. In the m odem corporation, th is d iff ere nce is reflected in the d iffer

ence between lin e a nd staff departm ents, L ine m anagem en t fo rm s a clear

hierarchy o f au tho ri ty from the chief executi ve to d ivisio n, departm en t, or p lant

m anagers and first-l ine supervisors, and is re spons ib le fo r the organizat ion 's co re

activities, su ch as production . Sta ff p rov ides advice , suppor t, a nd c on tr ol in are as

such as res ea rch and deve lopmen t, personnel, and accounting. W eber's fa ilure to

distingu is h the tw o k in ds o f bureaucra ti c au tho r it y i s notab le , b ec au se th e li ne

staff d ist inc tion or ig inated in the Prussia n a rm y 's use o f a general staff to advise

com manders o n tec hnical m i lita ry ma tte rs (W re n 198 7 , p . 149) .

M ore important, these tw o kinds of au thority are often in te nsion w ith one

anoth er in m odem organ izati on s , a s subsequen t sections w il l show . L ine m anage

m ent alm ost alw ays has m ore form al and inform al pow er in m ost organizations,

whereas sta ff h as mo re technical expertise a nd c an c on tro l certain le ve rs o f p ow er

a s a r esu lt, w h ic h c an lead th e tw o kind s o f functi on s t o c onfl ic t (see Read ing 29).

A n exception to the gener all y i nf er io r p ositio n of staff is organ izations whose

pri ncipal o utputs are pro fessio nal serv ices, such as un ivers iti es or hosp ita ls, in

whic h c ase there is a situ ation of p lu ra l a uthority , a nd a large part of the adm in

istrators ' job is serv ing the p ro fessionals. B e ca use internal rela tio ns am o ng pro

fessionals are usually m ore egali tar ia n a nd co ll eg ia l, som e crit ics o f b ureaucratic

organizations se e p ro fessional organ izations as an a lt er n ative model fo r o rg an i

zations in general (H eckscher and Donellon 1994). Even though W eber tended

to confl a te h ierarc hic al and expert authority , subseq uent sociologists w ho

recogn ized the distin ction have used it as a fruit fu l basis fo r understandin g a

rgan iz ati on s a sRat iona l Sy s tems 9



g ro w la rger and become m ore bu reauc ratic. T he lead ersh ip and sta ff becom e

m ore p ro fess io nal, th e m em bersh ip becom es less know ledgeable abou t how the

organ iz a ti on is run , an d the d istance betw een leaders and rank-and-fi le m em bers

w idens. B y con tr a st, W eber believed bu reauc racy and democracy w ere comp le

m en ta ry , because democ racy require s equali ty before th e law and bu re auc ra tic

princip les inc lude th e un iform appl ica tion o f ru les and the use o f m eritocra ti c

qual if ica ti on s, r at her than social s ta tu s , to re cru it o ffic e ho ld ers . T he la tte r c la im

w as a b it paradoxical, how ever, because aris to cra ts s taffed th e P ru ssia n bu reau

cracy in Webe r s tim e. W eber a ls o recogn ized th at p rofessional c iv il servan ts

cou ld unde rmin e th e aim s o f d emoc ratica lly e lec ted p olitica l leaders because o f

th e ir in side r know ledge and permanen t sta tu s.

N everthe le ss . one can see how bureati c racy and dem ocracy suppo rt one ano th er

w hen one considers th e recen t expansion o f ri gh ts and legal p ro tec ti on sfo r d isad

van taged groups. Fo r examp le , occupat ional health an d safe ty regu la ti ons , ru les

again st sexual harassm en t, and governm en t re gulation s to p ro tec t th e w e ll -be in g o f

hum an sub jec ts part ic ipati ng in un ive rs ity re search all requ ir e th e expansion of fo r

m a l ru les o r law s, som e kind o f en forcem en t agency to m on ito r and sancti on vio lato rs , o ft en som e k ind o f certifica te ver ify in g com p li ance , and som e k ind o f n ew

fu ncti on o r departm ent w it h in the regu la ted organ iza tion to ensu re com pliance , a ll

o f w h ich expands the scope o f bu reaucracy . B u reaucracy is a fea tu re o f m ost types

o f regu la ti on , in c lu d in g th e ex ten sion o f soc ia l p ro tec ti on s to h is to rica ll y under

re presen ted g ro ups. H oweve r, as w ill be apparen t in the M iche ls se lec ti on

(R ead ing 17 ) a n d els ew here , the expansio n o f bu re auc racy can sti fl e dem ocracy as

w ell . W eber s in s igh t w as to show that in som e respects th e tw o are com p lem en tary .

F in a ll y , though W eber saw bureaucracy as effic ien t, m odern , and compa t ib le

w ith dem ocra cy , he d id no t v iew the g row th o f bu re aucracy as an unm ix ed b less

ing ,

the read ing that fo ll ow s, W eber speaks o f bu reaucra cy in term s o f the dom inance of a sp irit o f fo rm alis tic im pers onali ty . , . w ithout hatr ed o r passion and

hence w ith ou t aff ec ti on o r en thusiasm . E lsew here , W eber w ro te th a t bureaucratic

ra tionality re duces every w orker to a cog in th is bu reaucra tic m ach ine and , see ing

h im self in th is ligh t, h e w ill m ere ly ask how to transfo rm h im self in to a slig h tl y

b igger cog ... . T he passio n fo r b ureaucra ti za tion drives u s to despair (W e ber 1978 ,

p . li x ). C learl y , W eber w as am b iv alen t abou t the consequences of bu reauc ra cy .

H en ri F ayo l

Henr i Fayo l (1 841-1925 ) is th e second classic theo ri s t o f adm in istra ti on and ,

lik e W eber, a ra ti onal sy ste m s theo ris t. A lso sim ilar to W eber, Fayo l s m ain w ork ,pub li shed in 1916 , w as no t tr ansla ted in to E ng li sh un til th e la te 1940s, though

som e of h is Am eri can and Eng li sh fo ll ow ers began p ro m o ti ng h is ideas in the

li ke trade un io ns o r po li ti ca l part ies , in va ria b ly develo p in to o li garc h ies as they

num ber o f aspects o f o rgan iza ti onal1 ife . A ls o , W hil e W eber h imself d id no t tr ea t

it in detail, he recogn ized th at the m ore egali ta r ia n ollegi l o r peer group m eth od

of organ iz ation , such as one finds in parliam en ts , bu siness o r p ro fessio nal

partnersh ip s , and cooperatives , is ano ther im po rt an t form of legitim ate au thori ty

d is ti n c t from charism a, tr ad ition , and bu reaucracy .

A noth er area in w hich W eber con tribu ted to th e socio logy o f o rgan iz atio n s is

in h is v iew of the re la tionship be tween bureauc racy and dem ocracy . W eber s co l

league Robert M ichels (s ee Read ing 17) be li ev ed th at dem ocra tic o rgan iza ti on s ,

10 • TH E SOC IOLOGY OF ORGAN IZAT ION S


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1930s . U nlike W eber, Fayol w as not an academic bu t a m inin g eng in eer w ho

becam e chief o f a la rge F rench coal-m in ing and steel com pany. Towa rd th e end of

h is c areer, Fayol fo rmu la ted genera l p rinc ip le s o f m a na gem ent o r acknowledged

truth s th a t he th ough t applicable to all large organization s, publ ic and p rivate . A s

a pract iti oner as w ell a s a t hi nke r, Payo l d id no t have th e sam e k ind o f m isg ivings

regard in g bu reaucracy as W eber had .

Fayo l described th e bureaucra tic o rgan ization in term s sim ilar to W eber's .A divisio n o f labor and special iza tion o f funct ion all ow s adminis t ra to rs to develop

specia li zed know ledge and p ro ficiency in the ir tasks . A chair o auth ority ensures

coordina ti on , d isciplin e, and co nstancy of purpose. A s one o f Fay ol's fo ll owers ,

L uther G ulick , reaso ned , w ork , once div ided , needs to be coordinated and knit

back together accordin g to a central design by a sin g le d irectin g execu tive

authority (Gul ick and U rw ic k 197 7, p . 6). Indiv iduals and departm en ts need to

. 'subordin a te their in terests to th ose o f th e o rg anization . T op managem ent p rovides

a uni f ied sense o f direct ion for the organ iz a t ion , bu t c ir cum stances w ill d ictate th e

degree to wh ich dis cre tion and decision -m ak ing m ust be cen tra lized in the hands .

o f superio rs or decentralized to subordinates.

A bove all , F ayol em phasized th e need for order , discip line , and rat ionality, cit

ing th e m ili ta ry as a positiv e e x am ple . F ay ol w ro te that the functi on o f m anage

m en t is to plan , organize , c omm and, coordinate , an d co ntr o l. T he language has a

h igh ly .rationali s tic tone , as do Fayo l's definition s: T o prepare th e operation s is to

..p la n andorganize; to see th at th ey a re c ar rie d ou t t o command and coordinate;

to w atc h th e resu lt s is to contr ol (Fayol1937 , p . 103 em phasis in orig in a l). L ike

W ebe r, F a yol a lso spoke o f each part of an o rganizati on as on ly a cog in a b ig

m achine , a ll o f w hose parts m ust w ork in concert (FayoI1949: [1 916 ]) , bu t u n like

W eber, he seem ed less tro ubled by th e possib le hum an im p li ca ti ons o f th is v iew .

Still , F ay ol bel ieved that m anagem ent should encourage socia l harm o ny in the

organ iza tio n by bein g fa ir to worke rs, concerned fo r th e ir w elfare, an d com peten t

enoug h to e lic it th eir lo y alty a nd ob edience . Indeed , Fa yo l h ad reason to consid er

a ll th e se to be o th er aspects of organ izat ion, if on ly secondarily . H e referred in th e

read in g to th e g reat strik es o f m ine rs , r ai lw aym en , and civ il servan ts w h ich , in

th ese latter years , have jeopard ized national lif e at h om e and elsew here (Fayo11949

[1916]). In fact , str ik e ac ti v i ty i n F r anc e had in creased m arkedly a fte r thetu m of th e

century, around the tim e Fayol w as w riti ng (S ho rt er and T illy 19 7 4 , p p.361ff.).

N o r w ere p roblem s r es tr icted to em ployers and w orkers. F ay oll ooked favo r

ab ly on th e F rench arm y and beli eved it em bodied his princ ip les o f o rg an ization(FayoI1937 , p . 1 l0 ). H ow ever, in 1917 , th ousands of F rench sold iers m utin ied

when the ir co mm anders, safely rem oved from th e batt le lines, o rd ered their

tr oops to m ake yet another in a series of su icid al and frui t less m ass attack on

G erm an tr ench posit io ns . C om m anders regained con tr o l over their mut inous

troops only afte r conceding to the ir dem ands and then executi ng som e part ici

pan ts to serve as ex am ples to the rest (Smi th 1994). H ere is an exam p le, clo se to

hom e, of leaders w hose lack of ab il ity and sensitiv it y d id not in spire th e confi

dence and lo yalty o f t he ir subo rd ina te s, though th ey w ere ab le to recogn ize their

m istakes and respond to d is sen t from below at som e po in t. N ot a ll countries w ere

as lucky, Comparab le, m ore rig id ly enforced poli c ies p romp ted sim ilar m utin iesby Russia n soldiers th a t con tr ibuted to th e revolu ti on tha t brought th e Bolshev ik s

to pow er. H ow ever, Fayol genera ll y saw thin gs from a m anageri a l perspecti ve ,

Organ iza tion s as R ationa l System s I • 11



· t ~ 1. .. ,{ ., -)0 ~~~ l ~ - , · .. A a ff 1 · ·.. .. . . . . . . 4 . - 1 - r r . . . . . ~ ; . - - n . t- : / _ n re co m m e n rl iul~~lil\.:Li()llUetWt,CllllUt; auu :;L.i1 litUUle lUU) VI Vlt; HllLUlh..lllo,, -· _.V A•_ ng

th at staff p erf orm th e lon g -term research th at o p er atin g m an a g e m en t d oe s no t

h av e tim e to co n d u ct . H e ob ser v ed th at th e n u m b er of su b o rd in ates on e could

su p e rv ise effec tively , k no w n as span of contro l d e p e n ds on th e co m p lex it y of th e

su b ordin ate s w o rk . H is rec o m m en d ation th at m ana g ers su p er v ise no m o re th an

six su b ordinate s, w h e re as fore m en can su p e rv ise 15 30 is sti l l i n fl uen tial to d ay .

U n li k e W eb er , F ay ol criticiz ed ex cess u se o f p ap er w o rk . H e su g g ested th at m an a

g ers focu s o n b road issu es of g oal s an d strateg ie s rath er th an in u ner sin g th em selv es i n d e ta il. A related co ntem p o rary p rinciple, deriv ed fro m F red erick T ay lo r

see b elo w), ad v is es m anag ers to d elegate all reg u lar b u sin ess to su b o rd in at es an d

fo c u s on d ev ia tion s or ex ce ptions to ro u tine o nly W re n 1 9 8 7 , p . 1 1 4 ).

A s w ith W eb e r , m any of F ayol s p r in c ip l es a nd th ose of h is foll ow e r s ar e ta k en

for g ran te d tod ay , b u t so m e ..car ry deep er im p l ica tion s than m ig h t b e rec og niz ed

at first sig h t. S p e c ial iz ati on or d iv ision o f lab o r m ay seem m u n d a ne an d ob v iou s

at fi rst g lance , b u t is im p o rt ant to u n d ersta nd ing social stratification, b eca u se

onc e indiv id u als d o d iff ere nt th ing s, th ey m ay b e d if fe rent ly v alu ed . T h is i s reco g

n iz ed in M ic h els w o rk an d th e l it er at u re o n al tern atives to ca p it ali st h ierarch y

see R ea d in g s 17 34 an d 3 5 ).G u lick m ad e F ay o l s conn ec ti on b etwe en th e d iv is ion of labo r, ineq u al ity , an d

h ierarch y ex p licit. P eo p le d iff er in skills and ap ti tu d es , and sp ecial iz at io n lead s to

g re ate r p rofici ency th an if ev ery on e p er fo rm ed th e entire ra n g e o f j ob s in an

o ffi ce or factory; h o w e v er , s p ec ializa tio n lea d s to coor d in atio n p ro b lem s a nd th e

p o ssib il ity th at th e cen tr al p u rp ose or overall tas k w il l fade from v iew as each p er

so n co nce n trates o n h is or h e r n aI T O Wu ncti on. F or G u lick , th e solu ti on w as m an

a g e me n t; th at is, a sp eci alist i n p la nning , co ord in at ing , an d su p e rv ising w h o h as

th e k now led g e and au th ority to en su re th at th e d iff erent in d iv id u al s an d p arts of

th e o rg aniz at io n ar e w ork in g t ow a rd th e co m m o n g oal. F rom th e n eed fo r a d iv i

sio n of lab o r, G u li ck d ed u ces th e n eces sit y of h ie ra rc hy and a stra tu m of m an a g er ia l s p ecial ists G u li ck and U r w ick 1 9 7 7 [1 9 3 7 ]) . B y contr as t, o th ers o u tsid e

t he r at io na l sy stem s tr ad ition b elieve th at in eq u ali ti es of in com e and p o w er in

b u rea u crati c org an iz ations re p res ent p o li tical f or ce s, r ath er th an efficiency con

cer ns o r tec h nical nec essiti es .

B o th W e b er an d F ay ol re str icted th eir at tent ion to th e fo rm al asp ec ts o f o rg ani

. z ati o n. O rg a n iz ations ar e self-con scio u sly d esig ned too ls u sed to att ain sp ecifi c

g oa ls, an d th e q u es tion s th ey ad d re ss are th e p rop er d esig n o f o rg ani zational

str u ctu r e a nd ru les. A cert ai n or g an iz at ional b lu ep rin t m eant increased efficienc y .

N ot lo ng aft er th e w o rk s o f W eb er and F a y ol w e r e tr an slated into E n g li sh ,· .1

A m erican socio log ists b eg an to offer an altern ativ e v iew . R ob ert M er to n 1 9 5 7 )w as th e first to ch al leng e W eber s em p h asis on th e eff icie n cy of b u reau crac y .

R efl ectin g th e c o m m onsen se v iew th at b u re au cracies tend to b e rig id , M ert o n t ried

and th ese sp ecific ex a m p les of lea d er sh ip f ai li ng s d id no t fi n d th eir w ay in to

h is w riti ng s.

N ev ert h ele ss , F ay o l c on tr ib u ted to th e te ch n ic al u n d erstandin g o f or g an iz a

tional str uc tu re in sev eral w ay s. H e reco m m end ed th at no su b o rd in ate rec eive

orders fr om m ore th an on e su p eri or, as th is w ill lead to co nf u sio n , d iso rd er, and

w i ll w h e n th e d ire ctives of d iff erent su p e rv isors co nflict. F ay ol m ad e th e first

stro ng arg u m en ts for th e u se o f org aniz ation ch art s to clarif y lines of au th o ri ty

an d con u n u n ic ation an d t o d em ar ca te area s o f resp on sib ility . F ay o l i n tro d u ce d th e

1 2 .. T H E S O C I O L O G Y O F O R G A N I Z A T IO N S



l ·I :.

I

W e b er a nd F ay ol d is cu ss ed o rg an iz atio na l s tr uc tu re a nd f un ctio nin g fr om th e

p e r sp e c ti v e o f m a n a g e r s a n d c i vi l s e rv a n ts . A n o th e r c l as s ic r a ti o n al s y s te m s t h in k e r,

F re de ric k W in slo w T ay lo r 1 85 6~ 19 15 ), is b est k no wn fo r h is v ie ws o n h ow to

o rg an iz e fa cto ry w o rk a nd m a n ag e b lu e-c olla r w o rk ers. T ay lo r c am e fro m a n

afflu e n t fa m ily in su b u rb an P hila d e lp h ia a n d m ad e th e u n u su a l d e c isio n to d ro p

o u t o f H a rv a rd to b e c o m e a m ac h in ist a p p re n ti c e . T a kin g a jo b a t M id va le S te e l

a s a c o m m o n la b o re r, T a ylo r ro se to c h ie f e n g in e e r w i t h in six y e a rs, e a m in g a

m e c h a n i ca l e n g in e e rin g d e g re e a lo n g th e w a y . In h is d iffe re n t p o sition s a t

M id v a le , T a y lo r e x pe ri m e nte d w ith m eth o d s to im p ro ve o utp u t a n d d e v e lo p e d a

m e th od a nd p hilo s o p h y la te r c a lle d scientific m anagem ent A ro un d th e tu rn o f th ec e n tu ry , h e b ec am e a b u sin e ss c o n su lta n t a n d b e g a n p u bli sh in g h is id e a s, w h ic h

q u i c kly fo u n d a w id e a u d ie n c e . U ntil h is d e a th , T a y lo r p ro m ote d sc ien tific

m a n ag e m e n t w ith m issio na ry z ea l, a n d h e b e c a m e th e c e n te r o f a n e ffic ie n c y

m o v em e n t, e v e n c ra z e , th ro ug h o u t U n ite d S ta te s a n d w ith in in t e m a t io n a l in d u s

try, te a c h in g c o u rse s in sc ie n tific m a n a g e m e n t d u rin g th e e a rl y y e a rs o f th e

H a r v a rd B u sin e ss S c h o ol 1 90 9 ~ 1 9 1 4 ; W re n 1 9 8 7 ). A l t h o u g h fe w b u sin e sse s

a p p lie d T ay lo r s p rin c ip le s e x a c tly a s h e p re sc rib e d , h is p ra c tica l in flue n c e o n

o rg a n iz a tio n s w a s e no rm o us, b ut a lso c o n tro v e rsia l.

L a rg e -sc a le fa c t or ie s f ir st b eg a n to e c li p se s m a l l-sc a le c ra ft p r od u ct io n in th e

n in e te e n th c e n tu ry , b u t m a n a g e m e n t te c h n iq u e s d id n o t a lw a y s c ha ng e a s ra p id ly ,

a s is c le a r fro m D u ra n t s p e rf o r m a n c e a t G M a s la te a s 1 9 2 0 . O n th e sh o p fl o o r

a s w e ll a s in th e o f fi c e, k n o w l e d ge , ru le s, a n d p ro c e d u re s w e re re lativ e ly u n sy s

t e m a tic , b u t b e c o m in g m ore p re c ise a nd m e th od ic a l- a p ro c e ss W e b e r c a lle d

ra tional izati on

A b o v e a ll , T a ylo r w a n te d to t ra n sfo rm th e id io sy n c ra tic w o rk p ra ctic e s h e fi rst

o b se rv e d a t M id va le in to w ha t h e c o n sid e re d a r ig o r o u s sc ie n c e o f w o rk th ro ug h

o b se rv a tio n a n d m e a su re m en t. T a y lo r sa w th a t m a n a g e m e n t p e r m i t te d e a c h

w o r k e r to p e rfo rm h is ta sk s d iff e re n tl y , so m e o f th ese v aria tio n s re flec ti n g p re v i

o u s c ra ft p ra c ti c e s a n d o th e rs m e re ly th e in d iv id u a l m e th o d o f th e w o r k e r. N e ith e r

m a n a g e m e n t n o r th e w o rk e r k n e w w h ic h m e th o d w a s th e b e st in te rm s o f

e ffi c ie n c y a n d m in im iz in g str a in o n th e h u m a n b o d y .

S CI E N T I F IC M A N A G EM E N T A N D T H E P O S I T IO N O F L A B O R

to e xp la in t he r ea so n s f or t hi s r ig id it y. I n o rd er to p er fo rm r eli ab ly , b ur ea uc ra ci es

r eq u ir e t he ir m e m b e r s t o a d h er e s tr ic tl y t o r u le s , b u t t hi s l ea d s m e m b e rs to tre a t th e

r ul es a s e n ds i n t he m s e lv e s. B e c au s e c o n fo rm i ty i s c le a rl y r e w a rd e d i n th e o rg a n i

z a tio n s ru le b oo k w h ile d ep artu re s fro m th e ru le s p ut a n o ffic ia l in u nc h arte d

w a t er s, o f fi ci al s h a ve a p o si ti ve i nc e nt iv e t o b e c a ut io u s a n d r ef us e t o m a k e e x ce p

t io n s. O f f ic ia ls a ls o d e ri ve t he ir p r of es si on a l i de n ti ty f ro m c o ns is te n t a p pl ic a ti on

o f th e e sta blis he d ru le s, irra tio na l a s th at m a y b e s om e tim e s. H o w ev er, a no th ers ou rc e o f in fle xib il it y is th e n or m o f i m pe rs on ali ty , w h ic h r eq uire s a n o ff ic ia l to

tre a t in d iv id u a l c a se s a c c o rd in g to a n e q u a l sta n d a rd a n d w hic h w e m ig h t v ie w a s

m o r e j u s ti f ie d .

M erto n s w ork is o n ly o n e o f th e first to e n g a g e th e la rg e q u e stio n o f th e

m e rits o f th e b ure au cra tic m o de l, w h ic h is a c en tra l d eb ate th ro ug ho ut h isto ry

o f o r g a ni z at io n s t ud i es .

O rg an iza tio ns a s R a tio na l S yste m s • 1 3



~

Moreover, com pared to m anagem en t, w orkers had m ore intim ate know le dge

of th e tools, m eth ods, and m ateria ls w ith w hich th ey w orked , and they used th is

know ledge to con tro l th eir w ork pace. Sm all w ork groups used peer p re ssu re to

enfo rce a m odera te w ork pace on all their m em bers, a p ra c ti ce k n own as restric-

tion o f o utput. They feared th at if anyone w o rk ed to o hard at any tim e, manage

m en t w ou ld require of them to wo rk to that standard all the tim e, a speed up

w ithou t any in cre ase in pay . This p ractic e w as known as ra te c utting because

those paid by the p iece w ou ld now be paid a lowe r r ate per u nit p roduced . Is su e s

o f re str ic tion of ou tnu t and conflic ts aver aooroor ia te effort l evels Weff · to m ise

repeate d ly in bo th th e h isto ry of Amer ican capitalism and the li te ra ture on orga-

n izations (see R ead in gs 7 , 8 , 12, 15 , and 30). T ay lo r recogn ized an im por ta n t f act

ab o ut a ll o rganizations: fone wo rk s a lo ne, t he p rob lem of w o rk d iscip line is o nly

one o f s e lf -d iscip lin e ; b u t in a cooperative or co ll ec tive w o rk p ro cess , there is a

p ro b lem of con tro l o r how to ensu re that o th er peop le w il l do w hat you w an t th em

to do , some tim es known as th e prin cipa l agency prob lem (see R eading 21).

T a ylo r w as determined to elim i na te restr ic tio n o f ou tp u t and break all wo rk e r

resis ta nc e to managemen t con tro l o f w o rk m eth od s a nd pace . T a ylor saw his m is

sion as re capturing know ledge and con tr o l o f th e p roduction pro cess from the

workers fo r m anagem ent by usin g th e scien tific m eth od . H e in terv iew ed and .

obse rv ed wo rkers , c on du cted c on tr oll ed exper iments to determine the mo s t e ff i

c ien t t echn iques and m ax im um o utp ut levels, an d d ev ised detailed work ru le s a nd

wage in cen tives to enfo rce those m ethods and pro duction targe ts. In o rd er to

gather th e necessary in fo rmat ion , T ay lo r had work ers perfo rm their jobs using

d iff ere n t m eth ods, and he observ ed and tim ed th eir every m ovem ent in detail, a

procedure know n as ti m e and m oti on study. In th is fa sh io n , T ay lo r determ in ed

w hat he though t w as th e one best w ay a job should be performed . Unt il th is tim e ,eng in ee rs had standard ized on ly physical in pu ts; now they w ould standard iz e the

hum an inpu ts .

Workers w ould w ork in ri g id confo rmity to the prescri bed m eth od and w ould

be expected to m ee t the ou tpu t quo tas th at w ere dete rmined to be fe asib le under

th is system . T aylor beli eved w orkers w ou ld not feel m ore ti red , because th e

experim en ts w ere designed to fi nd th e procedure th at im posed th e least str a in on

th e human body. To use a con tem porary phrase , T ay lo r beli eved tha t peop le

w orked s m art er not harder w hen th ey used th e b estmethods dev ised by scientific

m anagem en t.

T ay lo r also belie ved th at g ro up li fe exerted a negativ e in fl uence on w ork erseffort n orm s and that m anagem en t sh ou ld d iv ide th e w ork fo rc e and bargain w ith

w ork ers in d iv idually . In divid uals w ou ld be pa id an in d iv idua l incen ti ve w age based

on th eir ab ili ty to m ee t o r exceed ou tp u t targets as a w ay to bre ak th e pow er o f peer

p re ssu re to restr ict outp ut. T ay lo r beli eved th at scien tific m anagem en t w as n th e

best in terests of bo th w ork e r s a nd m anagem en t, because it el iminated dispu tes over

the d istribu tion of the econom ic p ie by raising pro ducti v ity and expand in g th e p ie .

H e w arn ed m anagers no t to jeopardize refo rm s by cu tt in g rates and confi rming th e

fears th at led w ork ers to re stri c t their ou tpu t. E ven if w orkers w ere in itially resis

tan t to chang ing th eir accustom ed behavior, he believed th at th ey would embrace

th e new m ethods and w ork m ore d ili gen tly w hen th ey saw their incom es ri se .W eber, Fayo l, and G ulic k all w ro te abou t th e im portance of the div ision of

la bor, bu t no one carr ie d the pri ncip le fu rther than Tay lo r. A s a consequence of

14 • TH E SOCIOLOGY OF ORGAN IZATIONS



~

i :

r <h is tech niq ue s, w orkers w ho used to pe rfo rm who le t ask s, such as cra ft w o rk ers,

found their jobs subd iv id ed in to nar row , sim ple tasks wi th a separate individual

assigned to each . Perh aps the best illu str a ti on of th is princ ip le is the substitution

of assem bly lines and semi -skill ed w orkers in th e au tom obile in du stry fo r th e p re

vious hand-made m ethods of au to productio n invo lv in g predom inan tly cra ft

workers (Womack , Jones, and R oos 1990).

The d iv is io n o f labor also d ic ta te d tha t a ll p lann ing f uncti ons p rev io u sly p e rform ed by cra ft o r o ther w ork ers b e transfe rre d to grow in g indu str ia l eng ineering

denarrm en ts in the m anaceri a l hnreancracv because T av lo r be li eved w o rkers._ .

lacked the tim e, expert ise , a nd m o tivatio n requ ir ed to conduct w ork experim en ts .

Workers lo st a ll d is cre tio n and now sim ply f o ll owed m a na gem en t s o r ders , and a ll

p lanning w as to com e from a bo ve . I f the o rganizati on we re compared to a hum an

body , managemen t w ould b e th e b ra ins and wo rk ers th e h an ds. Th is phi losophy

continued to dom inate U .S . manufactur ing un ti l th e early 1 980s, w hen managers

began to rethin k th e idea th at w ork ers shou ld check th e ir b rains at t he door.

T ay lo r and h is fo llow ers also ex tended scientific m anagem en t beyond the

factory fl oo r. T ay lo r developed m e th ods o f c ost a cc ounting th a t r a tiona lized ex istin g system s of record keep in g , q u ite a p ar t f rom la bo r m a nagemen t. O ne of h is

follow ers , H enry G a nn t, a lso devel oped charts to tr ac k o u tp u t and cost s . W i ll iam

Leffingw ell a pp lied T ay lo r s principles to cleri cal w o rk a nd office managem en t.

.. C erta in kinds o f ro utin e w hite-coll ar w ork , such as in surance cla im s processing,

... ~ ,.w ere o ften organ ized along fac to ry lines, and simi lar w ork today, such as data

en try and tele phone call centers, is o ft en sti ll o rg an ized along scien ti fic m anage

m en t p rinciples . L illia n G ilb re th app li ed scie ntific m anagemen t to horne eco

nomics and w ro te such books as M anagem ent in the H om e Happ ier L iving

Through Saving T im e a nd n er gy (1955). H er husband F rank, a co ll eague of

Taylor s , applied scien tif ic m anagem en t to h is personal life , such as findin g w ays

to reduce h is shav ing tim e by seven teen seconds by usin g tw o bru shes to la th er

h is fa ce (W ren 1987). H ow ever, m ost o f T ay lo r s in fl uence in organ ization stud

ies re la tes to h is tr eatm en t o f labor .

T ay lo r b e li eved th at w o rk ers wou ld no t m ind the re stru ctu re d jobs even if they

w ere du ll , repeti tive , a nd s trip pe d of a ll decision m ak ing , b e ca use th e ta sks w ou ld

in vo lve less physical str a in and because w orkers cou ld m ake m ore mo n ey th an th ey

w ould earn usin g th e ex isting , le ss producti ve work m eth ods. H avin g spen t m any

years on the sho p floo r, T ay lo r consid ered h im self to be a friend of the w orker,

th ough no t o f o rgan ized labor. H e wro te dur ing a tim e ofl abor agi ta tion, high strik e

rates, and socia li s t pol i tics, and he beli eved h is m eth ods w ould so lve managem en t

worker conf lic ts a n d inaugurate an era o f i nd ustria l p ea ce a nd c oo peration .

The rea lity w as qu ite a b it m o re complex. Speed-ups and rate cu tt ing w ere

comm on in m anufactu rin g before scien tifi c m anagem en t and , although Tay lo r

cri tic ized the practi ces as f os tering m istru st, em ployers fo und h is m eth od of tim e

an d m o tion stud y i de a lly su it ed fo r just th is pu rpose of in stituting speed-u ps a nd

cu tt ing rates. A ft er industr ia l enginee rs o r e ffic iency experts schoo led in Tay lo r S

m eth od s v isited an em ployer, w o rk ers m igh t find them selves working consider

ab ly harder fo r little o r no extra pay . W orkers d i scon ten ts wi th scien tific m anage

m ent le d to a num ber o f w ell-public ized strik es and a congre ssiona l in vesti gati onduri ng Tay lo r s life tim e. M a ny c am e to v iew Taylori sm as a m anagem en t id eo lo gy

and a too l to contro l labor, output levels, and work pace.

O rganizations as Rational System s I • 15



W i t h in s o c ia l sc ie n c e , H a r r y B ra v e rm a n is th e s h a rp e st c ri ti c o f T a y lo r s in f l u e n c e

o n w o rk a n d o r g a n iz a ti o n s R e a d in g 3 ). B ra v e rm a n v ie w s T a y lo ri s m a s a

m a n a g e m e n t d e v ic e to w re s t p o w e r f r o m w o r k e rs ra t h er th a n m e re ly a s a n e u tral

te c h n iq u e fo r e n h a n c in g e fficie n c y . T h e p h il o so p h y o f s u b d iv i d i n g w o rk in to

n a rr o w ta s k s a n d ri g idly s e p a r ati n g p l an n in g fr o m e x e c u ti o n e lim i n a te s th e n e e d

fo r sc a rc e c ra ft sk ill s w h il e tu rn in g m e a n in g fu l w o r k in to a lie n a tin g la b o r.

