Efficiency Methods
An Introduction to Scientific Management

56 EFFICIENCY METHODS foreman can hardly be considered the eighth authority in each individual shop. Before describing any modifications of this plan, which have already been tried, it will be as well to return to Taylor’s essential contention—that specialized men for these different functions are much more easy to find than is a foreman of the old- fashioned type. The best-laid schemes for organiza- tion of a shop may well go wrong if they depend on securing an unusual man, who might well be said to be “ born, not made,” and even then requires some years’ training. And it is a remarkable fact that apart from the modification of the foremen being a feature in scientific management, it has been the theme of many other suggestions in the in- dustrial world, proposals of various kinds to relieve him of some branches of his work. Bosses with much fewer essential qualifications, who can com- pass more specialized work, are to be found in most establishments without difficulty, and they can be trained to their special work in much less time. The number and nature of the foremen recom- mended in Taylor and Thompson’s “ Concrete Costs ” is not exactly the same as the above. Certain engineering establishments working on the new methods have found it more convenient to specialize the machines first, and to collect in one shop or part of a shop machines of the same kind and size. One foreman can then be put in charge of all machines of the same type, and he can act for these as both *