EXECUTIVE SUPERVISION 1. Third function in leadership.—In all forms of administration there are three elements which are al ways present—planning, giving orders and super vision. Two of them have been discussed and it now remains to consider the third. The order in which they have been named indicates not only their se quence in time, but also, in the judgment of the best thinkers of today, their order of importance.
Giving planning the first place and relegating su pervision to a third, runs counter to the general opin ion of the past, one which is widely held at pres ent. Many are still disposed to place the greater emphasis on supervisory and directing activities. They think of the executive as seeing that his orders are carried out, they picture the manager as in the midst of affairs directing one man, correcting another —the center about which all the activities are grouped.
2. Conditions calling for direct supervision.— Earlier military and industrial activities could pros per only with highly developed direct supervision; improvised methods called, of necessity, for continuous and strenuous activity on the part of those in control. The qualities which made these activities fruitful were extolled as executive virtues. Ability to command ; to instil fear ; to inspire enthusiasm; to "get action"; to show results ; in such terms was executive ability described.
Under modern conditions planning is receiving larger recognition as the chief element in administra tion. "A wise direction is of more avail than over whelming numbers, sound strategy than the most per fect armament"; or, if we wish to carry the figure into the field of industry, "a wise policy is of more avail than a large plant, good management than perfect equipment." But wise policies and good manage ment are the result of thoughtful reasoning rather than of improvised expedients.
3. Limitations in administrative supervision.—It is a not infrequent failing among administrators to as sume responsibilities for which they are not fitted, and to take over the direction of affairs in which they are not expert, merely because their position gives them the power to do so. In national life, military organ
ization and operation are held to be subordinate to the aims of diplomacy. Yet no diplomat would attempt the supervision of armies in a campaign. In indus try, on the other hand, those who manage the finances and control general policies, sometimes feel that they can with equal facility manage the operations of the plant and of the sales department. In many cases this may be true, but the possession of power does not necessarily imply the capacity to use it intelligently.
Supervision, like planning and giving orders, in eludes a variety of activities. If this part of admin istration is to be welr conducted, there must be a clear understanding of these activities and their mutual re lations. When this is had specialization appears. Authority and responsibility, general matters and routine details are so distinguished that the several spheres of supervision become arranged as a perfect system, providing "an avenue," as Professor E. D. Jones says, "for the downward passage of ideas asso ciated with initiative, and the upward movement of facts connected with response." 4. Supervision involves cliff erent grades of au thority.—A proper organization of supervision in volves the marking out of boundaries between the functions of persons with various grades of authority. From the president to the shipping-clerk, the giving of orders and the supervision thru inspection and re ports form themselves into a system whereby super vision is effected from the top to the bottom, from the receipt of the sales order to the shipment of the goods and the payment for them.
The details of such organization must be left for a later chapter. But whether the task be that of a gen eral manager or of an office boy, it should be gov erned by certain principles of sound administration. What these principles are we may now inquire.