In e q u a lit y a ls o g ro w s w h e n m a n a g e rs s u b s ti tu te c h e a p e r w o rk e rs fo r b e tte r-p a id

s k ill e d la b o r. T h e p u rp o se o f s c ie n ti fi c m a n a g e m e n t, in B r a v e rm a n s v ie w , is to

lo w e r la b o r C0St0 in cr ea s e w o rk e r e ff o rt , li m it w o rk e rs a u to n o m y , ? n 1 e n h a n c e

m a n a g e m e n t c o n tr o l. B ra v e r m a n a rg u e s th at th e d i v i sio n o f la b o r a s c u rr e ntly

p ra c tic e d is n o t a te c h n ic a l re q u ir e m e n t, a s G u l ic k , T a y lo r, a n d m a n a g e rs w o u ld

a rg u e , b u t re a ll y a n a rt ifi c ia l m e a n s o f d e n y in g w o rk e rs a w id e r k n o w le d g e o f th e

p ro d u ct i o n p ro c e s s a n d g u a ra n te e in g a ro le fo r c a p it a li s ts a s in te g ra to rs o f th e

n a rr o w jo b s th a t th e y h a v e c o n sci o u s ly c re a te d b y d iv id in g u n if ie d c ra ft w o rk in to

sm a ll , u n sk illed p ie c e s .

B ra v e r m a n a n d o th e rs s u b sc ri b in g to d e -s killin g th e o ry v i ew T a y lo r s i n f lu e n c e o n

c a p italis t m a n a g e m e n t a s p e rv a s iv e a n d n e g a ti v e , n o t s i m p ly th e e a rly tw e n ti e th

c e n t u ry fa c to ry b u t a ls o in m o d e rn m a n u f ac tu rin g , cl er ic a l, se rv ic e , a n d p ro fe s

sio n a l w o rk , in w h ic h th e re is a c o n sta n t te n d e n c y to s im plif y ta sk s a n d re p la c e

sk illed w o rk e rs w ith le s s s kille d w o rk e rs Bra v e rm a n 1 9 7 4 ; G a r so n 1 9 8 8 ).

H o w e v e r, o th e rs v ie w th is a s a g re a t e xa g g e ra ti o n o f T a y lo r s i n f lu e n c e a n d d o n o t

b e li e v e th at th e tre n d in m o d e rn e c o n o m ie s h a s b e e n o n e o f p o la ri z a tio n b e t w ee n

a sm a ll c la s s o f o w n e rs a n d m a n a g e rs, o n th e o n e h a n d , a n d a la rg e c la s s o f

d e -sk ill e d , p o o rly p aid w o rk ers, o n th e o th e r A tte w e ll 1 9 8 7 ; N e ls o n 1 9 9 5 ).

T a y lo r e v e n h a s d ef en d e rs w h o a rg u e t h a t h is w o rk b e n e fi te d so m e w o r k e r s .

M o d e rn in d u s tr ia l e n g in e e rin g c o n sid e rs T a y lo r to b e th e f at h e r o f e rg o n o m ic s,w h ic h is th e sc ie n c e o f ar r an g in g th in g s p e o p le u se s o th a t th e le a st str a in is p u t

o n th e h u m a n b o d y . H o w e v e r, ti m e a n d m o ti o n s tu d y fo r th e p u r p o se o f se ttin g

o u t p u t s ta n d a rd s e a rn e d h im fe w frien d s a m o n g w o rk e rs, a n d e v e n s o m e o f

T a y lo r s d e fe n d e rs a c k n o w le d g e th a t e m p lo y e r ra te c u ttin g a n d w o rk e r h o s tility

w e re c o m m o n in p ract i ce N e ls o n 1 9 9 5 ) . N e v e rt h e le s s, m o st o rg a n iz atio n a l

r ese a rc h e rs w o u ld a g re e a s a g e n e ra l p ri n c ip le th a t p e o p le w ith in a n o rg a n i z ati o n ,

in c lu d in g m a n a g e rs, c a n g a in p o w e r o v e r o th e rs b y h o a r d in g k n o w le d g e ra th e r

th a n sh a rin g it to m a k e o th e rs d e p e n d e n t o n th e m a n d c re a te th e s e n s e th a t th e y

a re in d isp e n s a b le . T h e n a rr o w a n d re s tri c ti v e a p p r o a c h to str u c tu ri n g jo b ta s k s

a n d th e ir p e rc e iv e d d e h u m a n i zin g c h ar ac te r h a v e a ls o b e e n re c u r r i n g s o u rc e s o fd is c o n te n t s e e R e a d in g s 9 12 15 30 34 a n d 3 5 ). E v e n T a y lo r w ro te d isp a ra g -

. in g ly o f th e le v e l o f in te ll ig e n c e re q u ir e d to p e rf o rm th e jo b s h e d e s i g n e d .

L ik e ra ti o n a l sy s te m s th eo r i s ts , T a y lo r b e lie v e d th a t a co r r e c tly d e s ig n e d

s y ste m c o u ld wr i t e m a n y o f th e h u m a n a n d so c ia l d im e n s i o n s o f o rg a n iz a tio n s o u t

o f th e e q u a ti o n . W ith th e p ro p e r m a n a g e m en t b lu e p rin t, o rg a n iz a tio n s a s a rtificia l

c re atio n s c o u ld ru n o f th e m s e lv e s li k e w e ll -o il e d m a c h in e s. F o r T a y lo r, a n o p ti

m a l w o rk sy s te m re q u ire d sim p ly th e c o rr e c t p h y s ic a 1 1 a y o u t o f th e w o r k e n v i

ro n m e n t, d e te r m in a ti o n o f th e w o rk e rs p ro p e r b o d il y m otio n s , a n d th e ri g h t

m o n e ta ry in c e n tive s to e n su re e m p lo y e e s w o u ld w ork to th e ir p h y sic a l p o te n tia l.

H o w e v e r, T a y lo r n e v e r re a ll y c a m e to te rm s w it h th e m a n a g e m e n t b ia s e m b e d d e din h is p h ilo so p h y a n d h o w it a ffe cte d th e q u a lit y o f th e w o rk liv es o f th os e w h o

h a d to w o rk u n d e r h is sy s te m . In d e e d , s u b s e q u e n t g e n e ra tion s o f m a n a g e rs w o u ld

fi n d th e h u m a n e le m e n t ra re ly p ro v e d s o s im p le to c o n tro l a s T ay lo r s u p p o s e d ,

1 6 T H E S O CIO LO G Y O F O R G A N IZ A T I O N S



_~

(7) A dm in istrati ve acts, decisio ns, and ru le s a re

fo rm ulated and reco rded in w ri ting , e v en in cases

w here oral d iscussion is the ru le o r is even m anda

tory . Th is app lies at least to p re lim inary d iscus

sions and proposals, to fi nal decis ions, and to all

so rts of o rd ers and ru les. T he com bin ation of

w ritten docum ents and a con tin uous operatio n

by off ic ials consti tu tes the o ffi ce Bureau

which is th e cen tral focus of all ty pe s o f m odern

organ iz ed action.

(6) In th e ra tional type c as e, there is a lso a com ple te

absence of a pp ro pri a t ionof h is o fficial position by

th e incum ben t. W here rights to an off ice ex ist,

as in the case of ju dge s~and r ecently o f an increas

in g propor tion of o ff icia ls and even of w orkers ,

th ey do no t n orm ally serve the purpose o f appro

p riation by th e o ff icial, but o f secu ring th e purely

ob jec ti ve and independent character o f the con

duct o f th e offi ce so that it is o ri en ted only to the

releva nt n o rm s.

(5 ) the rationa l type it is a m att er of principle th at

th e members of th e adm in istr ati ve s ta ff shou ld be

completely sep arated from ownersh ip o f the

m eans of pro duction or adm inistr ati on. O ffic ials,

employees, and w ork ers att ached to the adminis

tr ati ve sta ff do no t them selves o w n the non-hum an

m eans of p roducti on and adm inis tr ation .The se a re

rather pro vided for th eir use , in k in d or in money,

and the o fficial is o b lig ated to render an accoun t

ing of their use , There exists, f u rtherm ore , in pri n

ciple com ple te separati on of th e o rganization s

propert y (respectiv ely , cap ita l) , a nd th e persona l

property (household ) o f theo f f icial. There is a co r

responding separatio n of th e p lace in whic h offi

cia l functio ns are carri ed out-the off ice in the

sense o f p rem ises-fro m the l iv ing quarters.

o the r ends.

only a person w ho has dem onstr ated a n adequate .

te chn ic al t rain ing is qua li fi ed t o be a m embe r of

th e . adm in istra tive staff of such an organized

group, and hence only such pers ons are eligi

b le fo r appo in tm en t to o ff ic ia l p ositions. The

adm in is tra tive s ta ff o f a ratio nal o rganization

th us ty picall y consists. o f off icials , w hether

th e o rganization be devo ted to po litica l, h ie ro -

f;

. (2 ) A spec ifi ed sphere of com petence (ju risd iction ).

This in vo lves: (a) A sphere o f ob ligatio ns to p er

fo rm functi ons whic h has been m ark ed off as partof a syste m ati c divisio n of labor. (b ) The prov ision

of th e in cum ben t w ith the necessary powers.

(c ) Tha t th e necessary m eans of com pulsio n are

clearl y defi ned and their use is subject to defi n ite

conditions. A un it exercisin g authority w hich is

o rg an iz ed in th is w ay w ill be ca ll ed an adm in is

trative o rg an o r agency BehO rde .

(3 ) The organizati on of o ffices fo ll ow s th e principle

o f hierarc hy; th at is, each low er o ffi ce is under th e

con tro l and s up erv isio n of a h igher one. There is a

ri gh t o f appea l and of state m en t of gri evances

from th e low er to the higher. H ierarc hies d iffe r in

respect to w heth er and in what cases comp lain ts

can lead to a c o rr ect ruling from a higher

au th ori ty it self, o r w heth er th e responsib ili ty fo r

such changes is le ft to th e lower o ffice, the con

duc t o f w hich w as th e subject o f th e c om pla in t.

(4 ) T he ru les w hich regula te th e conduct of a n o ffice

m ay b e te chnic al r ule s o r norm s. In bo th cases, if

th e ir app li cation is to be fu ll y ratio na l, specia lized

tr ain in g is necessary . tis thus norm all y true th at .

(1 ) A c on tin uous ru le -bound conduct o f o f fi cial busi- /

ness.

3 . L egal A uth ority : T he Pu re T ype

[ The fol low ing m ay thus be sa id to be th e

fundam enta l ca tego rie s o f r at iona l le ga l au tho ri ty :

LEGAL AUTHORITYWITH BUREAUCRAT IC ADM IN IS TRAT IV E ST

[ J

ch ief w ho occup ies th e tr ad itionall y sanc ti oned

posit ion o f au thority a nd w ho is (w ith in its sphere)

bound by tradition . Bu t h ere the ob li ga ti on o f obedi

ence is a m atte r o f persona l loya lty w ith in the area

of accusto m ed ob li ga tion s . In the case o f char is

m atic au thori ty , it is the char ism ati ca ll y quali fied

leader as such w ho is o beyed by v irtue o f persona l

tr u st in h is reve la t ion, h is hero ism or h is exem p lary.. . .. . > i1 . ~ . ~l r T

quauues ::; ll as Liley lu ll wuluu li lt; : : ;U pc 01 tIle

ind iv idua l s be li e f in h is char ism a.

18 • ORGANIZATIO NS AS RATIONAL SYSTEMS I



I ·

1. For exam ple, bureaucracy is fo und in priv ate

clinic s, as w ell as in endowed hospitals or the hos

p itals m ain tain ed by re ligious orders. Bureaucratic

organization is w el l i llustrated by the adm inis trative

role of th e priesthood K ap la nokra tie in th e modem

[Catholic] churc h, which has expropriate d almost a l l

of the o ld church benefi ces, which were in fo rmer

days to a large extent sub ject to private appropri a

tion. It is also il lustrated by the notion of a [Papal]universalepiscopate , w hich is th ought of as form ally

constituting a universal legal competence in reli

gious matters. S im ilarly, th e doctri ne of Papal

in fallibility is thought of as in fa ct involvin g a

universal competence, but only one which functions

e x cath edra in the sphere of the offi ce, th us imply

ing the typ ical d istinction betw een th e sphere of

office and that of the pri vate affair s of the in cum

bent. The same phenomena are found in the large

scale capita li sti c enterprise; and th e larger it is, th e

greater their role . And this is not less tm e of political

1 :

(10 ) H e is su bject to strict an d system atic discip lin e

a nd c on tro l in th e co nd uct o f th e o ffic e.

( 9) T he o ffic ia l w o rk s e ntir ely se pa ra te d f rom owne r

ship o f th e m ean s of adm inistratio n and w ith out

a pp rop ria ti on o f h is po sit io n .

m ent, or both . P rom otion is dependent on the

j udgmen t o f s up er io rs .

7 The office is treated as the sole , or at least the

p rima ry , o cc up at io n o f th e in cumben t.

(8 ) constitu tes a career. There is a system of

ir- :rad ed according to ran k in th e hierarch y; bu t in

a dd itio n to th is c rite rio n, th e re sp on sib ility o f th e

p os itio n a nd th e re qu ir em e nts o f th e in cumbe nt s

so cial statu s m ay b e taken into acco unt. [ ... ]

i·

I·-:B ur ea uc ra cy a nd L eg itim a te A uth or ity • 19

(6 ) They are remunerated by fixed sa laries in money,

fo r the most part with a right to pensions. Only

under cert ain circumstance s does the employin g

auth ori ty , esp ecially in private o rganizations, have

a right to terminate the appointm ent, but the offi

cial is a lw ay s free to resign . The sa lary sc ale is

(4) The offi ce is filled by a free contractual rela tion

sh ip . Thus, in p rincip le , there is fr ee selection .

(5) Candidates are selected on the basis of technic al

qualifications. In the most ra tional case, th is is

test ed by exam ination or guaranteed by diplomas

ce rtifying tec hnic al train ing , or both . They are

appoin ted , not elected ..

(3) Eac h office has a clearl y defi ned sp her e of com

petence in the le gal se nse .

(2) They are organized in a cl ear ly d ef ined hierarchy

of off ices.

(1) They are per so nally fr ee and subject to auth ori ty

only w ith respect to th eir im personal off icial

obl igations.

[

(8 ) L eg al au th ority c an b e e xe rc ise d in a w id e v arie ty

o f d if fe re nt fo rm s wh ic h w ill b e d istin gu is he d a nd

d is cus sed l at er . The fo ll ow ing i dea l- typ ic a l anal y

si s will be d eli be ra te ly c on fin ed f or th e time being

to th e a dm in istra tiv e sta ff th at is mo st u nambig u

ou sly a s tr uc tu re o f dom in ati on : o f fi cia ld om o r

bureaucracy.

4. L egal A uthority : T he P ure T yp e

The p ure st ty pe o f e xe rc is e o f le ga l a uth ority is

th at wh ic h emplo ys a b ure au cra tic a dm in istra tiv e

staff. O nly th e su prem e ch ief o f th e o rg an iza tio n

.o cc up ie s h is p ositio n o f d om in an ce ... b y v irtu e o f

a pp rop ria tio n , o f e le ctio n, o r o f h av ing b een d es ig -

na ted fo r t he succe ss ion . Bu t even his authori tycons is ts in a s ph ere o f le ga l c omp ete nc e. T he whole

a dm in istra tiv e sta ff u nd er th e s up reme a uth orityth en co nsists, in th e p urest ty pe, o f in div id ual o ffi_ T his ty pe o f o rg an iz atio n i s in p rin cip le ap plica -

c ia ls (c on stitu tin g a mono cra cy a s o pp os ed to th e b le w ith e qu al fa cility to a w id e v arie ty o f d iffe re nt

c opegial type, w hich w ill be d iscussed below ) . . f ie lds . may be app lie d in p ro fit-mak ing bus in es s

who are appointed and function accord ing to t~~: o r in chari ta ble o~ganiz atio ns, o r in ~ nu~ber offollow ingc r i teria: other types of pnvate enterp rise s servmg Ideal or

m aterial ends. is equally applicab le to political

and to hiero cra tic organizations. W ith the vary ing

degrees of approxim ation to a pure type, its h ist o ri

cal existence can be demonstr ated in all th ese f ields.



finally super io r both in intensiv e effic ie ncy and in

th e scope of it s operation s, and is fo rm all y capable

o f applicati on to all k inds o f adm in istr a tive tasks.

The deve lopment o f m odem form s of o rgan iza

tio n in a ll fi e lds is no th ing less than iden ti ca l w ith th e

deve lopm ent and continual sp re ad of bureaucratic

adm in istr a ti on . Th is is true of church and sta te , o f

a rmies, po li tica l parties , economic en terprises, in ter

est group s, endowm ents, c lubs, and m any o th ers. It s

developm en t is , to take th e m ost strik in g case , a t the

ro o t o f the modem W estern sta te . H owever m any

fo rm s th ere m ay be which do not appear to fi t th is

patte rn , such as coll eg ia l rep resenta tive bod ies, par

li am en tary comm i ttees , soviets, honorary officers,

la y judges, an d w hat n ot, and however m any peop le

m ay com pla in a bo ut th e red tape, it w ou ld be sheer

ill u sion to th ink fo r a m om ent th at con tinuousadm inistra ti ve w ork can be carr ied out in any fie ld

excep t by m eans of o ff ic ia ls w ork ing in off ices. The

whole pattern o f e veryday li fe is cu t to fi t th is fram e

w o rk . If b ureaucratic admin istr a ti on is, o ther th in gs

bein g equal, a lw ays th e m ost ra tional ty pe fro m a

te chnic al po in t o f v ie w , th e needs o f m ass ad min is

tra tion m ake it today com plete ly indispensab le . The

cho ice is only th at b etw een bureaucracy an d dile tta n

ti sm in the fie ld o f admin istr a tion .

The prim ary source of the superiority o f bureaucratic adm in istr a tion lies in the ro le o f technical

know ledge which , th rough th e developm en t o f

modern te chnology and business m ethods in the

produc tion of goods, has becom e comp lete ly ind is

pensab le . In th is re spect, it m akes no difference

w heth er the economic system is o rgan ized on a cap i

ta li stic o r a socialistic basis . Indeed , if in the la tt er

case a com parable level o f techn ical efficie ncy w ere

to be ach ieved , it w o uld m ean a tr em endous increase

in th e im port ance of p ro fessio nal bu reaucrats .[

fr om a purely te chn ical po in t o f v iew , capab le o f

att a in in g th e h ighest degre e of efficiency and is in

this sense fo rm ally th e m ost ra tio nal known m eans

of exercisin g authority over hum an beings. It is

superior to any o ther fo rm in pre cision , in stab ili ty ,

in th e str ingency of it s d iscip line , and in its re lia b il

ity . t thus m akes possib le a particu larl y h igh degre e

of calcu lab il ity o f re su lt s fo r the heads o f th e o rga

n iza tion nd fo r tho se acti ng in re lation to it. t is

5. Monocra tic Bureaucracy

Experience tends un iversa lly to show th at th e pur

ely bure aucra ti c type of admin istr a tive o rgan izati onth at is, th e m onocrati c vari e ty of bureaucracy -is,

parti es, w h ic h w il l be d iscussed separa te ly . F inally ,

the m odern arm y is essentia ll y a bure aucrati c

o rganization adm in iste red by that peculia r type of

m ilita ry functio nary , the off icer.

2 . Bureaucrati c au thority is carried ou t nit s

pu re st fo rm where it is m ost cle a rl y dom in ate d byth e principle o f appo in tment. There is no such th in g

as a h ierarchica l o rg an ization of elected off ic ia ls . In

th e fi rs t p la ce , it is im possib le to atta in a str ingency

of d iscip line even approach ing that in the appo inted

type, since the subordinate o ffic ia l can stand on h is

ow n election and since h is p rospects are no t depen

den t on th e superi or s judgemen t. [ ...

3 . A ppo in tment by fr ee contract, wh ich m akes

fr ee selectio n p ossib le , is essen ti a l to m odem bure au

cracy . W here th ere is a h iera rch ical o rg an iz ation

w ith im personal spheres o f compete nce, bu t

occupie d by unfr ee offic ia ls-li ke sla ves o r m inis-

te ri le s who, how ever, function in a form ally

bureaucratic . .manner= the term patr im on ial

bureaucracy w i l l be used . .

4 . The ro le o f techn ical qualif ications in bureau

crati c o rganizations is con tinually in creasing . Even

an official in a part y o r a trade-u nion o rgan ization

is in need of specia li zed know ledge, though itis usually developed by experi ence ra th er th an

by fo rm al train ing . In th e m odem sta te , th e only

o ffi ces fo r w hich no technical qua lifications are

required are th ose of min isters and presid en ts. Th is

on ly goes to p rove th at th ey are off ic ia ls on ly in a

fo rm al sense, and no t substan ti vely , ju st li ke th e

m anag in g d ir ecto r o r p re siden t of a large busin ess

corpor at ion . There is no question , bu t that the posi

ti on o f th e capitalis tic ent rep reneur is as defi n ite ly

appropria ted as is that of a m onarch . Thus at the topof a bureaucra tic o rganiz atio n , there is necessaril y

an elem en t w h ic h is at least no t purely bureaucra ti c .

The catego ry o f b ureaucracy is one applying o nly to

the exercise o f c on tro l by m eans o f a p artic ula r k ind

of adm in istr a ti ve staff.

20 • ORGANIZATIO NS AS RAT IONAL SYSTEMS I



rIj

ri

I :

I

c :

f :I .

I

The decis ive re ason for the advance of bureaucraticorganization has always been its purely te chnica l

superiority over any other form of org anization .The

fu lly developed bureaucra tic apparatus com pares

w ith o ther organizations exactly as does th e m achin e

w ith the non-m echanical m odes of production.

P recision, speed , unam big uity , know ledge. of th e

fi le s , continu ity , d iscre tion , un ity , str ict subord ina

tion, reduction of friction and of m ateri al and per

sonal costs -these are raised to the opti m u m poin t in

the str ictl y bureaucratic adm in istr atio n, an d especia lly in it s m onocratic fo rm . A s com pared w ith all

co lleg iate, honorifi c , and avocational form s of

adm in istr ation , trained b u reaucracy is super ioron all

th ese poin t s .And as f a r a s compl i cated ta sks a r e c on

cern ed , paid bureaucrati c w ork is no t on ly m ore pre

cise but, in the la st analysis, it is often cheaper th an

even fo rmally unrem unera ted honorif ic serv ic e.

rToday , it is pr imarily the cap itali st m arket econ

om y which dem ands that th e official busin ess ofpublic adm in istr ation be dis charged precisely ,

6. THE TECHNICAL SUPERIORITY OF

BUREAUCRATIC ORGANIZATIO N OVER

ADM IN ISTRATION BY NOTABLES

URE UCR CY

r ·

an honorary basis or as an avo ca tio n b y virtue

o f th eir w ealth . E veryw here bureaucratization fore

shadows m ass democ racy , w h ic h w ill b e d is cu ss ed

in a no ther connection .

The developm ent of bureauc ra cy g re atly f avors

th e levelling of status, and th is can be sho wn his tori

cally to be the norm al tendency . C onversely , every

process of social levelling creates a favorab le situa

tion for the developm ent of bureaucracy by elim i

nating th e offi ce-h o lder who rules by virtue of statu s

privil eges and th e appro priation of the m eans andpow ers of a dm in istr ation ; in the in terests of equal-

Bureaucracy and Legit im a te Au th o rity • 21

(2) The tendency to plutocracy grow ing out of th e

interest in the greatest possib le length of te chnic al

training . Today thi s of ten lasts up to th e age of th irty .

(3 ) The dom inance of a spir it of form ali stic im per

sonali ty : S in e ir a e t stud io w ithouthatred or

passion, and he nce w ithout affection or enthusi

asm . The dom in ant norm s are concepts of straight

fo rw ard duty w ithout regar d to personal

co nsid erations. Everyone is sub ject to fo rm al

equa li ty of treatm en t; th at is, everyone in the sam e

em pirical situ ation. This is th e spiri t in which th eid ea l off icial conducts his off ice.

1 The tendenc y to levell ing in th e in teres t of th e

.....broadest possib le basis of recm itm ent in tern s of :

te chnical co m petence. .

Bu re au c ra ti c a dm in is tr atio n m eans fundamentally

dom in atio n th ro ug h k now ledge. This is th e feature of

it w hich mak es it specifi cally rationaL This consis ts

on the one hand in technical know ledge w hich , by

itself, is sufficien t to ensure it a posit ion of extr a

ordin ary power. But in addition to th is, bureaucra tic

organ iz ations, or the holders of power who m ake use

of them , have th e tendency to in cre ase their pow er

sti l further by the knowledge grm vin g out of ex per i

ence in the serv ice. For they acquire through th e

co nd uct o f o ffice a special know ledge of facts and

hav e ava ila b le a s to re of d oc um entary m aterialpecu

l ia r t o themse lve s.W hile not peculiar to bureaucratic

. o rgan i za ti on s , t he concept of official secrets is

certain ly typical of th em . It sta nds in relation to

technical know ledge in som ew hat th e sam e position

as com m ercia l secrets do to te chnolog ic al train ing . t

is a product of th e str iv in g fo r power .

Superior to bureaucracy in the know ledge of

techniq ues and facts is on ly th e capitalist en tr e

preneur, w ith in h is ow n sphere of in terest. H e.is

th e only type w ho has been able to m ain ta in a tle~§f

rela tiv e im m unity from subjection t o the contro l of

rational bureaucratic know ledge. In large-scale

organizations, all o th ers are in ev itably sub ject to

bure aucratic contr ol, ju st as th ey have fall en under

th e dom inance of precisio n m achin ery in th e m ass

production of goods.

n general, bureaucrati c dom inatio n has th e

fo llow ing social consequences:



~~' ...~• . ,: :.,..-.~ -. .~ ,-~ .-: ., ;..-. ...:..~ . .....,r~ I x p lo ita tio n r fllleUU:: d lle au ecououu Vl u V ,- , J C Ci· - «.it _ _ .

p o sit io n , w hich every so rt o f a dm in istra tive activ ity

p ro vides to its bearers, is the compen sa t ion fo r the

a ssum p tio n o f a dm in istra tive funct io n s.

[ . .. ] M a ss demo cracy which m akes a clean

sw eep o f the feuda l, pa t r imon ia l , a n d-a t lea st in

in ten t- the p luto cra tic p ri vi leges in admin istra tio n

un a vo idably ha s to p ut p a id p ro fe ssio n a l labo rin p la ce o f the histor ica lly in heri ted a vo ca tio n a l

admin istra t io n by n o tab les.

]

We must ex p ress ly reca ll a t th is p o in t th at the

po l i t i ca l co n cep t o f demo cra cy, deduced fro m the

equ a l ri ghts of the go vern ed, in cludes these fur

ther p o stu la t es : (1) p re ven t ion o f the develo pm en t o f

a clo sed sta tus gro up o f off icia ls in the in terest o f a

un iversa l access ibil i ty o f o ffice, a n d (2) m in im iza

tio n o f the autho ri ty o f o ff icia ldom in the in tere st o fex p an din g the sp here o f in fl uen ce o f p ublic o p in

io n a s fa r a s p ra ctica ble. H en ce, wherever p o ssib le,

p o li t ica l democ racy strives to sho rt en the term o f

o ff ice thro ugh electio n an d reca ll , a n d to be re lieved

from a lim ita tio n to can d ida tes w ith sp ecia l ex p ert

qua lifica tio n s. Thereby democracy in evita bly comes

in to conf l ic t w ith the bure aucra tic ten den cies which

have been p ro duced y i ts very fight aga in st the

n o tables. The lo o se term democra tiza t io n can n o t

be use d here, in so fa r a s it is un dersto o d to mea n. the m in im iza tio n o f the civil serva n ts p ow er in

favo r o f the grea test p o ss ible direct ru le o f the

dem os [peop le }, which in p ra ctice m ea n s theresp ec

tive p a rt y leaders o f the dem os; The decisive a sp ect

here-in deed it is ra ther ex clusively so -is the leve l

in g of the governed in fa ce o f the go vern in g an d

bure a ucra tica lly ar t icu la ted gro up , which in its tum

may o ccup y a quite au to cra tic p o sit io n , b oth in fa ct

a n d in fo rm .

the ho rr o r o f p ri v ilege, a n d the p r inc ip led

rejectio n o f do in g busin ess fro m ca se to ca se.

Such re gularity a lso fo l lows from the so c i a l p r e co n

ditio n s o f its o ri g in . n y n o n -burea ucra tic admin is

tra tio n o f a la rg e so cia l structure re sts in some

way up o n the fa ct tha t ex istin g so cia l, m a ter ia l, o r

honor i f ic p references a nd ra nks a re co n nec ted w ith

admin istra tive fun ctio n s and dut ies. This usua lly

Adm in istra t ive D emocra tiza t io n

[ ... ] Bureaucracy inev i tably accomp an ies

m odem m ass democracy, in co n tra st to the democ

ra tic self- governmen t o f sm a ll hom ogen eo us un its.

Th is re sults from its cha ra cteri stic p r incip le: the

abstra ct re gular i ty o f the ex ercise o f autho rity ,w hich

is result o f the dem an d fo r. e qua lity befo re the

law in the p erso n a l a n d fu n ctio n a l sen se-hen ce, o f

THE LEVELINGOF SO I L DIFFERENCES

un ambiguo usly, co n tin uo usly, a n d w ith a s m uch

sp eed a s p o ssib le. No rmal ly, the very la rge m odern

cap ita l ist en terp ri ses a re them selves un equa lled

mo dels o f stric t b ureaucra tic o rgan iza t ion . Busi

n ess m an agemen t thro ughou t re st s o n in cre a sin g

p recisio n , steadin ess, a n d, a bo ve a ll , speed o f

o p era t ions . [ ... ]

Bureaucra t iz a t io n o f fers abo ve a ll the o ptim um

p o ssib il i ty to r ca rryin g thro ugh the p rin cip le o f

sp ecia lizin g admin istra t ive fu n ct ion s a cco rdin g to

p urely o bjectiv e co nsidera t ion s. I n di vi du a l p e rfo r

m an ces a re a llo ca ted to fun ctio n a ri es who have

sp ecia lized tra in ing an d who by co n sta n t p ra ct ic e

in crea se their ex per t ise. Objective d ischa rge o f

busin ess p r imar i ly mean s a discha rge o f busin ess

a cco rd in g to calcu lable ru les an d w itho u t re ga rdfo r p erso n s.

[ ... ] The p ecu lia rity o f m odern culture, a n d

sp ecifica lly o f its techn ica l a n d eco n om ic ba sis,

dem an ds this very ca lculabi li ty o f resu lts. W hen

fully develo p ed,..p ur,ea ucracya lso st a nds, in a sp e

cifi c sen se, un der the p r incip le o f sine ir a ac stu dio .

Bureauc ra cy d evelo p s the mo re p erfectly , the mo re

it is dehuman ized, the mo re comp letely it suc

ceeds in elim in a tin g fro m o ffic ia l busin ess lo ve,

hatred, a n d a ll p urely p erso n a l, irr a tio n a l, a n d emo tio n a l elem en ts which esca p e ca lcula tio n . This is

a p p r a ise d a s its sp ecia l virt ue by cap ita lism .

The m o re comp l ica ted a nd sp ecia lized m odern

cu lture becomes, the m o re its ex tern a l sup p or t in g

ap p a ra tus dem ands the p erso n a lly deta ched a n d

stri c tly o bjective expert, in lieu o f the lo rd o f o lder

so cia l stru ctures who w as m oved by p ersona l

sympa thy a n d fa vo r, by grace an d gra ti tude. [ .. .

22 ORGANIZATIONS AS RATIONAL SYSTEMS I



1

1

c-;r :

:. .i _ • :

i

perform ance of the im mediate functions, while by

n orm s h e p ro ba bly me an s r ule s w h ich lim it c on du ct o n

g round s o th er than t hos e o f e ff ic iency . O f course, in one

sen se a ll ru les are n orm s in th at th ey are p rescrip tio ns fo r

c onduc t, c on fo rm i ty w it h wh ic h is p rob lematic al .

B ur ea uc ra cy a nd L eg itim a te A u th or ity • 23

1. [A c co rd in g to tr an sla to r T alc ott P ar so ns ] Weber

d oe s n ot e xp la in th is d istin ctio n. B y a t ec hn ic al ru le h e

probably m eans a prescribed course of action w hich is

d ic ta te d p rim a rily o n g ro un ds to uc hin g e ff ic ie ncy o f th e

OT



2 4

R ep rin te d fro m The Pri ncip les o f Sc ientific M anagem ent , Fr e d e ri c k W in s lo w T ay lo r 1 91111967 . N e w Y o r k : H arp e r a n d B rot h e rs .

