The Gain Was Always Shared · Chapter Five

Twenty-One Defects in a Thousand

Ammanuel Santa Anna · ORCID 0009-0008-3244-0306

Chapter Five of The Gain Was Always Shared: Gainsharing from the Scanlon Mill to the Kitchen Table.

Abstract

Here is a number worth holding in the hand. At a manufacturing company studied by Larry Hatcher and Timothy Ross, defective products ran at twenty point nine three per thousand shipped while the plant paid its people by individual piecework. After the company ended piecework and introduced a plant-wide gainsharing plan with a structured system for employee ideas, the figure was two point three one per thousand. That is a fall of roughly nine-tenths. It was measured by interrupted time-series analysis over more than four years of objective data, which means the authors looked for a change in the trend at the moment of the intervention rather than simply comparing two averages. They also found a significant fall in grievances at the same moment, and surveys taken two months before the change and fifteen months after showed better perceptions of teamwork and more concern for performance.

Read the PDFRead the whole bookdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989511

Cite this chapter

Santa Anna, A. (2026). Twenty-One Defects in a Thousand. In The Gain Was Always Shared. Luminous Prosperity Inc. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23989511

@incollection{santaanna2026the5,
  author    = {Santa Anna, Ammanuel},
  title     = {Twenty-One Defects in a Thousand},
  booktitle = {The Gain Was Always Shared},
  chapter   = {5},
  publisher = {Luminous Prosperity Inc.},
  year      = {2026},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.23989511},
  url       = {https://business.hautelumiere.life/library/the-gain-was-always-shared/05-twenty-one-defects-in-a-thousand/}
}

References

  1. Hatcher, L., & Ross, T. L. (1991). From individual incentives to an organization-wide gainsharing plan: Effects on teamwork and product quality. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 12(3), 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030120302
  2. Schuster, M. (1984). The Scanlon Plan: A longitudinal analysis. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 20(1), 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/002188638402000107
  3. Kaufman, R. T. (1992). The effects of Improshare on productivity. ILR Review, 45(2), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979399204500208
  4. Bullock, R. J., & Tubbs, M. E. (1990). A case meta-analysis of gainsharing plans as organization development interventions. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 26(3), 383–404. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886390263011
  5. Kim, D.-O. (1999). Determinants of the survival of gainsharing programs. ILR Review, 53(1), 21–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979399905300102

Every chapter of The Gain Was Always Shared

  1. Chapter OneWho Holds What a Firm Learnsdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989505
  2. Chapter TwoThe Mill That Asked Firstdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989508
  3. Chapter ThreeWhere the Gain Goes Missingdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989509
  4. Chapter FourA Firm Has a Circulationdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989510
  5. Chapter FiveTwenty-One Defects in a Thousanddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989511
  6. Chapter SixTalk Is the First Returndoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989514
  7. Chapter SevenPromises, Prices and the Operating Roomdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989515
  8. Chapter EightThe Field Manualdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989517
  9. Chapter NineHow to Know It Workeddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989518
  10. Chapter TenThe Hard Conversationsdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989519
  11. Chapter ElevenOne Person's Gaindoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989520
  12. Chapter TwelveThe Gain Was Always Shareddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989521
  13. AppendixThe Workbookdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989522

The other books in the library

  1. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyCash Asleep in the Buildingdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989319
  2. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyChange That Staysdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989557
  3. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business Methodology · Book TwoEarneddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989328
  4. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IEnough by Designdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989348
  5. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyLuminous Integral Leadershipdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989368
  6. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Morphic Marketing SeriesLuminous Morphic Marketingdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989389
  7. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business Methodology · Book OneMindful Leadership Masterydoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989430
  8. Ecstatic EconomicsOwning the Workdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23988988
  9. Ecstatic EconomicsThe Channel Keeps Itdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989022
  10. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Customer Already Told Youdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989055
  11. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IIIThe Economy That Keeps Becomingdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989451
  12. Ecstatic Economics · Volume VThe Embedded Marketdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989474
  13. Ecstatic EconomicsThe Long Clockdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989072
  14. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Manager's Weekdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989102
  15. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IIThe Pasture Was Never Emptydoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989523
  16. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Price Nobody Chargeddoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989120
  17. Ecstatic EconomicsThe Second Briefdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989141
  18. Ecstatic Economics · Volume IVThe Standing Forestdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989542
  19. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyThe Strategy That Reaches the Floordoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989179
  20. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyWhere the Flow Stopsdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989196
  21. Ecstatic Economics · The Luminous Business MethodologyWho Decidesdoi:10.5281/zenodo.23989215

The licence

Free to read, share, quote, translate and teach, non-commercially, for ever, under the Luminous Library Licence 1.0. Every other right is the Author’s. Deposited on Zenodo in the Luminous Prosperity community.