#iganttbelieveit

[henrygantt2]

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Influenced by the business strategy of entrepreneurs such as Henry Ford who offered high quality products at low prices, Gantt coined the term ‘service’ which in its essence demonstrated the concern a business had for its customers and the wellbeing of its employees, placing the importance of providing affordable and premium goods above profit. Gantt had worked closely with Frederick W. Taylor, another prolific management theorist, who viewed workers as more of a figure in a large-scale operation, rather than as an individual.

Gantt disliked Taylor’s ‘buy low: sell high 'approach to business. Largely for these reasons, Gantt began to separate himself from the work of Taylor opting for a more personal approach to management science, focusing particularly on the role of executives in motivation and efficiency. The privileged role of management should be greatly appreciated by those of you who have been fortunate and deserving of it. Ensure you consider greatly the extent to which you tend to your employees and cater to their needs. Not only this but be certain to carry out your work with great passion, enthusiasm and dignity in order to set an example for those following you. The motivation of employees in the workspace will prove vital in the effectiveness of a business model and so it should be treated with suitable concern. A great business is founded upon the stimulation of its workforce and this can be improved through the attention, care and encouragement shown by managers.

By Conor Smyth 18/11/2022

References:

Corporate social responsibility in the 1920s: an institutional perspective - Author: Richard C. Hoffman

Henry Laurence Gantt | The British Library

Article about the life and work of Henry Laurence Gantt (1861-1919).

[henrygantt2]

The Gantt Chart in Use

The First Five Year Plan- USSR

The first five year plan was created to start rapid and large-scale industrialisation across the USSR (1). The Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSKNH or Vesenka) became the main group for industrial planning, coordinating industrial branches and control of fulfilling plans. Vesenka made a contract with the Walter Polakov Company of New York City in 1929. The owner, Walter N. Polakov arrived in Russia in December 1929. His first assignment was a machine tool factory where over 5,000 workers were employed. He found there were many idle men and machines, excesses of some items and shortages of others in the storeroom, the factory floor cluttered with half-finished products, and the inspector’s table buried under piles of work. It was undoubtedly a chaotic environment.

He proposed the use of the Gantt Chart to improve scheduling and reduce inefficiencies. He was met with resistance at first because of the Russian’s mistrust of Western ideas. However a compromise was reached and he began with the storeroom. Polakov created a daily order of work chart for the storeroom as it was the most pressing problem in the building. He was so successful that he was allowed to create machine-record charts, man-record charts and progress-record charts for the entire factory. 

Under the direction of Vesenka, Polakov moved onto other assignments. It was reported that the Gantt Chart method had led to an annual savings of one million rubles in 1930, in the machine-tool plant, which also reported a 400% increase in output (2).

Construction of the Hoover Dam

In 1928, the construction of the Hoover Dam was authorised by Congress. The Black Canyon Area in Nevada and Arizona was chosen as the sight of construction. Construction began in 1931 and finished in 1936. At the height of the project, 5,251 workers were employed to build the structure. Temperatures often reached 49°C (3). A Gantt Chart was used to plan the construction of the Hoover Dam bypass. The first task marks a milestone in the project which is the start of designing. After design was completed, six separate yet overlapping projects were needed to complete the bypass. Projects were put in order to increase competition and quality, pairing industry capabilities with work requirements (4). The bypass, known as ‘The Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge’ was opened to traffic in October 2010.

That's everything on Gantt Charts. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Signing off,

The Gantt Team

Daniel Roche, 16/11/2022

Reference

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Five-Year-Plans

Daniel A. Wren, 1980, https://www-jstor-org.elib.tcd.ie/stable/257800#metadata_info_tab_contents

Trevor English, 2020, https://www.engineersireland.ie/Covid-19-information-base/the-engineering-behind-the-hoover-dam#:~:text=In%201928%2C%20Congress%20authorized%20the,and%20was%20completed%20in%201936.

Mike O’ Callaghan-Pat Tillman Bridge, Bronze Chart, https://ganttchart.com/history_of_the_gantt_chart/

[henrygantt2]

Task & Bonus System

Where it originated from

Gantt combined the ideas of Halsey and Taylor to produce the Task and Bonus System. The bonus ranged somewhere between 25% and 50% of employees agreed wages regarding their tasks were completed within a given timeframe. Halsey’s idea consisted of giving a basic daily wage to employees while Taylor introduced lower wages for incomplete tasks. Fredrick Taylor created the idea that employees should only be paid if they meet the tasks that they are assigned. Inefficient employees had no place in Taylor’s organisations. Employees were paid a normal wage if they met their tasks while they were paid a lower wage if they didn’t meet their appointed tasks in Taylor’s system.