F irst. W h e re in d o th e p r i n c ip le s o f s c ie n tif ic

m a n a g e m e n t d if fe r e s s e n tia ll y f ro m th o s e o f o r d i-

n a r y m a n a g e m e n t?

THE \ VRITER H A S FOUND TH T THERE RE

T H R E E Q U E S T IO N S U P P E R M O S T IN T H E

MIN S OFMEN WHEN T Y B E C O M E

IN T E R E S T E D IN S C IE N T IF IC M A N A G E M E N T .

T PRIN IPLES OF S C IE N T IF IC

M N G M NT

w h e n e v e r th es e p rin c iple s a re c o r re c tl y a p p lie d

r e s u lt s m u s t f ol lo w w h ic h a r e tru ly a s to u n d in g .

[T h is p a p e r h a s b e e n w ritt e n :

F irst. T o p o in t o u t th r o u g h a s e r ie s o f s i m p le

il lu s tr a tio n s th e g re a t lo ss w h ic h th e w h o le c o un try

is s u ff e rin g th ro ug h in e ff ic ie n c y in a lm o s t a ll o f o ur

d a il y a c ts .

econd T o tr y to c o n v in c e th e r e a d e r th a t th e

r e m e d y fo r th is in e ffic ie n c y li e s in s y s te m a tic m a n -

a g e m e n t ra th e r th a n in s e a r c h in g f o r s o m e u n u s u a lo r e x tr a o r d in a r y m a n .

Third . T o p ro v e th at th e b e s t m a n a g e m e n t is a

tr u e s c ie n c e r e s tin g u p o n c l e a rly d e f i n e d la w s

r u le s a n d p r in c i p le s a s a f ou nd a tio n . A n d f ur th e r to

s h o w th a t th e f u n d a m e n ta l p r in c ip le s o f s c ie n tific

m a n a g e m e n t a r e a p p lic a b le to a ll k in ds o f h u m a n

a c tivi t ie s fr o m o u r s im p le s t in d iv i d u al a c ts to th e

w o r k o f o u r g r e a t c o r p o r a tio n s w h ic h c a ll f o r th e

m o s t e la b o r a te c o o p e r a t io n . A n d brie f l y t h r o u g h a

s e r ie s o f il lu stra ti o n s to c o n v in c e th e r e a d e r th a t

I N T R O D U C T I O N

:

F R E D E R IC K W I N S L O W T A Y L O R

M N G M NT

T P R IN C IP L ES O F S C IE N T IF IC

r •• . .. .



doubt handed over better m ethods to the next. T his

m ass o f ru le-of-thumb or tra d itio nal know ledge m ay

be said to be th e p rincip al asset or possessio n of

every tradesm an. N ow , in th e best of the ordinary

types of m anagem ent, th e m anagers re cognize

frankly th e fact th at the 500 or 1,000 w orkm en,

in cluded in the tw enty to th irty. tr ades, w ho are

under th em , possess th is m ass of tr adit ional know l

edge, a large part of w hich is not in the possession

of the m anagem en t. T he m anagem ent, o f cours e,

includes forem en and superin tendents , w ho th em

selves have bf ~nin m ost cases fi rst- class w orkers at

their tr ades. L yet these forem en and superinten

dents know , better th an anyone else, th at their ow n

know ledge and personal sk ill falls far short of th e

combined kn ow ledge and dexterity of all th e work

m en under th em . The m os t e xp erienced m anagers

therefore frankly p lace before th eir w orkm en th e

pro blem of doing th e w ork in the best and m ost

economica l w ay . T hey recogniz e the task before

th em as that of inducing each w orkm an to use h is

best endeavors, h is hardest w ork , all h is tr adit ional

know ledge, his sk ill , his ingenuity , and his good

w il l-in a w ord , h is in itia tive, SQ as to . yield the

. largest possib le return to h is em ployer .T heproblem

before th e m a na gem ent, the n , m ay be briefl y said to

be th at of obta in in g th e best in it ia tiv e of every w o rk m an. A nd th e w ri ter uses the w ord in iti ative in it s

broadest sense, to cover all o f the good qualities

sought fo r from th e m en.

O n the oth er hand , no intell igen t m anager w ould

hope to obtain in any full m easure the in it iative of

h is w orkm en unless he felt that he w as giv in g th em

som eth in g more th an th ey usua ll y receive fro m their

em ployers. O nly th ose am ong the readers of th is

paper w ho have b een m anagers o r w ho have w orked

them selves at a tr ade reali ze how fa r the averagew ork m an fall s short of g iv ing his em ployer h is fu ll

in it ia tive. It is w ell w ith in th e m ark to state that in

elem ent of the w o rk . A nd a little thought w ill m ake

it clear that th is m ust in ev itab ly be the case, since

our m eth ods have been handed dow n from m an to

m an by w ord of m outh , or have, in m ost cases, been

alm ost unconsciously learned th rough personal

observation . P ra ctic ally in no instan ce s have th ey

been codif ied or system ati cally analyzed or des

cribed. The ingenuity and experience of each

The Princip le s of Scien tific anagem ent a 25

:

B efore startin g to il lustr ate th e principles of scien

ti fi c m anagem ent, o r task m anagem ent as it. is

briefly call ed , it seem s desira b le to outl ine w hat the

w rit er be li eve s w i ll be recogn iz ed a s the best type of

m anagem e nt w h ich is in com m on u se. T his is done

so th at the gre at d ifference betw e en the best of th e

ord in ary m anagem ent and scientifi c m anagem ent

m ay be fu lly apprecia ted.

In an in dustr ial estab lishm ent w hich em ploys say

from 500 to 1000 w orkm en, there w ill be found in

m any cases at least tw enty to thirty d iff eren t trades.

The w orkm en in each of th ese trades have had theirknow ledge handed dow n to them by w ord of m outh,

th ro ugh the m any years in w hich their t r ade has been

deve loped from the primitive condit ion , in w hich

our far-d istant ancestors each one practised th e rudi

m ents of m any differen t trades, to th e pre sen t sta te

of great and growing subdiv is i o n o f labor, in w hich

each m an speciali zes upon som e com paratively

sm all c lass of work ,

. The ingenuity of each generation has developed

quicker and better m ethods for doin g every elem entof th e w ork in every trade. T hus the m eth ods w hich

are now in use m ay in a bro ad sense be said to be an

evolu tion repre sen tin g th e surv iva l o f the f it test and

best of th e ideas w hich have been developed sin ce

th e starting of each trade. H o w ever,w hile th is is true

in a broad sense, only th ose w ho are in tim ately

acquain ted w ith each of th ese trades are fully aware

of the fact th at in hard ly any elem ent of any trade is

th ere uniform ity in th e m eth ods w hich are used .

Instead of having only one w ay w hich is generallyaccep ted as a standard , there are in daily use, say ,

fifty or a hundred dif feren t w ays of doing each

THE IN ST TYPE

O F ORDIN RY M A N A G E M EN T

Second W hy are better results attained under

scientific m anagem ent th an under the o ther types?

Third Is no t th e m ost importan t prob lem that of

gett ing the rig h t m an at the head of the company?

A nd if you have the ri gh t m an cannot th e choice of

th e ty p e o f m an agem ent be sa fe ly le ft to him ?

O ne of the prin cipal ob jects of the follow in g

pages w ill be to g ive a sati sfactory answ er to th ese



The w ri ter hopes th at the m anagem ent of in it ia

t iv e and incen tive will be recognized as re presenting

th e best typ e in ord inary use, and in fact he believes

th a t it w i ll be hard to persuade th e average m anager

that anyth in g better exists in the whole field than

th is type. The task whic h th e w riter has bef or e him ,then , is the d ifficult one of try in g to prove in a

th oroughly convincing w ay th at th ere is anoth er

type of m anagement which is no t on ly better but

overw helmingly better than the m anagement of

initiati ve and incentive.

The universal p re judic e in favor of the m anage

m ent of initiat ive and in centive is so strong th at no

m ere theore tical advantages which can be pointed

out w ill be likely to convince th e average m an~ger

th at any oth er system is better. w ill be upon aseries of practical illustrat ions of the actu a l w ork ing

of th e two sys tem s th at th e w ri te r w il l depend in h is

efforts to pro ve that scientific managem ent is so

greatly superior to other types. C ert ain elem entary

pri ncip les, a certain philosophy , w ill how ever be

.recognized as the essence of th at w hich is bein g

illustrated in all o f th e pra cti cal example s hich w il l

be g iven . A nd the broad principles in which the

scie n t if ic sys tem differs from th e ord inary or rule

of-thum b system are so sim ple in their n ature th atit seem s des ir ab le to describ e them befo re startin g

w ith th e illustr ations.

U nder th e o ld type of m anagem ent success

depends alm ost en tir ely upon gett ing the in itia tive

of th e workm en, and it is indeed a rare case i n which

th is in it ia tive is really attain ed . U nder scientific

m anagem ent the initia tive of th e wo rkmen th at is,

their hard work , th eir good-w ill, and their in genuity )

is ob ta ined w ith a bso lu te uniformity and to a greate r

ex te nt th an is possible under the o ld system ; and inaddit io n to th is improv em ent on the part of the m en,

the m a na ge rs assum e new burdens, new duti es, and

responsibilities never dream ed of in th e past. The

m anagers assum e, for insta nce, the burden of gath

erin g to geth er all o f th e tr ad it ional know ledge whic h

in the past has been possessed by th e w orkm en and

then of classifying , tabu la ting , and reducing th is

know ledge to ru les, law s, and fo rmula which are

immensely helpfu l to the workm en in doing th eir

daily w ork. In a dd itio n to developing a scien ce in

th is w ay, th e managemen t take on th ree o ther types

n in eteen out of tw enty in dustrial esta b li shm ents

th e workm en believe it to be directly again st their

in terests to g ive th eir employers their best in itiati ve,

and th at in stead of w o rk in g hard to do th e larg est

possib le am ount of work and the best quali ty . o f

w ork for th eir em ployers, th ey deliberately workas slow ly as they dare whi le they at the sam e time

try to . m ake th ose over th em beli eve th at th ey are

work ing fast.

T he writer repeats, therefore , th at in order to have

any hope of obta ining th e in itiati ve of h is w orkmen

th e m anager must giv e som e spec i l in c en ti ve to

h is m en beyond that w hich is g iven to th e average

of the trade. This incen tive can be given in several

different ways , as, fo r example, th e hope of rapid

promo tion or advancement; h ig her w ages, eith er inth e fo rm of generous piecew ork p rices or of a pre

mium or bonus of som e kin d for good and rap id

work; shorter hours of labor; better surroundings

and working conditions th an are ordinari ly g iven,

etc., an d, above all , t hi s spec ial incen tive should be

accompanied by that personal consideration f or , and

friendly conta ct w ith , h is workm en which com es

only from a genuine and kin dly in terest in the

w elfare of those under h im . It is only by g iv in g a

special inducem ent or incentive of th is k ind th atthe employer can hope even approxim ately to get

th e initiative of h is w orkmen. U nder the ordinary

type of m anagem ent the necessity fo r offering th e

workm an a spec ia l inducement has come to be so

generally recogniz ed th at a la rge p roport io n of those

m ost interested in th e subject lo ok upon the adop

tion of som e one of the m odem schem es f or p ayin g

m en s uch as p iece w ork , the prem ium plan , or th e

bonus pla n , for instance) as pra ctically th e whole

sy stem of managem ent. U nder scientific managem ent, how ever, th e p articu lar pay system which is

adopted is m erely one of th e subord in ate elem ents.

Broadly speakin g , th en , the be st ty pe o f m an age

m ent in ordina ry use m ay be defined as m anagem ent

in w h ich the workm en give th eir best in iti tive and

in retu rn receiv e some spec i l in c e n tive fro m their

employers. This type of m anagem ent w ill be

re ferr ed to as th e m anagem ent of in iti tive n d

in c en ti ve in contrad istin ction to scie n tific m anage

m ent, or task m anagem ent, w ith which it is to be

compared .

26 • ORGANIZATIONS AS RATIONAL SYSTEM S I



desk at the sam e tim e. It is also clear that in m ost

cases one type of m an is needed to p lan ahead and

an en tirely differen t ty pe to ex ecu te th e w ork .

The m an in the p lanning room , w hose spec ialty

under scien tific m anagem en t is p lanning ahead,

in variably fin ds th at the w ork can be d one b etter and

m ore econom ically by a subdivision of the labor;

each act o f each m echan ic , for exam ple, shou ld be

preceded by v ario us p reparatory acts d on e other

m en. A nd all o f th is involves, as w e have said , an

alm ost equa l d iv ision of the responsibility and the

work betw een the I?anagem ent and the w orkman.

To summar ize: U nder th e m anagem en t o f i n it ia

tive and incentive p racticall y the w ho le problem is

u p t o the w orkman , w h ile under scientific m an

agem en t fu ll y one-half of the p ro b lem is u p to the

m anagement.

P erhaps the m ost pro m inen t sing le elem ent in

m odem scientifi c m anagem en t is the ta sk id ea . The

work of every w orkman is fully planned ou t th e

managem ent at least one day in advance , and each

m an receives in m ost cases com plete w ritt en in stru c

tions, descri b in g in detail the task w hic h he is to

. accom pli sh , as w ell as the m eans to be used in do ing

the w ork . And th e w ork planned in advance in th is

w ay constit u tes a task w hich is to be solved , as

exp la ined above, not by the workm an alone, bu t ina lmost all cases by the joint effort o f th e w orkm an

and the m anagem ent. Th is ta sk specifies not on ly

what is to be done but how is to be done and the

exact tim e all ow ed for do in g it. A nd w henever th e.

workm an succeeds in do ing h is task right, and

w it h in th e tim e lim it specified , he receives an add i

tio n o f from 30 per cent. to 100 per cen t. to h is o rd i

nary w ages. These tasks are care fu lly p lanned, so

that both good and carefu l work are ca ll ed fo r in

th eir perf orm ance , but it shou ld be d istinctly understood tha t in no case is th e workm an ca ll ed upon to

books , records , etc ., and a desk fo r the p lanner to

work a t. T hus all o f the planning w hich under the

old system w as done by the w orkm an , as a resu lt o f

h is p erson al exp erien ce , m ust o f n ecessity un der the

new system be done by the m anagem en t in accor

dance w ith the law s of the science ; because even if

the w orkm an w as w ell su ited to the developm ent

and use of scien tific data , it w ou ld be physically

impossible f0 f hiu . tu \v0fl\. 11~~Illl hilie a.au aL a

Th e P rin cip le s o j S cie ntific Manag eme nt • 27

h e c ou ld .

Third T hey heartily cooperate w ith the m en so as

to insure all of the w ork being done in accordance

w ith the p rincip les o f the science w hich has been

deve loped.

ourth There is an alm ost equal d iv ision of the

w ork and the responsib ility betw een the m anage

m en t and the w orkm en . The m anagem en t take over

all w ork fo r which they are be tte r fitted than the

w orkm en , w hile in the past alm ost a ll o f the w ork

and the greate r part of the responsib ility w ere

th row n upon th e men .

It is th is combination of t he in itia ti ve o f the w ork

m en , coup led w ith th e new types o f w ork done by

th e m anagem en t, tha t m akes scientific m anagemen t

so m uch m ore eff icie n t than the old p la n .

Thre e o f th ese elem en ts ex ist in m any cases,under the m anagem ent of i n it ia tive and incenti ve,

in a sm all and ru d im en ta ry w ay , but they are , under

th is m anagem ent, of m in or im port ance, w hereas

under scien tifi c m anagem en t they form the very

essence of th e who le system .

The fo urth o f th ese elem ents, an alm ost equa l

d iv ision of th e responsibili ty between th e m anage

m en t and the w orkm en , r equ ir es furth er explana

tion . The ph ilosophy of the m anagem ent o f

in itia tive and incentive m akes it necessary foreach workman to bear almos t the entire responsibility

for the genera l p lan as wel l as fo r each deta il o f his

w ork , and in m any cases fo r h is im plem ents as w ell .

In add iti on to th is he m ust do all of the actu al phys

ic al labo r. The developmen t o f a science , on the

o ther hand, in volves the establishm en t of m any

ru les, law s, and ormul whic h rep lace th e ju dg

m en t o f th e individual workm an and w hich can be

effectively used on ly after hav ing been system ati

ca lly reco rd ed , in dexed, e tc . The practical use of scien ti fi c data also call s fo r a ro om in w hich to keep the

of duties w hich involve new and heavy burdens fo r

themse lves .

T hese new du ties are grouped under fou r heads:

irst T hey develop a science fo r each elem en t o f

a m an s w ork , w hich rep laces the old rule-of-th um b

me thod .

Second T hey scien tific ally select an d th en train ,

teach , and d ev elop th e w ork man , w hereas in the past



work at a pace whic h would be in juri ous to his th rough insufficientm en ta l capacity ) of understanding

health . The task is a lw ays so regula ted th at th e m an th is sc ience. This is announced as a general prin ciple,

w ho is w ell suite d t o h is jo b w i ll thriv ewh i l e working the tru th of which w i ll b e come apparent as o n e i llu s

at th is rate durin g a long term of years and gro w tr a ti on after ano ther is given. A ft er show in g th ese

happ ier and m ore prospero us, in stead of being over- fo ur elem en ts in the handling of p ig iro n, several

w orked. S cientific m anagement consists very illustrations w ill be giv en of their a pp lica t ion to difla rgely preparin g fo r and c ar rying o ut these ta sks. feren t kind s of work th e fi eld of the m echan ic

T he w riter is fu ll y aw are th at to perhaps m ost of . arts, at in te rvals in a ri sin g scale , beg in ning w ith the

the readers of th is paper th e lour elem ents which ~ ililplc;;: ,Lanu en ding w ith the m ore in tri cate fo rm s of

d iff erentiate th e new m anagem ent from the o ld w il l labor .

at fi rst appear to be m ere ly hig h-sounding phrases; O ne of the fi rst p ieces of work undert aken by us,

and he w ould again repeat that he has no idea of when the writer started to in tr oduce scien t if ic m an

convin cin g th e re ader of th eir value m erely thro ugh agem en t in to th e Beth lehem Steel C om pany, w as to

announcin g th eir exis tence. H is hope of carryin g hand le pig iron on ta sk w ork. The openin g of th e

convi ct ion rests upon demonstrati ng th e trem endous Spanish W ar found som e 80,0 00 tons o f pig iron

force and effect of these four elem ents th ro ugh a plac ed in sm a ll p iles in an open f ie ld adjoinin g theseri es of practica l illu str a tio ns. w il l be shown, fi rst, w ork s. P rices fo r pig iron had been so low th at it

th at they can be applied a bs olu te ly to all classes of could not be so ld at a profi t, and it there fore had

work, fro m the m os t e lem en ta ry to th e most in tr icate; been stored. W ith the opening of th e Span ish W ar

and second, that w hen th ey are applied , th e result s th e price o f p ig ir on rose, and th is large accumu la

m ust of necessity be overw helm in gly greater than H oXJ, .cofron w as sold . This gave us a good opportu

th o se w hich it is possib le to attain under th e m anage- n i tyto show the workm en, as w ell as th e owne rs and

ment of in itiative and in cen tive. m anagers of the works, on a fa irly large scale the

The fir st il lu stration is th at of handling pig ir on, advan tages o f ta sk work over th e o ld-fa sh io ned day

and th is work is chosen because it is typ ical of per-work and piece work, in do ing a very elem entary

haps th e crudest and m ost elem entary form of labor cla ss of w o rk .w hic h is perf orm ed by m an , This work is done by The Bethlehem Stee l Company had five b last

m en w ith no other im plem ents th an th eir hands. The fu rn aces, the product o f w hich had been hand led by

pig-ir on handler stoops down,picks up a p ig w eighin g a pig-ir on gang fo r m any years. This gang, at th is

about 92 pounds, w alks for a fe w fe et or yards tim e, consisted of about 75 m en. They w ere good ,

and then drops it on to th e ground or upon a pil e. a ve ra ge p ig -iron hand lers, w ere under an excell en t

This work is so cru de and elem entary in it s natu re fo rem an w ho him self had been a p ig-ir on handler,

that th e w ri te r firm ly beli eves th at it w ou ld be possi- and th e work w as done, on the whole , ab out as fa st

b le to train an in te ll igent gorilla so as to become a and as cheaply as it w as anywhere else at that tim e.

m ore efficien tp ig -iro n hand ler than any man can be. A rail road switch w as ru n ou t in to the fie ld , r ig ht

Y et i t w il l be show n th at the science of handli ng pig along th e edge of the pil es of pig iro n. A n in clinediro n is so great and am ounts to so m uch th at it is p lank w as placed again st the sid e of a c ar, and each

im possible fo r th e m an who is best suited to th is m an p icked up from his p ile a pig of ir on w eighing

type of work to understand th e pri nciples of th is about 92 pound s, w alked up the in clined plank and

science , or even to work in accordance w ith th ese dropped it on the end of th e car.

p rinciples w ithout the aid o f a m an bett er educated W e found th at t h is gang were loading on the aver

th an he is . A nd the furt her illustr ations to be given a ge a bo ut Y z lo ng tons per m an per day . W e w e re

will make it c lear th at in alm ost all of th e m echanic surp rised to fi nd, after studying the m att er, th at a

arts the science which underli es ea ch workm an s act first- class pig-iro n h an dler ough t to handle betw een

is so great and am ounts to so m uch that th e woqk- 47 and 48 long tons p er d ay, instead of Y to ns.

m an who is best su ite d actu all y to do the work is This task seem ed to us so very large that w e were

in capab le (e ither th ro ugh lack of education or obliged to go over our work several tim es before w e

28 • ORGAN IZATIO NS AS RATIONAL SYSTEMS I



The task before us, th en , narrow e d itse lf d ow n to

gettin g Schmid t to handle 47 to ns of p ig ir o n per day

and m ak ing h im glad to do it. T h is w as done as fo l

low s. Schmid t w as ca ll ed ou t from am ong th e g an g

o f p ig-iron hand lers and ta lked to som ew hat in th is

w ay:

Schmid t, are you a h igh-pr iced m an?

Vell , I don 't know vat you m ean .

O h ye~ , you do . W nat I w ant know is w hether

you are a high-priced m an or no t.

V eIl , I don 't know vat you m ean .

O h, c ome now , you answ er m y q uestio ns. W hat

w an t to find out is w h eth er you are a h igh -p riced

m an or one of these cheap fe ll ow s he re. W h at wan t

to find out is w heth er you w ant to earn 1 .85 a day

o r w hether you are sati sfied w ith $1 .1 5 , ju st th e

sam e as a ll th ose cheap fell ow s are getting .

D id an t $1 .8 5 a day? V as do t a h igh -p riced

m an? V eIl , y es, I v as a h igh -p ric ed m an .

Oh, you' re agg rava tin g m e. O f course you wan t

$1 .85 a day -everyone w an ts .it Y o u kno per

fectl y w ell tha t tha t has v ery little to do w ith your

bein g high -p riced m an. For goodness ' sake answer

m y quest ions, and don 't w aste any m ore o f m y tim e.

N ow com e over here. Y ou see th a t p il e of p ig iron?

Y es. Y ou see th at car?

Y es.

W ell, if you are a h ig h-priced m an , you w ill load

tha t p ig iron on th a t car to -mor row for $1 .85 . N ow

do w ake up and answ er m y questi on . T ell m e

w hether you are a h igh-priced m an or not.

V ell= -d id I go t $1 .8 5 for load in g dot p ig iro n on

do t car to -mor row ?

Y es, o f course you do , and you get $ l.8 5 fo r

lo ad ing a p il e lik e tha t ev ery d ay righ t th ro ugh th eyear. That is w hat a h ig h-priced m an does, and you

know i t j us t as w ell o .

V ell , do t's a ll righ t. I cou ld load dot p ig iron on

th e car to -m orrow for $1 .85 , and I ge t it every day ,

don 't 17

Certain ly you do -c erta in ly you do .

V ell , den , I vas a h ig h-pric ed m an.

N o w , h old on , ho ld on . Y o u know ju st as w ell as

I do tha t a h ig h-priced m an has to do exac tl y as h e 's

to ld from m orn ing till nigh t. Y ou have seen th is m anhere before , h aven ' t you?

The r inc ip les of Sci entif ic anagement • 29

w ere a bs olu tely s ure that w e w ere righ t. O nce w e

w ere sure, ho wever, that 47 tons w as a p ro pe r day's

w ork fo r a fi rst-c lass p ig-iron handler, the task

which faced us as m anagers under th e modem

sc ie ntif ic p lan w as clearly befo re us. It w as our duty

to see th at th e 80 ,000 ton s o f p ig ir on w as loaded on

to the cars at th e ra te o f 47 to n s per m an per day , in

p la ce of Y to ns , at w hich ra te the w ork w as then

bc ing done . Aw l ~w a s fu rth e r ou r duty t( ) ~ee th at

th is w ork w as done w ithou t b ring in g on a str ike

am ong th e m en , w ithout any quarr el w ith the m en ,

and to see tha t the m en w ere happier an d b etter

con ten ted w hen load ing a t th e new rate o f 47 tons

than they were w hen load in g a t th e o ld ra te o f

Y tons.

O ur first step w as th e sc ien tific s electio n of th e

workman . In dealing w ith w orkmen under th is ty pe

o f m anagem en t, it is a n in flex ib le ru le to talk to an d

dea l w ith on ly one m an at a tim e, sin ce each w ork

m an has h is own special ab ilities and lim i ta tio ns,

and since w e are no t dea ling w ith m en n m asses, bu t

. a re trying to develo p each ind iv idua l .man to h is

highes t sta te of eff iciency and p rosperity . O ur first

s tep w as to find the proper w orkm an to beg in w ith .

W e therefore careful ly w atched an d stu die d these

75 m en for th ree or four days, a t th e end o f w hichtim e w e had picked ou t four m en who appeared to

be physicall y ab le to handle p ig ir on a t the ra te o f

47 tons per day .A ca refu l st u d ywa s then m ade o f each

o f th ese m en . W e looked up the ir h istory as far back as

pract icab le an d th orough inquir ie s w ere m ade as to

the charac ter, hab it s, and the am bition o f each o f

th em .:Final ly w e se lec ted one from a m orig the fo u r

as the m ost like ly m an to sta rt w it h . H e w as a littl e

Pennsy lvan ia D utc hm an w ho had been observed to

tr o t back hom e fo r a m il e or so afte r h is w ork in theeven in g abou t as fresh as he w as w hen he cam e

trotting dow n to w ork in th e mo rn in g . W e fou nd tha t

upon w ages of $1 .15 a day he had succeeded in

buyin g a sm all p lo t o f g round , and tha t he w as

engaged in putt ing up th e w all s o f a little house for

h imself in the m orn ing before sta rting to w ork and

at n igh t after leav in g . H e also had the re pu tation o f

be in g ex ceed ing ly c lose , tha t is, o f p lac ing a very

h igh value on a dol la r . A s one m an w hom w e ta lked

to about h im said , A penny looks abo ut th e size o fa cart-w heel to h im. This m an w e w il l call S chm id t.



1 .15 per day, w hich w as th e ruling rate of w ages a t

that tim e in Bethlehem . That is , he received 60 per

cen t. higher w ages th an w ere paid to o ther m en w ho

w ere not working on ta sk work . One m an aft e r

ano ther w as picked out and tr ained to handle p ig

ir on at the rate of4 7 Y

tons per day unti l all o f th epig iron w as handled a t th is rate , and the m en

were receivin g 60 per cen t. m ore w ages th an o ther

w orkm en aro und them .

The w ri ter has g iven above a bri ef desc ri pt io n o f

th re e of th e four elemen ts w hich constitute the

essence of scien tifi c m anagem ent : fir st, the carefu l

se le ction of the workman, and , se cond a nd th ird , th e

m ethod of fi rst in ducing and then tr ain ing and helping

th e w orkm an to w ork accord in g to th e scien tific

m eth od . N oth ing has yet been sa id about th escie nce of handlin g pig ir on . The w rit er trusts , how

ever, that before leav ing th is illustr ation the reader

w il l be thorough ly convin ced th at th ere is a sc ience

of handli ng p ig ir on, and fu rt her th at th is science

amoun ts to so m uch that the m an who is su ited to

handle pig iron cannot possibly understand it , nor

even work in accord ance with the la w s of th is

science, w ith ou t the help of those w ho are over h im .

[

[A fter a series o f experim en ts Taylo r s co ll eagueCarl] Barth had discovered th e law govern ing

th e ti ring effect o f heavy labor on a fir st-class

m an . [ ... The law is confi ned to that class of w ork in w hic h

the lim it o f a m an 's capacity is re ached because he

is tired o ut. It is th e la w of heavy laboring , corre

spondin g to the w ork of the cart horse, rath er than

th at o f the trott er. P ractically all such work consists

o f a heavy pull o r a push on the m an 's arm s, that is ,

th e m an 's streng th is exerted by either li fti ng orpush in g something which he grasps in h is hands.

A nd the law is that fo r e ac h g iv en pull o r push o n the

m an's arm s it is possib le fo r th e workm an to be

under load for only a d efin ite percen tage of th e day .

For exam ple, w hen pig iro n is bein g handled (e ach

p ig w eig hin g 92 pounds), a fi rs t-cla ss workm an can

only be under load 43 per cen t. o f the day . H e m ust

be entirely free fr om load during 57 per cen t. o f th e

day. A nd as th e load becom es ligh ter, th e percen tage

of th e day under which th e m an can rem ain underload increases. So th at, if the w orkm an is handling a

hal f -p ig ;weigh in g 46 pounds, he can then be under

N o, I never saw him .

W ell , if you are a h igh-pri ced m an, you w ill db

exactly a s th is m an te lls y ou to -m orr ow ,fr om morning

till n igh t. W hen he tell s you to p ick up a p ig and

walk , you pick it up an d y ou walk , and when he tell s

you to sit dow n and re st, you sit down. You do th atrig h t straight th ro ugh the day . A nd what' s m ore, no

back ta lk . N ow a high-pri ced m an does ju st w hat

he 's to ld to do , and no back ta lk . D o you unde rstand

th at? W hen th is m an tell s you to w alk , you walk ;

w hen he tell s you to sit down, you sit d ow n, and you

don 't talk back at h im . Now you com e on to work

here to -mor row morn in g and I' ll know befo re nigh t

whether you are re ally a h ig h-pri ced m an or no t.

This se em s to be ra th er ro ugh ta lk . A nd in deed it

would be if app lie d to an educated m echan ic, o reven an in te ll igen t laborer. W ith a m an of th e m en

tall y slu ggis h type of Schm id t it is appropr iate and

not unkind , sin ce it is eff ec tive in fi xin g h is attention

on th e high wages w hich he wants and aw ay fro m

. w hii ;:if it w ere c alle d to h is attention, he probably

w ould consider im possib ly hard w ork .

W hat w ould Schm id t's answ er be if he w ere

talked to in a m anner which is usual under the

m anagem ent of initi ative and incen ti ve ? say, as

follow s: Now , Schmid t, you are a fi rst -cla ss p ig-iron

handler and know your business w ell. Y o u h ave been

handling at the rate of Y to ns p er d ay . I h av e g iven

consid erab le study to handling pig iron , and fe el

sure that you could do a m uch larger day 's w ork

than you have been doing . N ow don't you think that

if you re ally tried you could handle 47 to ns of pig

iro n per day , in stead of Y to ns?

W hat do you think Schm idt's answ er w ou ld b e

to th is ?Schmidt started to w ork , and all day long, and at

re gu lar in tervals, w as to ld by the m an w ho sto od

over h im w ith a w atch, N ow pick up a pig and

w alk . Now sit down an d rest . N ow w alk -now rest,

etc . H e work ed when he was to ld to work , and re sted

w hen he w as told to rest, and at half-past five in the

aftern oon had his 4 7 Y tons lo aded on the car. A nd

he practically never failed to w ork at th is pace and

do th e task th a t w as set h im duri ng th e th ree years

that th e w ri ter w as a t B ethlehem . And th ro ughoutth is tim e h e av eraged a li ttle more th an 1 .85 per

day , whereas before he had never rece ived over

30 ORGAN IZATIO NS AS RATIONAL SYSTEMS I



_ . - - - . . __ . . • .. - - - . . .• - . .. ~ .• t o : • • • • • , ~ -: : :- - :- - . --: .· ..-:.-:.-:::: :7 :-----~~.-~--1-- ---- ---- .-~ --- ----- ---- -- -- --- --- ....•.•- --,:, .-.-.-:-.-.-.-:..-:-.

iI;1;

II

I

I

I I·

I kr.

