The human factor in works management

Foreword

This book is an attempt to set forth some of the most essential principles of industrial economics. Special emphasis is laid on the proper use of the human being, especially as regards modes of emplojonent of mind and body.

Particular attention is given to those modes of use that are the most favorable to the comfort and success, not only of the man in the office or works, but to the success of the organization, or industry, or nation. Emphasis is also given to the value of habit, both as a present means and as one by which progress can most easily be made.

In reaching the conclusion of any book touching subjects so varied as this, there is a feeling of the incompleteness of the treatment.

This must always be so.

We can do no more than contribute our mite, vi FOREWORD

and it is better to make our contribution now than to wait till a larger sum is in hand.

There may seem to be a lamentable lack of direct examples which might illustrate the application of the theory, doctrine, or law set forth; but since such examples will readily come to mind to any one who has caught the spirit of the book, this lack may not be really objectionable.

The main purpose has been to build up a standard of measure by which all ideas for management may be measured: one that will measure an ordinary suggestion for change that may come up diu*ing the day, or one that serves equally well in determining the real character of some of the greater policies or systems of management. In other words, the purpose has been to contribute more to a true mental poise of mind than to add one jot or tittle to the excellent schemes of management that may be set forth in other works.

Contents

Foreword

Part I Chapter I

Success Depends More on the Man than the Plan — Systems are a MeanSj not the End Sought

— Progress from Invention — Selling the Product

— Habit — New Habits Can be EstabHshed — Organization Eflaciency — Objections to SpeciaUzation — Value of Habit in the Industries — Following the Habit Grooves — Human Inertia — Human WeKare and Industrial Success — Building on Habit — Unfavorable Conditions Must be Changed — Different Kinds of Men — Fitting the Pegs to the Holes — Specialization — Misuse of Energy when Specialization is not Practised — Mind and Body must both be Considered — Dissipation of Energies.

Chapter II

Giving Inertia Its Proper Value — Building on Old Ideas and Habits — Control of Progressive Energy — Considering the Individual — A Tired Body Dulls the Brain — Division of Work — Working in Strange Surroundings, [vii]

viii CONTENTS

Chapter V

Some Non-Technical Phases of Machine Design 81 Natural Fitness — Repeated Thinking — Concentrating Attention — Interest must be Awakened, not Forced — EstabUshing Useful Ruts — Problems to Consider — ^ Designing by the Square Foot — Invention should not Mix with Detail — The Hero of the Evaser — The Toughened IdeaHst

— Conforming to Economic Conditions — Getting Back to Nature — Technical View Insufficient

— Easiest Way to Improve — Avoid Obscure Parts

— Getting Out of the Rut ~ The True Value of a Business — Physical Condition of Worker — All Men are Human Beings — ControlUng the Mind

— Cooperation Necessary for Success.

CONTENTS ix

Chapter VI

Good Results with Moderate Effort — Unimportant Details — Seeing One Thing at a Time — The Spell of Environment — Financial Hazard — Conditions that Effect the Hazard — Value of Specialization — Ambition Mania — Lack of Confidence in Product — Confidence in Existing Things — The Workers Help Bring Success — Progress with Full Knowledge of Facts — Largest Profit per Dollar Invested — Cost of the Product — Tying up Capital in Stock in Process of Construction.

Part I The Value Of Habit

THE HUMAN FACTOR IN WORKS MANAGEMENT rjlHE value of habit is understood when we -*■ realize that it is the way by which man thinks and acts most efficiently.

This kind of habit is usually designated as the usual custom, mode, or practice. It is the product of repetition of either a mental process or an act, or both. There may be either a complete or partial independence or interaction of the mind and body in the acquisition of habit.

The ideal and most progressive process of habit-building starts from a mental stimulus.^^ But a very efficient habit condition may be established by mere repetition such as is frequently enforced by environment in the business or manufacturing world. Under such conditions even a certain kind of mental habit may be built up by routine clerical work in which the man has Httle or no interest.

These conditions do not awaken that interested attention that is so essential to the higher type of mental processes, but they actually form a very efficient habit, and it operates without serious hindrance to the wandering of the thoughts to other subjects.

