WHY STUDY history of work?

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Cuthbert Chase
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1 WHY STUDY history of work? Knowing where we come from essential to going forward. Old ways of doing work intertwined with new but persist. Exs: Guild structures (union halls, professional assns); Drive system (oppressive supervisors) Decline of middle mgmt vs. days w/o managers How have our issues been handled in the past? Discretion, control, skills, new technology

2 CRAFT KNOWLEDGE & TACIT SKILLS, developed on the job resists reduction to written-down steps, rules cumulative, experience based

3 Types of Craft Knowledge, Tacit Skills knowledge of material properties, equipment Betty bouncing the wires knowledge of qualities of products (product specialists)

4 Types of Craft knowledge continued skills in relationships with others salesclerks with irritated customers cultivating relationships with key support personnel Both types entail skills in solving nonroutine problems machine repair, trouble shooter, problem solver

5 I. PRECAPITALIST WORK Follow Text re Work during Roman empire. Earliest Guilds Inherited occupations Slavery mixed with high skilled guildsmen

6 A AD: FEUDAL SOCIETY and the MANORIAL SYSTEM 1. ARRANGEMENT OF LAND, RIGHTS (Lord and peasants or serfs) 2. DIFFERENT NOTION OF PROPERTY THEN

7 Stages coming: Guilds Putting-out system Drive system Inside contractors Piece Rates Scientific management =====9th=====13th=======17=====19===20 Century [crude time line]

8 II. WORK IN THE TRANSITION TO CAPITALISM

9 Q1) Active listening exercise for this lecture #ed heads division of labor: Pair 1: identify significant features of each stage Pair 2: track 1+ difficulties each stage experienced. Fill out as we go.

10 Coming.Quiz over Hist1 lecture Q1)Fill in this table. Each row belongs to one of the systems described in this lecture. Name Major difficulty with: Significance of: A) Guilds?? B) Putting out?? C) Early Factories?? D) Drive system?? E) Inside Contracting?? F) Piece Rates?? G) Scientific Mgmt??

11 A. Two types of GUILD SYSTEM (10th century into the 16,17th century)

12 18th Century: CRAFT GUILDS: th Century: a. Guild= Association of masters of shops of same type in a town b PERSONNEL of a shop (indentured) apprentices -> journeymen -> masters c. WORK OF A GUILD quality!; just price =; work/fam/leisure not separated d. CRAFT SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

13 Guilds (Continued) e. GUILD (craft) CONTROL OF WORKPLACE anti-competitive, work shared, regulated tech, volumes, # of workers. f. PROBLEMS ==> ITS DECLINE too many Journeyman for growing markets guilds can t adapt to new economy

14 Legacies (significance) of the guilds 1) apprenticeship programs in craft unions 2) W. Europe skilled craft focused education, job training systems 3) NOT GUILD-like but.variants of learning on the job a-) work-study programs (engineering; tech work) b-) internships c-) clinical rotations; practice teaching d-) others??

15 2. ABOUT MERCHANT GUILDS Traders, coordinators of scattered production.

16 B. THE PUTTING-OUT SYSTEM B. ( s 1800s roughly) ) ALSO CALLED COTTAGE INDUSTRY OR DOMESTIC INDUSTRY 1. WHAT IT WAS; INDUSTRIES FOUND IN (textiles, shoes) 2. Significance: helped undercut REMAINDER of GUILD SYSTEM (paid by piece) 3. PROBLEMS ==> ITS DECLINE payment in kind continued vs. by piece holiday pace --> not much volume produced. Merchants really had no control over this.

17 C. Review: EARLIEST FACTORIES: CREATING WAGE LABOR (US 1814->; Engl factory from manufactory =made by hand! (no machinery basis at its start) >; Engl 1720->) 2. Purpose: central assembly of workers more control over work than in Putting Out. 3. PERSONNEL (skilled, unskilled Women/Child)

18 Early factories continued: 4. LOGIC of = Div of Labor + Babbage Principle Separate out the parts of craft work and pay in proportion to the skill required for each. e.g., cheapen its individual parts ) 5. Its wage labor replaces putting out laborers 6. Yet depended on skilled crafts to organize work 7. LABOR PROBLEMS" here can t grow: management a failure scarce, reluctant labor...

