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Clubs International Reprint: Work Abilities
Chapter 9
"Mass Application"
Intro | Prelim | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
Comment
Note: Not recommended reading. |
p. 89 |
CHAPTER IX
MASS APPLICATION
"WHAT would happen if everyone did this?"
This question always comes up, and logically so. It needs two answers. The
first pertains to the individual who desires to define his work ability and draw up his
Man Power Specification. The second has to do with those who will read the Specifications.
No matter how many individuals make out their Specifications, each
benefits, because he has built up out of an organized "What He Has Done" a
defined and comprehensive description of the "Functions He Can Perform." In
writing these Functions he defines himself with the mind that is in him, and gives shape
and size to what he has and what he can do with it. If he finds that he lacks something,
he can set about acquiring it. In striving for new and additional requirements, he does so
with defined purpose and direction. No longer does he go blindly through studies or cur-
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| riculum. He secures what he needs or wants for the sake of
the added power it will yield him. On the other band, if he is satisfied with what he has,
he has given to it the shape and dimension that hitherto it has lacked.
Suppose everyone, employed and unemployed, young and old, tradesman and professional,
organized and defined his work abilities. There could be no loss, and each person would
gain knowledge of himself. Organizing oneself for work by drawing useful functions out of
what we have gathered accidentally in the past and providing them as a usable service to
others, would be a sound program even if everyone did it. Everyone would improve his own
well-being and would make himself more valuable to others.
Everyone is not going to make out his Specifications, but as many as do
will profit by so doing and will make possible greater gains for those they serve.
On the other side stands the executive who fears he would be swamped with
the reading of piles of Man Power Specifications. A little thought as to the origin and
purpose of these Specifications ... |
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| will show the superficiality of this point of view.
A man cannot reveal by word of mouth, under pressure of the interview, a whole lifetime of
living. He cannot describe the education he has gained from schools, jobs, hobbies, and
associations. He cannot reveal his mental, physical, and emotional powers. Life is so
complicated that he would have to take too much of the executive's time to do even a poor
job of telling. And yet that life he has lived makes him what he is.
To describe intelligently and intelligibly to himself "What He Can
Do," takes all a man's mental power. Yet he must tell himself before he can tell
others. Even when he has organized "What He Can Do" out of "What He Has
Done," the result is untellable. But it is seeable and readable and as such is an
easily understood presentation. The objective material offered to the reader's eye and
mind reveals the complicated life of a man boiled down to defined facts, both pertinent
and potentially valuable.
None of this is possible in an interview. Mind and memory in such a case
fail both the inter- ... |
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p. 92 |
| viewer and the interviewed. It takes time and persistence
on a man's part to organize the facts of "What He Has Done," and even more of
both to evolve and state "What He Can Do." Once he has done that, however, it
becomes a quickly read and easily understandable statement of the facts that any
interviewer would want to know. So if everybody did make out their Man
Power Specifications, the executive would be better off as he would be able to select good
men more quickly and the enterprise would gain by being vitalized by organized abilities.
What we will realize in time is that the employment entrance is the
gateway through which enters the power that makes our business a success or a failure.
Ten-minute interviews and three-hour tests using subjective materials that are not
intended to determine the destiny of our business will be a thing of the past. A man's
objective presentation of ""What He Can Do" will determine his place in any
organization. Hiring and promotion will be based on that presentation taken in connection
with the man's merit and potential fitness.
