MODERN AIDS IN .MANAGEMENT-PLANNING 1. Real management is concerned with policies, not details.—Most managers will admit that they are han dicapped because they must attend to too many details. Foremen, superintendents and bosses will generally admit that they are overworked. Yet if a superior officer should suggest that some of their duties be lightened or removed, how many of these men would submit without any protest? It is this factor more than any other in human nature—the unwillingness to surrender any fraction of authority—that stands in the way of progressive management. One frequently hears the remark made that the head of the concern is the last one to be convinced that his own organiza tion might be helped and his own effectiveness in creased if some of his responsibilities were shifted to the backs of other men. He is more likely to object, because he has more authority to surrender than the men below him.
2. Adjusting authority to responsibility.—How ever strenuous may be the objection in certain quarters to any particular system of scientific management, it is generally conceded that there are certain aids which will help the manager to lighten his burden and in crease his efficiency without lessening any part of his total authority. Not all of these aids, of course, can be mentioned, but a few, which have been tried and found successful will be given. Perhaps the simplest is a chart showing the form of the organi zation, the effectiveness of which will be much in creased if it is supplemented by an organization record. Other devices which are gradually being adopted, as a whole or in part, are the planning de partment, time-studies, standards, mnemonic symbols, bonus rewards for labor and welfare work.
3. Organization charts a prime chart showing clearly the line of authority and responsibility of each individual in an organization will go far to ward removing many inter-departmental jealousies. The chart should be so simple that it will be self-ex planatory upon inspection. Each man's position is thus made perfectly clear and he easily informs him self as to what course to take when transacting busi ness with other departments. If the chart is for a
factory, each workman will know to what particular gang boss or job boss he is directly responsible; each gang boss or job boss will know to what foreman he must report; each foreman will know to what superin tendent be must answer ; and each superintendent will know where his authority begins and ends with respect to other departmental heads. Furthermore, the chart should show who is responsible for machines and equipment. To be most effective the chart should be hung in a conspicuous place. Each of the manufac turing departments should have one, as well as the office; 24 x 36 inches is a suitable size. When made in the form of blue-prints, charts are inexpensive, but they should be framed and protected by glass, to shield them from pencil markings and other injuries.
4. Charts clarify ideas.—These charts will not only prove themselves an aid in instructing the employes in the workings of the organization, but they will be found to be of great value in helping the manager to clarify his ideas and in adding to his information regarding his organization. Any manager -who has never planned a chart of this kind will be surprised to find how many gaps there are in his knowledge of his own plant. Furthermore, -the making of such a chart compels the manager to look upon his organiza tion from the point of view of functions and activities rather than from the standpoint of the persons who are running the business.
This elimination of the personal equation is one of the first things which the manager must accomplish if he would obtain absolute control of his business. He can look at his organization as if it were a ma chine and, having studied the various parts and their functions, he can take up the question of the personnel and compare the qualifications of the different men who might run that particular part of the organiza tion.