which owned the Bethlehem Steel Co., and several other cor- porations engaged in the iron, steel and shipbuilding business. He was made chairman of the board of directors. After the out- break of the World War in 1914 and before the United States entered it, these companies filled orders for the Allies aggregating between 400 and 500 million dollars. The manufacture of sub- marines for England raised the question of neutrality, but this was solved by shipping parts to Canada, where they were assembled. It was generally understock that German interests made attempts to secure control f the Bethlehem works in order to shut off munitions from the Allies, and a report that Mr. Schwab was offered $100,000,000 for his interest was not only widely published but was given prominence in a reception given to him by the New York Chamber of Commerce, and neither then nor at any other time denied by Mr. Schwab. After America's entrance into the war special attention was given to the speeding up of shipbuilding, and in April 1918, at the urgent request of President Wilson, Mr. Schwab became director-general of the shipbuilding board of the Emergency Fleet Corp. His power of rousing enthusiasm among workers by personal contact began immediately to produce results. The resulting output for 1918 was 410 steel vessels (2,570,077 dead- weight tonnage), 106 wooden ships (376,480 deadweight ton- nage), and 10 composite ships (37,500 deadweight tonnage), a total of 526 vessels. After the signing of the Armistice in Nov. 1918, feeling that his services were no longer required, he resigned from the Emergency Fleet Corp. in Dec. and returned to his position as chairman of the board of directors of the Bethlehem Steel Corp. Later, charges were brought that he had wrongfully used Government money for expenses unrelated to public duties during his tenure of office, but official investigation completely exonerated him. His benefactions include a Catholic church at Loretto, as well as buildings and endowment for St. Francis College; a church at Braddock, Pa., a school at Weatherly, Pa., and a country home on Staten Island, N.Y., for children of the New York Foundling Hospital.
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT This is one of the names
adopted for a certain body of principles and methods of management which have been propounded as applicable to industrial
undertakings, other names being Efficiency Engineering and
Industrial Management. Developed in the United States, main-
ly since about 1905, and particularly in connexion with en-
gineering work, the methods of Scientific Management have
exercised a profound influence on methods of factory manage-
ment in England and on the continent of Europe, as well as in
America. Though applicable to most of the problems of in-
dustrial administration, they have in fact been worked out main-
ly in' connexion with the control of workshop processes.
The theory underlying Scientific Management is briefly that there is " one best way " of doing every act that has to be per- formed in a workshop, and that it is the duty of the management to discover that " one best way " and to make such arrangements as will ensure that it is always carried out. The method of pro- cedure may be indicated by propounding the following three questions :-
1. What are the factors which limit the speed of a particular workshop process or machine?
2. Why is it that the volume of output from a particular process is always less at the end of the week than the product of the speed of the process or of the machine, multiplied by the working hours in the week, would lead one to expect?
3. Why do some workers produce so much more than others work- ing under the same conditions?
An attempt to discover full answers to these questions leads to very far-reaching inquiries, and radical changes in organiza- tion and administrative methods may become necessary if the results of such inquiries are to be put to effective use.
Thus, the investigations prompted by the first question may be expected to lead to modifications of the mechanism and con- struction of a machine to enable it to run faster; to modifications of tools or appliances used; to changes of the material used for machine parts, for tools or for accessory purposes. Changes in the design of the work to be done might also follow, which, while
leaving the product just as suitable for its purpose as before, would enable the process to be carried out faster. A different method of handling the work, the machine or the tools might be developed, involving a new series of motions on the part of the workman which would result in a saving of time. Not only would specific improvements be made of the kind suggested above, but the effect of each of the many elements which influ- enced and limited the speed of a process would be reduced to a law, the knowledge of which would save a great deal of ex- perimentation in applying the process to changed conditions.
Investigation of the second question might lead to equally valuable discoveries. For instance, it might be found that the process was stopped altogether for portions of the working week for such reasons as lack of continuous supply of material to be worked on; changes of the " set-up " of a machine due to change in the nature of the work to be done; breakdowns of the machine; adjusting or sharpening of tools; waiting for instructions and many other possible causes. The attempt to remedy these would lead to the development of methods of work-control and planning. These would aim at ensuring that material was always ready to hand to be worked on; that all work of a like nature was carried through at the one time, to avoid needless resetting of machines; that tools and appliances were ready to hand; that instructions as to the next job were prepared and ready in ad- vance; that the nature of each new piece of work was clearly described and so on. Schemes of periodic inspection or adjust- ment of machines or tools might be indicated in order to reduce time lost through breakdowns.
The third question would lead to the discovery that different workmen had slightly different ways of doing the same thing, and that the ways of the faster workers could be explained to and adopted by the others; that some workers were temperamen- tally more suited to a particular kind of work than others; that some were not trying; that others were trying too hard and were worrying themselves by their failure; that in some cases the re- lations between the workmen and the foreman were happy and in other cases not.
The remedying of these troubles would lead to careful methods of choosing workmen for particular jobs, to ensure that men of suitable temperament as well as capacity and skill were em- ployed; to schemes of instruction for showing the worker exactly what was required of him, and for teaching him the methods which had been found to be the best for carrying out the work in question. A scheme of payment by result might be developed, to give the workman the necessary incentive to ensure that he would profit by the instruction given him and would follow the methods laid down. The methods of control, the relationship of the various grades of personnel and the demarcation of the spheres of authority of the various officers of the workshop might also require rearranging, to allow of the foregoing changes and to ensure satisfactory relations between the workmen and those directing them. Built up on the result of such investiga- tions as have been indicated, a variety of systems of manage- ment have grown up, one emphasizing one factor and another specializing in another direction, and all known by the general description of Scientific Management.
The origin of the movement is traceable to the work of F. W. Taylor, an American engineer, for many years a manager in the works of the Bethlehem Steel Co., Midvale, Pa. His investiga- tions, leading later to the development of his methods and prin- ciples of management, sprang from the attempt on his part to lay down a standard fair day's work and to see that he got it from the men under his control. This led him into a deep analysis of the elements affecting the amount of work that could be done in a given time, and in turn by the kind of steps already indicated to the formulation of his system. One of the largest single pieces of investigation carried through by him was concerned with es- tablishing the laws governing the rate of removal of metal by cutting-tools in a machine. This was carried on at intervals during 26 years. One result of it was the discovery in 1899 of modifications in the composition of tool steel from which the modern high-speed steel was developed. The whole results were
