DEFINITION OF PUNISHMENT.—­The word “punishment” is defined as—­“pain, suffering, loss, confinement, or other penalty inflicted on a person for a crime or offense by the authority to which the offender is subject,” with synonyms, “chastisement, correction, discipline.”

The word punishment, as will be noted later, is most unfortunate when applied to what Scientific Management would mean by a penalty, though this word also is unfortunate; but, in the first place, there is no better word to cover the general meaning; and in the second place, the idea of pain and suffering, which Scientific Management aims to and does eliminate, is present in some of the older forms of management Therefore the word punishment must stand.

REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS RESULT IN ACTION.—­There can be no doubt that a reward is an incentive.  There may well be doubt as to whether a punishment is an incentive to action or not.  This, however, is only at first glance, and the whole thing rests on the meaning of the word “action.”  To be active is certainly the opposite of being at rest.  This being true, punishment is just as surely an incentive to action as is reward.  The man who is punished in every case will be led to some sort of action.  Whether this really results in an increase of output or not simply determines whether the punishment is a scientifically prescribed punishment or not.  If the punishment is of such a nature that the output ceases because of it, or that it incites the man punished against the general good, then it does not in any wise cease to be an active thing, but it is simply a wrong, and unscientifically assigned punishment, that acts in a detrimental way.

SOLDIERING ALONE CUTS DOWN ACTIVITY.—­It is interesting to note that the greatest cause for cutting down output is related more closely to a reward than a punishment.  Under such managements as provide no adequate reward for all, and no adequate assurance that all can receive extra rewards permanently without a cut in the rate, it may be advisable, for the worker’s best interests, to limit output in order to keep the wages, or reward, up, and soldiering results.  The evils of soldiering will be discussed more at length under the “Systems of Pay.”  It is plain, however, here that soldiering is the result of a cutting down of action, and it is self-evident that anything which cuts down action is harmful, not only to the individual himself, but to society at large.

NATURE OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.—­Under all types of management, the principal rewards consist of promotion and pay, pay being a broad word used here to include regular wages, a bonus, shorter hours, other forms of remuneration or recompense; anything which can be given to the man who does the work to benefit him and increase his desire to continue doing the work.  Punishments may be negative, that is, they may simply take the form of no reward; or they may be positive, that is, they may include fines, discharge, assignment to less remunerative or less desirable work, or any other thing which can be given to the man to show him that he has not done what is expected of him and, in theory at least, to lead him to do better.