THE MECHANICAL SIDE The preceding factors deal almost wholly with the management of the human element, and now other factors must be considered— those physical factors without which efficient management is not possible.
physical arrangement of an office affects all other factors of management. As most offices are in large cities, rentals are high and therefore space must be conserved. For this reason the cubicles of the old-fashioned office are giving way to the open office. Departments having relations with each other should be contiguously situated, and the seating of the workers in each department be regulated also on this principle. Work should flow in straight lines. Adequate light, both daylight and artificial, should be provided, the standard of the latter being placed by experts at not less than I o foot-candles. (See ILLUMINAT ING ENGINEERING.) The completely indirect system, in which the light is thrown from its source to the ceiling, and thence reflected down, is considered the best. Ventilation is an important matter also. Experiments show that the best ventilating system is that which brings in fresh air from the outside without altering it in any way, this being superior to the elaborate washed and heated air systems. (See HEATING AND VENTILATION.) Excessive noise is also detrimental to good work, and noisy machines, if numerous, should be segregated.
Under this head are included desks, tables, chairs, filing cabinets and similar furnishings. The old-fashion ed roll-top desk has disappeared, and as the present tend ency is to the extended use of small loose-leaf books and cards, the high-standing book-keeper's desk is seldom seen. At pres ent the usual office desk is too large and contains too many drawers, and as clerks have little need for more than one or two drawers, a table is generally preferable. The size of a desk de pends naturally upon the character of the work, but a desk larger than 54 X30 in. is rarely needed, though no desk should be smaller than 40 X3c) inches. Chairs to be comfortable require designing to fit the human anatomy in an upright seated position.
A few good anatomical chair types are available, but most of the others are uncomfortable.
Here the greatest development has taken place, office appliances being now available for almost every occa sion. (See OFFICE APPLIANCES.) There was a tendency to use machines to the exclusion of competent brainwork, but office managers are beginning to see that this is a mistake.
This is naturally an extremely important part of office management, not only between the company and outside correspondence, but within the organization itself. The present tendency is toward brevity and clarity, and the florid style and redundant expressions of the so-called "business English" are in procesE of elimination.
The vertical system of filing has almost entirely superseded the old-fashioned flat file, and elaborate systems have been greatly simplified. Its greatest present misuse is the filing of valueless and superfluous material. The filing problem requires not only adequacy in equipment and system, but also accuracy, which necessitates adequately trained operators, for misfiled papers may easily cause great loss.
In a large office the maintenance and issue of an adequate stock of all forms in use becomes a problem in scientific stock-keeping. Order and neatness are necessary, and an adequate location system, so that material can be found with a minimum loss of time. Stores should be classified according to some well-devised system, and there should be a perpetual in ventory and a systematic method of issuing stores to, or on the order of, authorized persons.
This factor is a most important one in large offices. The telephone is of course the most common method, but there is usually a large transfer of papers from one part of the organization to another, and this must be taken care of by well-organized messenger systems with regularly scheduled trips. In many offices automatic belt systems or other forms of conveyors are used. Mechanical devices of other kinds are auto matic signalling systems, automatic telephones and so forth.