Shop Management

106 SHOP MANAGEMENT roughing machines, and who were working under the bonus system when the writer left them, about 95 per cent, were handy men trained up from laborers. And on the finishing machines, working on bonus, about 25 per cent, were handy men. To fully understand the importance of the work which was being done by these former laborers, it must be borne in mind that a considerable part of their work was very large and expensive. The forgings which they were engaged in roughing and finishing weighed frequently many tons. Of course they were paid more than laborer’s wages, though not as much as skilled machinists. The work in this shop was most miscellaneous in its nature. Functional foremanship is already in limited use in many of the best managed shops. A number of managers have seen the practical good that arises from allowing two or three men especially trained in their particular lines to deal directly with the men instead of at second hand through the old style gang boss as a mouthpiece. So deep rooted, however, is the conviction that the very foundation of manage- ment rests in the military type as represented by the principle that no workman can work under two bosses at the same time, that all of the mana- gers who are making limited use of the functional plan seem to feel it necessary to apologize for or explain away their use of it; as not really in this particular case being a violation of that principle. The writer has never yet found one, except among the works which he had assisted in organizing, who came out squarely and acknowledged that he was