The Principles of Scientific Management

FUNDAMENTALS OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT 29 should in no way be confused with the principles themselves. It is not here claimed that any single panacea exists for all of the troubles of the working-people or of employers. As long as some people are born lazy or inefficient, and others are born greedy and brutal, as long as vice and crime are with us, just so long will a certain amount of poverty, misery, and unhappiness be with us also. No system of manage- ment, no single expedient within the control of any man or any set of men can insure continuous pros- perity to either workmen or employers. Prosperity depends upon so many factors entirely beyond the control of any one set of men, any state, or even any one country, that certain periods will inevitably come when both sides must suffer, more or less. It is claimed, however, that under scientific manage- ment the intermediate periods will be far more prosperous, far happier, and more free from discord and dissension. And also, that the periods will be fewer, shorter and the suffering less. And this will be particularly true in any one town, any one section of the country, or any one state which first substi- tutes the principles of scientific management for the rule of thumb. That these principles are certain to come into general use practically throughout the civilized world, sooner or later, the writer is profoundly con- vinced, and the sooner they come the better for all the people.