(2) Successful men have often attributed their success to the skilful choosing of their subordinates. They may exaggerate a little, but they state a mere truth, nevertheless. (a) Your staff must be honest above suspicion. Character comes first. What use is a superlatively clever manager if he is at bottom a clever devil ? Sooner or later he will use his lack of scruple to your hurt, and it will not be a mere pin-prick. He will play for big stakes. But all the staff down to the office-boy must be above suspicion. There is nothing more dismal than to have a man in your office whom you distrust, but against whom you can prove nothing. You will have no rest until that man is out of your sight. Can honesty be guaranteed ? One can almost say Yes. Arrange for an interchange of duties, especially in the accounts department, and have a "surprise" audit now and again ; you will then find that there is as little temptation to " monkey " with accounts as with a circular saw. (b) Technical knowledge comes next. A man in charge of any department should know his own work better than anybody else, and thoroughly understand its relation to that of other departments. The questions, " What do you know ?" and " What can you do ?" are frequently identical. To know the ins and outs of shipping is to be able to manage shipping transactions. Engage men who know their work, not men who say they have a " knowledge" of it. That expression usually spells ignorance, just as it does when a man claims a " knowledge" of French. Try him, and he is out of his depth in a moment. It is hard to exaggerate the importance of this matter in regard to office efficiency. (c) Aim at 'finding a class of men who may be called business-getters. Often they do not take to inside duties at a desk ; they love movement, and shine most as interviewers or travellers. Do not imagine that because they turn up their noses at an office stool they are therefore lazy and incompetent. Nothing of the kind. Put them to their natural function of business-getting, and you will find they earn their salaries twice over. As business assets, honest and clever business-getters are almost worth their weight in gold. When you find one, keep him. (d) Then, lastly, there is the clerk, pure and simple. He has no particular ambition, or if he has, he does not show it. Apparently he is content to do his work and leave promptly at six o'clock. But if he is accurate, respect him for it. Speed and accuracy are together the great need of what we may call the mechanical work of an office. Such work tends to grievous monotony, and at bottom this is the cause of all mistakes that arise between the merchant and his customers. The clerk may not!be a business-getter, but if he helps to preserve the business which others introduce, he is discharging a most useful function.
(3) The organisation of an office is best seen in the creation of departments to deal with sections of the business. There is, of course, no one plan that can be used everywhere ; each firm will have to devise one suitable to itself. But there are certain features common to all, and the first is (a) the inquiry department. Common sense dictates that this shall be situated as near the entrance as possible, and that those who work there shall be well informed, patient, and polite. If you want to create a bad impression, put a man in charge who is ignorant, impatient, and given to tell people he knows more than they do. (b) The orders department should have a position easy of access from the outside and be in close contact with the factory. There ought to be no difficulty for a stranger in finding this department. Call it " sales" or what you will, it is where you dispose of sonic of the goods you make, and the easier the task for the purchaser the better. (c) The corre
spondence section requires the services of a very efficient manager. To see that the " post" is opened early and the contents sorted and placed in the proper quarter is his first duty. The answering of such letters may not be a fine art, except in those cases which are, off the beaten track. But in the inditing of letters sent out in the hope of obtaining business there is as much room for talent as anywhere else. He should be responsible for devising a system that shall prevent letters being filed without an answer, or with only half an answer, and ensuring speedy, accurate, and courteous treatment of every customer whom he approaches through the post. (d) The account department is as important as any. Your cashier should be a man of undoubted integrity who loves figures and knows finance from A to Z. He should be a ;firm man, who will not always have £10 lent out to the staff in small sums of half-a-crown and upwards; he will exercise a judicious and continual change of his men from ledger to ledger, thus preventing fraud ; all monies received in the day will be banked on the same day, and there will be no money received or paid out which he cannot instantly trace. As for credit, he will always be on the watch, never failing to keep himself posted in information respecting the standing of the firm's customers. Finally, a good cashier will always welcome a surprise audit. (e) Adver tising is now a section in every well-organised office. Not a large section, it may be, but advertising is a work of detail, and when a space is paid for in certain prescribed positions of a newspaper, somebody must see that the space is given and the position secured. Apart from mere detail, there is the more important matter of writing good advertisements, and continually inventing new ones. Further, the advertisement canvasser is a frequent visitor, and is apt to waste the principal's time, which can be saved by an interview with the head of the advertising department. (f) In some offices the work of attending to stationery—that is, books, paper, envelopes, writing materials, and other items—seems to devolve on nobody in particular. But as business grows it will be found advisable to set apart a man and an assistant to look after these things. In an expanding business a couple of men can earn their salaries twice over and save the firm's money. (g) Modern houses of business are beginning to establish legal departments, where matters relatino. to troublesome accounts and supposed infringements of the law are dealt with. Solicitors or solicitors' clerks are to be found in charge of such departments, and it would seem as though their success amply justified their existence as a new element in office organisation. Certain it is that an expert knowledge of commercial law is bound to be of the greatest possible service in a business where there are hundreds of daily and weekly customers. In smaller houses such a department may not be a necessity, unless, of course, the nature of the business causes legal questions continually to arise.
The idea is that all these departments shall work together in unison under the control of a manager, whose duties and rights should be clearly defined by the principal. It is no use allowing him to dismiss a clerk and then the clerk to be reinstated by the principal. And this clear definition of duties and rights should go right through each of the departments. The policy of laissm faire is quite unsuitable as a working principle. Office rules should be few and to the point.