Fredrick Taylor

Gantt believed that Taylor’s system could be altered slightly as he didn’t think it was fair on slower workers. Gantt implemented the first bonus rate on the 18th of March 1901. This was after Taylor’s methods didn’t impact the workplace as what he expected. Taylor gave instruction cards to employees and implemented his idea of paying employees less if they fail to complete their tasks. This only increased production by a small percentage. Gantt’s strategy proved successful as output in Bethlehem Steel (the firm at which Taylor and Gantt were working at) increased significantly. Output jumped from an average of 1,959,130 pounds per month in 1901 to an average of 2,699,557 pounds per month in 1902. Gantt continued to use this system as it worked well. This was the beginning of a unique strategy in the workplace!!

By Samuel Gammell

References -

Taylor's Differential Piece-Rate Plan and Ganit's Task and Bonus Plans (yourarticlelibrary.com)

Henry Laurence Gantt – Leader in Industry by L.P. Alford

Work, Wages and Profits – H. L. Gantt

[henrygantt2]

Fun Fact Friday

Henry Gantt comes from Scottish lineage. Thomas Gantt and his wife Mary Graham, a Scotswoman, emigrated to the colony of Maryland in 1660 and settled on a plantation known as ‘Myrtle Range’ in Prince George’s Country.

Henry Laurence Gantt, leader in industry, by L.P. Alford

[henrygantt2]

Task and Bonus System - What is it?

Hello Readers, today we are going to be introducing Gantt’s Task and Bonus System. First, we are going to look at what it actually is…

What it is -

The Task and Bonus system was designed by Henry Gantt to encourage more productive behaviour amongst employees and to increase output within an industry. This system involves rewarding employees with a monetary bonus upon completion of their daily tasks. An employer has the responsibility to appoint these tasks to employees for this system to work effectively and successfully. The employer must also decide on the bonus for their employees. This is just as important as deciding what their tasks should be as this drives incentive and is at the heart of the employees’ motivation. The task and bonus system boosted morality within the workplace as workers had it “placed in their power to earn a very substantial increase in wages by a corresponding increase in their productive capacity, and this has given them the feeling that the company is quite willing to reward the increased effort.” (1 – page 88.)

Advantages –

Incentives employees to be more productive.

Increases output for the business as they are now more efficient.

Reduced costs in the long run due to economies of scale.

Greater produce to sell which can lead to more revenue earned.

Limitations –

Potentially a slight disincentive to work as employees are comfortable on minimum wage.

Potentially overpaying employees as the tasks that they complete may not be worth as much as the extra wages employees are receiving. However, this is up to the employer to ensure that employees are getting paid the equivalent to the value of the additional work they are doing.

Deciding on what employee’s tasks should be, is time consuming for employers. It also may be difficult to ensure that these tasks are fair for all employees.

Our Thoughts –

The Task and Bonus System has been proven to work efficiently. When Gantt had originally introduced this system into the workplace, there was an instant jump in production. We can see why employees would enjoy this system and it’s evident that it gives a morality boost in the workplace. The Task and Bonus System is definitely a win for both business owners and their employees!

By Samuel Gammell, 03/11/22

References –

 Henry Laurence Gantt – Leader in Industry by L.P. Alford

Work, Wages and Profits – H. L. Gantt

How to Calculate Bonuses for Employees in 2021 | Eddy – Picture only

Stay tuned to see where the Task and Bonus System originated from and the story behind it!!

[henrygantt2]

Developments in Gantt Charts

With the rise of technology and computers, Gantt Charts have moved away from paper and can now be displayed using computer software. This allows projects to be updated in real time with greater accuracy and gets rid of the need to draw a new chart if there are changes in plans. Continual change is a feature of most projects, so the use of computers to graph Gantt Charts greatly enhances their capabilities. It is no longer required to redraw the chart with every change in plans which is undoubtedly a laborious process which leads to time wastage in itself, something the Gantt Chart strives to overcome. With the aid of computer software, Gantt Charts can be created, amended and printed in a very short amount of time. Today Gantt charts are mostly used for tracking project schedules. They clearly display the interdependencies of different tasks at hand. With the use of colour, each task can clearly be differentiated and identified, making it even more accessible to all stakeholders in a business (1). An example of a modern Gantt Chart can be seen below (Fig. 1.). The progress of each project can be seen by the darkly coloured bars. In this way, we can easily tell whether a task is completed, ahead of schedule or behind 

Fig. 1. (2)

Is the Gantt Chart enough?

In modern day business, all managers strive to improve efficiencies and cut costs as much as possible. However, is a Gantt Chart enough to display the information for a plan? The short answer is no. Typically a Gantt Chart displays;

The dates of projects and their timeline

Project Tasks

Milestones in a Plan

The dependencies between plans

All of this information is undoubtedly necessary for a successful project, however, it is not enough. Things that must be included in a project plan which are not included in the Gantt Chart include;

What is the point of the project?

Who is involved in the project and what are their individual responsibilities?

