The Bedaux system quantified and ranked worker efficiency to speed production

Evidence

Th e Bedaux system consisted of a wage incentive scheme “based upon the scientifi c measurement of human labor” (ibid., 324) that could track eff ort expended by the worker and could rank their effi ciency, speed up production, and eliminate idle time. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1712

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Bedaux system, a Taylorist wage-incentive scheme adopted by 49 Italian and 225 British firms by 1937.
• SHARE: A colleague interested in labor process theory or scientific management would enjoy this quantitative detail about a now-obscure wage scheme.
• XREF: connects to: System theory’s true goal is performativity, optimizing input-output ratios — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on…, 148; Flexibility means instantly adapting labor and machinery to market demand — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 154; Maximum productive efficiency can serve the perpetuation, not abolition, of necessary labor — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 147 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Flexibility means instantly adapting labor and machinery to market demand #qualifies (0.80) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 154
• System theory’s true goal is performativity, optimizing input-output ratios #expands (0.75) — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 148