Reading Comprehension

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, both managers and workers in America's large-scale factories sought to reorganize the human relationships involved in industrial production. The authority of foremen and the autonomy that skilled craftsmen had customarily exercised in the direction of their own work and that of their helpers came under attack from two directions at once, as the scale and complexity of industrial enterprises grew. From one side, the craftsmen themselves developed increasingly collective and formal practices for the regulation of their trades, both openly through union work rules and covertly through group-enforced codes of ethical behavior on the job. The rapid growth of trade union strength in most sectors of the economy between 1898 and 1903, the eagerness of workers to undertake massive strikes to obtain or preserve union recognition, such as the coal strike of 1897, the steel and machinists' strikes of 1901, the meat packing strike of 1904, and the revival of sympathetic strikes all increased the ability of skilled workers to impose their union work rules and standard rates (minimum wages) on their employers.

From the other side, the owners and managers of large enterprises developed more direct and systematic controls over the production side of their firms. By the end of the 1890s many metallurgical, textile, and machinery-making companies had erected new plants, which were well adapted to the unencumbered flow of materials through successive operations, introduced large numbers of specialized machines, developed careful methods of cost accounting, and experimented widely with systems of incentive pay, which, the managers hoped, would entice their workers to greater exertion. After 1900, a veritable mania for efficiency, organization, and standardization swept through American business and literary circles.

The scientific management movement of Frederick Winslow Taylor and his disciples was the articulate and self-conscious vanguard of the businessmen's reform effort. Although fewer than thirty factories had been thoroughly reorganized by Taylor and his colleagues before 1917, the essential elements of their proposals had found favor in almost every industry by the mid- 1920s. Those basic elements were as simple as they were profound: (1) centralized planning and routing of the successive phases in fabrication, (2) systematic analysis of each distinct operation, (3) detailed instruction and supervision of all workers in the performance of their discrete tasks, and (4) incentive wage payments carefully designed to induce workers to do as they were told. All of these points undermined the traditional autonomy of the craftsman, and the last three were incompatible with the wage scales and work rules of trade unions. As its impact spread, therefore, the scientific management movement not only clashed frontally with the growing power of trade unionism but also exposed basic weaknesses in the craft-based structure of American unionism and inspired many workers to experiment with new forms of struggle.

1.The author makes all of the assertions below about incentive wage payments EXCEPT

• A.they were intended by managers to increase individual worker production
  B.they weakened the traditional autonomy of the skilled worker
  C.they were part of the scientific management movement proposals
  D.they were compatible with union wage scales and work rules
  E.they led to massive strikes such as the coal strike of 1897 and the steel and machinists' strikes of 1901

2.The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions?

• A.Who was the articulate and self-conscious vanguard of the skilled workers and foremen?
  B.What were the new forms of American unionism the scientific management movement inspired?
  C.What activities increased the bargaining ability of skilled workers in their negotiations with factory owners and managers?
  D.Which union work rules had the greatest impact on the autonomy of skilled workers and foremen?
  E.How many factories had been reorganized by Taylor and his colleagues by 1925?

3.Which of the following does the author imply were concessions workers won from their employers but that also tended to decrease their own autonomy and authority?

• A.sympathetic strikes
  B.union work rules
  C.codes of ethical behavior
  D.minimum wages
  E.centralized planning

SOURCE - BTG

1. IMO D
2. IMO C
3. IMO E

OA 1.A, 2.C, 3.B

Siva, please check OA for Q1

1.OA given is A BUT i can see A is clearly mentioned "managers hoped, would entice their workers to greater exertion" and OPPOSITE OF D is mentioned "last three were incompatible with the wage scales and work rules of trade unions" so D should be Answer

2. Ans is C because of last line of Para 1

3. Ans is B as mentioned in "craftsmen themselves developed increasingly collective and formal practices for the regulation of their trades, both openly through union work rules and covertly through group-enforced codes of ethical behavior on the job." and NOW READ 2nd para "owners and managers of large enterprises developed more direct and systematic controls over the production side of their firms."

Exactly Vikram, May be I think I made a mistake while posting the answers. My Bad sorry for the typo.

Thanx Siva