When will meetings take place?

How will major decisions be made and by whom? (2)

This information is of utmost importance when creating a plan and undertaking a project. However, that is not to say the Gantt Chart isn’t useful. Gantt Charts are a powerful tool which condense and summarise information into an accessible visual graph for all. The most important information is displayed on a Gantt Chart. This allows decisions to be made quickly based on the chart, rather than spending extraneous time on leafing through pages of information which is not necessary for the decision at hand.

Our Own Gantt Chart

Many websites can be used to create Gantt Charts. We created our own sample chart for the production of bee hotels in less than 10 minutes! The different colours signify different things.

Purple- In progress

Blue- Planned

Teal- New

Yellow- In Review

In this way we can clearly see each task, its relationship with other tasks and the stage it is at in relation to time. This is why Gantt Charts are so useful for every business! It is completely free. Some useful websites include;

Clickup.com

Monday.com

Trello.com

We used Wrike.com to create our own chart for free. So what’s stopping you! Get planning!

Our Opinion

It is undoubtedly true that Gantt Charts have kept up with the changes in time. They are just as applicable to the business world now as they were one hundred years ago, if not more! Gantt Charts have become more complex but their core idea remains the same: to display facts against time in a concise manner. 

Come back in two weeks for the final post on Gantt Charts, where we explore the different applications of them and the famous projects they were used on. If you are not already convinced of their usefulness as a management tool, you will be left in no doubt of how they have revolutionised the world after our last post.

Regards,

The Gantt Team

References

(1) https://www.gantt.com/, Roger Duke, 2022.

(2) https://www.clearpointstrategy.com/how-to-create-a-gantt-chart/, Source of image.

(3) https://pmtips.net/article/components-project-plan, Brad Egeland, 2011

Daniel Roche, 19/10/2022

[henrygantt2]

Industrial Efficiency

I hope you readers are keeping well and enjoying the blog’s progress. In today's post, we’ll give you a brief introduction to the concept of Industrial Efficiency, and how Henry Gantt was exposed to it.

Industrial efficiency is defined as, the ability of a manufacturer to produce a good while spending as little money as they can, while still making a profit. It basically means everyone and everything working as well as they can, but most importantly for as little expense too. It involves all aspects of the company, purchases, production, expenses, time and sales. He aided businesses and groups to become more efficient through the use of his brilliant Gantt Charts, focussing on maximising time use, as well as the Task and Bonus System. Industrial Efficiency once was, and remains still, a key fragment of Gantt’s overall outlook on management science, and is focused upon in many major companies today.

Gantt graduated from John Hopkins University in 1880, notably just after the start of the industrial revolution in America. His choice of specialisation, in my opinion, gives us an insight into his fascination with efficiency, and his obsession with maximising a company’s output. He decided upon working as a mechanical engineer, and pursued work in a steel company. This setting, combined with his college degree gave him a unique first-hand perspective into the world of industry. It is interesting also to note that while he worked at Midvale Steel, he operated under none other than the renowned Frederick Taylor. Taylor is perhaps the most famous of all Management Scientists. Gantt’s tenure with Taylor, in my opinion, undoubtedly stimulated a reaction in Gantt to explore and to find his own theories in Management Science.

In next week’s post, we’re diving into Gantt’s view on Industrial Efficiency, and how he thought it best implemented. Stay tuned people.

By Brian Gaffney

28/10/2022

References:

https://archive.org/details/industrialleader00gantuoft/page/n15/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater

https://www.bl.uk/people/henry-laurence-gantt

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/industrial-revolution.asp

https://www.proquest.com/docview/208193848?fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar

[henrygantt2]

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Gantt pushed the idea that it was the obligation of businesses to serve the people in their community. This element of social responsibility saw an increase in popularity following the rise of communism in the early 20th century, and would become an essential aspect of the ideologies and hypotheses put forward by Gantt in his book ‘Organising for work’, 1919. He believed that the role of a business was more important than the accumulation of profit stating also how he believed that businessmen have ‘forgotten that his business system had a foundation in service, and as far as the community is concerned has no reason for existence except the service it can render’.

Over 100 years later and the same statement is applicable to modern business. The exploitation of workers, fuels and materials remains a considerable problem today, arguably more so than during the time of publication of Gantt’s works. It is vital when running a business to consider that the roots of your organisation lie in service to the community and if this is not the primary devotion of such an organisation then ‘the community will ultimately make the attempt to take it over in order to operate in its own interest.’ It can be beneficial for those in managerial roles in a business to take the time to consider if the firm is still fulfilling its main objective in service. Particularly amidst the current economic climate, adopting strategies which prioritise the community and environment before revenue should exhibit advantages for all parties in the long run.

References;

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17511340710715179/full/html

https://www.bl.uk/people/henry-laurence-gantt

By Conor Smyth 26/10/2022