A past as participants knew it: piece rates, time study, standard costs, and new technology in the U.S. men's tailored clothing industry

Abstract

This paper condenses 17 personal interviews that were conducted with top executives, middle managers, and union officials in the U.S. men's tailored clothing industry. Each of the interviewees had participatory knowledge about procedures that impact standard cost numbers: piece rates, time study, production standards, and new technology. In summary, the interviews indicate that time study data, the collective bargaining process, skill-level distinctions, and market forces combined to influence standard cost numbers. They reveal that production standards were designed intentionally to be achievable by average workers. These views contrast those presented in several new accounting histories which have argued that piece rates, production standards, and standard costs were imposed on labour without its consent and were implemented for social and ideological purposes as well as economic criteria. Instead, the interview data support the notion that the conflicting interests of capital and labour were accommodated in this unionized industry. Foreign and non-union domestic competitors, declining markets for tailored clothing, and a tradition of bargaining and arbitration combined and contributed to a collaborative approach to the development of accounting-related procedures.