As a classical example of this kind of functioning of mind and body we may cite Thomas Edison's account, in his biography, of the telegraphers at Nashville receiving their first intimation of the assassination of President Lincoln from the cries of the newsboys in the street, notwithstanding that the message had been transmitted to the local paper through that office.

The whole subject is not exhaustively treated, only a Hne of thought being presented with the hope that this principle of the force of habit and its real economic value may be given a more careful consideration in all plans for betterment, progress, and profit.

For it may be the missing link that seems to be needed to connect some of the present systems of management to the industrial world as it is.

Subdivision of Work or Specialization

The whole treatment is in harmony with this idea, and to this end it emphasizes the importance of speciahzation. It is hoped too that it clearly demonstrates that economic success is dependent on the most complete subdivision of work and the greatest number of repetitions of thought and action by each individual up to the extent of his mental and bodily comfort. The extent of comfortable repetition varies greatly in different people. It is at its lowest ebb in the Jack of all trades and in the restless, rapid thinker. Its highest development is found in nearly all who have contributed notably to the progress of the world. It may be strengthened or lessened by popular opinion or by environment, but it is finally the gauge to which the number of repetitions should go. \ Repetition forms habit and is absolutely necessary for success in this world today. It will be even more so in the future, for a shiftless wandering of the mind or body should never be tolerated. While repetition work has been condemned by many, it is not in itself

W degrading. On the contrary, it is the best means for developing concentration.

This in the business man, inventor, or works manager, calls for continuity of thought along a given line. It will not tolerate a wandering mind, no matter how strenuous it may be, working by the desultory process. It says that men shall not be mental tramps, but that they shall keep their thoughts on their home work. In the factory it demands that every man's mind and body should have the most efficient use.

The most complete subdivision of work must be made, to the end that each division may be readily understood, and that in this division and classification of tasks there may be a place for every man, and that every man should be in his own place.

Repetition Need not be Degrading

This is not a doctrine that degrades. It is one that simplifies the processes within the reach of the greatest number, and by repetition of operations each man may easily become most efficient at his particular work. And last but not least, it clearly demonstrates the inexorable law of the ultimate supremacy of the largest organization in a given industry, and in turn of the commercial or industrial supremacy of a state or nation that favors and fosters such organizations. It is not necessary for it to have special trade relations. It is only necessary for it to carry to the most complete subdivision of all of the various mental and physical tasks, so as to get the great results that accrue from repetition of processes.

There is a way under some conditions of work to get this advantage of repetition of processes in comparatively small organizations. But whether the organization is small or large, the economic advantages go to the one in which each operation has the most favorable number of repetitions by the individual.

Mere size of an organization, then, does not give it strength. A large organization may be very weak if each officer and workman is required to know about and perform a great variety of operations. But such dissipation is fast passing out of practice. The large organizations are specializing, and in so far as they do this they will succeed.

Under the heading of '^Some Non-Technical Phases of Machine Design '' will be found an effort to show the most efficient uses of an inventor's or designer's energies, by indicating what should be considered as essentials in machine design, and how an inventor should work. Although this title implies an application to a restricted field of industry, it is of far wider application, the concrete examples only furnishing a means of illustration.

It is given in its original form as a lecture dehvered before the Stevens Engineering Society, composed of students of the Stevens Institute of Technology. It is hoped that it will be of value not only to the machine designer and inventor, but to those who have to direct or cooperate with them.

Success Depends More on the Man

THAN ^ THE PlAN

In the industrial world we are confronted by the instability of things. There is a fluctuation in the fortune of each industry, each organization and, unfortunately, of each mortal. We know of no plan that can infallibly control either the ebb or flow of fortune.

There are men who have been uniformly successful in all of the undertakings in which they have engaged, but whether they can give to others their plan or not, we know that they never do. It is doubtful if any complete scheme can be formulated, the variants and the combinations are so new and so numerous.

Perhaps we should not insist on the explorer teUing us how he got there. His business is to get there. He may have taken instructions from some one who never did and never could get there, or he may have made his own plan, but in either case his success was doubtless due to the way he carried out the plan. In other words, his success was the outcome of either his own methods or his own interpretation of another^s scheme, so that there is no prospect of our being able to sail by rule. The industrial sea is not fully charted. There is still a need for the navigator to sail ''guess and lead'^ and ''luck and log." The hardest workers and the most strenuous thinkers seem to be as unfortunate as those who take life less seriously.

