If planning outlines, the direction of supervision inspection furnishes the test of adequate control. The executive, therefore, who can control effectively only thru personal inspection must have his authority curtailed accordingly. The test of modern factory and office efficiency is measured by the extent to which inspection can be stretched and still maintain ade quate control. One minute of a ten-thousand-dollar expert's time may be so utilized as to affect the activi ties of a whole department.
9. Symptomatic details.—An office manager steps into a department, gives a glance and departs. A stranger in so brief a time would have seen nothing; the experienced eye of the executive has caught essen tial points by which he judges the whole. The details by which a physician judges the condition of his pa tient are called symptomatic details, and the same ex pression may properly be applied to the signs by which the administrator of a business concern judges its activities.
One of Napoleon's principal anxieties was the num ber of available combatants. Continually on the look out for any symptom showing the changes in the number of his men, he studied the muster rolls from one to two hours every day until the twenty thick volumes which came to him every month were ana lyzed. "I leave everything else," said he, " to see the difference between one month and another." Thus the leader was able to verify the execution of his orders and the force available for carrying them out, altho he was not always able to be present.
Shop and office executives must likewise examine their muster rolls if they would impress their subordi nates with evidence of their vigilance. Orders given
in their names must be checked, and that this may be done economically and efficiently the supervision must be carried on by calculations based on the selection and observation of symptomatic details.
If supervision is to be efficient, its nature, its limi tations and the essential elements of the different methods must be studied. Thus we find that super vision resolves itself into that factor of administration whereby the functions of control and direction are so distributed and coordinated that the greatest economy of time, effort and expense may be achieved thru the cooperation of all the units, and yet without destroy ing the initiative of any subordinate unit.
But an esprit de corps is as necessary as initiative and mechanical cooperation. This is gained thru the inspiration of the master spirit in supervision, be he chief clerk in the dictaphone department or general manager, for upon him depends the unity which abil ity and open-mindedness in the leader can alone inspire. Given these qualities in a manager, the es sential elements in supervision, such as surprise, in spection and rewards and penalties, adapt themselves to methods best suited to the circumstances engen dered by local conditions. Tact, courage, courtesy and all the other qualifications of a successful man ager are drawn upon as the occasion requires, and as these are induced naturally, the acts of giving orders, inspection and the bestowing of rewards and penalties reduce friction to the minimum while contributing to the general spreading of good-will.