ABSTRACT
Many improvement philosophies and techniques advocated in the past address only parts or aspects of a problem and have failed to be comprehensive and systematic. Rather than merely telling people to work better, it is much more productive to set out clear objectives and to provide motivation. Work-design techniques, on the other hand, advocate seeking absolute measures - starting from zero in terms of materials, labor, and all other cost, and permitting only the minimum required costs. It is natural to want to set standards rationally. It seems to the author, however, that theoretical pursuits tend to become goals in themselves, and people forget that those pursuits are merely a means for rationalizing production. In other words, management can end up subordinated to the pursuit of mathematical methods. The term rationalization sometimes refers simply to making means rational rather than to making goals or ends rational.
