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The Progressive Era

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The Progressive Era, which occurred during the twentieth century, was the industrialization and improvement of the nation. Some of the transformations that occurred during this period were in manufacturing and labor forces. The twentieth century altered production systems from being primitive to being modern and efficient. Towards the beginning of the twentieth century industrialization increased rapidly and mass production became more common. Henry Ford presented the first automobile assembly line as a method of producing cars more quickly, and much of the automobile industry adopted this technique. The assembly line of production spread all across the country to various different industries allowing them to convert to mechanized production. …show more content…
Although the assembly line was created and the amount of time needed to produce a car decreased, the levels of output were still below expectation. The key causes behind this shortcoming are the inexperienced and unskilled workers and those whose restlessness and dissatisfaction with the job was conveyed through the awfully high rates of turnover and absenteeism. Working the assembly line was “so monotonous and physically exhausting,” that workers would usually quit after a few days (Platt). The turnover and absenteeism rates increased so significantly that Ford and his administrative team recognized the large amounts of money they were losing from this and were desperate to cut the costs. In a desperate attempt to reduce the high worker turnover and absenteeism rates, on January 5, 1914, Henry Ford announced to the public that workers’ hours would be reduced from nine to eight hours a day. In addition, workers would be paid five dollars a day (Platt). The five dollar wage was not only to ensure the company that it would be able to obtain and retain workers, but that the workers would be able to purchase what they are producing themselves. In this instance Henry Ford “revolutionized how workers get paid” …show more content…
“The purpose of the five-dollar wage and eight-hour day was only in part to secure worker compliance with the discipline required to work highly productive assembly-line system” (Harvey 126). The wage increase was also a strategy to share profits with the workers and to reconstruct immigrant workers’ lives both culturally and socially, and to guarantee that workers’ personal lives did not affect their productivity for the assembly line production. Ford believed that “he was not only an economic entrepreneur but a prophet of proper living” (Watts). In 1916, the Sociological Department was established in which inspectors would visit the homes of workers to ensure they were living up to “corporate needs and expectations” (Harvey 126). Resulting from the Sociological Department was the Ford English School, which was an attempt to break down the language barrier between workers in the factory. If the worker met the standards of the department, the worker would receive both their wage and profits. Ford assumed if the worker’s home environment is healthy then the worker would perform better at work. If a worker’s family relationships were in good standing then they would be more efficient at work and consequently increase

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