Chapter 3

We shall not try to locate the man or refer to him as the ego or inner man. We shall simply say that we know that we can use our brains to think on any subject, and we can use our senses to collect information regarding any chosen subject.

Our senses and mental faculties can be directed to consider one element in a business, and for the moment be unmindful of the many other elements. In other words, we can to a certain extent manage our mental processes. Just as a horse can be managed, so may we manage our brains. A driver may carefully control the expenditure of energy and the course traveled, or he may throw the reins over the dash and allow the horse to go his own gait and route. In the same way we may manage or mismanage our brains.

Good Results with Moderate Effort.

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 attitude 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 attitude.

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 assimilating 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 assimilating 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 assimilating 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 assures 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 analyzing 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.

This example applies to more than the inventors' world. It has many parallels in the cold business management of a manufactory and in any one of its departments. Business management requires the same kind of reasoning and getting away from the spell of environment. But this phase we shall consider later under another head.

The point to be brought out here is the effect of the spell of environment in magnifying the importance of existing views and methods, and the deceptive part this trusty brain plays in binding us to unnecessarily hard work.

Cure for Mind Wandering.

The mind should not be allowed to wander, for wander it will if it is not rationally directed. It should be furnished with some interest, either in the form of study that is taken up out of working hours, and which can be permitted to occupy the mind while work of the habit kind is being done, or, if it is not a study, there should be some wholesome interest or pleasure.

Music to some furnishes this need. Music heard in the home or elsewhere will sometimes occupy the mind during working hours when the work is of a monotonous character. In some instances music has been provided during a certain part of the day, just for this need of workers who are employed in an occupation that in itself furnishes no mental nourishment.

But these extreme cases do not represent the vast majority. They apply only to the needs of the mind of those engaged in a work in which they can awaken no interest. Nearly all kinds of work offer a chance for the average man to get interested directly in the work itself. Such an interest soon bears fruit in the results as well as in the comfort of the worker, and it is this phase on which we must depend for making specialization comfortable and profitable to the worker. It is this phase that is wholly overlooked by those mentioned above who have seen or felt the joy of work that comes to one who rambles into a new field. We fail to see that the same kind of mental pleasure may be obtained while working along the natural and efficient lines of habit, and that in one case we have had pleasure at great expense of wasted energy, and in the other case we may have made a true progress for ourselves and others by moving along the rational way.

The Manager's View.

The important duty of weighing up these various views devolves on the management, and its action should be in accordance with the complete and corrected view. It must consider the subject from a top viewpoint, and must then act.

The manager keeps in mind that the machines must be built, purchased, and used by human beings, so he carefully studies their peculiarities. He knows that change of thought or habit requires time.

In looking over the history of one of the companies engaged in machine building, we find that the cost of the labor has been lowered to about one-fifth of the original. In view of this and the fact that a very slight change in model sometimes involves a temporary increase in the cost of labor three-fold or more, we see good reason for reluctance in making changes, even though we know that two or three years later the labor cost may drop as low as that previous to the change in model.

The inventor, the promoter, the salesman, and the oversanguine manager do not always foresee such things.

The manager sees the enthusiasm with which the selling organization hails the new model. He realizes that they know the faults of the previous type, and he also knows that no one knows the faults of the new, but he lets it go. Some enthusiasm must be had, even if it be dearly purchased. He knows there will be many a troublesome delay due to the newness, even if the whole scheme proves very much better than the previous type.

This manager knows that his business success rests on the facility with which the machines are satisfactorily built, the readiness of the buyers, and, last but not least, the facility with which the product is used. The facility with which the product will be used, to his mind, is almost beyond overestimation.

Sub-division of Work.

The division of work into separate operations makes it possible to divide the subject into relatively small sub-problems. This division of the subject itself brings it within the capacity of the lesser brains and makes it very much easier for a brain of greater power. In other words, the subdivision of work makes places in which all mental equipments may be used.

It is of no benefit to any one to keep the problems difficult by making each man think out a process for accomplishing each one of a great variety of operations, when the work may be so divided that it is only necessary for him to think of just one little part of the whole. And we should not befog the issue by saying that this is degrading.

Some of the greatest scientists that the world has known have concentrated attention to the smallest conceivable part of this world, pieces so small that the microscope alone revealed them to the eye. There is a chance for the thinker in most any of these places that have grown out of this process of finest subdivision of work. The hardship comes only when the mind cannot get interested in the work. In many cases this is undoubtedly due to a misfit, but in most cases it seems to be due to a false notion that there is nothing there of interest.

The subdivision of work must go on. If hindered in any one plant, industry or nation more than in others, the result will be a loss to that one, and on the other hand, the one that carries it to the most efficient point will become the most powerful.

This subdivision develops greatest dexterity and skill, as well as the keenest comprehension of the ways and means of attaining a given end. And this dexterity of operation is more easily carried on than is the fumbling uncertainty of the work of the more primitive type.

Care in Applying New Theories.

