It Was More Than a Century Ago That an Engineer

question 385

Multiple Choice

It was more than a century ago that an engineer named Frederick Taylor walked into factories and starting timing workers with a stop watch. He dissected their movements, and organized them more efficiently. The monitoring tool, the 21st century equivalent of Taylor's stopwatch, is the computer. Those of us who use them produce rivers of data describing the hours of our work day. Suppose modern firms pay employees based on the quantity of work completed each day as monitored through computers by managers. How would this solve the principal-agent problem?

• A) through employee incentive pay
• B) through employee ownership
• C) through employee long-term contracts
• D) through employee monitoring

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Definitions:

Absorption Costing

The accounting methodology that integrates all costs related to manufacturing, including direct materials, direct labor, and both forms of manufacturing overhead—variable and fixed—into a product's total cost.

Variable Costing

A financial tracking method that considers just the variable operating costs (direct materials, direct labor, and variable manufacturing overhead) in the pricing of merchandise.

Unit Product Cost

The overall expense incurred to manufacture a single item, encompassing direct materials, direct labor, and overhead costs.

Absorption Costing

Absorption costing is an accounting method that includes all of the manufacturing costs (direct materials, direct labor, and overhead) in the cost of a product.