1. Fo r ex ample, th e reco rd s containin g th e da ta u se d

under sc ien tifi c m anagem en t in an or d in a ry m achine-sh op

fi ll thou sa nds o f pages .

OT

un able to u n d er sta nd th e rea l sc ien ce o f do ing th is .

c lass o f w o rk . H e is so s tup id th at th e w ord pe r

cen tag e ha s no meanin g to h im , and he m ust con

sequ en tly be tr a in ed by a m an m o re intel l igen t th an

h im self in to th e h ab it o f work ing in a cc ord an ce w it h

th e laws o f th is sc ien ce be fo re h e can be successfu l.

Th e w rit e r tru s ts th at it is now c le a r th a t even in

th e case o f th e m ost e lem enta ry form o f la bo r th a t is

known , th ere is a sc ience , a nd th at w hen the m an

best su ited to th is c lass o f w ork h as b ee n c are fu ll y

selected , w hen the sc ience o f do ing th e wo rk has

been deve lop ed , and when the careful ly se lec ted

m an has been tra in ed to work in acco rdance w it h

th is sc ience , th e resu lt s ob ta ined m ust o f n ecess it y

be ove rw he lming ly g rea te r than th ose wh ich a re

poss ib le u n de r th e p lan o f in it ia tiv e a n d in cen ti ve .

...

Now one o f the v ery f ir st requ irem en ts fo r a m an

who is fit to h an dle p ig iro n as a regul ar oc cupa tion

is tha t he sha ll be so stup id and so ph legm a ti c th a t

he m ore nea rly re sem bles in h is m en ta l m a ke -u p the

ox than any other ty pe . Th e m an who is m e nta lly

alert and in tellig en t is fo r th is very rea so n en tirely

un su ited to wh at w o uld , fo r h im , be th e gr ind ingm onotony o f w o rk o f th is charac te r. The refo re th e

i ~

• • •

t§The rincip les of S cientific anagement • 3 J

[ l n a ll w ork o f th is k ind it is necessary fo r

th e a rm s o f the workm an to be com p le te ly free from

lo ad (th at is , fo r the wo rkm an to re st) a t frequen t

in te rva ls . Th roughou t th e tim e th a t th e m a n is unde r

.a h eavy lo ad th e ti ssues o f h is arm m uscles a re in

process o f degene ra t ion, and frequen t per iod s o f res t

a re requ ired in o rde r th a t the b lo od m ay have a

chance to resto re the se ti ssu es to th e ir no rm al

c ond it ion .

To re tu rn now to ou r p ig-iro n h an dlers a t th e

Be th l ehem Steel C om pany . If Schm id t h ad been

a llow ed to a tt ack the p il e o f 47 to ns o f p ig ir o n, .. . ..

w ithou t th e guidance o r d irec t ion, o f a m an who

u~d~rs to od th e a rt, o r sc ience , o f h an dlin g p ig ir o n ,

in h is des ir e to e ar n h is h igh w ages h e w ou ld p robabl y

have tir e d h im s elf o u t by 11 o r 12 c lock in th e day .

H e w ou ld h ave kep t so s te ad il y a t w o rk tha t h is

m u scles w ou ld no t h ave had th e p rope r pe riod s o f

res t abso lu te ly n eeded fo r recupe ra tio n , an d h e

wou ld h ave been com p le te ly exhau sted ea rly in th e

day . B y havin g a m a n , h ow eve r, w h o u n de rs to o d th is

l aw, s tan d ove r h im and d irec t h is w ork , day afte r

day , u ntil he acqu ired th e h ab it o f res tin g a t p ro pe r

in terva ls , he w as able to wo rk at an .even g aita ll d ay

. long ~ it ho ll t u ndu ly tiring h im se lf .

lo ad 58 pe r cen t. o f th e day , and on ly has to res t

durin g 42 pe r cen t. A s th e w e ig h t grow s li g h ter the

m an can rem ain und er load du rin g a la rge r and

larg er pe rcen tag e o f th e day , un til [m any a lo ad is

reac he d wh ich he can carry in h is h an ds a ll day long .

wi thout b ei ng ti re d ou t. W hen th a t po in t ha s been

a rr iv e d at th is law ceases to be use fu l as a g uid e to alabo rer s endurance , an d som e o th er law m ust be

.



3 2

F ro m The D egradation afW ork in th e Twent ieth entu ry b y H arry B ra v e rm a n . C o p y r ig h t © 1 9 7 4 b y M on th ly R ev iew P res s . R e p ri n te d

by p e rm is sio n o f M o n th ly R e v iew F o u n d a ti o n .

o r g a n iz a tio n o f in d u s tr y a n d th e p u r p o s iv e a n d

s y s te m a tic a p p li c a tio n o f s c ie n c e to p r o d u c tio n .

T h e s c i e n t ifi c m a n a g e m e n t m o v e m e n t in it ia te d

b y F re d e r ick W in s lo w T a y lo r in th e la s t d e c a d e s

o f th e n in e te e n th c e n tu r y w a s b r o u g h t in to b e in g

b y th e s e f o rc e s . L o g ic a ll y Ta y l o ri s m b e lo n g s to

th e c h a i n o f d e v e lo p m e n t o f m a n a g e m e n t m e th o d s

a n d th e o r g a n iz a tio n o f la b o r a n d n o t to th e

d e v e l o p m e n t o f te c h n o lo g y in w h ic h its r o le w a s

m in o r. S c ie n ti fi c m a n a g e m e n t s o -c a ll e d is a n a tt e m p t

to a p p ly th e m e t h o d s o f s c ie n ce to th e in c r e a s in g ly

c o m p l e x p r o b le m s o f th e c o n t r o l o f la b o r in r a p id ly

g r o w in g ca p ital is t e n t e r p r is e s . la c k s th e c ha ra c te ris

ti c s o f a tr u e s c ie n c e b e c a u s e its a s s u m p ti o n s r e f le c t

n o thin g m o re th a n th e o u t l o o k o f th e c a pital is t

w ith r e g ar d to th e c o n d i t io n s o f p r o d u ctio n . It s ta rt s

d e s p ite o c c a s io n a l p ro te s t a tio n s to th e c o n t r a r y n o t

T h e c la s s ic a l e c o n o m is ts w e re th e f irs t to a p p ro a c h

th e p r o b le m s o f th e o r g a n i z a tio n o f la b o r w ithin

ca p ital is t re la ti o n s o f p ro du c tio n fr o m a th e o re ti c a l

p o in t o f v ie w . T h e y m a y th u s b e c a lle d th e fi r s t

m a n a g e m e n t e x p e rts a n d th e ir w o rk w a s c o n tin u e d

in th e la tte r p a r t o f th e I n d u s tr ia l R e v o lu tio n b y

s u c h m e n a s A n d re w U r e a n d C h a r le s B a b b a g e .

B e tw e e n th e s e m e n a n d th e n e xt s te p t he c om p re

h e n s iv e f o rm u la ti o n o f m a n a g e m en t th e o r y in th e

la te n in e te e n th a n d e a r ly tw e n t ie th c e n tu r ie s th e r e

lies a g a p o f m o re th a n h a lf a c e n tu ry d u rin g w h i c h

th e re w a s a n e n o r m o u s g r o w th in th e s iz e o f

e n te rp r is e s th e b e g in nin g s o f th e m o n o p o l is tic

-

S C IE N T I F IC M A N A G E M E N T

H A R R Y B R A V E R M A N

TWENTIETH ENTURY I

THE DEGR D TION OF W R IN T H E



t O

the general se tting of tasks, w ith little d irec t in te r

ference in the w orker s m ode of perform ing them .

T ay lo r s contribu tion w as to overturn th is practice

a nd rep lace it by its opposite . M anagem ent, he

insisted , cou ld be only a lim ited and frustra ted

undertak ing so long as it left to the w orker any deci

sion about the w ork . H is s ystem w as sim ply a

m eans fo r m anagem ent to achieve con trol o f the

actu al m ode of perfo rm ance o f every lab or ac tiv ity ,

from the sim plest to the m ost com plicated. To th is

en d, he p io neered a fa r g reate r rev olutio n in th e d iv i

sion o f lab or th an ~y that had gone before .

Tay lo r created a s imple li ne of reason in g and

advanced it w it h a log ic and clari ty , a naive open

ness, and an evangeli cal zeal w hich soon w on h im a

stro ng foll ow in g am ong capit a li sts and m anagers.

H is w ork began in th e 1880s but it w as no t until the

18905 that he began to lecture, read papers, and

pub li sh results. H is ow n engin eeri ng training w as

limited, but h is grasp of shop pra c ti ce w as superi o r,

sin ce he had served a fo ur- year combination appren

ti cesh ip in tw o trades, those o f patternm aker and

m achinis t. The sp read of the Tay lo r appro ach w as

not lim it ed to th e Unite d S tates and B ri tain ; w ithin

a short tim e becam e popu lar in all in dustri al

countr ies. In F ra nce it w as call ed , in the absence of

a suitable word fo r m anagemen t, I organ isationscienti fiq ue du travail (l ate r changed, w hen the

reaction aga in st Taylo rism set in , to 1 o rg anisation

rationnelle du travail ) . In G ermany it was know n

simply as ra tional ization; the G erm an corpora ti ons

w ere p robably ahead of every one else in the p ra cti ce

o f th is techn ique, even befo re W orl d W ar I 3

[ The issue here tu rn ed on the w ork conten t o f a

day s labor pow er, w h ich Tay lo r defi nes in th e

phra se a fair day s w ork. To this term he gave acru de -physio logical in te rp reta tion: a ll the work a

w orker can do w ithout in ju ry to his healt h , at a pace

is under m anagem ent con tro l w hen sub jec ted to

these ru les, or to any of their extensions and varia

tions . B ut T aylor raised the concep t of con tro l to an

entirely new plane w hen he asserted as an absolute

n ecessity fo r a deq ua te m an ag em en t th e d icta tio n to

the w orker of the precise m anner in w hich w ork is

to b e p er fo rm e d That m anagem en t had the right to

control labor w as genera lly assum ed before

Taylor , u 111} ii uLtlC~ l l l _ i ~ iigllL u ~u ully m ea nt o nly

Deg rada ti ono f Work i n t he Twen ti et h Cen tu r y

b ut as th e rep resen tativ e o f m an ag em en t m asq uerad

in g in th e trapp in gs o f scien ce.

[It is im po ssib le to o ve re stim ate th e im po rtan ce o f

th e scientific m an ag em en t m ov em en t in th e sh ap in g

o f th e m o de rn co rp oratio n an d in dee d all in stitu tio ns

o f cap italist so ciety w h ich carry o n lab or p ro cesse s.

T he popu lar no tion that T ay lo rism has been super

seded by la ter schools of industrial p sycho logy

or hum an relations, that it failed -because o f

T aylor s am ateu rish and na iv e v iew s o f hu man m oti

va tion or because it b rought abou t a sto rm of labor

oppositio n or b ec ause Tay lo r and various succe~so rs

an tagon iz ed workers and som etim es m anagem ent

as w ell -o r that it is o u tm oded because cert ain

T aylorian specif ics like functiona l fo rem anship o r

h is in cen ti ve-pay schem es have been dis card ed fo r

m ore soph isti ca ted m eth ods: a ll these rep resen t a

w oeful m isreading of the actual dynam ics of the

developm en t o f m anagemen t.

Tay lo r dealt w ith th e fundam en ta ls o f the o rgani

zation of th e labor p rocess and of contro l over it .

[ If Tay lo ri sm does no t exist as a separate

schoo l today, th at is because, apart fro m th e bad

odor of th e nam e, it is no lo nger th e p ro pert y o f a

fac tion , since it s fundam en tal teachings have

becom e the bedro ck of all work design? [ .. . [ Control has been th e essen ti a l feature o f

managem ent th roughout it s h istory , bu t w ith Taylor

it assum ed unprecedented dim ensions. The stages o f

m anagem ent contr o l over labor before Tay lo r had

in cluded , p rogressively: th e gatheri ng toge ther o f

the w ork ers in a w orkshop and the d ictatio n of the

length o f the w ork in g day; th e supervis ion of work

ers to ensu re diligen t, in te nse , or unin te rrupte d

app li catio n; the en forcem ent o f rules again st d is

tr actions (t alk in g , sm oking , leav ing the workplace ,e tc .) that w ere th ough t to in te rf ere w ith app licati on ;

the settin g of production m in imum s; etc . A worker

th e w ork pla ce n et a s th e rep re se nta tiv e o f scie nc e,

from the hum an point o f view bu t from the cap italist

po int of v iew , from the point o f view of the m anage

m en t o f a refrac to ry w ork fo rce in a setting of

antagon istic socia l re lations. It does not attem pt to

discover and confront the cause o f th is cond ition,

bu t accep ts it as an inexorab le given, a natural

co nd itio n. It in vestig ates n ot lab or in g en eral, b ut th e

adap tation of labor to the needs of cap ita l. It enters



T hat the pay of labor is a socially determined

fi gu r e , re la ti vely independen t o f productivity , ~m ong

em plo yers of similar types of labor pow er m any .

g iven peri od w as th us know n to Tay lo r. W orkers

w ho pro duce tw ice or th ree tim es as m uch as th ey

d id the day befo re do not thereby doub le o r triple

th eir pay , bu t m ay be g iven a sm all in crem e~ tal

advan tage over their fe ll ow s, an advan tage w hich

d isappears as their level o f p roduction becom es

generali z e d . The con test over the size o f th e portio n

of th e day s labor pow er to be em bod ied in each

pro duct is th us rela ti ve ly in dependen t o f the ~evelo f

pay , w h ich responds ch iefl y to m ark et, sO ~Ial,and

h isto ri cal facto rs . The worker learn s th is from

repeated experi ences, w heth er w ork ing under day or

p iece rates: It is, how ever, s ays Tay lo r, u nder

pie ce w ork th at th e art o f system ati c so ld ieri ng is

th orough ly developed . A fter workm an has had th e

price per p iece of the w ork he is do in g low ered tw o

or th ree tim es as a re su lt o f his havin g worked

hard er and increase d h is ou tp u t, he is li kely to

en tir e ly lo se sigh t o f h is em ployer s s ide o f th e case

and to b ec om e im b ue d w ith a grim determ in ation to

have no m ore cu ts if so ld iering can prevent it.,,6To

this it shou ld be added th at even where a p iecew ork

o r incen ti ve s ystem allow s th e w orker to increase

h is pay , th e conte st is no t thereby ended but only

exace rb ate d, because the o utp ut re co rd s now deter

m ine the sett in g and rev isio n of pay rates.

T ay lo r alw ays took . th e v i~w th~ t w orkers, by

acting in th is fash ion, w ere behav in g rationally and

w ith an adequate v iew of th eir ow n best in terests. H e

claim ed, in ano ther accoun t o f h is M idvale batt le ,

th at he conceded as m uch even in the m id st o f th e

str ugg le: H is workm an friends cam e to h im

[T ay lo r] con tinuall y and asked him , in a personal,fr iend ly w ay , w he th er he w ou ld adv ise them , fo r

their ow n best in tere st, to turn ou t m ore w ork . A nd ,

system s of com pensatin g labor, w ho does not devote a

considera ble part of his tim e to stu dy in g just how

slowly he can w ork and still conv ince h is employer

th at he is going at a good pace.

The causes fo r th is are, bri e fl y , th at p ractica ll y all

em ployers dete rmine upon a m axim um sum which

th ey fe e l it is ri ght fo r each of their cla sses o f em ployesto e arn p er day, w heth er th eir m en w ork b y the day or

piece .

The grea ter part of system ati c so ld ieri ng is done by th e

m en w ith the deliberate object o f keeping th eir

em ployers ignoran t o f how fast work can be done .

So un iversal is so ld ierin g for th is purpose, th at

hardly a com petent workman can be found in a la rg ees tab lishm ent, w heth er he w ork s by th e day or on

piece work, con tr act w ork or under any of th e o rdin ary

th at can be susta in ed t hr oughout a working li fe tim e.

n practice , he tended to defi ne th is le vel of activ ity

at an ex tr em e lim it , choosin g a pace th at on ly a few

cou ld m a in ta in , a nd th en on ly under strain .) W hy a

fa ir day s w ork shou ld b e defi ned as a physio log

ical m ax im um is never m ade clear. n a t tempting tog ive concrete m eaning to th e abstraction fa irn ess ,

it would m ake just as m uch if no t m ore sense to

express a fair day s w ork as th e am oun t o f la bor

necessary to add to th e p ro d uc t a valu e eq ua l to th e

w orker s pay; under such condit ions, o f course ,

pro fit w ou ld be impossib le . The phrase a fa ir d a y s

w ork m ust therefo re be regarded as inheren tly

m ean in g less, and fille d w ith such con ten t as th e

adversari es in the purchase-sale relationsh ip try to

give it. . .T aylor set as h is objective the m aximum or op ti

m um th at can be ob tain ed fr om a day s labor

pow er. O n the part o f th e m en , he said in h is fi rst

book , th e g reatest obstac le to th e a tta inm en t of th is

standard is the slow pace w hich th ey adop t, o r th e

lo afi ng or so ld ieri ng , m arking tim e, as it is ca ll ed .

In each of h is la te r exposit io ns o f h is system , he

beg ins w it h th is sam e po in t, unders coring it heav ily.

. T he auses o f th is so ld ieri ng he breaks in to tw o

parts : Th is loafing or so ld iering proceeds from tw ocauses. F irs t, from the natural in stin ct and tendency

of m en to take it easy , w h ic h m ay be called na tura l

so ld ierin g Second , from more intricate second

th ough t and reason in g caused by their re la ti ons w ith

o ther m en, w hich m ay be call ed system ati c so ldier -

ing The first o f these he qu ic k ly pu ts aside, to con

cen tra te o n the secon d: T he natural laziness o f m en

is seri ous, bu t by far the g reatest ev il from which

bo th w orkm en and em ployers a re su ff ering is th e

syste m ati c so ld iering whic h is alm ost un iversalunder all th e o rd inary schem es of m anagemen t and

w hich re su lt s fr om a carefu l s tudy on the part o f the

workm en of w hat they t n k w il l p ro m ote their best

in terests .

34 • ORGAN IZATIO NS AS RATIONAL SYSTEMS I



kf : ·r

A ll p o ssib le brain w ork shou ld be removed fro m

th e sho p and cen te red in th e p lanning or la ying-ou t

depar tmen t. ... lO Sin c e t his is th e key to scientific

management, as T aylor w ell understood, he w as

especia ll y em phati c o n th is p oin t a nd i t is im portant

to exam in e th e principle tho ro ughly .In the hum an , as w e have seen , the essentia l

feature that m akes fo r a labor capac ity superi o r to

th at o f the an im al is the com bin ation of execut ion

w ith a conception of th e th ing to be done. B u t as

hum an labor becom es a socia l ra ther than an ind i

vidual phenomenon , it is possib le-unlike in th e

in sta nc e o f an im als w he re the m otiv e fo rc e, in stinct ,

is in separab le fro m acti on -to d ivorc e concep tio n

from execu tion . Th is dehumanizat ion of the labor

p ro cess , in w hic h workers are reduced alm ost to thelevel o f labor in its an im al form , w hil e purposeless

and un thinkable in the case o f the self -organized

and self -m oti vated social la bor o f a corrununity o f

pro ducers , becom es cru cia l fo r th e m ana gem en t o f

purchased labor. For if the w orkers execu tion is

g uid ed by their ow n concept ion, it is no t possib le ,

as w e have seen , to en fo rc e upon th em eith er th e

m eth odo log ical effic iency or the w orking pace

desired by cap ita l. [ . , . ]

Th is s ho uld be ca lled the princip le o f the separa -

tion o f concept ion from execu t ion ra ther than by its

m ore common nam e of th e s ep aratio n of m en tal and

m anual labo r (even though it is sim ilar to the latter,

and in practic e o ften iden ti cal).T h is is because m en tal

labor , labor done prim arily in th e b ra in , is a lso

sub jected to th e sam e pr in c ip le o f s epa ra ti on o f con

cep t ion f rom execu tio n:men ta l labor is firs t s ep a rate d

f rom manua l labor and , as w e sh all s ee , i s th en its e lf

subd iv idedri go ro usly accordin g to the sam e ru le .

The firs t im p li cation of th is p ri nc ip le is that

T ay lo r s scienc e o f w o rk is never t o be developed

SE O N D PRIN IPL

This first p r inc ip le w e m ay call the d is sociati on

o f th e labor p rocess fr om the ski l ls o f th e w orkers

The labor p rocess is to be rendered in dependen t

of craft, trad ition , and the w orkers know ledge.

H enceforth it is to d ep en d no t at a ll u po n the ab ili

ties o f w orkers, but entire ly u po n th e practices o f

m anagement.

D egradat ion n rk in th e Twent ie th C entury 3S

. ... ... ... : . ~. ~ I. . . :::: ~ ~. ._:_. . :._;_ . _..

T he m anagers assum e ... the burden of gatheri ng

together all o f the tra d it ional knowledge which in

th e past has be en p o ss es sed by the w orkm en and

th en of classif y ing , t abu la tin g, and reduc ing th is

know ledge to ru les , law s, and fo rmulae .. , 8

[ , .. ] Th is brings to an end the sit uatio n n which

Employe rs deriv e th eir know ledge of how m uch of

a given class o f w ork can be done in a d ay from

either their ow n experi ence , w h ic h ha s fre qu en tly

grow n hazy w ith age, from casua l a nd u nsystem atic

observ ation of their m en , o r at best from records

w hic h are kep t, show in g the qu ickest tim e in w hich

each job has been done t enab les m anagem e nt to

d is cover and enforc e those speed ier m ethods and

shortc uts w hich workers th em selves, in th e p ra ctice

o f th eir trades o r tasks, learn or im pro v ise , an d u se

a t their ow n d iscre tion on ly . Such an experim en ta l

approach also brings in to be ing new m eth ods

such as can be dev ised only th rough th e m eans of

system ati c stu dy .

FIRST PRIN IPLE

as a t ru th fu l m an , he had to te ll them that if he were

in their p lace h e w oul d f ig ht against turning ou t any

m ore w ork , ju st as they w ere do in g , because under

the p iece-w ork system th ey w ould be allowed to

earn no m ore wage s th an th ey h ad been ea rn ing , and

yet they w ould be m ade to w ork harder, ?

Th e c on clu sions w hich Tay lo r d rew from the

bap ti sm by fi re he re ceived in the M idvale str ugg le

way be suuunarized (1 ;; follow s: W ork ers w ho are

con tr o ll ed on ly by genera l orders and d iscipline are

not adequately con t ro l led , because th e y re ta in their

g rip o n th e a ctu al process es o f la bo r. So long a s th ey

con tro l the labor p ro cess itse lf, they w ill thwar t

.e fforts to realize to the fun the poten ti a l inheren t in

their labor pow er. To change th is situ ati on , con tro l

over the labor p ro cess m ust p ass in to the hands ofm anagem e nt, no t on ly in a formal s en se b ut by th e

con trol and d icta tion of each step of the p rocess ,

in clud in g its m o de o f p er formance. In pursuit o f t his

end , no pains are too great, no effort s excessive,

. because the result s w il l re pay all efforts and

expenses lav ished on th is dem and ing and costly

endeavor.

cs



In th is princip le it is no t the w rit ten ins tr uc tio n

card tha t is im portan t. [ .. . Rath er, th e essen ti a l

e lem ent is the sy stem ati c p re-p lannin g and pre

calcula tion of a ll e lem en ts o f the labo r process,

w h ich now n o longer ex is ts as a pro cess in th e im ag

in a tion of the worker but on ly as a p ro ce ss in theim agination of a special m anagem ent sta ff . Thus, if

th e f irs t p rinciple is th e gathering and developm en t

o t knowledge o f la bor p rocesses , and the ec o n d

th e concentration of this know ledge as th e exclu sive

province of m anagement-to geth er wi th its essen

tial converse , th e absence o f such knowledge am ong

th e w orke rs-then th e th ir d is the use o f th is m ono-

po ly over knowledge to contro l each ste p o f th e

la borp roce ss and it s m ode of execu tion .

A s cap italist i ndustrial, o ffice , and m arket p ra c ticesdeveloped in acco rd ance with this princ ip le , i t even tu

ally b ec am e p art of accep ted ro utin e and custom , all

th e m ore so as t he i ncr e as ing ly scien ti fi c chara c ter o f

m ost processes, w h ich grew in com p lex ity wh ile th e

w orker w as no t a llow ed to partake o f th is grow th ,

m ade it e ve r m ore d if ficu l t fo r th e w o rkers to under

stand the processes in w h ic h they functioned . B ut in

th e beginning , as T ay.lo rw e ll u nd erstood , an abrupt

psycholog ica l w rench w as required .12 W e h ave seen in

the sim ple Schm idt case th e m eans em ployed , bo th inth e se lection of a sing le worker a s a start ing po in t a nd

in th e w ay in wh ich he w as reorien ted to th e new con

d it ion s o f w ork . In the mo re c omp lex cond itions of th e

m achine shop , T aylo r g a ve th is p a rt o f the responsibil

ity to th e forem en. is essen tia l, he said o f th e gang

bosses, to nerve and brace them up to the poin t o f

in s is tin g th a t the workmen shall carry ou t the orders

exa ctly as specified on th e in struct ion cards. Th is is a

difficul t task at f irst, as the w orkm en have been accus

to m ed for years to do th e details o f th e w ork to suitth emselves, and m any o f them are intim ate fr iends of

th e bosses and beli eve th ey know qu ite as m uch about ..

th e ir bu sin ess as th e la tt er. 13

Modern m anagem en t cam e in to bein g on the basis ;

o f these princ iples . It a rose as th eo re tic a l construc t

and as system atic prac ti ce , m oreover, in the very

period du ri ng w h ich the transformati o no f la bo r from

pro cesses based on sk ill to p ro cesses based upon

sc ie nce w as attainin g its m ost ra p id tem po. It s ro le

w as to render conscious and system ati c, th e form erl y

unconscious tendency o f cap ita li s t p r o duction . was

The essen tia l id ea of the ordinary types of m an

agem ent, T ay lor sa id , is that each w orkm an has

becom e m o re skil led in h is ow n trade th an it is pos

sib le for anyone in the m anagem ent to be, and th a t,

therefore, the details of how the w ork shall best

be done m ust be left to h im . B ut, by con tr ast:

P erhaps the m ost prominen t sing le e lem ent inm odern sc ie n tif ic m a nagem en t is the ta sk id ea . The

w ork o f ev ery w ork m an is ful ly p lanned out by th e

managem en t a t least one day in advance , and each

m an rece ives in m ost case s com p lete w ritten

in struct ions, descri b ing in deta il the task w h ich he

is to accom p li sh , as w ell as the m eans to be used in

doin g th e w ork . ... Th is task specifie s no t on ly

wha t is to be done , bu t how it is to be done and the

exact tim e all ow ed for doin g it. ... S c ien ti fi c m an

agem en t consists very large ly in p repari ng for and

carry in g out th ese tasks .

THIR PRIN IPLE

by th e wo rk er, a lw ays by m anagem en t. T his no ti on ,

apparen tly so natural and undebata b le today, w as

in fac t v ig orously d iscu ssed in T ay lor s day , a fact

which shows how far w e have traveled alo ng the

road of tran sforming all ideas about the la bo r

process in le ss than a century , and how com plete lyT ay lor s hotl y contested assum ptions have entered

into th e c on venti onal ou tlook w ith in a short sp ac e o f

t ime. Taylor confro n ted th is questio n -w hy m ust

w ork be stud ied by th e m anagem en t and not by

the work er h im self; w hy not scien ti fi c workmanship

rather th an scientific managem ent? repeatedly and

em plo yed all h is in genu ity in d ev is in g answ ers to it ,

though not a lw ays w ith h is customary fr ankness .

[

Therefore , bo th in order to ensure m anagem entcon trol and to cheapen the w orker, conception and

execu ti o n m ust be rendered separate spheres o f w o rk ,

and fo r this pu rpose th e stu dy of work processes

m ust be reserved to m anagem ent and kept from the

workers, to whom its resul ts atecommunicated on ly

in the form of sim pli fied job Iask s g ov ern ed by

sim plified in struct ions wh ich it is thenceforth the ir

du ty to f ollow un th in k in g ly a nd w it hou t c omprehen

sion o f the underl y ing technical reason ing or data .

36 • ORGAN IZ ATIONS AS RATIONAL SYSTEM S I



m a na ge m en t, sa ys P ete r F D ru ck er, w as n ot co ncern ed

w ith te ch no lo gy . In de ed , it took too ls and techn iques

la rg ely a s g iv en [P eter F D ru cker, W ork a nd T oo ls , in

Melv in Kranzberg and W illiam H . D avenport, eds.,

T ec hn olo gy a nd C u ltu re (New York , 1972) , pp . 192-93] .

A s a se pa ra te m o ve m en t, sa ys G eo rg e S ou le , it

v irtu ally d is ap pe are d in th e g re at d ep re ss io n o f th e 1 93 0's ,b ut b y th at tim e k no wled ge o f it h ad b ec om e w id esp re ad

in industry and its m ethods and ph ilosophy w ere com

mo n p la ce s in m an y sc ho ols o f engmeenng a nd b u si ne ss

managemen t [G eorg e Sou le, Econom ic Forces in

A m e ric an H is to ry (New York , 1952) , p . 241]. In o ther

w o rd s, T ay lo ris m is o utm o de d o r s up ers ed ed o nly in

the sense that a sect w hich has becom e generalized and

b ro a dl y a cc ep te d d is ap p ea rs as a s ec t.

3 . L ynd a ll U rw ic k , T he M e an in g o f R a tio na lis at io n

(L on do n, 1 92 9), p p. 1 3-1 6.

4 . F re de ric k W . Taylor , S ho p M an ag em en t, inS ci en ti fi c Ma n a gem en t, p . 30 . See also T ay lo r 's The

P rin cip le s o f S cie ntif ic M a n ag em e nt (N ew Y ork , 1 96 7),

pp . 13-14 ; and T ay lo r s T estim on y in Scientific

Managemen t , p. 8 .

5 . Shop M anagemen t, pp . 32-33 .

6 . Ib id ., pp . 34 -35 .

7 . The P rinc iples o f Sc ien tific M anag emen t, p 52.

8 . Ib id , p . 36 .

9 Ib id ., p .

10 . Shop M anagemen t, pp . 98 -99 .

11. T he P rin cip les o f S c ien tifi c M anagemen t, pp . 63 , 39 .

12 . O ne m ust no t suppose fro m th is that such a

psycho log ical sh ift in re la ti ons between worker and

m anager is entire ly a th in g o f the pas t. O n the con trary , it

is consta n tl y bein g recap itu la ted in the evo lu tion of

new occupati ons as th ey are b rough t in to being by th e

developm en t o f indust ry and tra de , and are then ro u tinized

and-su b ju gated to m anagem en t con tro l. A s th is tendency

has attacked office , techn ical, and educate d occupa

tions , sociolog ists have spoken of it as bureaucra tiza

tio n , an evasiv e and unfor tunate use of W eberia n

te rm ino logy , a term ino lo gy which often re fl ec ts its users '

v iew that th is fo rm of govern m en t over w o rk is e nd em ic

to large-scale o r com ple x en terp ris es, w hereas it is

better understood as th e specific p roduct o f the cap italist

o rgan izat ion of w ork , and reflects no t p rim arily sc ale bu t

so cia l antagonism s.

1 3. Shop M anagemen t, 108 .