19 D. LOGIC OF WAGE LABOR. a. Free labor vs. indentured but protected b. Workers start losing control of way work is done c. External discipline was hard to comply with

20 E. 19th Century America: Traditional Enterprise Local and Regional Economies Scarce labor Early technology holds back economic development Simple hierarchy Unmet demand for high volume production Small scale production; artisans dominant; putting-out system

21 Wednesday next: submission of hard-copies of take-home question 1) if you plan to write your answer in the bluebook, ignore this. 2) Cover page required: Name and Alpha # in upper right hand corner (Note Alpha number from overhead) 3) Show your title (indicating your YES, NO position) in the center of the cover page 4) Start your answer on the next (inside) page. 5) Paperclip your COVER PAGE TO REST OF ANSWER PAGES. (No staples, please)

22 More about the answer pages 6) Only place your Alpha # in the top right hand corner of that page. No name! 7) Please do NOT submit a printout from the conference 8) Reason..fairer evaluation of answers w/o regard to who did prior work or not Also 9) formatting control will be better but 10) but omit any reference to this being a second or final draft on the answer materials per se.

23 III. WORK IN EARLY CAPITALIST WORKPLACES:

24 Pre-management period employment relationships ( )

25 A. DRIVE SYSTEM: FOREMEN 1. Foremen's functions included: hire/fire; set $ rates, drive the workers. 2. Legacy of Foremen s Empire harsh supervision->turnover,lost production --> better way to control work?

26 B. INSIDE CONTRACTING 1. LEGACY OF PUTTING OUT SYSTEM 2. THE SETTING: 3. WHAT IT WAS INDUSTRY EXAMPLES OF ITS USE: 5. SIGNIFICANCE OF INSIDE CONTRACTING WHY AND HOW IT FADED...

27 C. PIECE RATES 1. CHARACTERISTICS OF: by piece, or based wage + % over minimum quantity 2. HISTORIC LEGACY: anti-guild, from putting -out

28 Piece rates continued 3. DIFFICULTIES WITH PIECE RATES Rate setting a mess. Deception, cut rates more so 4. SIGNIFICANCE(S) OF PIECE RATES Little increase in control; lot of records to keep 5. PAVED THE WAY FOR: Scientific Mgmt, machine-paced work, MORE clerks!

29 IV. WORK IN THE EARLY CAPITALIST WORKPLACES

30 Early Management Period

31 A. SYSTEMATIC MANAGEMENT A. SYSTEMATIC MANAGEMENT 1. WHAT WAS IT? (1st by engineers) Early cost accounting, inventory control, central purchasing, incentives ($bonus) 2. CONDITIONS BRINGING IT FORTH Abuse of foremen; depression--> interest in mgmt, plants growing, # of trained engineers.

32 B. SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT B. SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT 1. TAYLOR ARRIVES ON THE SCENE ( 95) 2. Assumptions: workers will soldier ; but also will work for more $$ 3. PROCEDURES/ TECHNIQUES a. Time/motion study --> skilled work reduced to simple,few task jobs; no training needed b. wage standards; differential piece rate =more work->more $/piece c. Functional (specialized) foremen:

33 Taylor continued 4. CONSEQUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS: a) focus on improved efficiency with existing machine technology; b) focus on reorganizing work processes, not mechanization c) need low skills, $ only motive, labor seen as plentiful, interchangeable -->labor a commodity d) Contrast! : Ford s substitution of machinery for labor.

34 History of work: from the guilds to Taylor Another motivation for this material Garson cites Taylor (120 so far)(165-7 in Ch 7 to come) Tried to show what Taylor and scientific management grew out of

35 Quiz over Hist1 lecture Q1)Fill in this table. Each row belongs to one of the systems described in this lecture. Name Major difficulty with: Significance of: A) Guilds?? B) Putting out?? C) Early Factories?? D) Drive system?? E) Inside Contracting?? F) Piece Rates?? G) Scientific Mgmt??

36 end of hist1.ppt

Factories and Workers

The Industrial Revolution Factories and Workers Main Idea The transition from cottage industries changed how people worked in factories, what life was like in factory towns, labor conditions, and eventually