Industrial Progress and Human Economics Part 4

A faster pace will not be advocated, for the present gait is overstrenuous. We hope, however, to point out a way by which good results may be obtained with, moderate effort.

If, in the past, the brain has been found wanting, we should not lose confidence in its reliability until we have seen how it has been managed.

Under some conditions its interpretations are absolutely correct; in fact, under all conditions that would be called fair in testing other kinds of mechanism.

Unfortunately, these conditions have not always existed. Opinions regarding important matters have been formed when accurate mentation has been impossible.

Physical Condition of Worker.

If the use of the machine induces either an adverse mental att.i.tude or physical condition of the worker, it will sooner or later be adverse to the economic success of the machine.

We have indicated some of the problems and have suggested the well-known method of mental control for this purpose. A keen observer of men and machinery may not require as much of the so-called practical experience; another may need many years of actual work.

The practical experience in the various departments of machine construction, its sale and its use, is undoubtedly almost absolutely necessary for the average man in this work.

Its value is primarily to give an opportunity to see things in actual operation. The shop affords an opportunity to see how a machine stands up to its work, where it is weak, and a thousand and one points that can best be seen in actual operation. But there is still another phase that is comprehended more readily by the practical experience, and this applies to the various departments of business as well as to the works. It is the knowledge of the men and their mental make-up and att.i.tude.

A keen observer soon realizes that successful life in the machinery world will not come easily to any one who lacks a good understanding of others in the field.

Capacity for New Ideas.

The a.s.similating capacity of the industrial world is the real gauge of the progress which should be indulged in. This capacity to take in new ideas and to work by new methods is not the same in all beings, and it is not the same in all organizations. There are ways by which it may be measurably increased. New views are more readily digestible if presented by enthusiastic advocates, as this stimulates an interest. Any attempt to forcibly inject new ideas only results in indigestion.

The a.s.similating capacity of an industrial organization can be greatly increased by any scheme that awakens an interest. The controlling policies should include advance in efficiency and generally in the quality of work turned out, but this advance should not involve a break in the output. It mould be based on a knowledge of the whole business. In other words, it should not only pay in the long run, but if possible it should pay from the moment it goes into effect.

We have said that all changes should be of the digestible kind, and the feeding process should not be a stuffing process; that the ingestion should not exceed the digestion. We have also briefly mentioned the importance of keeping the digestion tuned up to the best speed by having the organization in a condition to most readily take in changes.

That we must make some allowance for inertia of thought and habit in all mortals goes without saying, but the exact amount to be allowed is very difficult to estimate.

Successful management depends on the degree with which a man can estimate the receptivity of other beings with whom he deals. This knowledge of receptivity should include the thought and action of men all the way from the unskilled worker to the directors, and also that of all men in other organizations in any way affected by his organization.

Just as food is more digestible if agreeable to the palate, so this receptivity or a.s.similating power may be increased by presenting new ideas and methods in agreeable form. A full realization of the effect of this inertia of thought and habit makes the great efficiency of specialization more comprehensible.

It is this human side that is the key, and if we do not act in full accord with it we will probably be working against a great handicap.

The inertia works two ways. It hurts a progressive man just as much to be tied to a work that requires no brainwork as it hurts a sleepy member to be disturbed by progressive talk.

Money not the Only Dividend.

The major policies of management that should be known to the inventor are those which have been adopted to make the business pay. Not necessarily to pay in dollars and cents today, but to pay in every sense, and in the long run, in dollars and in other things.

It cannot pay in dollars if the other things are missing. By other things are meant good organization built on best conditions of mind and body for each of the beings included in the organization.

On such things the stability of the organization depends.

No matter how much the manager of a business may wish to run it for other things exclusively, or for dollars exclusively, he will find that one is not attained without the other. He is forced to run a business for the dollar if he wishes to make an ideal organization for each member of the human family included in it.

And vice versa, he must work toward best conditions for all the workers if he wishes to protect the capital invested by making a stable and fairly long-lived organization.

This statement is inserted here to clear away doubts as to the real value or necessity of "making a business pay," and to make it clear that no thought is to be tolerated of any scheme of management adverse to the real interest of the workers.

The men selected for each of the various positions should be men who are fitted to fill these very positions. This does not mean mere physical and mental fitness; it means each position should be filled by one who wants it, one who knows he is "better off" in it than in any other place he can find. Dissatisfied men are burdens.

It is better to have each position filled by a man who is barely competent to fill it than to have it filled by a man who should have a much better position.

Of course, this is the ideal, and all moves should be made in this direction whenever it is possible. As a rule, it is easier to find men on this basis than to find men who are bigger than the office.

This scheme leads to more promotions in the organization and has a stimulating effect on all concerned.

Right Placing of Men.

The management's chief business should be to take man as he is found on earth and place each one where he will accomplish the best results for both the organization and himself.

Barring the disgruntled, the uncongenial and the habitually inattentive, almost all men may be and should be profitably employed, the prime requisite being reasonably close attention to business. The thoughts must not habitually wander away from the work.

Intrigue disappears when the management quits looking for it, and a.s.sures everybody, by the general method of conducting the business, that there will be no chance to oust this or that man.

That each man will be retained in his place if he will but give reasonable application to the general interest of the organization and the particular work of his office.

The management does not "manage" if it perpetually changes its men. It should bolster up the man who lacks self-confidence; it should puncture false ambitions, and it should use men as they are found in the organization. It should not be inclined to "go back on" a man who has blundered or who has been found lacking in understanding.

It should not be over-ready to embrace a stranger just because his faults are not known.

The financial hazard of a business enterprise is greatly minimized by using men as they are found, and properly placing them at work or in offices for which they are qualified.

Unimportant Details.

We can neither regulate the complexity of our environment nor the number of problems which we must settle within a given time.

But we can improve the conditions very much by avoiding overconcentration on unimportant details. The brain's best time and energy should be reserved for our own immediate problems; it should not be hampered by details of others.

The various officers of an industrial organization should know the ins and outs of the thinking machine on which they depend for guidance. With such knowledge each brain will give the greatest results, and without such knowledge the best brain may be untrustworthy.

One of the important characteristics of the mind is its tendency to lose sight of everything except the subject in mind. One danger is dodged by jumping into another which we have not seen. Both dangers were plainly in sight to any one who had not concentrated on one of them.

In the regular every-day business life, we seem to have ample time to consider each problem. But in reality our great length of time is offset by a great number of elements to consider, and a more profound effect of long continued teaching or molding of our environment.

For years engineers have concentrated energies on the steam-engine of the reciprocating type. The master-minds have made important improvements in the design, and many have given up their entire existence to the science of a.n.a.lyzing the effects of each variation in conditions of working the steam.

Our textbooks, our teaching, our observation all concentrated our attention on this type.

For some reason Gustav deLaval, followed by C.A. Parsons and Nikola Tesla, broke away from this spell, and we have the steam turbine engine. These individuals are endowed with master-minds, but the task of producing the turbines was probably no greater than the task of others in improving the reciprocating type.

In one case a great step has been taken. In the other, we have an example of men of undoubted ability laboring hard for entire lifetimes with relatively small gain.