But, while these facts are true, it is not unreasonable to believe that we are truly progressing toward a better control of the economic condition. For, great as has been the increase in intricacy of business relations and the complication of mechanical devices, there has also been a marked advance along lines of analysis of economic elements, with a tabulation and deduction that have brought much of the industrial problems within the reach of the ordinary mind. This advance has not been made any too soon. In fact, it has been tardy in arriving, but it is now here and it is now being carried forward by some of the best industrialists in the land.

Systems are a Means, not the End Sought

It must not be thought, however, that analysis, tabulation, and simple deduction are the beginning and end of industrial science. They are only the scheme for coordinating the various forces. This process is so purely statistical that it must not be mistaken for a major means. It is rather a minor means for coordinating the principal means. It tends to give a wholesome counterbalance for an overvisionary scheme of management, but in its function of coordinating all other forces, it must itself be subjected to whatever modification is necessary to make it fit into and use the real forces.

In trying to solve the problems we naturally turn to observing all kinds of organizations. We find that they all bear evidence of imperfection. Even the most successful are seldom found to be wholly free from economic blemishes.

There may be either an indifference to the appeals of the advocate of this or that system of betterment, or a tendency to follow some one branch of improvement with more or less neglect of other opportunities. The neglect is not due to an actual undervaluation of the importance of the other elements, but because the enthusiasm over one element robs the others of the force that is necessary to carry them forward.

The mere mental acceptance of the true valuation of each of the other elements does not bring any real valuable help. The enthusiastic push of some one mortal is necessary back of each scheme of betterment.

This should be facilitated by a subdivision of the duties of management. The head control, however, should try to keep a general view of the whole and see to it that there is a harmonious pull of all of these forces.

Just now we have many who have taken strong interest in the ^'Scientific Management." This system improves the efficiency of an organization by giving to each worker a thorough direction for the performance of his duties. Among other features it keeps an accurate record of the time required to perform each operation, and uses this as a basis to estimating time required to perform other similar or nearly similar operations. It is a methodical scheme of intelligent direction of work, and it depends for its success more on correct direction of operation than on the workman's natural ability and inclination to devise his own methods.

This is not set forth as an accurate statement of the ^'Scientific Management, '^ but it is in brief an impression that has been gained by observation and study of this most valuable plan. The system doubtless is intended to include the use of every means for progress, but in practice it seems to lay emphasis on the best use of the present means, rather than the invention of new and wonderful machinery. ''The best use of the present means" is a poHcy that should be given first place in all schemes of industrial management. It is the most economically sound principle that can be set forth. It meets the present needs. It is not a barrier to progress by invention, and if intelligently carried forward it need not run violently against the force of habit of the workers. If the present use is not as efficient as it should be, the ''Scientific Management'' plan provides for a direction of the workers along other modes of use. It usually makes shght changes in the means, but it gains its greatest results by giving the workers instructions that help them to make more efficient use of their energies and the present means. The reason that it has not had more universal success is doubtless due to the inertia of habit of both the workers and the management, and it is to this phase that the present discussion aims to direct attention.

Progeess from Invention

Before taking up this phase of the question, let us briefly glance at some of the other forces which we must consider.

One of the other forces that makes for the more efficient use of capital and labor is that which aims to improve the means.

This is strongly contended for by the inventor, and when it is considered wholly by itself it is one of the most fascinating of all schemes. It seems from the inventor's and promoter's standpoint to be the only royal road to success for it does not depend on increasing the physical effort of the man.

Surely we know that it has a host of advocates. Nearly every industriahst is ready to use a new invention that is offered for the purpose of reducing cost of production or increasing the quality of output. So fascinating is this phase that it has led more than one over-enterprising management to misfortune.

We know that it is a force that has been most

potent in progress, and in some respects must

still be given a most careful consideration in

connection with any plan of management, but

yet it is not the only one of the elements to

be considered.

Selling the Product

Among other schemes for industrial success may be included all that affect the sale or demand for the product of the plant. An enthusiastic commercial spirit is by some considered a most vital element. From the commercial standpoint the market requirements and demands must be met. These are so important and so complicated that it is difficult for one whose mind is filled with them to clearly see the economic conditions of the manufacturing side of the business.

