Editing Scientific management (section)

== Soldiering ==

Scientific management requires a high level of managerial control over employee work practices and entails a higher ratio of managerial workers to laborers than previous management methods.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} Such detail-oriented management may cause friction between workers and managers.

Taylor observed that some workers were more talented than others, and that even smart ones were often unmotivated. He observed that most workers who are forced to perform repetitive tasks tend to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished. This slow rate of work has been observed in many industries and many countries<ref name="Taylor1911pp13-14">{{Harvnb|Taylor|1911|pp=13–14}}.</ref> and has been called by various terms.<ref name="Taylor1911pp13-14"/><ref name="Taylor1911pp19,23,82,95">{{Harvnb|Taylor|1911|pp=19, 23, 82, 95}}.</ref> Taylor used the term "soldiering",<ref name="Taylor1911pp13-14"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soldier |title=Definition of SOLDIER|website=www.merriam-webster.com|date=8 August 2023 }}</ref> a term that reflects the way [[Conscription|conscripts]] may approach following orders, and observed that, when paid the same amount, workers will tend to do the amount of work that the slowest among them does.<ref name="Taylor1911pp13-29,95">{{Harvnb|Taylor|1911|pp=13–29, 95}}.</ref> Taylor describes soldiering as "the greatest evil with which the working-people ... are now afflicted".{{sfn|Taylor|1911|p={{page needed|date=January 2022}}}}

This reflects the idea that workers have a vested interest in their own well-being, and do not benefit from working above the defined rate of work when it will not increase their remuneration. He, therefore, proposed that the work practice that had been developed in most work environments was crafted, intentionally or unintentionally, to be very inefficient in its execution. He posited that time and motion studies combined with rational analysis and synthesis could uncover one [[Best practice|best method]] for performing any particular task, and that prevailing methods were rarely equal to these best methods. Crucially, Taylor himself prominently acknowledged that if each employee's compensation was linked to their output, their [[productivity]] would go up.<ref name="Taylor1911pp13-29,95"/> Thus his compensation plans usually included [[piece work|piece rates]]. In contrast, some later adopters of time and motion studies ignored this aspect and tried to get large productivity gains while passing little or no compensation gains to the workforce, which contributed to resentment against the system.