In any enterprise the removal of a retarding fac- ... |
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| tor will bring a gain. Equally so, the strengthening of
even one factor, giving it a more defined and organized application, will yield a greater
profit. It is in this latter direction that Man Power Specifications are beneficial, for
they inspire the individual and enable the executive to use available abilities to the
best advantage. In both directions they strengthen the organization. They should be used
where they will contribute the greatest good. Where they should be used is a matter for
executive decision. It is profitable to use them for the mass of employees above a certain
salary level, as well as in their individual application. Since the Man
Power Specification is made out by the man himself, not by an expert of any kind, it is an
objective presentation of what that man can do. It will show the man's size, big or
little, just as he is. Even the wording and arrangement indicate the quality of the man
who wrote it. It is based on the principle that after a man has lived with himself all his
life, he is better equipped to tell what he can do than anyone who measures him
subjectively and in comparison with a group ... |
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p. 94 |
| or mass. Its use eliminates such generalizations and
arbitrary ratings. Using Man Power Specifications, industry is able to organize the
present to better advantage and to plan for the future with full knowledge of the human
abilities available for the work to be done. To the executive their use means that he will
be able to assign duties to the man best fitted to do them, while the worker will be doing
that task that he likes best and for which he is best fitted. Man Power
Specifications not only enable the organized and defined individual to render better
service to himself and his associates; they often cause the executive to think of and
recognize needs and opportunities not hitherto conceived. Furnishing an opportunity for
the improvement of existing conditions, like every effort towards improvement of human
relations, they reflect themselves in betterment of all concerned. No man need ever worry
about having too many good men about him. The more he has, the stronger both he and the
business are. Knowing the defined abilities of his men, he can use them to the best
advantage and thus strengthen his organization. |
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| In principle this whole procedure has been
de- veloped on the hypothesis that since work is necessary for progress in living,
therefore the more dearly work is defined, the greater advances can we make in that
living. When the problem of the individual had been solved, as outlined in the preceding
chapters, the same principles and methods were studied in their application to groups of
men and to businesses and were found to be even more profitable in those cases. The
procedure resolved itself into a multiplication of good efforts in the case of group
application and in the better definition and direction of efforts in its use by
organizations. In both cases it makes possible the presentation of a potential usefulness
in a defined and dimensioned form. Whereas in the case of the individual it answers the
question "What Can I Do?" in mass application it answers that same question put
in the plural, namely, "What Can We Do?" A work identity which supplies a need
or creates a demand is always of real value and well worth having available. All of which
is only another way of saying that the more men in a business who know what they can do
and who ... |
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p. 96 |
| can present that knowledge in a form usable by others, the
faster that business will grow to success and profit. In business today the
two controlling factors are profit and loss. Where there is a profit it may be
unsatisfactory in any one of three ways - it may be too small; it may not be secure; it
may need to be protected against future eventualities. Losses exist in even the most
profitable business. They can be minimized and future losses can be guarded against. All
that is needed to reduce losses and to maintain profit at a satisfactory level is to find
the man or men who know how to accomplish that end. So for the sake of the present
security and future survival of an enterprise it is good business to seek exact and
correct answers to two questions about available Man Power - how can it help increase or
maintain profit? - how can it help reduce losses?
How many men are there who know what they can do, who can prove that by
what they have done and in so doing satisfy the employer that they can be entrusted with
the work that needs doing? Certainly not many. Till recently the only |
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| way of finding a man fitted to a given task was to try out
one after another till at long last someone filled the "job" reasonably
satisfactorily. Even then there was the feeling that further changes might bring to light
a better man. And when the "job" was filled, how much was really known of the
work identity of the man filling it? Man Power Specifications were devised to meet these
conditions and answer such questions. In use they have not only done this, but they have
further proven their worth by generating new and unthought of activities. The objective
presentation of men's abilities has shown businessmen new fields of activity which they
have entered with profit to themselves, and in other cases has caused the creation of new
positions and assignments which grew from ideas, generated by such a presentation, into a
reality of action. Work identities, providing them with facts that otherwise would have
been unobtainable, enabled executives to make these advances. Intelligent
use of the work identities of available men is better practice than the promiscuous
assignment of jobs to unidentified individuals. A ... |
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p. 98 |
| task performed by a qualified employee not only yields a
better result, but makes for a happier coordination of personalities and an improved
morale all through an organization. And yet how seldom are the real qualifications of an
employee known to the employer. The usual personnel records will show where the employee
has worked in the past, his job title in each position held, and his salary record. Look
over any standard employment record and see if you can find out what work the man
has done or can do. Information as to work done and work ability is lacking, not only as
to those at the bottom, but also as to those at the top. A couple of stories of how
businesses were helped by the application of the principles and methods of Man Power
Specifications will illustrate these points. A large concern was faced with
the alternatives of either going out of business or of developing a different product to
meet a new competition. The first meant loss to everyone, the second the expenditure of
enormous sums of money for new equipment, a new process, a new product and, above all, the
finding of the man who could suc- ... |
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p. 99 |
| cessfully guide the company in the change of their output.
The decision had rested with the president of the company, who for months had been looking
for the man he needed to enable him to make the change in procedure with reasonable
likelihood of success and profit. A year previously he had discussed with the author the
situation which he saw facing him in the near future. He had been told at that time that
he needed help, needed men. His answer was the usual one, that what he needed was
business. Now, after months of worry and indecision, he had come to the conclusion that he
did need help and asked where he could find the man he needed. It was
decided to apply the principles of the Rahn Plan orally, within the company, so as to save
time. Titles and positions were to be disregarded as they did nothing to keep the business
going. The question for which the answer was to be found as quickly as possible was
"Who Can Do What?" to help preserve a fine old business.