D eg ra da tio n o f W ork in th e T wen tie th C en tu ry 37

1 . It is im portan t to g ra sp th is po in t, because fro m it

flo ws th e un ivers a l app li ca tion of T ay lo rism to w ork in

it s variou s fo rm s and sta ges o f developmen t, re gard less

o f the natu re o f th e techno logy em ployed . Scien tific

N O T E S

[ A n ec es sa ry c on se qu en ce o f th e s ep ara tio n

o f c o nc e ptio n a n d e x ec u ti on i s t ha t t he l ab o r p ro c es s

is n ow d iv id ed b etw e en s ep ara te site s a nd s ep ara te

b od ies o f w orkers . In one location , the ph ysicalp ro c es se s o f p ro d u cti on a re e x ec u te d . I n a n ot he r a re

c o nc e nt ra te d t he d e sig n , p la n nin g , c a lc u la ti on , a n d

r ec ord -k ee pin g. T h e p re co nc ep tio n o f th e p ro ce ss

before it is s et in m o tio n, th e v is ua liz atio n o f e ac h

w orker' s ac tiv it ie s be fo re th ey have ac tu all y begun ,

th e defin ition .. d f each func ti on a long w it h th e

m anner o f its p erf o rm ance and the tim e it wi l l

consum e, th e con tr o l and check in g o f th e ongo in g

process once it is under w a y , a nd th e a ss es sm en t o f

resu lt s upon com ple tion o f each stag e o f th eprocess -all o f the se a sp ec ts o f p ro duct ion have

been rem oved from th e shop floo r to the m anage

m en t o ffice . T he physica l p ro ce ss es o f p roduction

are now carr ied ou t m ore o r less blind ly , no t on ly

by the w orkers w ho perfo rm them , bu t o ft en by

low er ranks of superv iso ry em ployees as w ell . The

produc ti on un its opera te li ke a hand , w atched ,

cor rected , and con tro ll e d b y a distan t b ra in .

j

v ~ ' J I

1 H E f'R IM A RY j .rF FEC TS O F

S C IE N TIF IC M A N A G EM E N T

to en su re tha t a s c raft dec lined , the w orke r w ou ld

s in k to th e le ve l o f g en era l a nd u nd iff ere ntia te d la bo r

pow er, adap tab le to a la rge range o f s im ple ta sk s ,

w hile as sc ience g rew , it wou ld b e c on ce ntra te d in

th e h an ds o f m a n ag em e n t.



s should be clear by now , th e history of organ izatio n studies oft en meant

w restl ing w ith the cla ssical m odel articula ted by W eber, Fayol, and

Taylor. M erton , B raverman, and contingency th eorists who detected atrend toward organic system s were criti cal o f th e cla ss ical bureaucrati c model,

whereas o th er contingency theorists such as B lau and the A ston gro up mostly

built on th is early fo undation . However, th e first cri ticism of the classic al rational

model of org anizations h ist orically cam e from the Human Relations school,

which was t he f ir st to arg ue th at org anization s should be seen as human and social

system s, a view th at is also called a natural system s approach to o rg an iz ations.

The Hum an Rela tions school s analysis of th e experim ents-at W estemEle ctric s

Haw thorne plan t in the late 1920s thro ugh early 1930s rem ain s th e most famous

work in org anization stud ie s, a stap le of all m anagement textb ooks, and one of

th e m ost influen tial works of socia l science.L ik e Taylorism , Hum an R elations spaw ned an industry of m anagemen t

consu ltants to spread its gospel during th e 1930s-1950s. The orig in al Human

Relations stud ies generated an imm ense li terature of pra is e, interp reta tion, and

cri ticism . Hum an Relations continues to in fluence both organ ization theory and

th e practice of m an agem ent, in part through its successors, such as th e humanis

ti c m a na gement school, among oth ers .

AT T s W est ern E lectric d iv is ion supplied telephone e qu ipm en t to its corpo

ra te p ar ent. The initial w ork experim ents at W estern E lectric s H aw thorn e p lant

ou tside Chicago w ere fairly standard industri al eng in eering eff orts to understand

the eff ects of varying physic al condit ions, n this case lighting, on workers o utput.Later experim ents m anip ulated o th er physical co nd itions th ought to aff ect human

O RGAN IZATIO NS AS HUMAN

AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS I

The Impulse to Reform W ork

T he E arly Human R ela tio ns Mo vem e nt

B Human istic M anagem ent and Contemporary

Emp loyee Involvem ent

P R T I I I

_ :

~ t~i

< ..

-:-~ . :

~



:

perfo rm ance, such as rest breaks and le ngth of th e w orkday , and experimente d

w ith incentive pay pla ns. S in ce Taylo r s w ork , industrial engineers operated

under th e belie f that the m ain determ in ants of outpu t w ere th e physic al ease or

difficu lty of w orkers lab or and th e m aterial in cen tives offered to workers .

How ever, w orkers b ehavio r at Hawthorne did not see~ to conform to th e

industr ial engin eers expectatio ns. O utpu t rose when th e p hysic al work ing condi

tions w ere im proved , but it als o rose or faile d to fall when condition s w ere

return ed to their previo us level or m ade worse , th e so-called Hawthorn e e f fec t.

Two Harvard Busin e ss S chool researc hers, E lton M ayo (1880-1 949) and Fritz

J. Roethlisberger (1 898-1974), and a W estern E le ctric personnel executive,

W il liam J . D ickson , explained th e unexpected resu lts socio log ic ally .

They pointed out th at the various sm a ll e xperimenta l gro ups w ere separated

from th e m ain p art of th e facto ry , supervised le s s s tr ic tly , an d given spec ia l a t ten

tion by hig her m anagem ent. The workers in th ese special situ ations becam e a

. tightly knit g roup of friends, w hich , along w ith the greater fre edom from super

v isio n th ey enjo yed , m ade wo rk m o re fun , m et th eir em otional needs for socia lbelo nging , a nd reduced the usual anxiety and pressure th ey felt a t w ork . W orkers

felt im portant because of th eir special sit uation and felt appreciated because

upper managem ent paid unusual and often personal atten tion to them .

M anagem ent seem ed to encourage workers participatio n in decisions about how

to organiz e their w ork , ask in g th eir opinion and suggestions, allowing th em to

v ote on proposals, a nd som etim es following the ir advice .Thi s m et workers em o

tional needs for social recognit ion and generated norm s o f c oo pe ration w ith

managem en t g oals w ith in the group .A t various tim es workers rece iv ed fre e p hysi

cal exam s, lu nch , and ic e cream and cake as refreshm ents , w hich mo t iva ted

workers to retu rn th e considera tion and work hard for the company, wha t som eeconomists to da y c all gift ex h nge (Aker lo f 1982 ) .H igher outpu t also refl ected

effective leadersh ip in the work group , as hard-working, well-r espected-workers

em erged as informal leaders, settin g th e pace for oth ers and pro viding a sense of

comm on p urpose . The exam ple showed th at group loyalties could be enlisted th e serv ic e o f the organizatio n s g oals , con tr ary to Taylor s v iew .

O newo rkg r oup did not respond to changes in experimentalcondit ions.M embers

continued to restr ict o utpu t a n d used peer p ressure to punish fe ll ow work ers w ho

exceeded eff o r t norm s ( rate busters ) in exact lythe m anner Taylor describ ed .The

group had a notion of what consti tu ted a fair day s w ork , a nd a ny on e who worked

m ore or less th an that lost th e respect of coworkers and w as ostracize d from th egroup . T he group also had )experie nced m any disrup tiv e te chnological changes

recen tly w ith out th eir p rio r no tification o r pa rt ic ipa tion th e process. The

H aw thorne researchers explained that th is group s desir e to pro tect it self from

further external in terferenceresu lt ed in a blind resista nc e to change.A lth ough th e

work ers claim e d they fea red a rate cu t or jo b losses if th ey worked harder-i ndeed

the experiment w as conducted during th e G reat Depressio n-th e H awthorne

researchers argued the fear w a s ir rational, because none had exper ienceda rate cu t

previously , th ough the com pany w as la y in g off workers by now . The Human

Relations researchersconc luded th a t l ac k o f c ommu nic ationfr om above generated

a negative so lidarity among work ers and resulted in restr ict iono f ou tput.H uman Relations th eory represen ted a significant departure from curr en t

ideas. Incontr ast to scien tific managemen t, H um an Relatio ns researchers argued .

78 • THE SOCIO LOGY OF ORGAN IZ ATIONS

~



th a t h igher o utp ut does no t d epend on te ch nic al c ondition s, such as th e p hysical

featu res o f the work envir onm ent,hum an physical capacities, o r economic in cen

tives, bu t on social conditions and organizational c limate. The workpla ce was a

social system .Wo rkers n ee de d to be part of an o rg anized soc ia l g roupwi th oppor

tunities for soc ia l interac ti on and conne ctio n to o ther s. S uperv is i onneeded to be

m ore democratic , and eff ective leaders needed to appreciate workers need fo r

part icipation and social recognit ion to elic it their cooperation . A cold , formalorganizatio n th at tr ied to sa tisfy w o rk e rs e c onom ic n e ed s but n ot th eir h um an

and social n eed s wou ld cau se u nhapp ine ss , uncooperative att itu de s, a nd low er

outpu t. Output depended on group norm s a n d job satisfaction , w hich reflect th e

deg re e of soc ia l in tegra tio n among p e ers a n d be tw e en workers a nd m anagem ent.

H um an Relation s th eory w as not comple tely unprecedented . Previous m an

agem ent reform s had tried to increase w orker loya lty , r a ise productivity , and

dam pen u n ion sen tim ent. M ost notable w as th e system of fringe benefits , griev

ance m echanism s, jo in t w orker-managem ent comm ittees and suggestion

schem es, an d com pany-sponsored union s known as welfare c ap ita lism adopte d in

th e 1 92 0s (Edwards 1979; Jacoby 1997 ). Bu t the H awthorne experiments, w hic h

seem ed to h av e a ll the ri gor of scien tific management experim ent s ,w ere th e fir st

to g ive scie ntific credibility to the idea th at h igh pro duct iv ity depended on work er

mot ivatio n, m o ra le, and jo b s atisfact ion , though th e validity of th is p ro posit ion

h as been debated ever sin c e (Kan ter and B r in k erhof f 1 98 1, p . 333 ; P e rrow 1986,

pp . 84ff.). T he H um an Relations school w as also explicitl y sociolo g ic al in th e

im port ance it g av e to the operatio n of sm all , in formal gro ups, in contrast to the

form a l o rg anization chart. The disti nction would be centr al to later research in

th e sociology of org anizations (see R eadings 13-15).

S til l, H um an Relations quickly att racted cri tic ism for a number of reasons,

m any o f which are d iscussed by D ana Bramel and Ronald F riend (Readin g 8).

Crit ics questioned wheth er th e experim ents w ere conducted as rig orously as

claim ed and wheth er a Hawthorne eff ect w as genuin ely observed at all (W ren

1987 , pp . 321ff.). The Human Relations researchers exagge ra te d wo rker happi

ness in the experim enta l groups and m i nim i zed the conflicts between m anage

m ent and la bor.A t tim es, superv isory pressures and thre ats, rath er than a f ami ly

atmosphere, seem to have been used to m ain tain outpu t.

Though th e Human Relations school claim ed th at i t w anted to reform work in

w ays that improved worker sati sfaction , th e larg er g oal of raisin g outp u t and

ef fo rt levels also le d to accusations of pro-m anagemen t bias. H um an Relations

assum ed th at w o rkers and m anagers had a natura l id entity of in terests an d that

an y w orker oppositio n to m anagem ent goa ls reflected nonlo gic al, ir rational sen

tim ents . W orkers m ate r ia l d issati sfactio ns were r ein terpreted as sig ns of unm et

psycholog ical and em oti ona l needs th at th e em ployer needed to add re s s in sym

bo lic terms , rather th an a re al clash of economic in terests (W ren 1987 , p. 241).

The emphasis on workers sentim ents an d n onm onetary m otiv es sug geste d

work ers were less ration al than m anagers and easily p lacate d w ith inexpensive

sym bols o f recognit ion rather th an wage in creases.

In practice, H uman Relation s consu lta nts reconunendat ions o ften am ounte d

to little m o re th an a pretense of w orker part icipation in decisio n m aking . G roups

of w orkers d is cussed issues th at were either m inor, such as when to schedule

breaks, or questions th at m anagem ent had a lre ady decid ed . A facili ta to r m ight

rgan iza tio ns as um an and Soc ia l Syste m s • 9



d ire ct th e d iscussion to m ake it appear to w ork ers that they w ere arriv ing a t t h e

p re determined conclu sions th em selves as a w ay to g ain th eir co nsen t. C ritics

charged th at H um an Relations w as a m an ipulative te chn ique to secure greate r

w ork er c omm itm en t and m anagem ent con tro l (E tzioni 196 4 ;W ren 1987 , p . 318).

H um an R elations also d id no t recom mend any changes in how work w as

perf o rm ed, despite it s m any critic ism s of scien t if ic m anagem ent assum ptions. to

th e exte nt t h at w orkers d iscon ten ts d id re fle ct unm et psycho log i ca l n eeds, H um an

R ela tions re searchers seem ed unaware th at.it m ay have been th e deaden in g nature

o f Tay lo ri zed jobs th at requ ir ed r eform . M ayo be li eve d th at techno logy , in dustrial

soc iety, a nd the decl ine o f community w ere re sponsib le fo r m any of w ork ers em o

tional p ro b lem s. H e th ought that cooperati on in th e w ork p la ce cou ld am eli orate

these p ro b lem s, bu t h e never considered refo rming the alie na tin g q uali ty o f w ork

ta sks them se lves (Pugh and H ickson 1989). Th is led B raverm an to argue that

H um an Rela tions consu lta n ts really taugh t pers onnel departm en ts how to be th e

ma intenance crew fo r the industrial engineers, p sycho log ically patching up work

ers dam aged by a n a lienating work system a nd send in g th em back to th e jo bs that

w ere th e sourc e of their p roblem s (B raverm an 1974). A lt hough Hum an R ela tion s

encouraged em ployers to take a n en ligh tened approach to m anagem en t, it acqu ir ed

a re pu ta ti on as a socia l eng in eerin g technique th at sough t to ad ju st workers to the

existing facto ry system ra th er than change wor k tasks to bett er refl ect hum an needs.

By the la te 1950s, a new phi losophy of w ork re fo rm , human isti c m anagem en t,

d isp laced classic al H um an Relations th eory . The new approach bu ilt on psycho

leg ist A b raham M aslo w s (1908-1970) w o rk o n m o tivation (1992 [1 943]).M aslo w

off ered a n a lte rnative to the behav io ri st o rt hodoxy w ith in psycho log y ,w hich had a

ph ilosoph ic k in sh ip w it h scientif ic m anagem en t. B ehav io ri sm was a n a gg ressively

scientific and m easuremen t-o ri en te d psycho logy that explained all human action onth e basis o f p leasu re seek ing and pain avoidanc e , in w hich p leasu re a n d p a in w ere

u lt im ate ly defi ned as sati sfy ing physical needs o f th e o rg an ism , lik e those of

p ig eons or ra ts , ra th er th an specificall y human w an ts o r desire s .

A gain st th is m echan isti c v iew , M aslow proposed a human isti c psycho logy th at

recogn ized a h iera rchy of h um an needs. The m ost basic human needs are physi

o log ical and safe ty needs. these low er-order needs are no t m e t, then peop le do

no t pursue h igher -o rder goals. H owever , these needs are largely satis fied in

modern society and cease to m otivate behav io r. People are mot ivated now b y needs

such as th ose fo r lov e, s ocia l aff ili a ti on , and social esteem or prestige . The few

peop le w ho have fulfi ll ed th ese needs are m otivated by th e h ighest hum an need ,w hic h M aslow c alle d the need fo r self- actualization or self -fulfillm en t. T his w as

a need to re ali ze one s f ull p o ten ti a l and w a s found am ong th ose engaged in cre

ative pursu it s such as poetr y , m usic , th e search fo r know ledge, and above all the

search fo r m ean in g in the cosm os.

M aslow s w ork becam e extrem ely popu1ardur ing th e la te 1960s as part o f th e

reaction against authority a nd b ureaucratic institution s, because it em phasiz ed the

creative im pu lse a nd h um a n self- fu lfillm en t. M aslo w did no t app ly h is id eas to

th e stu dy of o rgan ization s, b ut D o ug las M cG regor, a m anagem en t p ro fe sso r at th e

M assachusett s In stitu te o f Techno logy , used it as the basis fo r a th eory of human

isti c m anagemen t in th e early 1960s (R ead in g 9).M cG re gor a rgued that if organ izati ons understood human m otivation using

M aslow s ideas, un imagin ed resources of human cre ativ ity oul become

80 • THE SOC IOLOGY OF ORGANIZATION S



O th er authors, such as F rederick Herzberg; R ensis L ikert, an d E ric T rist, made

similar argumen ts regarding th e importance of satisfy in g higher-order needs

and boostin g in tem al w ork m ot ivat ion through more in terest ing j obs and m ore

partic ipat ive organizations.

Human i st ic managem en t d iffered from H um an Re la tions in a t le ast tw o ways .

U nlik e H um a n Relatio ns, humanistic m anagem e nt p ut the b lam e fo r low output

and poor organizationa l c lim ate squarely on managem ent. n th is view , it w as

n ot w o rk ers w h o w e re ir ra tio nal, bu t m anagers a nd th e dominan t o rganiz ational

phi losophy that contradicted basic hum an needs. Consequen tly , hum anistic

m anagemen t sought to re vers e T aylor s phi losophy o f j ob design , a nd the re com

m endation for a m or e co lla borative m anagement sty le w as ta ken to th e poin t o f

recommending an organic structure, w hic h w as beyond anyth ing Human

R elatio ns a dv ocated . Human is tic managem ent also criticized in sincere human

re lations efforts and placed rela tively more emphasis on sati sfy in g em ployees

needs r ath er th an raisin g p ro ductivity .

H umanist ic m anagement share d w ith Hum an R elations the v iew th at jo b

sati sfac tio n w as critical to productiv ity a nd that a softer m anagement sty le w as

necessary. L i ke Huma n R elations, humanistic m anagem ent also p ro duced a new

wave of consu lta n ts to spre ad these id eas.

R ic ha rd W alton , a Harvard Busin es s Schoo l p ro fe sso r, w as one of the most

im portant o f these consul tants (R ead in g 1 0). Th e r ea d in g fr om Wa lto n d escribes

in more conc re te f ashion how Quality of W ork L ife (QW L) program s, as th ey

came to be call ed in th e 1970s, actua lly w orked in practice, at least w hen they

w ere successfu lly implem ented.

The assum ptions of hum anistic m anagement seem ed to be confirm ed after

G ener a lMoto rs o pened a h igh ly au tom a te d assembly line in Lordstown, O hio, in

th e early 1970s. GM hired mostly young workers for the new pla n t, m any

fresh from s erv ic e in V ietn am , and w a s c on fro nted w ith a lev el o f alienation ,

industrial sabotage, and bitter labor conflic t that rec eiv ed e xtensive national

m edia c ov erage. Comm entato rs began to refe r to th e b lue-co llar b lu es, and the

U .S . Secreta ry of H ealth , Education , and W elfare issued a cabin et-level report

called ork in m erica th at la rg e ly endors ed th e view th at afflue nc e and higher

levels of education am ong workers m eant th at dem ands for more m eaningful

w ork would only grow (Unite d S tates, D epartm ent of H ealth , Education , and

W elfare 1973).

S ti ll , fe w plan ts im plem ented QW L program s in the 1970s, and even th ese

fre quently d iscontinued th e program s after a few years due to m anagem ent resis

tan ce to a re defi nition of their ro les. O ne of th e m ost pub li cized success e sw as in

Sweden , w here Volvo radically restructu re d and democratized its factories, el imi

nating supervis o r s an d th e tra ditional assembly line n fav or o f self-directed teams

o f w orkers building who le au tomobi les.

By th e early 1980s, th e mood began to change. Am eri can manu facturing w as

rocked by w aves of foreign im port s, particularly fro m Japan , areas such as

steel, au to s, computers, and consum er electron ic s. Japanese goods w e re not on ly

less expensive th an th e ir Am eric an c ou nterparts , b u t a ls o s ignificantly h igher in

quality, In th e e ar ly 1980s, num erous m anufa cturing pla nts a cr os s th e c ou ntr yclosed in re sponse to th is com peti tion , and th e Unite d S tates entered th e deepest

recession since th e G reat Depressio n .

82 • THE SOCIOLOGY OF ORGANIZATIONS



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Japan w as know n fo r its h ig h ly com m itted , w ell -trained workers who

part ic ipa ted in quality contr ol p ro blem -so lv in g groups, as w ell as fo r w ork er

friendly poli cies, such as reduced sta tus d ifferences betw een m an ag em en t and

la bo r, h ig h benefits, an d no-lay o ff g u arantees. Ja pa nese compani e s claim e d th ey

tr e ate d the ir b lu e-collar w orkers lik e w h ole people , rath er than m erely a set of

hands, in m any w ays sim ila r to the i r t re a tm en t o f w h ite-co lla r w orke rs. H owever,

th e Japanese w ork system w as still m o re h ierarchica l, T ay lo rist ic , a nd reg imented

th an the V ol vop lan ts (A ppelbaum and B att 1994) .

The Japanese competi tiv e threat seem ed to give new credibility to human isti c

m anagem en t, and busin ess in tere st began to grow in e ar nest. H owever, in recog

n itio n o f the new compe tit iv e p ressures, advocate s no longer described the pro

g rams as a w ay to im p ro ve th e qua lity o f w orking life o r r aise w orke r s atisfact ion ,

bu t as ways to im prove pro duc tivity and qual ity th ro ugh h ig h p erfo rm ance w ork

team s.

Still , hum anistic m a na gem en t in its var ious form s alw ays had it s critics. Like

H um an R ela tion s, it sees few inheren t confl icts o f in tere st be tween m anagemen t

and workers , a rgues that w orkers w an t self-fulfi l lmen t from w ork m ore than

higher pay , an d see ks to promo te i ndus tr ial harm ony ult ima tely in th e in te res t of

managem en t g oals. Fo r all the c ritic ism of m anagem en t practice s tha t a ch ange

agent , su ch a s a paid consultan t or a busines s p ro fessor, m ay m ak e, he o r she w as

still wo rk ing at th e in v itati on of m anagem en t. A ny QW L prog ram th ey im ple

m en ted w as invariab ly something th at m a nagem ent found acceptab le and often

p art o f a un ion-avoidance str a tegy (K ochan , K atz , and McKe rsie 1989 , p . 150 ).

E ven M aslow w ondere d w heth er M cGregor s w o rk represen te d a leg itim ate

app lic a ti on o f h is theo ry (W ren 1987 , p . 3 76 ). B raverm an argued tha t the p ro

posed changes in jo b conten t w ere mainly sym bo lic an d d id little to genuinely

reverse T aylorism or increase th e sk ill con ten t o f w ork (1974 , pp . 35ff.) . T he

Japanese m odel has com e under particu la r c ritic ism relative to the Sw edish

sy stem fo r it s re te ntio n and even in te nsificat ion o f Taylo ri stic p rinc ip le s ( Be rggren

1994) . E ven Am erican advocates o f J ap an ese p racti ces acknowledge th eir sim i

la ri ty to sc ie n tif ic m anagem en t in severa l re spec ts (A dler 1 993; A d ler an d C ole

1993 ). I ndeed , Japanese quali ty contro l te chniq ues are partly based in Am eri can

sc ien ti fi c managemen t m eth ods, as w ell as in hum an is tic m anag em ent (W ren

1987 , pp . 405ff.; Gui l len 1 99 4, p . 83).

nan artic le w ri tt en especiall y for th is vo lum e, Sau l Rubinste in describ es GM s

Satu rn p lan t as a n e xam ple of R ic h ar d Wa l ton s h igh-commitm ent sy stem , w hich

pe rh a ps d rew inspirat ion fro m the Swedi sh ca s e (Read ing 11). P rev io usly , GM h ad

entere d a jo in t v en ture w ith Toyota to o pe ra te a C a lifo r nia p la n t k now n as the N ew

Uni ted M otor Manufac turing In corpo rated ( NUMM I ). NU :MM I em bod ied m ore

of th e s tr uc tu red , Japanese appro ach (Ad ler 1993 ; A dler and Cole 1993) . A s

Rubins te in exp lain s, Sa turn encourages grea te r u n io n p artic ip atio n in th e a ctu al

governance of p lants a nd p rov ides less ri g id jo bs, th ou g h there is a rea l question

to h ow m uch Saturn s innovatio ns c an d if fuse to o th er p arts of G M .

L au ri e G raham s article (Reading 1 2) p rov id es a con trastin g a cco unt o f a

Japanese-ow ned au to p lan t in the Un ite d S ta tes tha t uses Japanese m anagem ent

techn iques to exerc ise a m o re o pp ressive fo rm o f con tr o l over w orkers .C learly , H um an Rela t ions, humanis tic m anagem en t, and hum an istic m anage

m ent s curren t appl icatio ns have been the sub jec t of controversy . R esearchers

Organiz a tions as um an and Socia l Sys tem s • 83



84 • THE SOCIOLOGY OF ORGANIZ ATIONS

debate whether the refo rm s are genuin e and m eaningfu l, o r w hether th ey aim to

m anipu la te and control on som e deeper level th an prev io u s m anagem ent practi ce .

Som e see historical cycles of hard-headed , rati onalistic m anagem ent ideolog ies

.. a lterna ting w ith s ofter, m o re hum an-f ocuse d m eth ods (B arley and K unda

1992), bu t th e case stud ies in th is sectio n suggest th at cUll e~ t me th ods of parti

c ipation and quality contro l represen t a pecu liar com binati on of ra tional andnatu ra l approaches whose im plica tions for w orkers and org anizations have not

yet fu lly p layed out (Guill en 1994). .



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Repri n ted from Fatigue of W orkers It s Rela tion to Industr ia l P roducaiion by Geo rg e C . R om an s. C opyri gh t © 1941 by N ational

A cademy P ress; rep ri nted w ith perm iss io n .

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P e rhaps the m ost im po rtan t p rog ram of resea rch

studied by [the Comm ittee on W ork in Industry] is

th a t wh ich has been ca rri ed on at th e H aw thorn e

Ch i cago W orks o f the W estern E lec tric C omp a ny .

Th is p ro g ram was d escribed by H . A . W righ t and

M , L Pu tnam o f th e W estern E lectric C omp a ny

and by J Roethl isbe rger, A ssoc ia te P ro fesso r

o f Industr ia l R ese arc h, G ra du ate Schoo l o f

Bus iness Adm i n is tration , H arvard Un ive rs it y ,

pa rticula rly a t a m eetin g o f the C ommi t t ee he ld on

M arch 9 , 19 38 . T hese m en , to ge th er w ith Elton

M ayo and O . A . P enno ck, bo th m em bers o f th e

Commi t tee , h ad been in tim ate ly assoc ia ted w ith

the resea rch . 1

TH WESTERN ELECTRIC

RESE RCHES

A word about the W este r nE lectr ic C ompany is a

necessa ry in troductio n to what fo ll ow s. Th is

compan y is engaged in m anufac turing equipm en t

fo r the te lephone industr y . B es id es doing th is par t

o f its w ork, it h as a lw ays show n conce rn fo r th e

w e lfa r e o f its em ployees, In the m a tte r o f w ages and

hou rs, it h as m a in ta in ed a h ig h s tand ard . It has p ro -

vided good physica l condi t ions fo r its emp loy ees ;

and it has tr ied to m ake use o f every estab li shed

m eth od o f voca t iona l gu idance in th e effo rt to su it

th e wo rker to h is wo rk . T h e e ffor ts o f th e com pany

have been re w arded in good in dustr ia l re la ti on s:

th e re has been n o strike o r o th er severe sym p tom of

d i sconten t f o r over tw en ty y e a r s . In shor t , the re is n o

rea son to doub t tha t w h ile th ese re search es w ere

be in g carr ied out th e m ora le o f th e compan y was

h ig h and th a t the emp l oy ees , as a body , had con fi-

den ce in the ab ilities and m otive s o f th e company

man agem ent . Th e s e f ac ts had an im p orta n t bearin g

on th e re sult s ach ieved .

GE OR GE C . R O M A N S

TH H AW TH OR N E EX PER IM EN TS

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t is obvio us that several of th ese questi ons could

be answered on ly in ire tly by the proposed

experim en t, and several of th em touched upon

the psychologic al rath er than the physio log ical

1 . Do employees actu all y get ti red out?

2 . A re rest pausesd esirable?

3 . Is a short er work in g day desir ab le ?

4 . What is th e att itude of em ployees toward th eir

work and to ward th e company?

5 . W hat is th e eff ect o f changin g the type of working

equipm ent?

6 . W hy does producti on fallo ff th e a ftern oon?

This discovery seem ed to be im porta nt. I t

suggested that th e re latio ns between other physical

conditions an d the effic iency of workers m ight

be obscured by similar psychological reactions.

Neverthele ss the investigators w ere determined to

continue in th eir course . They recognized th e ex is

te nce of the psychologic al fa ctors , but they thought

of th em only as disturbin g influence s . T hey were no t

yet ready to turn their a ttention to th e psycholo gical

f ac to rs t hemse lves. Instead , they were concemed

w ith dev isin g a better w ay of e l imina ting th em fr om

th e e xperimen ts, a nd the experim ents th ey wan ted to

try by no m eans ended w ith illum ination. For

instance, th ere w as th e questi on of what w as called

fatigue, Littl e inform ati on ex iste d about th e effect

on efficie ncy of changes in the hours of work and

the int roduct ion of rest pauses. The in vestigators

fi nally cam e to the conclusio n that if a sm all group

of workers w as iso la ted in a separate room and

asked to co-operate, th e psychological reaction

would in tim e d isappear, and they w ould work

exactly as th ey felt. That is, changes in their rate of

outpu t would be th e d ir ect result o f changes th eir

physical cond it ions o f w ork and no th ing else.

The decisio n to organize such a gro up was in fact

taken. A sma ll n umber of work ers w as to be selectedand placed in a separate room , where experim en ts

w ere to be m ade w ith differen t kind s of working

conditi ons in order to see if m ore exact info rm ati on

could be secured. S ix questi ons w ere asked b y t hose

setting up the experim en t. They were th e fo ll ow in g :

The pro gram of re search which w il l be

descri bed grew out of a study conducted at

H aw thorne by the W estern E lectric C om pany in

collaboration w ith th e N ati onal R esearc h Council ,

th e aim of which w as to determine the relation

betw een in tensit y of illumination and effi c iency of

w orkers, m easured in o utp ut. O n e of th e experi

m ents m ade w as th e follow in g : Two groups of

em ployees doing sim ilar w ork under similar condi

tions w ere chose n, an d rec ords o f o utput w ere kept

for each group. The intensit y o f the li ght under

w hich one group worked w as varied , w hile that

under which the oth er group worked w as held con

sta n t. By this m ethod the investi gators hoped to

isola te from th e e ffect of other v ar iable s the effect

o f changes in the in tensit y o f illum ination on the

rate o f output .

In th is hope th ey w ere disappointed . The experi

m en t fa iled to show any sim p le relation betw een

experimen ta l c ha nges in the intensity o f i llum in a

tion and observed changes n th e ra te of ou tpu t. The

in vesti gators concluded that this r esu lt wa s ob ta in ed,

n o t because such a rela ti on did not exist, bu t because

it w as in fact im possib le to iso la te it from th e o ther

vari ables enterin g in to any dete rminati on of pro duc-

. ti ve eff iciency .Thiskind

of difficult y , o f course , hasbeen encountered in experimenta l w ork in m any

fi eld s. Furtherm ore, the in vesti gators w ere in agree

m en t as to th e character of som e of these o ther vari

ables. They were conv in ced th at one of th e m ajo r

factors which prevente d th eir securing a sati sfa cto ry

re su lt w as psychological. The emplo yees bein g

te sted w ere reacti ng to changes in light in tensity in

th e w ay in which th ey assum ed that they w ere

expected to react. T hat is, w hen li ght in tensit y w as

in creased th ey w ere expected to produce m ore ;w hen it w as decreased they w ere expected to pro

duce less. A further experim ent w as devised to

dem onstr ate th is point. The li ght bulbs w ere

changed, as th ey had been changed befo re, and the

workers were allow ed to assum e th at as a resu lt

th ere w ou ld b e m ore li ght. T hey comm ented fa vor

ably on th e incre ased illumination . A s a m atte r of

fa ct, th e bu lb s had been rep laced w ith oth ers o f just

th e sam e power. O ther experim en ts of th e sor t w ere

m ade, and in each case the resu lts could beexp la ined as a p sy chologic al reacti on rather th an

as a physiologic al on e .

86 ORGAN IZA TIO NS A S HUM AN AND SOCIA L SYSTEM S I

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g irl fo r e ac h in stan t o f th e d ay . S uc h rec ord s w ere

k ep t f or f iv e y ea rs .

I n th is e xp er imen t, t he n, a s in th e e ar lie r illum i

n atio n exp erimen ts , g re at empha sis wa s la id on th e

r ate o f outpu t.A wo rd o f c au tio n i s n eededh e re .Th e

We stern E lec tric C omp an y w as rio t imm ed ia tely

in te re ste d in in cre as in g o utp ut. T he e xp erim e nts

w ere no t d esigned fo r th at purp ose. O n th e other

hand , ou tpu t i s eas ily measured , i e i t y ieldsprec ise

qu an tita tiv e d ata , a nd exper ie nc e s ugges te d th at it

w as sensitive to at least som e of the conditions

u nder w hich the em plo yees w orked . O utpu t w as

t re a ted a s an index. In shor t, t h e na tu re o f t he expe ri

m ental cond itions m ade the em ph asis on ou tput

inevitable.

F rom the ir expe ri ence in the i ll uminat ion expe ri

ments , the inves tigatorswere wel l aware that factors

o the r t han those expe riment al ly va ri ed might a ff ec t

t he ou tpu t r at e. The re fo re a rr angemen ts we re made

that a num ber of o ther records should be kept.