For instance, the great need of ultra-specialization does not seem apparent, and sometimes the force of inertia of habit in the works is underrated. The problems of business-getting are so involved that there is no chance to clearly see the importance of the purely manufacturing need.

The many other forces that affect the success will readily come to mind, although they will differ shghtly in the various organizations and industries.

Onte more force is the momentum of practice, or inertia of habit or custom, or just plain '^ habit." And this is to be the central theme of this discussion. All of the forces must be considered, and the policy adopted must be a rational coordination of them all, but they seem to focus on the force of habit, which is too often overlooked.

Habit

The sense in which the word '^habif is used in the present discussion means the condition of body or mind, or both, which has been estabhshed by repetition of an act or mental process, or both. It may be strengthened or weakened by persistent purpose, but nevertheless mostly depends for its strength on the frequency and number of repetitions.

Its importance in the industrial world is that it is the condition of mind and body by which a man acts with greatest precision, ease, comfort, and efficiency. It is a condition that must not be carelessly disturbed, for there is found to be a deep-rooted antipathy to abrupt change.

Skill, dexterity, facility in performance of work is due to acquired habit. This is also true of all kinds of work in the business office and the workshop. This fact alone shows the value of habit in an industrial organization, especially when we realize that habit is a disposition as well as an aptitude to do work. The practice brings an involuntarytendency to continue, and with it an ease and rehabihty of performance.

The mental habits are special qualities that have been acquired by the same process of repetition. The successful man in the commercial world, the inventor's domain, the financier's realm^ or any other branch of mental work, is one who has acquired habit of thought along Hues of special value in his own particular field. There are undoubtedly men born to each of these callings who would be unable to qualify for any other, but these cases are so rare that for our present discussion they may be disregarded.

New Habits can be Established

There are also those who during the early and most impressionable years have been subjected to an environment that has established habits of thought or action of a kind unfavorable to the existence of a more desirable kind.

Both of these kinds are somewhat handicapped in trying to take on other kinds of habit of mind or b#dy, but since habit may be built up by mere repetition, there is a chance to make over many of these men.

In case of a man having a dishking for the only work at which he can obtain a livelihood, whether it is due to inborn traits or traits acquired from environment, it is a long, hard fight. But continued practise will win, and in many of these cases it will even drag the mind along to a less antagonistic attitude.

The ideal and easiest way to acquire habits of industry is to have the mind lead off in desiring such work. Although either process makes for skill and other evidences of habit, the quickest, easiest way, the one that attains the highest efficiency, is one that is acquired by an eager, earnest, persistent mind which maintains an interest and concentration of attention to the subject.

It is not within our present scope to go back to the most impressionable age of child or man, for that should antedate the time of his entering the industrial world, but this habit problem cannot be understood without due allowance for the condition in which men are found in the industries. This includes, as stated, the inborn characteristics and those that have been acquired, especially from environment, during the impressionable years.

After passing the most impressionable stage, man acquires his habits of work almost wholly under force of circumstances. Generally, however, his work habits never become of great strength if he has previously acquired a group of habits of mind and body that combat the acquisition of habits of work.

That this may become merely a habit of action is not denied, but that it may, under favorable conditions, become a powerful enemy to the adverse mental habit must also be admitted. It is this condition on which we must depend and build if we are to obtain success in the industrial world.

Organization Efficiency

Efficiency of the organization as a whole depends on the coordination of its various elements, and since the men in the organization constitute the most important part of all its elements, we must see to it that there is the most perfect coordination of their movements.

When a man is on entirely new work and is not acting along habit hues, there is no possible way of determining in advance how or when his task will be accomplished. Hence there is no possibility of coordinating his work with the work of others. But when all are following a fixed routine, the coordination becomes possible, and then we actually have an organization working on habit lines, built, of course, on the habit processes of the individual men in that organization.

Since efficiency depends on strength of habit, we are led to selecting methods that tend toward the greatest habit building and strengthening processes. This, like every other road of investigation of the elements that affect industrial success, leads us directly to the choice of policy that favors the most complete subdivision of operations. This subdivision must be carried as far as possible, so as to give each worker the advantage of the skill and the efficiency of action that is only to be acquired by repetition. It also leads us to specialization which concentrates the largest possible organization to the smallest possible range of work.

