Assignment Task: Review the following:
Factory Owners Establish Discipline for Workers
Employers and overseers in the new factories needed workers who would labor in rhythm with the machines and according to the demands of industrial capitalism. To these ends, they instituted rules and disciplinary measures. The following document discusses such measures, which went into effect at a Berlin factory in 1844.
In every large work, and in the coordination of any large number of workmen, good order and harmony must be looked upon as the fundamentals of success and therefore the following rules shall be strictly observed.
The normal working day begins at all seasons at 6 a.m. precisely and ends, after the usual break of half an hour for breakfast, an hour for dinner, and half an hour for tea at 7 p.m., and it shall be strictly observed....
Workers arriving 2 minutes late shall lose half an hour's wages; whoever is more than 2 minutes late may not start work until after the next break, or at least shall lose his wages until then.
Repeated irregular arrival at work shall lead to dismissal. This shall also apply to those who are found idling by an official or overseer and refused to obey their order to resume work.
No worker may leave his place of work otherwise than for reasons connected with his work.
All conversation with fellow workers is prohibited; if any worker requires information about his work, he must turn to the overseer or to the particular fellow worker designated for the purpose....
From: Sidney Pollard and Colin Holmes, Documents of European Economic History, vol. 1 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1968).
Analyze the Source:
What problems do employers face, as suggested by these rules?
What do you think of these rules?
2 References, Please