Promptness Always an Added Incentive. — There are many kinds of life work and modes of living so terrible as to make one shudder at the thoughts of the certain sickness, death, or disaster that are almost absolutely sure to follow such a vocation. Men continue to work for those wages that lead positively to certain death, because of the immediateness of the sufficient wages, or reward. This takes their attention from their ultimate end. Much more money would be required if payment were postponed, say, five years after the act, to obtain the services of the air-man, or the worker subject to the poisoning of some branches of the lead and mercury industries.
If the prompt reward is incentive enough to make men forget danger and threatened death, how much more efficient is it in increasing output where there is no such danger.
Immediate Reward Not Always Preferable. — There are cases where the prompt reward is not to be preferred, because the delayed reward will be greater, or will be available to more people Such is the case with the reward that comes from unrestricted output.
For example, — the immediacy of the temporarily increased reward caused by restricting output has often led the combinations of working men to such restriction, with an ultimate loss of reward to worker, to employer, and to the consumer.
Rewards Possible of Attainment by All. — Every
man working under Scientific Management has a chance to win a reward. This means not only that the man has a "square deal," for the man may have a square deal under Traditional Management in that he may have a fair chance to try for all existing rewards. There is more than this under Scientific Management. By the very nature of the plan itself, the rewards are possible of achievement by all; any one man, by winning, in no way diminishes the chances of the others.
Rewards of Management Resemble Rewards of Workers. — So far the emphasis, in the discussion of reward, has been on the reward as given to the worker, and his feeling toward it. The reward to the management is just as sure. It lies in the increased output and therefore the possibility of lower costs and of greater financial gain. It is as positive; it is as predetermined, because before the reward to the men is fixed the management realizes what proportion that reward will bear to the entire undertaking, and exactly what profits can be obtained. It is a fundamental of Scientific Management that the management shall be able to prophesy the outputs ahead. It will certainly be as personal, if the management side is as thoroughly systematized as is the managed; it will be as fixed and as assured, and it certainly is as prompt, as the cost records can be arranged to come to the management every day, if that is desired.
Results of Such Rewards. — There are three other advantages to management which might well be added here. First, that a reward such as this attracts the best men to the work; second, that the
reward, and the stability of it, indicates the stability of the entire institution, and thus raises its standing in the eyes of the community as well as in its own eyes; and third, that it leads the entire organization, both managed and managing, to look favorably at all standardization. The standardized reward is sure to be attractive to all members. As soon as it is realized that the reason that it is attractive is because it is standardized, the entire subject of standardization rises in the estimation of every one, and the introduction of standards can be carried on more rapidly, and with greater success.
Rewards Divided into Promotion and Pay. — Rewards may be divided into two kinds; first, promotion and, second, pay. Under Scientific Management promotion is assured for every man and, as has been said, this promotion does not thereby hold back others from having the same sort of promotion. There is an ample place, under Scientific Management, for every man to advance. [3] Not only is the promotion sure, thus giving the man absolute assurance that he will advance as his work is satisfactory, but it is also gradual.[4] The promotion must be by degrees, otherwise the workers may get discouraged, from finding their promotion has come faster than has their ability to achieve, and the lack of attention, due to being discouraged, may be contagious. It is, therefore, of vital importance that the worker be properly selected, in order that, in his advancement and promotion, he shall be able to achieve