SOCI 302: SOCIOLOGY OF ORGANIZATIONS Spring 2012 INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION: MODERN INDUSTRY AND SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

How did industrial organization change between the 19th and 20th centuries? Technologically: A change from Handicrafts to manufacturing to factory production Organizationally: the introduction of scientific management

Characteristics of manufacture (Karl Marx) In manufacture, production is divided into various operations Labor is also divided in terms of the quality/type of work done This is different from both Handicraft (artisanal) production, and Factory production (modern industrial production)

Manufacture, cont’d Increasing division of labor in production as a result of technological changes: Manufacture divides workers into skilled an unskilled groups of workers For both groups of workers, the cost and length of training is shorter than in the case of artisanal production Value of labor power (as well as wages) falls Surplus value (profits) for the capitalist increases

Marx’s observations on Manufacture “Manufacture converts the laborer into a crippled monstrosity” “The individual is made the automatic motor of a fractional operation.” The functions of the labor power of the worker can only be exercised in the workshop of the capitalist. The manufacturing laborer becomes an appendage of the capitalist’s workshop Detail workers become part of the machines

Factory production (Marx) “In handicrafts and manufacture the workman makes use of a tool; in the factory, the machine makes use of him.” “The technical subordination of the workman to the uniform motion of the instruments of labor and the peculiar composition of the body of workpeople, consisting as it does of individuals of both sexes and all ages, give rise to a barrack discipline, which is elaborated into a complete system in the factory, and fully develops the labor of overlooking.”

Cont’d “The place of the slave-driver’s lash is taken by the overlooker’s book of penalties. All punishments naturally resolve themselves into fines and deductions from wages.”

Frederick Winslow Taylor “Scientific management”

Taylor How to organize factory work and manage blue-collar workers in order to increase productivity and efficiency?  Scientific management replaces the old “management of initiative and incentive” Time-motion studies Subdivision of production process into “tasks”

Taylor’s 4 principles of scientific management (Scientific Management (1911)) The management should 1- develop a science for each element of man’s work, which replaces the rule-of-thumb method 2- scientifically select, train, teach and develop the workman 3- ensure that the workmen do the work according to the “scientific method” 4- create a division of labor between the management and the workers

More on principle 4 Development of rules, laws and formulae which replaces the judgment of individual workmen Planning ahead each aspect of the production process  subdivision of labor Tasks: specification of what is to be done, how it is to be done and the time allowed/required for doing that act

What do you think of Taylor’s depiction of worker Schmidt who handles pig iron in Bethlehem Steekworks? In what areas have Taylor’s principles been implemented?

Harry Braverman’s critique of Taylor (Labor and Monopoly Capital (1974)) Principles of modern management according to Braverman 1- Dissociation of the labor process from the skills of the workers Labor process will not depend on the abilities and knowledge of the workers, but on the practices of management

Braverman’s 2nd principle 2- Separation of conception from execution of the act of work The labor process is to be planned (conceived) only by management, and never by the workers “systematization of knowledge” is in fact the removal of knowledge that workers already have through experience to the level of management (this is similar to Karl Marx’s notion of alienation of labor)

Braverman’s 2nd principle, cont’d Division of the production process into small tasks by the management results in -- de-skilling of labor -- cheapening of labor -- complete control by the management over the labor process

Braverman’s 3rd principle 3- management’s use of the monopoly over knowledge to control each step of the labor process and its mode of execution

How would you criticize Braverman’s critique of Taylor?

Marx and E.P. Thompson In order to contextualize Braverman’s critique of Taylor, let’s have a look at Marx’s concepts of labor power, labor process and alienation. In order to historicize Taylor’s concern with scientific management, we can have a look at the emergence of time-discipline in industrial society (E.P. Thompson)

Labor Labor is a process in which both human beings and Nature participate. The factors of work: Personal activity, work itself Subjects of labor: raw materials, soil, water, air Instruments of labor: things that are interposed between the laborer and the subject of his work. Examples: tools, implements, roads, workshops, machines, etc. Means of production: both instruments of labor and the subjects of labor

Labor power Labor power: mental and physical capabilities existing in a human being, which he/she exercises whenever he/she produces a use-value Labor power is a commodity under two conditions: -- its owner, the laborer, must sell it in the market -- its owner must be obliged to sell it in the market This happens only in a capitalist economic order.

Value of labor power: value of the means of subsistence necessary for the maintenance of the laborer This is determined in terms of the labor value of the subsistence commodities that the laborer has to buy in order to reproduce himself/herself as a laborer (eat, dress, procreate, etc.) Marx’s labor theory of value: Value of any commodity is measured in terms of the labor time necessary to produce it

Labor process Labor process: Human action with a view to the production of use-values Labor process in capitalism: Laborer works under the control of the capitalist who has bought his/her labor power The product belongs to the capitalist

Surplus value Capitalist’s goals are Produce use-values that have value in exchange  commodities Produce a commodity whose value is greater than the commodities used in its production  surplus value

Surplus value Constant capital = C Variable capital =V Surplus value: S S/V= rate of surplus value = surplus labor/necessary labor Necessary labor time: time in which the worker produces the value of his labor power Surplus labor time= surplus labor: the portion of the workday above the necessary labor time

Alienation Alienation of labor is a consequence of production relations under the institution of private property. Under capitalist production relations, labor power is a commodity that is bought and sold.

Elements of the alienation of labor The products of his/her labor do not belong to the worker. His/her own activity in production doesn’t belong to the worker; her/his own activity becomes alien. Human beings are distinguished from animals because they have consciousness. And therefore they have conscious and creative activity. With their labor, human beings create things, create their own subsistence. But, under capitalist production, human beings become alienated from their own humanity.

Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism E.P. Thompson: British social historian The Making of the English Working Class (1967)

Time, Work discipline Sense of time was culturally specific in agricultural and pastoralist societies Cycles of planting, harvesting, pace of animal husbandry Clocks were rare until the 18th century

A new sense of time emerged with the advent of industrial capitalism How was time graded in craft workshops and artisanal workshops? Saint Monday

How did time come to be graded and calculated in industrial workshops and factories? Length of working day Length of lunch time Negative attributes of idleness, drinking and laziness

External pressures to conform to time and work discipline The use of clocks in workplaces Supervision of work Internalization of work discipline and time “time is money” “Protestant ethic”