After questioning several of the executives with no results of value, the
senior engineer was called in, the problem explained to him, the possible solutions laid
before him, and he was asked for ... |
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p. 100 |
| suggestions. He had been told that if the problem was not
solved the business would have to shut down and he, as well as the president, would be
looking for work. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain by talking freely.
The engineer's face lit up at the opportunity offered him as he told the executives of the
business about his apprenticeship and work abroad, his home laboratory and his hobby. He
was fully abreast of the one new development that could save the business. In his native
land he had designed, built, and installed the machinery which this company now needed. He
was immediately put to work on the development of the new product and the problem was
solved.
During the talk he had told how he had seen the trouble approaching. When
asked why he had not spoken, he asked in turn what would have happened to him if he had
told his titled superiors how to do their jobs - for jobs is what they were filling. Until
he was asked for suggestions his lips were sealed by the fetish of seniority. How many
know that feeling of wishing to make a suggestion to the "Boss," but not daring
to do so. It takes a really big man to listen to an employee telling ... |
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| him how to improve his business. If the "Boss"
has reached his position of authority largely by chance, then he must be a most unusual
man if he lets the employee talk. Let no one say that this could not happen
in his organization. It happens every day in the most successful businesses, and such
happenings are like a heavy weight that has to be pushed out of the way before industry
can advance as rapidly as it should.
Had Man Power Specifications for the major employees of his company been
available to the president, his problem would have been solved months before, he would
have avoided months of worry. In fact the problem would never have arisen at all. The
answer to the question would have been at hand as soon as the question arose. As long as
we treat our workers as job holders, asking of them only that they do as they are told,
just so long are we wasting the powers that we are paying for, and just so long will we be
meeting problems that should never arise. When we know what each man can do, as well as
what he has done, both described in work language, then can we develop a real
organization. |
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| A secondary result of putting the senior
engineer to work doing what he could do, was that the president decided that he alone was
no longer going to carry the load of making the business a success. He has now instilled
into the minds of every member of his organization the realization that each of them must
help create the work which will enable the business to grow and profit and pay their
compensations. They must cooperate with him as well as he with them. Such a
self-rehabilitation through the use of Man Power applies equally well to money, when
needed, to materials, when not available. It can save any enterprise. Business and
industry have been built up on the casual use of Man Power; through the intelligent use of
defined and known Man Power they can rise to unforeseen heights.
Looking at this same problem from the point of view of the small
organization, there was a lawyer who selected his secretary from many applicants. She was
highly recommended, had stood the highest in her class, but for his work proved
unsatisfactory. He did not want to discharge her, but he could not use her - something was
wrong. |
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| She drew up her Specification. It showed that she was a
college graduate who had specialized in literature, art, and Greek mythology. Her father
was a preacher. She had been secretary to a physician. Her whole mind was attuned to
sympathy with the unfortunate and away from the hard facts of life. This
lawyer's practice consisted mostly of case work and included many clients in difficult and
sad circumstances. With these the secretary was so sympathetic that she could not do her
work well. After she had written out the "Functions She Could Perform," she
herself saw immediately that she was in the wrong environment. So did the lawyer.
He hired a court stenographer and was satisfied. He placed the girl with a
friend whose work was in the field of the cultural arts, where her background and
capabilities would be of service both to her and to her new employer. She was satisfied.
The man who employed her had thought that he did not need another girl.
Her Specifications showed him how he could extend his activities into a related field.
This one Specification resulted |
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| in two satisfied employers, one satisfied employee, the
hiring of one man, and the expansion of a business. It is readily seen from
the examples given that the use of Man Power Specifications develops a spirit and morale
which is more important than the method. It is this spirit that has inspired so many men
to strive for and attain greater heights and correspondingly larger compensation than they
had ever dreamed of. The adjustments made by individuals, as a result of knowing what they
could do, has not only helped them, but has solved problems for industry. Intelligently
applied to the masses of capable men and women now doing for industry what they are told
to do - filling jobs - the beneficial results would be both immediate and great. It would
mean the reassignment of duties based on abilities, not the firing and hiring of
multitudes. New work would be created, new possibilities envisaged, new profits earned.
New ideals and a new efficiency would be brought to business and industry.
"Efficiency without ideals is brutal.
Ideals without efficiency are futile." |
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