Under Scientific Management Measurement Determines the Task. — An important aim of measurement under Scientific Management is to determine the Task, or the standard amount of any kind of work that a first class man can do in a certain period of time. The "standard amount" is the largest amount that a first class man can do and continuously thrive.
The "first-class" man is the man who can eventually become best fitted, by means of natural and acquired capabilities, to do the work. The "certain period of time" is that which best suits the work and the man's thriving under the work. The amount of time allowed for a task consists of three parts —
1. time actually spent at work.
2. time for rest for overcoming fatigue.
3. time for overcoming delays.
Measurement must determine what percentage of the task time is to be spent at work and what at rest, and must also determine whether the rest period should all follow the completed work, or should be divided into parts, these parts to follow certain cycles through the entire work period.
The method of constructing the task is discussed under two chapters that follow, Analysis and Synthesis, and Standardization. Here we note only that the task is built up of elementary units measured by motion study, time study, and micro-motion study.
When this standard task has been determined the worker's efficiency can be measured by his performance of, or by the amount that he exceeds, the task.
Qualifications of the Observer or Measurer. — The position of observer, or as he has well been called, "trade revolutionizer," should be filled by a man specially selected for the position on account of his special natural fitness and previous experience. He also should be specially trained for his work. As in all other classes of work, the original selection of the man is of vital importance. The natural qualities of the successful hunter, fisherman, detective, reporter and woodsman for observation of minute details are extremely desirable. It is only by having intimate knowledge of such experiences as Agassiz had with his pupils, or with untrained "observers" of the trade, that one can realize the lack of powers of observation of detail in the average human being.
Other natural qualifications required to an efficient observer are that of being