homemoney to purchasehow That is really the contribution of work study to management practice. 'Scientific Management' an intimidating phrase is simply the scientific study of work. It analyses it into basic elements and seeks to improve the worker's performance in each of the elements. Another somewhat lengthier definition is : 'The systematic, objective and critical examination of all the factors which govern the operational efficiency of any specific activity in order to improve it.' There is much controversy today about work study and a sizeable literature on the subject. Clearly, with the new technologies being brought about by automation, controversy will rage the more shrilly in the future. The point is that work study in its least controversial aspect recognizes a basic fact which is that work needs to be thoroughly studied if the worker, who is a human being, is to be given the best chance to fulfil himself. Whether the worker is confined to carrying out individual operations or whether he or she does better doing the whole job alone or in a team is a refinement of a question too large to be discussed. The fact remains that a big revolution in management practice took place when human work was looked at systematically. Today it has been shown that work study applies to every form of industrial activity the design office, the bank, and the insurance company no less than the brewery or the engineering plant. 'Activity sampling' as it is called in the more rarified atmosphere of the laboratory or drawing office can lead to as much improvement as method study and work measurement in a production shop. Information standard information that is on methods and times for carrying out, in the best way, repetitive operations are of great benefit in ensuring not only some technical procedures but provide a firm and equitable basis on which incentive payments can be made where management and unions are in mutual agreement. It might be well here to make a distinction between motivation and incentive. The two are difiPerent. An incentive is something that someone offers to someone else. A motivation is within a person : it is very often an irrational, inexplicable impulse or instinct. A worker is motivated to work better for reasons that do not necessarily stem from incentives handed to him from outside. Indeed one of the puzzling subjects facing management is the fact that higher productivity very often comes from workers receiving relatively low rewards from management and who, it must be assumed, are motivated by considerations of which pay is but one element. This is not to say that pay, except in a tiny minority, is not still the priority. It is arguable, however, whether a person's motivation for productivity will be changed by a wholly money incentive and especially today when most basic material needs are being satisfied. personal finance