The ultimate supremacy of an organization managed by this policy is assured, not merely because it limits the field of endeavor of each worker, but because it also limits the range of duties of each officer. This results ultimately in each one becoming highly efficient and well informed in that part of the work. The "all-round man" cannot successfully compete with the specialist.

Objections to Specialization

The objections to the scheme of ultraspecialization are usually born of anxiety over the unfitness of a specialist for other work and his great handicap in finding work in times of depression or general industrial disorganization. This argument against speciaHzation is equally potent for the individual and the industrial plant, and it frequently deters the management from transforming their establishment into one devoted to a limited range of work. To wave it aside as irrelevant would be unwise, but to let it hinder us from traveling the road that offers greatest opportunities would be a serious mistake.

Value of Habit in the Industkies

At the present time there seems to be no chance of success on other avenues. The assurance, the ability, the absolute control of the situation, comes only to the man or corporation or nation that is strongly fortified by useful habits.

The power of habit in the industries is one of the most clearly demonstrated facts in this world. Its value there in solving problems has been proven many times, and yet it is almost wholly ignored by many of our most energetic disciples in the Efficiency crusade. The only men who make a stand for the value of habit are men who are considered nonprogressive. Since they belong mostly to the silent majority, their views should be most carefully considered.

Most of us who have given careful thought to these problems have felt that almost any method of work may be changed over completely by an appeal to the intellectual ^ide of men. And we are well warranted in this opinion. But there is reason to believe that we have frequently underestimated the force of the intelligent energy that must be expended to offset the current of habit or custom.

It is a mere physical task to change the course of a river, but to change the habit of thought and action requires a long tnne and the use of the subtlest agencies. We can introduce new methods of conducting business and of manufacture, but in doing so we must keep in mind the force of habit of thought and action of the mortal man, as he is found in the directors' room and in the various positions throughout the plant.

So deeply grooved are these habit ruts that a letter written in business seldom contains evidence of real fresh thought on the subject. Each letter is made up of phrases that have been uttered a thousand times, and each statemen\t made is the product of thought of other days. It is the result of the writer's mental attitude, which in turn is the product of his past experience. One letter of fresh matter written each month requires more energy than a month's output of two or three hundred per day of the routine type.

Following the Habit Grooves

When real new matter is put into letters or into operations, it is at the cost of either mental energy or cash, or both, and if one new letter is written without expenditure of mental energy, it is very sure to involve cost in cash later.

It is the same, only to a greater degree, in the various operations through a manufacturing plant. Each workman as well as each officer follows naturally and most comfortably in a habit groove of both thought and action.

If this statement seems to imply that a change is to be advised, then the text has been misleading, for no such purpose has been intended. On the contrary, the condition set forth is the natural one, and it is the one that should be followed, if an economic success is to be attained. Of course, something will be said later about schemes of progress which may be carried forward, but these schemes must all conform to nature as it is seen in the real life of the industrial world. They must not be the product of abnormally optimistic mortals who fail to recognize the normal condition under which the real normal man works.

This should not antagonize the man that wants every mortal to have a joy in his work that comes from use of the brain. There is to be no scheme set forth that will hinder the brain-work, but it will minimize the stultifying effect of inefficient use of brain. The new work, the new thought, the improvement in methods and the invention of new means should all go forward, but in conformity with natural law. The joy in the work should not involve financial disaster for a nation, an industry, or a workman. That would be the joy of a fooFs paradise. The joy of the work should be had in taking progressive steps in natural ways.

When a business is conducted or work done contrary to this principle, it goes contrary to nature, and it is generally unprofitable and unsatisfactory to the investor, to the officers, to the workman, and to the users of the product.

Human Inertia

If we wish to arrest a large fly-wheel which is running at a high speed, we know that we may shut off the motive power and then carefully apply a brake or some other form of resistance. We know that an instantaneous stopping of its motion is impossible, and that shorter methods invite disaster. A fast moving express-train cannot be arrested instantly, and it is equally impossible to instantly get the same train from a standstill to full speed.

In industries we have frequently seen the evidence of inertia when an attempt is made to change over the method of work. This inertia that resists our efforts to change the velocity of a moving object, or to move an object that is in the state of rest, is usually considered as a property of the purely physical matter and not wholly applicable to living creatures.