TYPES OF MANAGEMENT-THE FACTORY 1. Thin, red line of tape.—A recent report issued by the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Aus tralia, on Business Management of the Department of Home Affairs, gives the following account of govern mental red tape : A school teacher in the Federal Territory of New South Wales wants a minor repair in' a school closet. He writes thru the local inspector to the Department in Sydney, and the Alinister ad dresses the Premier of New South Wales, who gravely addresses a letter to the Right Honorable, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, informing him that the woodwork of a closet is in a state of decay owing to the ravages of white ants, begging him to bring the matter to the notice of his colleague, the Minister of Home Affairs, with a view to the Admin istrator of the Federal Territory being instructed to have the closet mended, and concluding by having the "honour to be his obedient servant." The Prime -Minister does as desired, and ultimately the work is put in hand. When the work is done, a notification is sent back by the same tortuous course. "Famil iarity," says Mr. Mc C. Anderson, the investigator, "does not seem to lessen the shock one gets at the ex ceedingly long j ourney a very small matter has to take before it can be remedied." National governments all over the world have in creased their activities year by year until the adminis trative machinery threatens to crush its foundation. There is no necessity that the efficiency of government management be measured by the business standard— that the value of the product exceed the cost. The "system specialists" can work year after year without a check. Should they be compelled to study other factors, such as the necessity of raising money on a four per cent basis, or the problem of "stock turnover," governmental departments would purge themselves automatically of "figures not worth while." To show what red tape means in government practice would hardly be worth while, did not a somewhat similar con dition prevail in nearly every large business organi zation. The introduction of improved methods en
counters the universal aversion of business men to any increase in general overhead or office expense, which is fundamentally, tho not always consciously, based on a feeling of helplessness in regard to the con trol of those parts of an organization which cannot be checked by the "results" standard. There is no spirit of "business is business" to hold the system in the office to a definite end without meaningless ex cursions. The costs of operation of the department are covered by the general prosperity of the whole, and the only way the average business man knows of handling them is to "play safe" and oppose organiza tion expenses on general principles.
2. Need of clear understanding of organization types.—The idea that organization means red tape, and that red tape means more overhead expense, has done much to retard the general movement for more efficient management. Yet a very little thought ap plied along the right lines would show that red tape is only an exaggerated form of one feature in organiza tioh, and that it generally disappears as soon as real organization is introduced.
Let there be, then, a definite statement at the out set : (a) No organization can take the place of business judgment, for organilation is but a means to an end; it provides a method.
(b) The guiding questions in selecting a type of organization are: Does it permit the choosing of the things worth doing? Does it emphasize the factors that have the greatest bearing on the results, and per mit the casting out of the unessential and insignificant factors ? (c) Organization as a system should (1) relieve the administration judgment of details, and yet bring to it the essentials necessary for correct premises, and (2) provide an orderly procedure for the carrying out of executive decisions when they are put into opera tion.