The manual worker's energies are so absorbed in the physical tasks that he is annoyed by any suggestion to change his method. If he were given the position at a desk he would probably be interested in the progressive schemes for betterment of methods of work or management of business.

Bearing this state of affairs in mind, it behooves the progressive man to approach the problem of applying his theories in a very careful manner. He must realize that the men in various parts of the work are under stress of every day's requirements that makes it very difficult to intelligently take up any new scheme of procedure. Many an ideal doctrine is a beautiful thing in theory but of little value if its introduction requires an immense but unavailable energy to put it into practise.

He must realize that it is the doing of work that counts and that the men who are doing things must not be annoyed. All plans for betterment must conform to the assimilating power of the men and must not cut off their food in time of change. In other words, the new plans should be so matched on to the old methods that the change to the new will not interrupt the production.

We have seen that the most efficient way to use man's energies is to allow him to follow habit lines of thought and action, and that the highest efficiency is reached when these habits are habits of concentration of attention and are restricted to the smallest variety of work.

Progressive Energy.

Progressive energy is so valuable that it needs no praise at this time. We have had its value stated so often that it is actually over-rated in the average mind. Not that it has been over-valued, but that the reiteration has obscured the importance of other qualities. There should be a greater appreciation of the value of energies that are wholly employed in accomplishing results by old means and methods.

Progressive energy, when it is kept within certain bounds, is a prime asset of an industrial organization. It is like a wholesome amount of labor to man; it may be drawn upon without loss, and its use actually strengthens its source. But when it is not wisely kept in control it only annoys and interferes with real progress and real accomplishment of results.

The only way to get work done is to let the worker move along habit lines. The only way to progress efficiently is to make the new ways and means lead off gradually from those in use.

The progressive man who actually directs work along such lines is the most valuable to the world. The one who ignores the "moment of inertia" is a disturber, whether he is a director or a "hewer of wood and carrier of water".

The man who is doing the real work in the world is not the so-called progressive. He is one who points out newer or better methods which may be easily established by a gradual exchange of old habits for new ones.

Profit by Experience.

In considering ways and means for efficient management of industrial organizations, it is not necessary to commence at the beginning of each plant. The method of dealing with the problems of existing plants is also applicable to new organizations, for a new organization is only new in a limited sense. It uses men of experience. It uses existing machines and implements. It follows existing methods of conducting business and in the general management of its affairs.

Even the so-called new method which may be the center around which the so-called new business is built contains very little that is new. The newest things in the ordinary industrial world contain many old and well-known elements. The very use of a so-called new method or machine as a center around which to build an organization is in itself so old that it is a confirmed habit with us to be lured on to investing in such things by the statement that some new process or means is to be employed.

A really new thing that calls for wholly new ways and new means for manufacture is almost inconceivable. The nearer we approach to newness in the industrial world the thinner becomes the ice on which we are moving. Therefore, let us know that when we advise following habit lines in all moves in management of an existing organization we imply that the same course should be taken in establishing a new company or organization.

In both cases we should employ existing ways and means, experienced men and well-tried implements. Both old and new should be conducted along the usual line in conformity with the state of the art, the habits of the workers, and other conditions indigenous to the locality. Any scheme of going contrary to the existing customs and usage must be entered into with full knowledge of the great need of patience, force and courage to offset the barrier of inertia.

Dissipation of Energies.

This tendency to dissipate energies by wandering into other fields is not confined to the worker; it is a most common tendency of business men. A manager of an industrial establishment has to continually combat his tendency to divert the energies of the organization along new lines. He knows from past experience how dearly bought is each new method that is introduced into his organization. He knows for example that it would make all of his men tardy at the plant in the morning if at the hour of arising he has issued a request for each man to dress by carefully thinking out each move. He knows that the day's work would never be well done if he asked each one to think before acting.

Even conversation comes under the law of habit. It must follow the line that has been carefully thought out.

We all know that when a man talks on subjects with which he is not familiar his words carry little weight.

The so-called spontaneous utterances that seem so full of life and are apparently the product of flashed thought are either the welling up of some subconscious ideas quickly reconstructed to fit the situation or they are a haphazard jumble either meaningless or conveying an unintended impression. They are generally in the humorous line and frequently make an impression that was not anticipated by the utterer.

The really useful talk and work is the result of wholesome habit of thought and action.

Tying up Capital in Stock in Process of Construction.

The amount of capital tied up in raw material supplies, stock in process and finished product should not be greater than that which is necessary to get the greatest output per dollar of investment.

In the machinery-building world there is no such thing as a steady long-lived demand for any machine. Hence the proposition to build a locomotive or printing-press by methods employed in watch or sewing-machine manufacture is entirely ill-timed at least.

For this reason the stock in process must not necessarily be considered insufficient if it appears to be on the hand-to-mouth plan. The dividing line between excessive and insufficient stock must be drawn in each individual case.

Raw material should be purchased in reasonable quantities with due regard to the price which varies with quantities but there should always be a regard for the amount of capital used for this purpose. Any excess represents just that much extra capital unnecessarily risked in the business.