Henry Lawrence Gantt (USA, 1861 - 1819):

Henry Lawrence Gantt (USA, 1861 - 1819)
Reviewed by adminon Apr 01 2013
Rating: 5

Henry Lawrence Gant was born in 1861. He graduated from John Hopkins

College. For some time, Henry Lawrence Gant worked as a draftsman in an iron

foundry.

In 1884, he qualified as a mechanical engineer at Stevens Institute.

In 1887, he joined the Midvale Steel Company. Soon, he became an

assistant to F.W Taylor. He worked with Taylor from 1887 - 1919 at Midvale Steel

Company. He did much consulting work on scientific selection of workers and the

development of incentive bonus systems. He emphasized the need for developing a

mutuality of interest between management and labor. Henry Lawrence Gant made four important

contributions to the concepts of management:

1. Gantt chart to compare actual to planned performance. Gantt chart was a daily

chart which graphically presented the process of work by showing machine

operations, man hour performance, deliveries, effected and the work in arrears.

This chart was intended to facilitate day-to-day production planning.

2. Task-and-bonus plan for remunerating workers indicating a more humanitarian

approach. This plan was aimed at providing extra wages for extra work besides

guarantee of minimum wages. Under this system of wage payment, if a worker

completes the work laid out for him, he is paid a definite bonus in addition to his

daily minimum wages. On the other hand, if a worker does not complete his work,

he is paid only his daily minimum wages. There was a provision for giving bonus to

supervisors, if workers under him were able to earn such bonus by extra work.

3. Psychology of employee relations indicating management responsibility to teach

and train workers. In his paper "Training Workmen in Habits of Industry and

Cooperation", Gantt pleaded for a policy of preaching and teaching workmen to do

their work in the process evolved through pre-thinking of management.

4. Gantt laid great emphasis on leadership. He considered management as leadership

function. He laid stress on the importance of acceptable leadership as the primary

element in the success of any business.

Gantt's contributions were more in the nature of refinements rather than fundamental

concepts. They made scientific management more humanized and meaningful to

devotees of Taylor.