U nsu itab le p arts su pp lied b y th e firm w ere n oted

dow n, as were assemblie s re je cte d fo r a ny re as on

upon inspection. Inth is way the ty pe o f d efect could

b e k nown an d related to the tim e of d ay at w hich it

occu rr ed . Records were kep t of w eather conditio ns

in general and of tempera ture and hum id ity in the

te st ro om . E very six week s e ach o pera torwas given

a m edical exam ination by the com pany doctor .

E ve ry d ay s he wa s a sk ed to tell how many hours sh e

h ad spen t i n b ed the nig ht bef or e a nd, du rin g a p ar t

of th e experim ent, what fo od she had ea ten. Besid es

a ll these records, which concern ed the physic al c on

ditio n of the opera tors, a log w as kep t in whichwere

recorded th e principal events in the test room hour

by hour, in clud in g am ong th e entries s na tc he s o f

conversatio n b etw e en th e wo rk ers. A t first these

en tr ie s r elate d largely to the phys ic al cond it ion o f

the operators: how th ey felt as they w orked. Later

th e g round th ey covered somewhatw idened , a nd th e

log ultimately be came one of th e mos t im por tan tof

the test room records. F in ally , when th e s o- ca lled

Interviewing Pr og ram was in stitu ted at Hawthorne ,

each o f th e op er ato rs w a s inte rviewed severa l t imes

by an ex peri enced interviewer.

The g irls had no superviso r in the ordinary sense,

su ch as they would have had in, a re gular shop

departm ent, but a te st ro om observ er w as placed

in the ro om , whose duty it w as to maintain th e

Th e H aw th orn e E xp er im en ts • 87

fa cto rs in vo lv ed . N ev erth ele ss, a ll o f th em a ro se o ut

of the bew ilderm ent of m en of experience faced

w ith the problem of dealing w ith fellow hum an

b ein gs in a la rg e in du stria l o rg an iz atio n. In fa ct, o ne

o f th e ex ecu tiv es o f th e c om pan y saw th e p urp ose o f

the experim ent in even sim pler and m ore general

term s. H e said that the experim ent grew out of a

desire on the part of the m anagem ent to know m ore

about our w orkers. In th is w ay began the experi

m ent w hich is referred to as the Relay A ssem bly

T est R oom. W ith th is e xp erim en t an d th e o th ers th at

fo llo we d, m em be rs o f th e D ep artm en t o f In du strial

Research of the G raduate School of Business

A dm inistration , H arvard U niversity , cam e to be

c lose ly as soc ia ted .

In A pril 1 92 7 , s ix g irls w ere sele cte d fro m a larg e

shop departm ent of the H aw thorne works. They

w ere ch ose n as a verag e w ork ers, n eith er in ex peri

enced nor expert, and their work consisted of the

assem bling of telephone relays. A coil, arm ature ,

con tac t sp rings, a nd in su lato rs w ere p ut to ge th er o n

a fix ture and secured in position by m eans of four

m ac hin e screw s. The operation at that tim e was

be ing comp le ted at the rate of about five re la ys in six

minutes. This particu la r o peration w as chosen fo r

the experim ent because the relays w ere being

assembled often enough so th at even sli ght changes

in outp ut ra te w ould sh ow th em selves at once on th e

ou tpu t r eco rd. F ive of the girls w ere to do the a ctu al

assembly work; the duty of the six th w as to keep the

others su pp lied w ith p arts.

The te st ro om its elf w as an area divided from the

m ain depar tment by a wooden partition eig ht fe et

high. The girl s sat in a rowan one sid e of a long

workbench. The bench and assembly equipment

w ere identical w ith those used in th e regul ar d epa rt

m ent, except in one respect. A t the right of each

girl s p lace w as a hole in the bench, and into th is

hole she dropped completed relays. It was the

en tr ance to a chute , in which th er e was a f lapperga te

opened by the rela y in its p as sa ge downwa rd . The

openingof the gate c losed an e lec tr ical cir cu i twh i ch

controlled a p er fo ra tin g d ev ic e, a nd this in tum

reco rd ed th e comp le tio n o f th e relay by punchin g a

hole in a tape. T he tape m oved at the rate of one

quarter of an in ch a m in ute a nd h ad sp ac e fo r a sep

ara te row of holes for each operato r. W hen punched,

it th us constitu ted a complete output record for each



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e no ug h to reveal any ch ange s in ou tpu t in cid enta l

m erely to the transfer. This const ituted the second

experim enta l peri od.

The third peri od involv e d a change in th e m ethod

of payment. In th e regular departm ent, th e girl s had

been paid accordin g to a schenie of gro up piece

work , th e g ro up consisting of a hundred or m ore

emplo yees.U nder these circum sta nces, variatio ns in

an ind iv id ual s to tal ou tput would not be immedi

ately reflected in her pay, since such variations

t ended to ca nce l o ne ano th er in su ch a la rg e gro up .

In th e test room , the six o perators w ere m ade a

groupby themselves.In th is way eachgi r l rece ived an

amount m ore nea rly in pro po rtio n to h er in dividual

effort , and her inte rests became more closely

centered on the experim ent. E igh t w eeks late r, th e

directly experim enta l changes began. An outl in e

w ill reveal their genera l character: Period tw o

rest pauses, each five m in ute s in length , were esta b

li shed, one o cc urrin g in m idmorning and the other

in the early afte rn oon. Peri od these rest pauses

w ere lengthen ed to ten m inutes each. Period V I: six

fi ve-minute rests w ere established. Period V II: the

company p rovided eac h m ember of the g roup with

a ligh t lunch in the midmorning and anoth er in

th e m idafternoon , accompanied by rest pauses. This

arrangem ent becam e standard fo r subsequent

Peri ods V III through X I. PeriodV I I I: work stopped

a half-h ou r ea rl ier every day-at 4:30 P .M . Period

IX : w ork stopped at 4 P .M . Period X : conditions

re turnedto what they were in Peri od V I I. Perio d X I:

a fi ve-day work week was esta bli shed .Each of these

experim entalperiods laste d several w eeks.

Period X I ra n th rough th e summer of 1928 , a

year afte r th e beginning of th e experim ent .A l ready

the re sults w ere not what had been expected. The

output curve, which had ri sen on the whole slow ly

and steadily th roughout the year, was obvio usly

re flecting someth in g other th an the responses o f the

group to th e imposed experimenta l conditions. Even

when th e tota l w eeldy ou tput had fallen o ff, as it

cou ldhard ly fa il to do in such a peri od as Peri od X I,

when th e group was workin g only fi ve days a w eek,

d aily output continued to rise . Therefore, in accor

dance w ith a sound experimen ta l p rocedure, as a

contro l on what had been done, was agreed w ith

th e consen t of th e operators th at in experimental

Peri od X II a return should be m ade to the original

records, a r range the wo rk , a nd secu r e a co-operative

spirit on the part of the girl s. Late r, when the com

plex ity o f h i s work increased, severa l ass istants w ere

ass igned to help h im .

W hen the arr angem ents had. been made for the

test r o om , th e operato rs who had been chosen to take

part w ere c alled in for an in terview in the off ice of

the superintendent of th e Inspection B ranch, who

was n genera l cha rg e o f th e experim ent and of the

resea rches wh ich grew out of it. The superintendent

de sc ri bed thi s i nterv iew as fo ll ows : T he n ature of

th e test w as ca re fu lly explained to these g irls and

th ey r ea dily c on sented to take part in it, a lth ou gh

th ey we re v er y s hy at th e fi rstconference .An invi ta

tio n t o six s hopgir ls to com e up to a superi n te ndent s

office was naturally rather startlin g. They were

assured th at the obje ct of the te st w as to determine

th e eff ect of certain changes in work in g conditions,

such as rest periods, m idmorning lu nches, and

shorter working hours. They were expressly cau

tioned to w ork at a com fort able pace, and under no

circum stancesto try and make a race ou t of the test.

This conference was only the first of m any.

W heneve r any experim entalchange wasp l anned , th e

g ir ls were called in , th e pu rpos e of th e change w as

explain ed to th em , and their comments were

re quested. Ce rt ai n suggeste d changes whic h d id n ot

m eet w ith their approva lwere a bandoned.The y w ere

repeated ly asked, as they were asked in the f irst inter

view , not to stra in but to wo rk as t hey f elt.

The experim ent was now ready to begin . P ut in

its sim plest term s, th e idea of th ose directing the

experim ent w as th at if an ou tput curve w as stud ied

for a long enough tim e under various changes in

work in g co ndit ions, it w ould be possib le to d eter

m ine which condit io ns were the m ost satisfac tory.

Accordingly , a number of so-c alle d experim ental

peri ods w ere arrang ed . F or two weeks befo re the

operato rs were placed in th e tes t r oom , a record was

kept of th e production of each one w ithout her

know ledge. In this w ay th e investigators secured a

measure of her product ive abil ity w hile w ork ing in

th e regula r departm ent under th e usual conditio ns.

This consti tu ted the fi rst experim ental period .

And for fi ve w eeks a fte r th e g ir ls entere d the test

room no change was made in working conditions.

Hours rem ain ed what th ey had been befo re . The

in vestigators felt that th is period would be long

a ORGANIZATIONS A S HUM A N AND SOC IA L SYS TEMS I



: :

condi t ions.Th ere is such a th ing as hea t pros tra tion..

m ea ns o nly tha t, w i th in th e lim its in w hich these

condit ions w ere vary ing in the test room , they

apparen tly did no t a ffect th e rate of w ork .

The questio n rem ains: W ith what facts, if any,

ca n the change s in th e outpu t rate of th e operators in

the test roo m be corre lated? H ere th e statem ents of

th e g ir ls th em selves are o f th e f ir st im port ance. E ach

girl k new that she w as producing m ore in the test

ro om th an she ever had in th e regu la r depar tm ent,

a nd e a ch s aid that th e inc rease h ad c om e a bo ut w ith

out any conscious effort on her part. seemed

eas ie r to produce at thefas t er r a te i n the t es t room than

at the slow er rate in the regular depar tmen t . W hen

quest ioned fu rther, each girl stated her re as ons in

slightly d ifferen t w ords, bu t th ere w as uniformi ty in

th e answ ers in tw o respects. First, th e girls lik ed to

work in the te st ro om ; it w as fun . Secondly , th e

new supervisory . relation or, as th ey put it , th e

absence of the old supervisory contro l, m ade it

possi bl e fo r them to w o rk fre ely w it hou t anxiety.

For instance, th ere w as the m atter of conversa

tio n. I n the regular department, c onversation was in

pri nciple not allow ed. In practi ce it w as to lerated if

it w as carried on in a low to ne and did not in terfere _

w ith work . In th e te st ro om an eff o r tw as m a de in th e -

beginning to d iscourage conver sation, th ough it w as

soon aba nd on ed . The observer in charge of th e

experim ent w as afra id o f losin g th e co-operation of

th e g ir ls if he in siste d to o strong y on th is po int. Talk

becam e com mon and was often loud and genera L

In deed , th e conversation of the opera tors came

to occupy an im port an t p lace in the log . T . N .

W hit ehead has pointed out tha t th e g ir ls in the test

room were far m ore t ho roughly supervised th an they

ever had been in th e regular departmen t. Th ey w ere

watched b y an observer of th eir ow n, an in terested

m anagemen t, and outs id e ex pert s. The poin t is th at

th e characte r and purpose of th e superv ision were

d iff erent an d w ere felt to be so .

The operators knew th at th ey w e re ta kin g part in

what was consid ered an importan t and in te restin g

experim ent .They k new th at the ir w ork w a s e xpected

to produce resu lts-th ey w ere not sure w hat

re su lt s-w hich would lead to th e improvem ent of

th e w ork ing condit ion s of their fellow em ployees.

They knew that th e e ye s of th e company w ere upon

them . W hite head has further po in ted out that

T he H aw thorne x pe ri me n ts 89 ~ll

conditions of w ork , w ith no re st p au ses, no special

lu nches, and a full-length w ork ing w eek . This

period la sted for tw elve weeks. B oth daily and

weekly output ro se to a higher po in t than ever

before : th e w orking day and th e work ing week were

both longer. T he hourly outpu t rate declined som e

what bu t it d id not appro ach the level of Perio d Ill,

. w hen sim ila r c on diti ons w ere in effec t.

The conclusions reached after Period X II m ay be

. expressed in term s of another observation. Identi cal

conditions of w ork w ere repeated in three d ifferent

experim en ta l p erio ds: P erio ds V II , X , and X III. fth e a ss ump tio ns o n wh ic h the study w as b as ed h ad

been co rrect, th at is to say , if th e outpu t rate were

d ir ectly related to th e p hysical conditi ons of w ork,

th e expectation would be that in these th ree experi

m ental periods th ere w ould be so m e sim ilarity in

ou tpu t. S uch w as not the case. The only apparent

un iform ity w as th at in each experimentalper iod ou t

pu t w as h ig h er th an in th e preceding one. In the

Rela yA s semb ly Test R oom , as in the previous illu

m in ation experim ents , someth ing was happening

which could not be explain ed by th e experim entally

contro ll ed cond itions of work .

There is no need here to go in to the later histo ry

of the test room experim ent, w hich came to an end in

1933 . It is enough to s ay th at the outpu t of th e group

continued to rise unti l it estab li she d i tse lf o n a high

plateau fr om which th ere w as no descen t un til th e

tim e of discouragem ent and deepening economic

depressio n which preceded th e end of th e test. T he

rough conclusions reached at th e end of experim en

t a l P eriod X II w ere confirm e d a nd sharpenedby later

research . T . N . W hite head , A ssociate P ro fe ss or o f

Business in th e G raduate School of Busin ess

Administr ation , H arvard University , has m ade a

care ful stati s tica l a nalysis of the output records. H e

show s tha t t he changes w hich took place in the out

pu t o f the group have no simple correl at ion w i th t he

experimental changes in wo rk in g c ondition s. N or

can th e y b e correlated w ith chan g e s in oth er physic al

conditio nsof w hich record s w ere kep t, such as tem

peratu re, humidity , hours of rest, and changes of

relay type. Even when th e gir ls them selv es com

plain ed o f m uggin ess or heat, these condit ions w ere

not apparently affecting their ou tpu t. Thi s s t atem ent,

o f course, does not m ean that th ere is never any

rela tion betw een output rate and these physica l



F in ally, th e g rou p d ev elo ped lead ersh ip an d a

common purpose. The leader , s e lf -appo in ted ,was an

am bitio us y ou ng Italian g irl w ho en tered th e test

r oom a s a r ep la cement a fte r two o f th e o rig in a lmem

b er s h ad le ft. S h e s aw in th e e xp er im e nt a c ha nc e f o r

pe rsonal d is ti nc ti on and advancement .The common

p ur po se w a s a n in cre as e in th e o utp ut r ate . T h e g irls

h ad b een to ld in th e b egin n in g and r ep e ate dly th e re

a fte r th a t th e y we re to wo rk w ith out s tr ain in g ,w i th

out try ing to m ake a race of the test, and all the

e v id enc e shows th a t th ey k ept th is r ule . fac t, t hey

fe lt t ha t t hey were work ingunde r l e ss p res su re t han i n

t he regu la r depar tmen t.Neve r the le s s, t hey knew tha t

th e ou tpu t r ec o rd wa s cons id er ed th e mos t impo rta n t

of the records of the experim ent and w as alw ays

c lo sely sc ru ti niz ed .Be fo re l ong they had commi tt ed

t hemse lve s t o a con tinuousinc rea se i n p roduc ti on . th e lo ng r un , o f c ou rs e, th is id ea l w a s a n im pos sib le

on e, a ndwhen th e g ir ls f ound ou t th at it w a s, th e r e al

izatio n w as an im po rtan t elem en t o f the chan ge o f

tone w hich w as noticeab le in th e s econd h alf o f th e

exper imen t. Bu t for a tim e th ey fe lt th at th ey c ou ld

achieve the impossi bl e. In b r ie f, the in cre as e in th e

output rate of the g ir ls in th e R ela y A ssem bly T est

Room cou ld n ot be related to any changes in their

physical condi ti ons of w o rk ,w hether experimentallyin duc ed o r no t. tcould , however ,be re la ted to w hat

c an o nly b e s po ke n o f a s th e d ev e lo pm ento f a n o rg a

n iz ed s oc ia l g ro up in a peculi ar and effec tiverelation

with its s up er visors.

Ma n y o f th es e c on clu sions w ere not w orked out

in deta il un til long after the investigators at

H aw thorne had lost in terest in the R elay Assembly

Test R oom, b ut the general m ean ing o f the ex peri

m en t w as clear at le as t a s e arly a s P erio d X II. A con

tinuous incre ase in productiv ity had taken placeirresp ectiv e o f changing physical conditions of

w ork . In the words of a com pany report m ade in

J an ua ry , 1 931, on all th e r es earch which had b een

done u p to th at d ate: U pon analysis , on ly one th ing

seem ed to sh ow a co ntinuous re la t ionship w ith th is

imp rov ed ou tpu t. Th is wa s th e men ta l a ttitude of the

operators. F rom th eir c onv e rs ations w ith e ach other

and their comm e nts to th e te st o bservers, it w as not

only c le ar th a t th eir attitu d es were imp rov ing bu t it

was eviden t t hat th is area of em ployee reactions andfeelings w as a fru it fu l f ield for industria l research .

[

a lth ough th e expe rimen ta l c h ang es m i gh t tum ou t to

h av e n o p hy sic al s ig nif ic an ce , th eir s oc ia l s ig nif i

c an ce w as a lw ay s fa vo ra ble . T h ey s howe d th at th e

m a na gem en t o f th e c om p an y w as still in te res ted ,

th at th e g irls w ere still p art o f a v alu ab le piece o f

r es ea rc h. I n th e re gu la r d ep ar tm e nt, th e g ir ls , lik e

the o ther em ployees, w ere in the position of

resp on din g to ch an ges th e so urce an d p urpo se o f

w hich w ere beyond their know ledge. In the test

room , t hey had f requen t in te rvi ews w i th the super in

te nd en t, a h ig h o ff ic er o f th e c omp an y. T h e re as on s

fo r th e c on tem pla te d ex pe rim e nta l c ha ng es w ere

e xp la in ed to th em . T h eir v iew s w e re c on su lte d a nd

in some in stan ces th ey w ere allo wed to veto w hat

h ad b ee n p ro po se d. P ro fe ss or May o h as a rg ue d th at

it is id le to speak of an experim ental period likeP erio d X I I a s b ein g in a ny s en se wh at it p urp or te d to

be~a return to th e o rig inal co nd itio ns o f w ork . In

th e m e an tim e , th e e ntir e in du str ia l s itu atio n o f th e

g ir ls had been reconst ruc ted .

A noth er factor in w hat occurr ed can only b e spo

k en o f a s th e s oc ia l d e ve lo pm e nt of th e group itself .

W h en th e g irls w ent for th e f ir st tim e to be given a

physical examinat ion by th e c omp an y d oc to r, s om e

o ne s ug ges te d a s a jo k e th a t i ce c re am and ca ke o ught

to be served .The companyp rovid ed them at the n e x texaminat ion , and the custom was kept up for th e

du ra tio no f th e expe rimen t.When oneo f th e g ir ls h ad

a bir th d ay , e ach of th e o t he rs would b rin g h er a p re

sent, and she w ould re sp on d b y o ff erin g th e group a

b ox o f c h oc olates. Often one o f th e g irls w o uld h av e

som e g oo d re aso n fo r feelin g tir ed . T hen th e o thers

w ould carry her. That is , th e y wou ld a gre e to wo rk

especially f ast t o m a ke u p fo r the l ow ou tpu t e xpected

f rom h er. tis d ou btf ul w h ethe r th is c arr ying di d

have a ny e ffe ct, bu t th e im p o rta nt p oin t is th e e xiste n ce o f th e p ra ctic e, no t its e ffe ctiveness .The gi rl s

m ade friends in the test room and w ent to ge th er

social lyafterhours. One o f the in te re s ti ng fact sw h ich

has appea red from W hit ehead s ana ly sis of th e ou tpu t

records is tha t t he re were t imes when va ria tion s i n the

out pu t r ates o f tw o frien ds w ere corre la ted to a h ig h

degree. The ir r at es va ri ed s imu l taneous ly and in the

s ame d ir ec tion=som eth ing, of course, w hich the

g ir ls w ere not aw are of and could no t h av e p la nned .

A lso , th ese corr elations w ere destr oyed by suchapparen tly tr ivial events as a change in the order in

which th e g ir ls sat at th e work-bench .

90 • ORGANIZATIONS AS HUMAN AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS I



_

i

i.-

r ·

sum out of w hich the w ages of a ll the m en in the

departm en t w ere paid . Each ind iv idual w as then

assigned an hourly rate of pay , and he w as guaran

te ed th is am o un t in case he did not m ake at least as

m uch on a piecew ork basis. The rate w as based on a

n um be r o f fac to rs, in clu din g th e nature of the job a

w orker w as doing , h is efficiency , and his leng th of

serv ice w ith the com pany . R eco rds of the outpu t of

every w orker w ere kept, and every six m onths there

w as a ra te rev ision , the purpose of which w as to

m ak e th e h ou rly ra te s o f th e d iffere nt w ork ers co rre

s po n d to th eir r ela tiv e e ff ic ie nc y.

T he hou rly ra te of a g iven em ployee , m ultip lied

by the number of hours w orked by him during the

w eek , w as spoken of as the day w ork value , of the

w ork done by the em ployee . The dayw ork values of

the w ork done by all the em ployees in the depart

m ent w ere then added together, and the to tal thus

obtained w as subtrac ted from the to ta l earn ing s

cred ited to the departm ent for the num ber of un its of

equipm ent assem bled . T he surp lus, d iv ided by the

to ta l dayw ork value , w as expressed as a percen tage.

E ach in d iv idual s hourl y rate w as then in creased by

th is percentage , and the resu lting hourly ea rn in gs

fi gure, m ultip li ed by th e number o f hours worked ,

consti tuted th at perso n w ee ld y earn in g s.

A nother featu re of the system should be m en

tioned here . Som etim es a sto ppage w hich w as

beyond th e contro l o f th e w ork ers took place in the

work . For such stoppages th e workers w ere en ti tled

to cla im tim e out, being paid at the ir regu la r hou rl y

ra tes for th is tim e. This w as called the day w ork

allow ance cla im . The reason w hy th e employees

w ere paid their hourly ra te for such tim e and no t

th e ir average hourl y w ages w as a sim ple one. The

system was supposed to prevent sta ll ing . The

em plo yees could earn more by work ing th an th ey

could by tak ing tim e out. A s a m atter of fac t, there

w as no good definitio n of what constitu ted a s to p

page whic h w as be yo nd th e co ntro l of the w orkers.

A ll s to ppages w ere more or less w ith in their con tr o l.

u th is c ircum stance w as supposed to m ake no dif

ference in th e work in g o f the sy stem , sin ce th e

assum ption w as th at in any case the w orkers, purs u in g

th eir econom ic in terests , w ou ld be anxious to keep

stoppages a t a m in im um .

This system of paym ent w as a compl ica ted one,

bu t it is obvious th a t there w as a good log ic a l reason

The aw th or ne x pe rim e nts • 91

In order to study th is k ind of prob lem further, to

m ake a m ore deta iled investiga tion of socia l

re lations in a w ork ing group , and to supplem ent

in terv iew m ateria l w ith d irec t ob servation of the

behavio r o f em ployees, the D iv ision of Industria l

R esearch decided to set up a new test room . B ut the

investig ators rem em bered w hat happened in the

form er test room and tried to devise an experim ent

w hich w ould not be rad ica lly a lte red by the process

of experim enta tion itself. T hey chose a group of

m en-n ine w irem en, th ree so lderm en, and tw o

in spectors-engaged in the assem bly of term inal

banks for use in te lephone exchanges, took them

out of their regu lar departm ent and placed them in

a special room . O therw ise no change w as m ade in

th eir cond itio ns of w ork , excep t tha t an inv estiga

to r w as insta lled in the room , w hose duty w as

sim ply to observe the behavior of the m en. In the

R elay A ssem bly Test R oom log had been kept

of the princ ipal even ts of the test. A t th e beginn in g

it consisted largely of comm ents m ade by the

workers in answ er to questions about the ir physica l

condi tion. Later it cam e to inclu de a m uch w id er

range of en tr ies , w hich w ere fo und to be ex tr eme ly

use fu l in in te rp retin g th e changes in th e outpu t ra te

of th e differen t w ork ers. The work of th e observer

in the new test room w as in effect an expansion of

the work o f keep ing the log in the o ld one. F inall y ,

an in te rv iew er w as assigned to th e test room ; he

w as not, how ever, one of the population of the

room but rem ain ed outside and in terv iew ed the

employees from tim e to tim e in the usual m anner.

N o effort w as m ade to get ou tp u t re cords o th er than

th e ones ord inari ly kep t in the departm ent from

which the group came , since th e investiga tors felt

th at su ch a procedure w ould in tro duce to o large a

change from a regu la r shop situa tion . In th is w ay

the experim ent w as se t up whic h is refe rr ed to as

th e B ank Wir ing Obse rvation Room . It w as in

existence seven m onths, from N ovem ber, 19 31, to

M ay, 1932 .

The m eth od of paym ent is the firs t aspect of th is

group which must be descri b ed . It was a com pli

cated form of gro up piecew ork . The departm ent of

which th e w orkers in th e observation ro om w ere a

part w as cre d ited w ith a fixed sum for every unit o f

equipm ent it ass em bled . The am ount thus earned on

paper by th e departm ent every w eek m ade up the



w h ic h h a d e m e rg e d from th e earl y in te rvi ew s o f

o th er g ro u p s . A m o n g th e e m p lo y e e s in th e o b se rv a

t io n r o om th e re w as a n o ti o n o f a p ro p e r d a y s w o rk .

T h e y f elt th a t if th e y h ad w ire d tw o e q u i p m en ts a

d a y t hey h a d d o n e a b o u t th e rig h t a m o u n t. M o st o f

th e w o rk w a s d o n e in th e m orn in g . A s so o n a s th e

e m p lo y e es fe lt su re o f b e in g a b le to fi nish w ha t th e y

c o n s id e r e d e n o u g h fo r th e d a y t h e y s la ck e d o f f . T h i s

sl acki ng o ff w a s nat u ra ll y m o re m a r k e d a m o n g th e

fa s te r th a n a m o n g th e slo w e r w o r k m e n .

A s a re su lt the o u tp u t g ra ph f ro m w ee k to w e e k

te n d ed to b e a s tr ai gh t li ne . T h e e m p l o y e e s r es o rte d

to tw o f u rth e r p ra c tic e s in o rd e r to m a k e s u re th at it

s h o u ld r e m ain s o . T h ey r ep o rte d m ore o r le ss out p u t

th a n th e y p e r f o r m e d a n d th e y cl aim e d m o re d a y

w o rk a l l o w a nc e s th a n th ey w e re e ntitled to . A t th e

e n d o f th e d a y th e o b s e r v e r w o u ld m ak e a n a c t ual

c o u n t o f th e n u m be r o f c o n n ec tion s w ir e d -so m e

th in g w hic h w as n o t d o n e b y th e s u p e rv is o rs-a n d

h e fo u n d th a t th e m e n w o uld rep o rt to th e g ro u p

c h ie f so m e t im e s m o re a n d s o m et i m e s l es s w o r k th an

th e y act ual ly h ad a c c o m plish e d . A t th e e n d o f th e

p erio d o f o bse rv a ti o n tw o m e n h a d c o m p le te d m o re

th a n th ey e v e r h a d re p o rt e d b u t o n th e w h o le th e

e r r o r w a s in th e o p p o sit e d ire ctio n . T h e th e o r y o f th e

e m p lo y e e s w a s th a t e x c e ss w ork p ro d u c e d o n o n e

d a y sh o u ld b e sa v e d a n d a p p li e d to a d efi ci ency o n

a n o t h er d ay . T he o t h er w ay o f k e e p in g th e o u tp u t

ste a d y w a s to c la im e xc essiv e d a yw o rk a llo w a nc e.

T h e em p lo y e e s sa w th a t th e m o r e d a y w o rk th ey

w e re a ll o w e d t h e le ss o u t p u t th e y w o u ld h a v e to

m a in ta in in o rd e r to k e e p th e a v e r a g e h o u r ly o utp u t

ra te ste a d y . T h e c la im s fo r d ay w or k a ll o w a n c e w e r e

re p o rte d b y th e m e n to th e ir g ro up c h ie f a n d h e a s

w ill b e se e n was in n o p o sitio n to m a k e a n y c h e c k .

.T h e s e p ra c ti ce s h a d tw o re s u lt s. In th e fir st p la ce

th e d ep ar tm e n ta l efficie n c y re c o rd s d id n o t r e p re s en t

t ru e e f fi c ie n c y an d th e re fo re d e c is io n s a s to g rad in g

w e re su b je c t to e rr ors o f c o n sid e ra b le i m p o r ta n ce . In

th e se c o n d p la c e th e g ro u p c h ie f w as p la c e d in a

d istinc tly a w k w a r d p o s itio n .

T h e fin d i n g s o f th e o bse rv e r w e re c on fir m ed b y

te s ts w h i ch w e re m a de a s a p a rt o f th e in v es ti g atio n .

T e sts o f in tellig e n c e fin g e r d e x te rity a n d o th e r

s k il ls w e re g iv e n to th e w o rk ers in th e ro o m a n d th e

re s u lt s o f th e te sts w e re s t u d ie d in o rd e r to d is co v e r

w h e th e r th e re w a s a n y c o rre lat i on b e tw e e n o u t p ut

o n th e o n e h a n d a n d e a rn in g s in te ll ig e n c e o r fin g e r .:

,

fo r e v e ry o n e o f its fe a tu r e s. A n in d iv id u a l s

e a rn in g s w o u ld b e affect ed b y c h a n g e s in h is rate o r

in h is o u tp u t a n d b y c h a n g e s in th e o u t p u t o f th e

g r o u p a s a w h o le . T he o nly w ay in w hic h th e g ro u p

a s a w h o le c o u ld i ncrea se its e arni n g s w a s b y

in c re a sin g its to ta l o u tp u t. is o b v io u s al so th a t th e

e x p e rts w h o d e si gne d th e sy ste m m a d e c e rta in

im p l ic it a ss um p t i o n s a bo ut th e b e h a v i o r o f h u m a n

b ei n g s o r a t le a st th e b e h avi or o f w o rk e rs in a

la rg e A m e ri c a n fac to ry . T h e y a ss u m e d th a t e v e ry

e m p lo y e e w ou ld p u rsu e h is e c o n o m ic in te re st b y

t ryi ng to in c re a s e n o t o n ly h is o w n o utp ut b u t th e

o u tp u t o f e ve ry o th er p e r s o n in th e g r o u p . T h e g r o u p

a s a w h o le w o u ld a c t to p r e v e n t sla c k in g b y a n y o f

its m e m b e rs. O n e p o s sib ility fo r in sta n c e w a s th a t

b y a fe w w e e k s h a r d w o r k a n e m p l o y e e c o uld e st ab

li sh a h ig h r ate fo r hi m sel f. T h e n h e c ou ld sla c k u p

a n d b e pai d o u t o f all p r o p o r ti on w i th t he a m ou n t h e

. a c t ually c o n tribute d to th e w a g e s o f th e g ro u p .

U n d e r th e s e c irc u m sta n ces t he o t h e r e m p l o y ee s

w ere e x p e c te d to b rin g p re s su re to b e a r to m ak e h im

w o rk h a rd e r.

.S u c h w a s th e w a y in w h ic h th e w a g e in cent i ve

sc he m e o ug h t to h a v e w o rk e d . T h e n e x t q u e sti o n is

h o w it a c tu ally d id w ork . A t f ir st th e w o r k e rs w e re

n a t ural ly su spi ci ou s o f th e o b se rv e r b u t w h e n th e y

g o t u se d to h im a n d fo u n d th a t n o thin g o u t o f th e

o r d i n ary h a p p en e d as a re s u lt o f h is p rese n c e in th e

r o o m th e y c a m e to ta k e h im fo r g r a n te d . T h e b e st

e v id e n c e th a t th e e m p lo y e es w e re n o t d istr u s tf u l o f

th e o b s e rv e r is th a t th e y w e r e w il lin g to ta lk f re e ly

to h im a b o u t w h at th ey w e re d o in g ev en w h e n w h a t

th e y w ere d o in g w as n o t str ic tl y in a c co rd w ith w h at

th e c o m p an y e x p e c t ed . C o n v e rsatio n w o u ld ie

d o w n w h e n th e g ro u p c h ie f e n te re d th e ro o m a n d

w h e n th e fo re m an o r th e a ss is t ant fo re m a n e n te re d

e v e r y o n e b e c a m e se ri o u s. B u t n o e m b a r r a s s m e n t

w a s fe lt a t th e p re se n c e o f th e o b s e r v e r. T o a v o id

m isu n d e rsta n d in g it is im port an t to p o in t o ut t hat

th e o b se rv e r w as in n o s e n s e a s p y . T h e e m p lo y e e s

w e r e d e li b e ra te ly a n d o b v io u sly s e p a r a ted fro m

th e ir r eg ula r d ep a r t m e n t. T h e o b s e r v er d id n ot a n d

c o u ld n o t p a ss h i m s e lf o ff a s o n e o f th e m . A n d if

o n ly fr o m th e fa c t th a t a s peci a l in te r v ie w e r w a s

a ss i gne d to th e m t h e m e m b e rs o f th e g r o u p k n e w

th e y w e re u n d e r in v e stig a t i on.

