Techniques of scientific management

Taylor also gave techniques for putting his principles to work on the shop floor.

• Functional foremanship: separate planning from doing. Instead of one foreman, a worker has eight specialists. Under the planning in-charge: instruction card clerk, route clerk, time and cost clerk, and disciplinarian. Under the production in-charge: speed boss, gang boss, repair boss, and inspector.
• Standardisation: setting standards (benchmarks) for materials, methods, tools and work.
• Simplification: removing unnecessary varieties, sizes and grades of products.

Work study finds the best way to do a job:

• Method study: the one best way to do the whole job.
• Motion study: removing needless movements. In brick-laying, the motions were cut from 18 to 5.
• Time study: the standard time for a task. Then the standard task = working time ÷ standard time: for example, at 15 minutes a box, an 8-hour day gives 32 boxes.
• Fatigue study: how often and how long workers need rest.

Differential piece wage system: two rates, one for workers who meet the standard and a lower one for those who do not. For example, ₹30 a unit for 20 units or more, ₹25 below. A worker making 21 units earns 630; one making 19 earns 475. The big gap motivates everyone to reach the standard.

Taylor's ideas live on in modern methods: just-in-time, lean manufacturing, kaizen and six sigma.