ABSTRACT
In the latter part of the industrial revolution management’s idea of motivating its workers was the use of fear and financial incentives. The first was exercised by the threat of dismissal and the latter by paying piece-work – the more the worker make the more they earn. It is unlikely that in those early days management even though in terms of ‘motivation’. The origins of incentive wage schemes are lost in the mists of antiquity. It has been suggested that as far back as 400 BC the Chaldeans operated such a scheme, but the direct precursor of more modern piece-work systems was the development of ‘home’ work in the sixteenth century when material was supplied by an employer who paid for the work done by the piece. The principal objective of scientific management is to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee.