T h e fin d in g s reac h e d b y th e o b s e rv e r w e r e m o r e

d e ta ile d b u t in g e n e ra l c h aract e r th e s a m e a s th o se

9 2 O R G A N I Z A f IO N S A S H U M A N A N D S O C IA L S Y S T E M S I

r



,

more work for th e sam e pay . T hey restrict their

output in order to avoid a rep e titio n o f th is experi-

ence. Perh aps th is explanation holds good in som e

cases, bu t th e fin d ings of the Bank W iring

Observation Room suggest that it is too sim ple . The

workers in the room were obsessed w ith the id ea

th at th ey ought to hold th eir product ion level even from week to w eek , bu t th ey w ere vague as to what

w ould happen if th ey did not. They sa id that s om e-

one would get them . If th ey tu rn ed o ut a n u nusu-

ally h igh output one w eek , that record w ould be

taken thereafter as an example o f w h at th ey c ou ld do

if th ey tr ied, and th ey would b e b aw le d o ut i f they

d id n ot keep up to it . A s a m atte r o f fa ct, n o ne o f the

m en in the room had ever experi enced a reduc ti on of

w age rate s. W hat is m ore, as Roethl isberger and

D ickson poin t ou t, changes in p iece rate s occurmost frequently where th ere is a change in m anufac-

turing process, and changes in m anufacturing

process are m ade by engin eers w hose chief function

is to reduc e u nit c ost w herever th e savin g w il l ju sti fy

th e change. In some in sta nces, changes occur irr e-

spective of d ir ect labor cost . M ore over, w here labor

is a substantial elem ent, re duction of outpu t t ends to

in crease unit costs and in stead of w ard in g off a

chan ge in the piece rate m ay actu al ly induce one.

W hat happened in th e observation room could notbe describ ed as a log ical reaction of th e em plo yees

to th e experience of rate reduction . They had in fa ct

had no such experience. O n the oth er hand , th e

investigators fo und that it cou ld be descri bed as a

conflict betw een th e technical organ ization of th e

p lant and its social organ ization . By technical orga-

nization th e investigators m eant th e p lan , w ritten or

unw ri tten , accord ing to which th e Haw thorn e plant

w as supposed to operate , and the age nc ie s w hich

gave effect to that p la n . The pla n in c lu ded explicit

ru les as to h ow th e m en w ere to be paid, how th ey

w ere to do th eir work , w hat th eir r elations w ith their

superv isors ought to be. It included als o im plicit

assum ptions on which th e ru les w ere based , one of

th e assumptions bein g th at m en working in th e p lan t

w ould on the whole act so as to further th eir

econom ic in teres ts . It is w orth while poin ting out

th at th is assump tio n w as. in fact im pli cit, th at th e

experts w h o d ev ised th e technical org an izatio n acted

upon the assumption w ith out ever statin g it in so

m any word s.

able to do very little to bring about a change. F or

in stance, t he re w as th e m atter of claims fo r daywork

allow ance. Su ch c la im s w ere supposed to be based

on stoppages beyond the control of the workers, bu t

th ere w as no good defin ition of w hat constitu ted

such stoppages. The m en had a num ber of possib le

excuses for c la im i ng daywork allow ance: defectivem aterials, poor and slow work on th e part of other

emplo yees, and s o fo rth . If th e group chief checked

up on one type of claim , th e workers could sh if t to

another. Ino rde r t o decide wheth er o r n ot a p artic u-

la r c la im wa s ju s tif ied , he would have to stan d o ver

th e g ro up a ll d ay w ith a st op wa t ch . H e d id n ot h av e

tim e to do that, and in any case re fu sal to h ono r th e

employees claim s would imply doubt of their

in tegri ty and would arouse th eir hostil ity . The group

chief w as a represen tative of managem en t an d w assupposed to look afte r its in terests. H e ought to have

put a sto p to these practices and report ed them to th e

foreman . But if he d id so , he would , to use th e words

of a short account of the observation ro om by

Roethlisberger and D ickson , lose sympath etic con-

tro l of his m en, and his duties as supervisor w ould

becom e much m ore di ff icult , ? He had to associate

w ith th e em ployees fr om day to day and from hour

to hour. H is task would becom e impossib le if he had

to fight a running fight w ith them . P la ced in th is sit -

uation , he chose to sid e w ith the m en and report

unchanged th eir claim s for daywork. In fact th ere

w as v er y litt le else he could do , even if he w ished .

Moreover he w as in a position to pro tect h im self in

case of trouble. The em plo ye es alw ays had to g ive

h im a reason fo r any daywork claim s th ey m ight

m ake, and he entered the claim s in a pri vate record

book . If anyone ever asked why so much daywork

w as being claim ed, he could throw the blam e

wherever he w is hed. H e could assert that m ateri -

als had been defective or he could b lam e the

in specto rs, w ho w e re m embers of an outside organi-

zation . In still ano th er re spect, th en , th e Bank

W iring Observation Room group w as not behav-

in g as th e logic of m anagem ent assum ed th at it

w ould behave.

R estr iction of outpu t is a common phenom enon

of in dustr ial p lants . It is usually explained as a

h ighly logical reactio n of th e workers. They have

increased th eir ou tp u t, w hereupo n their w age rates

for p iecework have been reduced. They are doin g

. ~94 • ORG AN IZA TIONS AS HUMAN AND SOCIA L SY ST EMS I



I

· ·

n atu re o f th in gs h e is u na ble to sh are m n gement s

p reoccupa ti ons and managemen t does l it tl e t o con

v in ce h im th at wha t h e con sid er s impor ta nt is b ein g

trea ted as im po rtan t a t th e to p-a fa ct w hic h is n ot

s ur pr is in g sin ce th er e is no adequate way o f tr an s

mi tt ing to managemen t an under st and ingo f the con

s ide ra ti ons wh ich seem impor tan t a t t he work l eve l.

Th er e is s ome th in g l ik e a fa ilu re o f c ommun ic atio n

in bo th d ir ec tio n s- upwa rd and downwa rd .

T he w ork er is n ot o nly ask ed to acc ommod ate

h im s elf to c ha ng es wh ic h h e d oe s n ot in itia te b ut

a lso ma ny o f th e c ha ng es d ep riv e h im o f th os e v ery

th in gs wh ic h g iv e me an in g a nd s ig nific an ce to h is

w ork. T he m odern in dustrial w orker is no t the

handic raf tsman of the medieval gu i ld . Never the less

the two have m uch in com mon. The industria l

wo rk er d ev elop s h i s own ways o f doing h is jo b h is

own t rad it ionsof sk il l h is own sa ti sfact ionsin l iv ing

u p to his stan dard s. T he sp irit in w hich he ad opts

h is own in no va tio ns is q uite d iffe re nt from th at in

wh ich he adop ts t hose o f managemen t.Fu r the rmore

he d oe s not do h is w ork as an iso lated h uman b eing

but alw ays as a mem ber of a group un ite d e ither

th rough actual co-oper atio n on the job or through

associat ion in fr iendship . O ne of the m ost important

genera l f in ding s of the W estern E lectri c re searc hes

is the fa ct th at such groups a re cont inually bein g

form ed am ong industria l w ork ers and that the

groups develop cod es a nd loyal ties which govern the

re la tio ns o f the m embers to o ne an other. Though

th ese c od es c an b e q uick ly destroyed th ey are n ot

formed in a moment. T hey are the p roduct of con

t inued routine in te rac t ion be tween m en. Constant

interference w ith such codes is bou nd to lead to feel

in gs o f f ru s tr at ion to an i rrational exasperationwith

te chnical c hang e in any fo rm and u ltim ate ly to the

fo rma tio n o f a ty pe of employee organizatio n such

as w e have described-a system of pra ctices and

belie fs in opposition to th e te chnic al organization .

The Bank W irin g O bservation Room seeme d to

show that ac tion taken in accordance w ith the tech

n ic al organizati on tended to bre a k up th rough c o n

tinual change the routines and hum an associatio ns

which gave w ork its value. The behavior of the

employeescould be descr ibed a s an eff o rt t o p ro tect

them selv es again st such changes to giv e ma nage

m ent th e least poss ib le opportun ity of in terf ering

w ith th em . W hen th ey said th at if th ey increased

1--.

j - :

The aw tho rn e xper imen ts

There existed also an actual socia l situation

w ith in the plant: groups of m en w ho w ere associ

a te d w ith o ne a no th er he ld c on un on se ntim e nts a nd

had certa in relations w ith other groups and other

m en. T o som e extent th is socia l organization w as

id en tic al w ith th e tech nical p la n a nd to some ex te nt

it w as not. For instance the em ployees w ere paid

according to group paym ent plans but the groups

concerned did not behave as the planners expected

th em to b eh av e.

The investigators considered the rela tions

b etw ee n th e te ch nic al o rg an iz atio n a nd th e so cia l. A

certain type of behavior is expected of the higher

levels of m anagem ent. T heir success is dependent

on their being able to devise and institu te rapid

c ha ng es. R oe th lisb erg er a nd D ic kso n d esc rib e w h at

happens in the follow ing term s: M anagem ent is

constantly m aking m echanical im provem ents and

institu ting changes designed to reduce costs or

im pro ve th e q uality o f th e p ro du ct. i s cons tan tly

seeking new ways and new com binations for

increasin g e ffic iency whether in design in g a new

machine instituting a new method of contro l or lo gi

cally organ izin g itse lf in a n ew w ay . The a ssum p

tion has often been made th at th es e changes are

designed t o f orc e the emplo ye e to d o mo re wo rk fo r

less money .A s a m atter of fact m any of t hem h av e

ju st the o pp osite purpose: to imp rove th e conditions

of w ork and enable the em ployee to earn higher

w ages. The impor tan tpo in t here however is n ot th e

purpose o f t h e changes but th e w ay in which they a re

ca rr ied ou t and accepted .

Once the responsibl e o ff ic er has decid ed that a

certain change ought to be made he g iv es a n o rd er

andth i s order is transm i tte d down th e line appro

priate actionbein g ta ke n a t every level. Th e ques tion

in w hic h the in vestigators w ere in terested w as this:

W hat happ en s when th e o rder reaches the m en who

are actual lydo ing th e manual work? Roe th lisberger

a n dD ickso nmake the fo llowingobservat ions : The

worker o c cupies aun ique p o s itio n in th e soc ia lorga

nization . He is at the bottom of a highly stratif ied

organization .H e is alw ays in the positio n of having

to a ccommodate him se lf to c ha nges which he does

n ot o rigina te .A lth ou gh he particip ates le ast in th e

technicalorganization he bears th e b ru nt o f mo st o f

it s activ it ies. It is he more than anyone who is

aff ected by th e decisio ns of management yet in th e



T. N . W hitehead , The In dustr ial W orker, 2 vo ls.),

H arvard University Press, C ambridge, 1938.

1. Roethlisberger a n d W J. Dickson , M a nagement

and th e W orker, H arvard Univ ers ity Pre ss,

Cambr idge, 193 9.

2. J. Roethli sberg er and W J. D ic kson, M anage

m en t a nd th eW orker, H arvardBusiness School:D i v ision

o f R esearch, B usiness Research S tu d ies, No.9 a mono

graph). A ll quotations re lating to the W estern E lectric

researches are from this stu dy as well as from the book of

th e sam e ti tl e by th e sam e authors.)

1 . This research has been desc ri bed i n deta il in a

numberof papers an d in a t least th ree books.The booksa r e :

E . M ayo, The H um an Problem s of an Industrial

C iv il iza tion, The M acmillan Compa ny , N ew York ,

1933.

NOTES

perio dic c onferences w ith the superintendent. They

w ere told what experim ental changes w ere contem

plated; th eir v iew s w ere canvassed , and in som e

in st ance s they w er e a llowed to veto w hat had been

pro p ose d. T hey were p art of an experiment w hich

th ey felt w as in teresting and im por tan t . Bo th g ro ups

develo pe d a n informal social organization , bu t while

the B an k W irem en w ere organized in o pposi ti on t o

m anagement, the R e la y A ssemble rs we re organized

in co-o peration w ith managemen t in th e p ursu it of a

common purpose. Finally , the responses of th e tw o

grou ps to th eir in du stria l situatio n w ere, o n th e o ne

hand , restriction o f o utp ut and , on the o ther, s teady

and w elcom e increase of outpu t. These contr asts

carry th eir ow n lesson.

th eir output, som ething w as lik ely to happen , a

process o f th is so r t w as goin g on in their m in ds. B u t

th e process w as not a conscious one . tis importan t

to po in t o ut that th e p ro tective function of informal

organiza tio n w as not a product of deliberate plan

ning . t was more in the natu re of an automat ic

response. The curi ous thing is that, as P ro fessor

M ayo po in te d out to the C omm it tee , these informal

organizations m uch resembled formal ly organized

labor unions, although the employees w ould not

have recognized the fact.

Roethlisb erger and D ic kson summ arize as

fo llow s the resu lts o f th e intensiv e stu dy of smal l

groups of em ployees: A ccording to ou r a na lysis th e

uniform ity of behav io r m anifeste d by th ese gro ups

w as th e o utcom e of a d is parity in t he ra tes of change

possib le in the tech nic al o rgan ization, on the one

hand , and in th e soc ia l o rgan ization , on th e o ther.

The social sen tim ents and custom s of w ork of th e

em ployees were unable to accommodate them selves

to th e rap id te chn ic al in novation s in tr oduced . The

resu lt w as to in cite a b lind resista nc e to all in nova

tions and to provoke the form atio n of a social

organiz ation at a lower level in opposit ion to th e

technic al organization .

It is curious how , at all po in ts, the Rela y

A ssem bly Test Room and th e Bank W iring Observa

tion Room fo rm a contr ast. In the former, th e

g irls said that th ey felt fr ee fr om the pressure of

superv ision, although as a m att er of fac t th ey w ere

far m ore th oroughly superv ised th an they ever had

been in their regular departm ent. In th e la tter, th e

m en w ere afraid of superv isio n and acte d so as to

null ify it. T he Bank W irem en w ere in the position

of havin g to respond to technical changes which

th ey did not orig in ate. The Relay Assem blers had

96 • ORGANIZATION S AS HUMAN AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS I



_ J~

. 108

Repri nted f~om anage m en t Review November , 1957. Copyri ght © 1957 by Amer ican M anagement A ss ocia tion. R eprinted yperm iss ion of the publisher, Ameri can M anagem ent A ss ocia ti on Intern ati onal , N ew York , NY . A ll rights res erved.

h ttp:/ /www .am an et. o rg,,

2. With resp ect to people, th is is a pro cess of direct

ing their effor ts ,mo t iva ting them , cont roll in g their

actions, modifying their be hav ior to fit th e nee ds

o f th e organization.

3 . W ithout th is ac tive intervent ion by man agement,

people would be pass ive-even resistant-to orga

ni zationalneeds. They must th er eforebe per suad ed,

1 . Man agement is respon sibl e for organi zin g t h e e le

ments of produc tive ente rp rise -money, materi

als, equipment, peo ple-in the inter es t of

eco nomic ends.

Management s T ask: C onventional V iew

The conventional conception o f m an ag ement s

task in harness in g human energy to organizational

re quir ements can be sta te d broadly in term s of three

pro posit ions. n order to avoid the compli cations

in troduced by a label, I shall call this set of proposi

tions Theory X :

[

[ W e know that past concep tions of th e nature

of man are in adequate and in many way s in corr ect.

W e are becom in g quite cert ain that, under proper

conditions, unim agin ed re so urc es of creative human

energy could become available w ithin the organiza

tional setting.

has become tr it e to sa y th at th e most signif icant

developments of the nex t quarter centu ry w il l

take place not n the physical but in the so cia l

sciences, th at in dustry-th e econom ic organ of soci

ety-has the fundamental know-how to uti li ze

physical science and technology for th e materi al

benefi t of mankind, and th at we must now learn how

to util ize th e social sciences to make our human

organizations truly effective.

[

DOUGLAS MCGREGOR

T -HUMAN SI ENTERPRISE



Physiolo gic al and S afety N eeds

Man is a w anting anim al-as soon as one of h is

needs is satisfied, another appears in its p lace. This

process i s unending. tcontinuesfrom b irth to death .

Man s needs are organized in a se ries of levelsa hierarchy of im portance. A t th e low est level, bu t

P erhap s the b est w ay to in dicate w hy the conven

tional a pp ro ac h o f m a na gem ent is in ad equ ate is toconsider the subjec t of motivation . In d i scussing th is

subject I will draw heavily on the w ork of my col

le ag ue , A b ra ham Ma slow of B randeis U niversity.

[

The re a re a ls o d if fi cu lt ie s in t he sof t app roa ch .

It leads freq uently to the ab dication of m anage

m e nt- to h armon y, p erh ap s, b ut to in diffe re nt p er

form ance. People take advantage of the soft

a pp ro ac h. T he y c on tin ua lly e xp ec t mo re , b ut th ey

g iv e le ss a nd le ss .

C u rre ntly , th e p op ula r th em e is firm b ut fa ir .T his is an attem pt to gain the adv antages of b oth

th e h ard an d th e soft ap proach es. t i s remini scent

of T eddy R oosevelt s speak softly and carry abig s ti ck . .

Is th e C onv en tio na l V iew Co rre ct?

The f ind ing s wh i ch a re beginn ing t o eme rge f rom

the social sciences challenge this w hole set of

b eliefs ab ou t m an an d h um an n atu re an d ab ou t th e

ta sk o f m a na gem en t. T he e vid en ce is fa r from c on c lu s ive , c e r ta in ly , bu t it i s s ugge st ive . It c omes f rom

the l abo ra to ry , t he c li ni c, th e s chool room , t h e home ,

a nd e ve n to a lim i te d e xte nt fr om in du str y its elf.

T he social scientist does not deny that human

behavior in industr ia l organiza t ion today is a pp ro xi

ma te ly wha t m anagem en t pe rce ives i t to b e. H e has,

in fa ct, o bse rv ed it a nd stu died it fa ir ly e xtensively .

But he is pretty su re th at th is b eh av ior is not a

consequence of m an s inherent natu re. It is a

consequence rather of the nature of industrialorganiza tio ns, o f m anag em en t p hilo sophy, po li cy ,

and pract ice. The c on ven tio na l a ppr oa ch o f Th eory

X i s bas ed o n m i sta ke n notio ns o f wh at is c ause and

what is e ff ec t.

T he uma n S id e o f n terp rise • 109

T he H ard or the Soft A pproach?

A t one e xtr em e, m anagem ent can be hard or

st rong. Th e m ethods for dir ec tin g b eh av ior

involve coercion and threat (usuall y d is gu is ed ),

c lo se s up er visio n, tight c on tro ls o ve r b eh avior. A t

the other extrem e, m anagem ent can be soft or

weak . T he m e thods for d ir ec ti ng behavior involveb ein g p erm issive, sa tisf y in g people s dem ands,

achieving ha rmony. Then they w ill be tr ac ta ble ,

a cc ep t dir ection .

T h is r an ge has b een fair ly com ple te ly explored

d urin g the past half century , and m anagem en t h as

le ar ne d s ome th in gs fr om th e e xploration. The re a re

difficulties in th e h ard ap pro ach. F or ce b re eds

counte r fo rces : re st ri ct ion of output, an tag on ism ,

m i lita nt unio nism , su btle b ut e ffec tive s abo tag e o f

m anagem ent objectives. This approach is esp eciallydiff icu lt during tim es of fu ll employm ent.

T he h um an side of economic en te rpris e t oday is

fa sh io ne d f rom propositions and b eliefs such as

th ese . Conventional organiza t ion st ructures, m an

agerial policies, practices, an d p ro gram s reflect

these assumpt ions.

In a ccomp li sh ing i ts t ask-w ith these assumptions as guides-m anagem ent has co nceiv ed of a

ran ge o f p oss ib i li ti es be tween two extremes.

8. H e is gu llib le, no t very b rig ht, th e read y d up e o f

th e c ha rla ta n a nd th e d em a go gu e.

7 . H e is by natu re r es is ta nt t o c ha ng e .

6 . H e is in he re ntly s elf- ce nte re d, in dif fe re nt to o rg a

niza t iona l needs.

4 . T he average m an is by nature indolent-he w orks

a s l it tl e a s poss ib le .

5 . H e la ck s a mb itio n, d islik es responsib il ity , p re fe r s

to b e led .

Beh ind th is convent ional th eory t he re a re s eve ra ladd it iona lbe l ie f s- le s s expli ci t, bu t widespread :

r ew a rd ed , p un is he d, c on tro lle d= th eir a ctiv itie s

m ust b e d ire cted . T his is m an ag em en t s ta sk -in

m an ag in g su bo rd in ate m an ag ers o r w ork ers. W e

o fte n s um i t u p by s ay ing t ha t manag emen t c on sis ts

o f ge tt ing t hi ngs done t hrough o the rpeop le .



·- · · · ·· · .. · -· · .1.. .. 1

N either ard nor Soft

The philosophy o f ma na gemen tb y d irection andcontr ol rega rd less o f w he th er it is har d o r s oft is

The Carrot and S tick Appro ac h

The c ar ro t a nd stick th eo ry of m otiv ation [ ... ]

worksreasonably w e ll u nder certain circumstances.

The means fo r sati sfy in g m an s phys io log ica l and

(wi th in l imi ts) his safe ty ne ed s can be provid ed o r

w ithheld b y management. Employment it se lf is sucha m eans, and s o a re w a ge s, w o rkin g conditions, and

benefits. By th ese m eans th e individ u al c an be con

trolled so lo ng as he is str uggling fo r subsist ence.

Man liv es f o r bre ad alone when there is no b re ad.

B u t the carrot and stick th eory does not work at

all once man has r ea ch ed a n ad eq ua te subsistence

level and is mot iv ate d p rim arily by higher needs.

Management cannot provide a man w ith self

respect, or w ith the respect of h is fe llows , or w ith

th e sati sfa ction of needs fo r self-fu lfillm ent. cancre ate conditions such th at he is encourag ed an d

enabled to s ee k su ch satisfa ctio nsfo r h im s elf or it

c an thwa r th im by fa i ling to crea te th ose condit ions.

Bu t t h is creation of conditions is no t control. It

is not a good device for dir ecting behavio r. And so

management finds itself in an odd posit ion . The high

standard of livin g created by o u rmodern te chnolo g

i ca l know -howprov id es quite adequately fo r t he sat

isfact ion of physiologic al and safe ty needs. The only

significant exception is where managemen t p ractic es hav e n o t cre ated conf idence i n a fa ir break

an d th us where safe ty nee ds are thw arted. But by

making poss ib le the sat is fa ction of low -level needs,

m anagem enthas depri ved itself of th e ability to use

as motivato rs th e devices on whic h conventional

theory has taught it to rely-r ewards , p romises,

incentives, or th reats and oth er coercive devices.

;\co ntin ues to fo cus its atten tion o n p hy sio lo gic al

needs, i ts e f for ts a r e bound to be ineffective.

People will make insistent demands for m ore

money under th ese condit ions. It becom es more

im portan t than ever to buy the material goods and

serv ices th at can provide limite d sati sfact ion of th e

thw art ed needs. A lth ough money has only limitedvalu e in satisfyin g m an y higher-level n ee ds, it can

become the fo cus of in terest if it is th e only means

available.

The H um an Sid e o f E nterp rise •

[ We recognize readily enough th at a m a n suf

feri ng from a se vere d ieta ry defi cie ncy is sic k. T h e

deprivation of physiological needs has behavioral

consequences.The same is tr ue-a lthough less w ell

recognized=-o f deprivation of hig her-level needs.

The man whose needs fo r safe ty , a s sociation , i n de

pendence, or statusare thwartedis sic k ju st as surely

as is he who has ri ckets . A nd his sickness w ill have

behavioral conse quences.W e w il l be m istaken if w eatt ribute his re sultant passivity , his hostility , h is

re fusal to accept re sponsib il ity to his in herent

human natu re. These form s of behavior are symp -

toms of illness -of depri vation of his social and

egoisti c needs.

The man whose low er- level needs are satisfi ed

is n ot m otivated to sati sfy th ose needs any lo nger.

For pract ica l purpose s th ey exist no longer. [ ... ]

M anagem en t o ften asks, W hy are n t people more

productive? W e pay good wages, p ro vid e goodworking condi ti ons , have excel len t f ringe benefi ts

and steady employment. Y et people do not seem

to be w illing to put forth m ore than m inim umeffort,

The fact th at m a nagement has provided fo r th ese

physiologica land safety needs has shifted th e mo ti

vational em phasis to the social and perh aps to th e

egois ti c needs. U nless th ere are opportun it ie s at

w ork to s at isfy th ese h igher- levelneeds, people w il l

be deprived ; and their behavior w il l r ef le ct th isdeprivatio n .Under such conditions, if m anagement

Self~Fulf iUmentNeeds

F in ally -a c ap sto ne , a s it were , on the hierarchy

of m an s needs-there are what we m ay call the

needs fo r self -fulfillmen t . These are the needs fo r

re alizin g one s own poten tiali ties, for continued

self -developm ent, fo r bein g creative in the bro adest

sense o f th at te rm .

It is clear that th e conditions of modern li fe give

only lim it ed oppor tun ity for these relatively weak

needs to o bta in e xp re ssio n. The deprivation most

peop le expe ri ence wi th r espect to o th er lower-level

needs d ive rt s t he ir energi es i nto the struggle to s at

isfy those n eed s, a nd th e n eeds fo r s elf-fulfillment

remain do rman t.



ecentr liz tion nd e leg tion b

These are w ays of freeing peop le from th e too- :,~

clo se c on tr ol o f conventional o rgan ization, g iving i f

th em a degre e of fre edom to dir ect th eir own activ i- ~ties, to assum e responsib ili ty , and, im portan tly , to ~

sa tisfy th eir egoisti c needs. th is connection, th e r~

r ~

~ l

[ Consider w ith m e a fe w innovative ideas ;~

whic h are entire ly consisten t w ith Theory Y and .. :.

which are today bein g applied w ith som e success. ,.~ :

v

This is a processprim arilyofcreat ing opportunities,

releasin g potential, rem ovin g obsta cles, encourag

in g gro w th , p ro v iding guidance . [ ... ]

A nd I hasten to add th at it d oe s not involve the

a bd ic atio n o f m a na gem ent, the absence of leader

sh ip , th e lo w ering of standards, or th e o ther charac

teris ti cs usually associa ted w ith the soft appro ach

u nd er T heory X [ ]

Some i ff iculties

The conditi ons im posed by conven tio nal org an i

za tion theory and by th e approach of scie nt ific m an

agemen t fo r the past half c entury have tied m en to

limited jo bs which do not utilize th eir capabilities,

have discouraged the acceptance of re sponsibil ity ,

h av e e ncoura ge d p assivity, h ave e lim inate d m e an ing

fro m w ork. [ ... ]People today are accustom ed to bein g directe d ,

man ipu la ted , cont ro ll ed in industr ial o rganizations

an d to finding satisfactio n fo r their socia l, e go istic,

a nd s elf-fu lfi l lment needs away f rom th e jo b. T h is is

true o f m uch of m anagement as w ell as of w ork ers.

Genu in e industrial c it izenship [ ... ] is a remote

and unrealistic id ea, the m eaning of which has not

e ve n bee n c onsidered by m ost m e mbers of industrial

organ izati ons.

A noth er w ay of say in g th is is that Theory Xp la ce s exclu sive reli ance upon external control of

hum an behavi o r ,whereas T heo ry Y reli es heav il y on

self -control and self -d irection . tis w o rth no ti ng th at

th is dif fere nce is th e d ifference betw een tr eati ng ,

people as children and treati ng th em as m atu re

adults. A fter generati ons o f the form er, w e cann ot

expect to sh ift to the la tt er overnight.

4 . The essentia l task of m anagem en tis t o a rr ange

organizationalconditionsand m ethodsof opera

ti on so th at people can achieve th eir o w n g oals

st by,directingth ir own effortstow ard organ izationalobjecti ves.

3 . Them otivation ,h e potentialfor development,he

capacityfo r assumingresponsibility ,he readin essto d irectb ehav iortow ardorganizationalgoals are

all p resent in peop le .M anagementdoes not put

them th ere. tis a responsibilityo fmanagemento

m ake it possib le for people to recogn iz e a n d

develop th ese human c ha racteristicsfo r them

selves.

. 2 . People are not by nature passiv e or resistant to

organ izatio nalneeds.They have becom e so as a

re sultof experi encen organizations.

1 . M anagem ents responsib lefo r o rganiz in gth e ele

m en ts of p roductiv eente rprise-m oney, m ateri

a ls, equ ipm ent, people-in the in terest of

econom icends.

F or th ese and m any o ther reasons, w e re qu ire a d if

f er en t t heo ry of the task of manag in g peo ple b ased

on m ore adequate assum ptions abo ut hum an nature

and hum an m otivation. I am going to be so bo ld as

to sug gest the broad dim ensions of such a theory .

C all it Theory Y, if you w ill.

IV

inadequa te to motivate, beca us e th e h uman n eeds on

which th is appro ach relies are today unimportant

m otivato rs o f behavio r. D ir ection and control are

essentially useless in m otivating p eo ple w hose

important needs are social and egoisti c . B oth the

hard and the soft appro ach fail today because th ey

are simply irre levan t to th e situation ..

People deprived of opportunities to satisfy at

w ork the needs that are now im portant to them

behave exactl y as w e m ight predict-w ith indo

le nce , pass iv it y , resistance to change, lack of

responsibility , willingness to fo llow the demagogue,

unreasonable demands fo r econ om ic b enefits.

would seem th at w e are caught in a w eb of our own

w eavm g.

112 • ORGANIZ ATIONS AS HUMAN AND SOCIA L SYSTEMS I



[ .. . ] The ingenuity and the perseverance of in dus-

tr ia l m anagem ent in the pursuit o f econom ic ends

have changed m any scien ti fi c and technolo g ica l

dream s in to comm onpla ce rea li ti es . is now

becoming clear th at th e appli ca tion of these sam e

talen ts to th e hum an side of en terp ri se w ill n ot on ly

enhance substantially th ese m aterialis ti c ach ieve-

men ts bu t w ill b ring us one ste p closer to th e good

society . Shall w e get on w ith the job?

the fact that a m anagemen t has b ou gh t th e id ea b ut

applied it w ith in th e fr amework of Theo ry X and its

assumption s.

Delegation is no t an effec tive w ay o f exercis in g

m anagem ent by contr o l. P art icip a tion becom es a

fa rce w hen it is app li ed as a sa les g immick or a

devic e for kidd in g people in to th ink ing th ey are

im portant. O nly th e m anagem ent tha t has confi-

dence in hum an capacities and is it self d irected

tow ar d o rg an iza tional ob jectives ra th er than tow ard

th e p re se rv ati on of personal pow er can grasp the

im p lic atio ns o f th is em erging th eory.

The um an Side of n terp rise • 113

Jo b E nla rg ementThis concept pioneered by l.B .M . and D etroit

Edison is q u ite c onsi sten t w it h Theory It encour-

ages the accep tance of re sponsi bility a t the bot tom

of th e o rg an iz atio n; it p rov id es opportunities for sat-

isfy ing socia l and ego istic needs. In fa ct th e reorga-

n iz a tion of w ork at the factory level o ff er s one o f th e

m ore ch all en g in g oppo r tu n it ies for innovatio n con-

sisten t w ith T he ory [ ]

Partic ipa tion and Con su lta ti veM anagem en t

Under p roper conditions these resu lt s pro v id e

encoura gem ent to people to d ir ec t their crea tive

energ ie s to w ard organ izatio nal objec tives give them

som e voice in decisions th at affect them prov ide

si gn ific an t o pport un iti es fo r th e sa ti sfac tion of social

and ego isti c needs . [ ... ] .

The n ot in frequent fa ilu re of such ideas th ese

to w ork as w ell as expected is often att ribu tab le to

fl a t o rgan iza tion of S ears Roebuck and Company

provides an in tere stin g exam ple. It fo rces m an age-

m ent by object ives sin ce it en larges the num ber of

people reporting to a m anager un ti l he cannot direct

and control th em in th e conventional manne r.



114

Fro m Con tro l to C om mitm en t in th e W orkplace by R ichard E . W alton, Harvard Business R ev iew 1985 M arch-Apri l . Repri n ted bype rm iss ion of Harvard B usiness R eview Copyrigh t © 1985 by th e Harv ard B usin ess Schoo l Publishi ng Corp ora tion; al l ri gh ts

res erved.

th at are co ll ectively responsib le fo r a se t o f related

tasks. E ach team member has th e training to perform

m any o r all o f the tasks for which th e team is

accountab le, and pay re flects th e leve l o f mas tery of

required skills. These team s have rece iv ed assur-

ances that m anagem en t w ill go to ex tr a length s

to p ro vid e cont inued employm ent in any econom ic

downturn . The team s have a lso been thoroughly

brie fed on such issues as m arke t share, p roduc t co sts , _

a nd their im pli ca tions for th e busin ess.

No t surprisin g ly , th is p lan t is a top performer

economically and rate s w ell on a ll m easu res of

employee sa ti sfaction , absen te eism , turnover, and

safety . W ith its em plo yees active ly engaged in

id en ti fy in g and so lv in g problem s, it operates w ith

fewer levels o f m anagem ent and fe wer speciali zed

departm ents than do its sister plants . It is a lso one

of th e p rincipal suppl iers o f m anagem ent ta len t for

The la rger shape of insti tu tional change is

a lways diffic u lt to recognize when one

stands rig h t th e middle o f it. Today ,

th rough o u tAmerican industr y , a significan t change

is under way in long-esta b li shed a pp roaches to the

o rgan ization and m anagem en t of work . A lthough

th is sh ift i n a t ti tude and p ractice takes a w id e variety

of com pany-specific fo rms, it s la rger shape-i ts

overall pa ttern-is alr eady v isib le if one knows

where and how to look .

Consider, fo r exam ple, th e m a rk ed d ifferences

betw een two p la nts in th e chem i ca l p r oducts divi

sion of a m ajor u corporation . They m ake similar

p roduc ts and employ sim ilar technolo g ies, bu t that

is v irtually a ll th ey have in c ommo n.

The first, o rganized by businesses w ith a n iden ti

fiab le product o r produc t l ine , d ivides its employees

in to self-superv isin g 10- to IS -person work te am s

RICHARD E. WALTON

IN THE WORKPLACE

FROM CONTROL TO COMMITMENT

_ _

i



.... -.•.•-.:-. : ~.- 7: -= - - -: - - - - - - : : - : : = : : = : - : = : = :. : : : -_ _ - :- : :. - _ . - _ . .: . ~ - - . . . ~ _ - : _ -- ~ . - . - : : . - : :: - : - - : , - .· : I . . : · · - . - . -: · · 7 . - _ - - : - _ - : - = :.- _ - - : : = :_~_-.,...::-:--~.-.: .-.:-.-.-.--- .. _. - . ' - .. - '.-.-.

The Control St rategy

The tra ditional-or control-oriented-approac h

to w ork-force management took shape d uring the

ea rly part of th is century in res ponse to the d iv i

sio n of w ork into sm all, fi xed jo bs for w hich ind i

v iduals cou ld be held accountab le. The actual

defi ni tio n of jobs, as of accep tab le standards of

perform anc e, rested on low est common denom i

nato r as sum ptions abou t w ork ers sk ill and m otivation. To m onitor and c ontrol effor t of this

assum ed cal ib er, managem ent organiz ed its ow n

re sponsibilities into a hierarchy of specialized

ro les bu ttressed by a top-down allocation of

au thority and by statu s sym bols attached to

posit io ns in the hie rarchy.

Fo r w orker s , com pensat ion follow ed the rubric of

a fa ir day s pay fo r a fai r day s w ork bec au se pre

cise evaluat ions w ere possib le when ind iv id ual job

requirem ents w ere so carefully prescribed. M os tm an ag ers had little doub t that labor w as bes t

thought of as a v ariable c os t, although som e excep

tional com panies gu aran teed job security to hea d off

unio ni zation at tem pts .

In the trad it ional approac h, there w as gener ally

little po li cy definitio n w i th regard to em ploye e voice

unless the work fo rce w as unioni zed , in w hich cas e

dam age control strategies predominated . W ith no

union, m anagem ent relied on an open-door poli cy,

att itu de surv eys, an d sim ilar dev ices to learnabou t employees concern s. the w ork force w as

unionized, then m anag em ent b argained term s of

··

is new (b uilt in 1976) an d the other ol d ?Yes and no.

N ot all new plant s enjoy so fru itfu l an approach to

work organ izatio n; no t all older p lan ts have such

intractab le pro b lem s. Is i t th at one plant is unionized

an d th e o ther not? Again, yes a nd no. The p re senc e o f

a union m ay in stitutiona li ze c onflict and lackluster

per formance, but it seldom causes them.A t issue her e is not so m uch age or unionization

bu t tw o radically different strategies fo r m a nag ing a

company s or a factory s w ork for ce , tw o in compat

ib le v iew s of what managers can rea sonably expec t

of workers and of the kind of par tne rs hip they can

share w ith them . F or sim p li ci ty , I w i ll speak of these

profound d ifferences as ref lecting the choice

betw een a strateg y based on im posin g control and a

strategy based on eliciting commitm ent

ontr o l to o mm itm en t in th e W o rk pla ce • 115

W hat exp lai ns the ex trao rd inary d if fer ences

betw een the p lants ju st described? Is it th at the first

A pPROA CHES TO W O RK-FORCE

MANAGEMENT

thes e o th er p lan ts and for the d iv is ion manu fac turi ng

staf f.

In the second p lant, ea ch employee is res ponsib le

f-o ra fi xed job and is requ ired to perform up to the

minim um standard defined fo r that job . Peer p res

su re keep s new em ployees from ex ceed ing the m ini

m um standards and from taking other initiat ivesthat go beyond basic job requ irem ents . S up ervisors,

w ho m an ag e daily assignm en ts and m onitor per for

m an ce, have long sin ce given up hope for anything

m ore than com pliance w ith standards, find ing suff i

cient d ifficu lty in getting their peop le to perform

adequately most of the tim e. In fac t, they and their

w orker s try to prevent the in d us trial e ngin ee ring

depar tment, w h ic h is und er pres su re from top p lant

m an ag em ent to im prove operations, from usin g

changes i n me thods to ja c k up standard s.A re cen t management cam p aig n to d oc um ent an

a i rt ight case agai ns temployees w h o hav e exces siv e

ab sen teeism or sub-par perform ance m ir ror s

em ployees low morale an d high d istrust of m anage

m ent. A constant stream of formal grievan ces , v iola

tio ns o f p lan t ru les , ha rassm ent o f superv isors, w ildcat

walkou ts , an d even sab otag e has prev ented the p lan t

from reachin g it s productiv ity an d qu ality goa ls an d

has absorbed a d isp roportionate amou nt of d iv is ion

s ta ff t ime . D ea lings w ith the union are characteri zedby contra ct neg otiation s on ec onom ic m atters an d

skirmishe s over issues of managem ent controL

N o responsib le m anager, of course, w ould ever

w ish to encou rage the k ind of situation at this sec

on d p lan t, yet the determ in ation to under stan d its

deeper c au ses an d to attack them at their root does

not com e easily. Estab li shed m odes of doin g things

hav e an in er ti a a ll thei r own. Such an effort is , how

e ve r, in process all across the industr ia l landscap e.

A nd with that ef fo rt comes the possi bi li ty o f a re volu tio n in industrial r e lations every b it as great a s that

oc casioned by the ri se of m ass pro duc ti on the bette r

par t of a centu ry ago. The challenge is clear to th os e

m anagers w illing to see it -and the potential

benefi ts, enormous.



Pro cter Gamble at L im a, Ohio-h ave begun to

show how great and productiv e th e contributio n o f a

tru ly comm itte d work fo rce can be. For a tim e, all

n ew p lants o f th is sort w e re nonunion , but by 1980

th e success of eff orts undert aken jo intly w ith

unions-GM 's cooperatio n w ith the UAW at th e

Cadillac plant in Livonia, M ichigan , for examp le

w as im pre ssive enough to encoura g e ma na gers of

both new and existing fa cilities to rethink their

approach to the work fo rce.

Stim ula ted in part by th e dramatic tu rnaro un d a t

GM 's Ta rr ytown a ss embly plant in th e m id-1970s,

local m anagers and unio n officials are in cre asingly

ta lk in g about common in te rests, workin g to d ev elop

mutual tru st, and agreein g to sponsor quality -of

work-li fe (QWL) or employee in volv ement (E l)

activities. A lth ough most of these ventu res h ave

been in itiated at th e local level, m ajo r exceptions

include th e jo in t e ffor t be tw een the C ommunic ation

W orkers of America and AT Tto promote QWL

throughout th e B ell System and the W-Ford E l

program centrally directed by Dona ld Ephlin of th e

UAW and Peter Pestillo of F ord. In th e nonunion

sphere, th e spiri t o f these new initiatives is evident in

th e d ecision by w orkers of Delta A i rl ines to show

th eir c ommi tm ent to the company by collecting

money to bu y a new p la ne .

M ore recently, a grow in g numbe r o f manuf ac tur

ing companies has begun to remove levels of plan t

hiera rchy, increasemanagers' spans of contro l, i nt e

grate quali ty and production activities at low er

organizational levels, com bine production and

mainten an ce o pera tio ns, and open up new career

possibilities for workers. S om e corp orations have

even begun to chart o rg anizational renewal fo r the

entir e company.Cummins Engin e, for example, has

ambitiously c omm itted its elf to in form employees

about the business, to encourage p ar tic ipation

everyone, and to create jobs th at involve greater

responsib il ity a nd more fl ex ibility.

In this new comm itm ent-b ase d a pp roach to the

work fo rce, jobs are designed to be broader than

before , to com bine planning and im plementation,

and to include ef for ts to upgrade opera tions, not just

maintain them . In div id ual responsib il ities are

expecte d to change a s c on ditions change, a n d team s,

not individuals, often are the org anizational units

accountab le for perform ance. With management.

Since the earl y 1970s, companies have experi

m ented at the plant level w ith a radically different

work-fo rce stra tegy . The more visib le pioneers

among th em , G eneral Foods at T op eka, K ansa s;

General M otors at B rookhaven, M ississ ippi;

Cummins Engin e at Jam estown, N ew York ; and

T OMMITMENT STRATEGY

employm ent and esta b li shed an appeal m echanism .

These activ it ie s f el l to labor relatio ns speciali sts,

w ho operated in dependently from line management

and whose very existence assumed th e in evitability

and even the appropriate ness of an advers arial rela

tionsh ip betwee n w orkers and m anagers. In deed, to

th ose who saw management's exclu siv e obligation

to b e t o a company 's shareowner sand the ownership

of property to be the u ltim ate source of both obliga

tion and pre rogative, th e claim s of employees were

constr aints,no th ing more.

A t th e heart of th is tr aditiona l model is the w ish

to estab li sh ord er, exercise contro l, and achieve

efficie ncy in th e applica tio n o f th e work force.

A lth ough it h as d ist ant a n tecedents in th e b ure aucra

cies of both church and military, the model's real

father is Frederick W .Taylor,the tu rn-of-t he-century

father of scienti fi c m anagement, whose views

about the proper org aniz atio n of work have long

in fluenced management pra ctice as well as th e

reactive policies of the U .S . labor movement.

Recently , however,changing expectations among

workers have prompted a grow ing disil lusionment

w ith the apparatus of control. A t th e same tim e, of

course, an intensified challe ng e from abroad has

made th e c omp etit ive obsolescence of this strategy

clear.A m odelthat assum es low em ploy ee commi t

m ent and that is designed to produce re liable if not

outs tanding performance simp ly c annot m atch the

s tandards of excellence se t b y w orld-c lass compet i

to rs. Especially in a h igh-w age country like th e

United S tate s,m a rk et success depends on a superior

level of performance, a level that, in turn , requires

th e deep comm itm ent, not m erely the obedience-if

you could obta in it -of workers . A nd as painful

experience show s, th is commitm en t c annot flourish

in a wo rk pla ce d om in ate d b y th e fam ilia r m o del of

control.

116 • ORGANIZ ATIONS AS HUMAN AND SOCIA L SYSTEMS I



Because the po tential levera ge of a commitm ent

ori en ted str ategy on perf o rm ance is so g reat, th e

natu ra l tem ptation is to assum e the universa l

applicability of that str ateg y. S om e env ironm en ts,

how ever, especiall y those requiring intrica te te am

w ork , problem so lv in g , organ izatio nal learning, and

self -m onit orin g , are bett er su it ed th an oth ers to the

comm itm ent m odel . In deed, th e p ioneers of th e deep

comm itm ent str ategy-a fe rt il iz e r p lant in Norway ,

a refinery in the U nited K in gdom , a paper mil l

in Pennsy lvania, a pet-food pro cessin g p lant in

Kansas-w ere al l b ased on continuous process tech

no log ies and w ere all capita l- and raw -m ate ri a l

in tensive . A ll p rovided h ig h economic leverage to

im provem en ts in workers sk ill s and attitudes, and

all could off er considerable job chall enge.

Is th e converse tru e? Is th e con tro l stra tegy

appropri a te whenever-a s w ith convicts bre ak ing

rocks w ith sledgehamm ers in a pri son yard-w ork

can be com plete ly prescribed, remain s static, and

call s for individ ual, not group, effort? In practice,

m anagers have lo ng answ ered yes. M ass producti on,

epit omized by th e a ss emb ly li ne, has fo r years been

though t su ita b le for o ld -fash io ned contr ol.

B ut not any lo nger. M any m ass producers, not

lea st the autom akers, have recen tl y been try ing to

reconceive th e structu re of work and to give

em ployees a signifi c a n t ro le in so lv in g problem s and

im prov in g m ethods. W hy? For m any reasons,

in clu d ing to boost in-p lant quali ty , low er war ranty

costs, cut w aste, ra ise m achine utiliza tio n a nd tota l

capacit y w ith the sam e plant and equipm ent, re duce

T COSTS OF COMM ITMEN T

that acknow ledges the legitim ate cla im s of a

com pany s m ult ip le sta keholders-owners, em ploy

ees, custom ers, and th e pu blic . A t the center of th is

ph ilosophy is a beli ef th at e liciting em ploy ee com

mitm ent w il l le ad to enhanced perf o rm ance. The

ev id ence show s th is beli ef to be w ell gro unded . In

th e absence of genu in e c omm itm ent, how ever, new

management polic ies desig ned fo r a comm itt ed

work force m ay well leave a com pany d isti nctly

more vuln erable th an would older poli c ies based on

th e con tr o l. appro ac h. The advanta ges-and risks

are considera ble.

ontr o l to ommitm ent in th e orkp la ce • 117

hiera rch ies relati vely flat and differences in status

m in im ized , con tro l and latera l coord in ation depend

on shared goals , and expertise ra th er than fo rma l

posi tion determines influence .

.P eople Express , to c ite one examp le , st arted up

w ith its m anagem ent h ierarchy l imited to th ree le vels ,

o rganized it s w ork fo rce in to th ree- or four-perso n

gro ups, and cre a ted pos it ions w ith except ional ly b ro ad

scope. Every full-t im e em ployee is manager :

fl ight m anagers are pilots w ho also perf orm dis patc h

in g and safety checks; m ain te nance m anagers are

te chnicia n sw ith oth er sta f f responsibilitie s ;custom er

servicem anagers ta ke care of ti cketing, securi ty clear

ance , passenger boarding, and in-fligh t serv ic e.

Everyone, in cluding th e off icers, is expect e d to ro tate

am ong func tions to boost a ll w orkers understanding

of th e busin ess and to pro mote personal developm en t.

U nder th e comm itm ent strateg y, p erf o rm ance

expecta tions are h ig h and serv e not to define mini

mum standards bu t to provide str etc h objecti ves,

em phasize continuous im provem ent, and reflect th e

requ ir em en ts o f the m a rk etp lace. A ccordingly , com

pensati on po lic ie s reflect less the old formulas of

job evaluation th an th e heightened im port ance of

gro up achievem ent, th e expande d s cope of individual

contr ibuti on , and th e gro w in g concern for such

question s of equity as gain shari ng, sto ck owner

ship , and profit shari ng. This pri ncip le of economic

shar in g is not new . has long p layed a role in D ana

Corporation , w hich has m any unioniz ed p lants, and

is a fundam en ta l part of the stra tegy of People

Express, w h ic h h as no un ion . Today, Ford sees it as

an im portant part of th e c omp any s tr ansit ion to a

commitment strategy.

Equall y im portant to th e commitm en t st ra tegy is

th e chall en g e o f giv in g employees som e a ssurance of

security,perhaps by off ering th em prio rity in tr aining

and retra in in g as old jo bs are elimina ted and new

ones created . G uaran teeing emp lo yees access to due

pro cess and provid in g th em the m eans to be he ard on

such issues as producti on m eth od s, p rob lem so lving,

and human resource polic ies and pra ct ic es i s a lso a

challe nge. In unionized setti ngs, th e additional ta sks

in c lu d e m akin g relations le ss adversarial, b roadenin g

th e ag en da fo r jo int p roblem so lv ing and plannin g,

a nd f ac ili tating em ployee consultation .

U nderly ing all these polic ies is a m anagem ent

philo sophy, oft en embodie d in a publi shed sta tem en t,



..:......-,::-._ : ,-.: :: :-: -: : ,-~ ~-,- -~ I

supervisors are to delegate aw ay most of th eir

tr ad itional functions-oft en w ith out h aving received

adequate tr a in in g and support for their new te am

build ing tasks or havin g their ow n needs fo r voice,

d ign ity , a nd fulfillm ent recognized .

These dilemm as are even visib le in th e new

tit les m any supervisors carry- team advisers or

te am consult ants , for example -m ost of w hich

im ply th at superv is ors are not in th e chain of

command, although th ey are expected to be dire c

tiv e if necessary and assum e functions delegate d

to the work fo rce if they are not bein g perform ed.

Part of th e c on fu sion here is th e f ailu re to d istin

gu ish th e behavio ral sty le re quir ed of superv is ors

fr om the basic responsibiliti es assigned th em .The ir

ideal sty le m ay be advisory , bu t their responsi

bilitie s are to ach ieve certain hum an and econo

m ic outcom es. W ith experience, however, as

fi rst-li ne m anagers becom e more com fortab le

w ith the notion of delegating what subord in ates

are ready and able to perf orm , the problem w il l

d im in is h .

Other difficulties are less tr actable. The new

breed of supervisors must have a level of in terper

sonal s1411a nd c on ce ptual ab il ity o ften lacking in

th e p re se n t s up e rv is ory work fo rc e. Som e compan ie s have trie d t o addre ss this lack by using th e posi

tion as an entry point to m anagem en t for co llege

graduates. T h is a pp ro ach m ay succeed where the

work fo rce has alre ad y acquir ed th e necessary te ch

nica l expert i se ,bu t it b lo ck s a rou te o f advancement

for w o rk ers and sharpens the d iv iding lin e between

m anagem ent and other em ployees .Moreover, unless

the company in tends to o pen up highe r le ve l p osi

tions for th ese coll ege-educated superv isors, they

m ay w ell grow im patien t w ith th e sh if t w ork o f f ir stl in e supervision .

'Even when new superviso ry ro les a r e f illed-and

filled successfu lly -fro m the ranks, d ilemmas

rem ain . W ith te am s developed and fun ctio ns dele

gated, to w hat new challeng es d o they turn to u til ize

fu lly their ow n capabilitie s? Do th ose capabilities

m atch the demands of the o ther m anagerial w ork

th e y m ight ta ke on? few er and few er su pervis ors

are required as their ind ivid ual span of contro l

ex tends to a s ec on d a nd a th ird w ork team , wha t p ro mot iona l oppo rt uniti es ex ist fo r the rest? W here do

th ey go?

ontr o l to omm itm ent in the orkplace 119

purc hased from Genera l M oto rs in 1981, is the

relationsh ip betw een com pensation decisions aff ect

in g salaried m anagers and pro fe ssionals, on th e one

hand, and hourl y w orkers, on th e oth er. W hen th ey

formed the company , workers to ok a 25 pay cut to

m ake th eir bearings com petit ive, but th e m anagers

m ain tain ed and, in cert ain in sta nces in creased, their

ow n salari es in order to help th e com p~y att ra ct and

retain critical tale n t. A m anager' s ab il ity to elicit and

preserv e c omm itm ent, how ever, is sensit ive to issues

of equity , as becam e evid en t once again when GM

and Ford announced huge executive bonuses in the

spring of 1984 w hil e keepin g hourly w ages capped .

Technology

Computer- based technology can reinforce the

contro l m odel or facilita te m ovem ent to the comm it

m e nt m o del. A ppli cations can narr ow the scope of

jobs or broaden th em , em phasize the in d ividual

natu re of ta sks or pro m ote th e work of gro ups, cen

tr alize or decentralize th e m ak ing o f d ecisions, and

crea te pe rfo rmance m easures th at em phasize learn

ing or hierarchical cont rol.

To date , th e effec t s of th is te chnology o n contr o l

and com m itm ent have been largely unintentional

and unexpecte d . Even in organiza tio n s o th e rw ise

purs uing comm itm ent str ategy , m anagers have

ra rely appreciatedthat th e sid e e ff ec ts o f technology

are not som ehow given in the nature of things or

th at they can be activelym anaged . In fa ct, computer

based technology m ay be the least determ in istic ,

m ost flexib le techno lo gy to enter the workplace

sin ce the industria l revolu tio n . A s it becom es less

hardware-dependentand more sof tware- in t ensiveand

as the cost of com puter pow er declines, th e variety

of w ays to m eet business requirements expands,

each w ith a d ifferen t set of hum an implication s.

M anagement h a s ye t t o iden tif y th e potential ro le of

technology policy in the comm itm ent s trate gy , and it

has yet to invent concepts and m ethods to re aliz e

th at po ten ti al.

Supervisors

The comm itm ent m odel requir es first- lin e super

visors to facili tate rather than direct th e w ork force,

to im part rath er th an m erely pra cti ce their technic ala nd a dm in istr ative experti se , and to help workers

develop the ability tom a n age th em selves. In practice,



A lthough som e organizations have ad op ted a com

prehensiv e version of the comm itm ent appro ach,

mos t initially take on a more limited set of changes,

which I refer to as a transit ional stage or approach .

The challenge here is to m odify expectations, to

T TRANSITIONAL ST G

Union-M anagem ent Relatio ns

Some companies, as th ey m ove from contro l to

commitment, seek to decert ify th eir u n ions and, at

the same tim e, strengthen their emp loyees' b on d to

th e company. O thers-l ike GM , Ford, Jones

Laughlin, and AT T-pursue coopera tion w ithth eir unions, believing that th ey need their active

support. M anagement's in tere st in cooperation

inte nsif iedin the late 1970s, as improved work-force

effectiveness could not by it se lf c lose th e competi

tive gap in m any industries and wage c on ce ssions

becam e n ecessary . B ase d on their ow n ana ly sis o f

com petitive conditions, unions sometimes agre ed to

th ese concessio ns bu t expanded th ei r in fluence over

matters pre viously subject to management control.

These developments open up new questions.W here companies a re tr ying to preserv e th e non

union status of some plants and yet prom ote col

laborative union relations in others, w ill u nio ns

in creasingly force the company to choose ? A fte r

Genera l M oto rs saw the potentia l of its join t QWL

program with th e UAW ,it signed a neutr ality cla use

(in 1976) and th en an understa ndin g about automatic

re cognition in new plan ts (in 1979). f fo rced to

choose, wha t w ill oth er m anagements do ? F urther,

w here union and m anagement have collaborated inpromotin g QW L, how can the union prevent man

agement from using t h e program to appeal directly to

the worke rs abou t i ssues, su ch as w age conce ssio ns,

th at a re subject to collective bargaining?

And if in th e spir it o f mutuality , bo th sid es agree

to expand th eir jo in t agen da, w hat new ris ks w il l

the y fa ce ? Do union officials have th e expert ise to

deal e ff ectively w ith new agenda item s like in vest

m ent' pri cing, and te chnology? To support QWL

activitie s, they alr eady have had to expand th eirsk ill s and commit substantial re sources at a tim e

when shrinking employm ent has re duced their

m embership and th us th eir fi nances.

'12D • ORGANIZATIONS AS H UMAN AND SOCIAL SY STE MS I

make cred ible the leaders' stated in tentions fo r

furt her movement, a n d to suppor t the in i ti a l changes

in behavior. These transit ionale f for ts can achieve a

temporary equilib rium , provid ed they are viewed

as part of a movem ent tow ard a comprehensiv e

commitment strategy.

The corners to ne of th e tra ns itio nal stage is th e

volu nta ry partic ip atio n of employees in problem

solv in g gro ups like quality circles. n unionized

organizations, unio n-management dialogue leading

to a jo in tly sponsore dp rogram is a condition fo r th is

type o f em p loyee involvem ent,w h ic h must then be

supportedby additiona l t raining a nd c ommun ication

and by a sh if t in managem ent style . M anagers must

also seek ways to consu lt emp loyees about changes

th at a ff ec t t hem and to assure them that m anagement

w ill make every ef for t to avoid , defer, o r m inimize

la yoffs from higher pro ductivity . W hen volume

related la yoffs or concessions on pay are unavoid

able, the p rinciple of equality of sacrifice must

apply to all emp lo ye e groups, not just the hourly

workforce.

A s a ru le , d uring th e early stag es o f transform a

tion, few im mediate changes can occur in th e basic

design of jobs, the compensation system , or th e

management system it self. It is easy, of course, to

attempt to change too much too soon. A more

commonerr or,e speciallyi n esta b li shedorganizations,

is to m ake only to ken changes that ne ve r r each a

crit ical m ass. A ll too ofte n manag er s try a succes

sio n of te chnique-ori ente d changes one by one: jo b

enrichment, sensit ivity train ing, m anagem ent by

objectives, gro up b ra instorming,qua l ity circles, and

so on. W hatever the benefits of these techniq ues,

th eir value to the organization w ill rapidly d eca y if

the managem ent philosophy-and practice-does

not sh if t accordin g ly .

A diff erent type of enor- oveneaching -may

occur in new ly estab li shed organizations based on

commitm ent pri nciples. In one new plant, managers

allowed too much peer in fluence in pay d ec isio ns; in

another, they underp layed the ro le of first-l ine

superv isors as a lin k in the cbain of command ' in a

th ird , th ey overemphasized learning of new skills.:

and fl ex ibility at th e expen se o f mastery in cri tical

opera tions. These design errors by them selves arenot f ata l, but the organization m ust be able to

m id-course corrections.


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hendel-the-sociology-of-organizations 67/68 _---- .. . . ~.... . . ~~ ... .. .: .

C on tin ued

C ontrol Transitiona l Comm itm ent

o de si gn Individua l at tention Scope of ind iv id ua l . Individu al res pon sibility

p ri nci p les lim ited to per fo rm ing responsib ility ex tended ex tend to upgradi ng

individua l jo bs to up grading sy stem system perf orm an ce.

perf o rm ance v ia

participa ti ve prob lem -

so lving gro ups in

QW L EI and qual ity

circle program s.

Job desig n desk ill s an d N o chan ge trad iti onal Job des ign enhan ce s co nte nt o f

fragm en ts w ork and sep ar ate s job design or acc ountab ility . w ork em phasi zes w ho le task

do in g and th in k ing. a nd c om bines do ing and th ink ing .

A ccou n ta bility fo cused Freq uent use o f team s as

indiv idu al. basic acco un tab le un it.

F ix ed job definitio n . F lex ible defi n ition of du ti esco n tingen t on ch ang ing co nd ition s.

Performance M easured stan dar ds defi ne Emphasis p lace d on h igher s tr etch

expectations m in im um perf o rm an ce. objecti ves w h i ch te nd to be

S tabili ty se en as desirab le dynamic an d ori en ted to th e

m ar ketp la ce.

M an ag em en t Structure tends to be layer ed N o basic chan ges in F la t or gani zati on str uc tu re

o rgan ization : w ith to p-dow n con tr ols approa ches to st ru ctu re w ith m utu al in fl uence system s.

structure system s control o r au thority .

an d sty le

Coord in ation and control Coordination and co n tro l

rely on ru le and pro cedures. based m ore on shar edgoal s values and tr ad ition s.

M ore em phas is on pre ro g- M anagem en t em phasis on p ro blem

ativ es and po s it io n al aut hority . so lv ing and rel evan t in fo rmation

and ex pert ise . Stat us sy mbo ls d istr ibu ted A few visi ble sym bols change. M in im um sta tus differen tial s

to re in fo rc e h ie rar chy . to dee m phasiz e in here nt hierarchy .

Compensation V ar iab le pay w here fe asible Typical ly no bas ic change s in V ariable rewards to c reat e equity

policies to p rovide ind iv idual com penati on conce pt s. an d to re in fo rce g roup ach ievem ent s:

in cen ti ve. gain sharing p rofit sharing .

In d iv idual pay geared In di v idual pay lin ked to sk ill s andt o jo b ev aluation. m astery.

In dow nturn c u ts concen tr a ted Equa lity o f sac ri fi ce among Equal it y o f sacrif ice.

on hourl y payro ll . em pl oyee group s.

Em ploym ent Em ployees re gar ded as A ss ura nc es th at partic ipation A ssura nces th at particip atio n w ill

as su rance s var iab le co sts. will no t in loss o f job . no t res u lt in loss of job .

Ex tr a e ff o rt to avoid lay off s. H igh co mmi tmen t to avo id or ass ist

in reem ploym en t.

P r io ri ty fo r· trainin g and retaining

ex isti ng w ork f or ce.

EXH IBIT 1 0.1 W ork -fo rceSt ra teg ie s

Contro l to Commi tmen t in the W orkpla ce 121

:



most closely resem ble the facto ry. A lthough cleri cal

changes has lagged som ewhat-because th e contro l

model has not produced such overt em ployee dis

affec tion a n d because m anagem ent has been slow to

recognize the im portance of quali ty and productiv ityim pro vem ent- there are signs of a quickened pace

of change in c le rical operations.

O nly a sm a ll f raction of U .S . w orkplaces to day

can boast of a comprehensive comm itm ent str ategy

but the rate of t ransformatio n c on tin ue s to a ccelerate

and th e m ove tow ard comm itm ent via som e expli cit

transit ional stage exte nds to a still larger numb er o f

p lan ts ando f f ices. Th is t ransform ation m ay b e fu eled

by econom ic necessity bu t o th er facto rs are shapin g

and pacing it -ind iv idual leadersh ip in m an agem entand labor ph ilosophical choices o rganiza tio nal

competence in m anag-i ng change a nd cumulative

learn in g fro m change it self .

Unio ns m an ag emen t an d work ers

re define their resp ect ive rol es.

M utu al ity in labo r relations; join t

p lannin g an d p robl em sol ving o

ex panded agenda.

Thaw ing of adversarial

att itu des ; Jo in t Sponsorship

of QW L or E 1 ; emphasis on

common fate .

B usines s dat a shared w idely .

How rapid ly is th e tr ansfo rm atio n in work-fo rce

str ategy summ ari zed in Exhib it 10 .1 occurring?

H ard data are difficu lt to com e by bu t certain tr endsare clear. In 1970 only a few plan ts in th e United

S tates w ere system atically re v ising th eir appro ach to

th e work fo rce. B y 1975 hundre ds of p lants were

in volv ed . Today I estim ate th at at least a thousand

plan ts are th e process of m akin g a comprehensive

change a nd that m any tim es th at num ber are som e

where in th e tr ansit iona l s ta g e.

In the early 1970s p lan t m anagers tended to

sponsor w hat e ffo rts th ere were. Today company

presid en ts are formulating the plans. N ot long agoth e in itiatives w ere experim ental; now they are

policy . E arly change focused on th e blu e-co llar

w ork force and on those clerical operations th at

RATE OF TRANSFORMAT ION

Adversa ri al labor relations;

em phas is on int eres t conflict.

Labormanage ment

rel ations

Busin es s in formation Addit iona l shar ing

di str ib ut ed on strict ly d ef ined of in fo rm at ion .

need to know ba sis .

Employ ee participat ion enco ur age d

on w id e ran ge of is su es . A ttendant

benefits emph as iz ed. N ew conce pt s

of corporate governance .

A ddition of lim ited a d hoc

con sultation mec hanism s.

No change in corporate

go vernanc e.

omm itm en tra nsit iona l

Employ ee input allowed

on relativel y narrow agenda.

A ttendan t risk s emph asi ze d.

M eth ods incl ude open-doorpolicy attitu de surveys

griev ance pr oce dures an d

collective bar gaining in

some organizations .

Emplo yee voice

policies

ontr ol

EXHIDU 10.1 Continued

122 • ORGANIZ ATIONS AS HUMAN AND SOCIAL SYSTEM S I

hendel the sociology of organizations

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