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Clubs International Reprint: Work Abilities
Chapter 10
"Conclusion"
Intro | Prelim | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
Comment:
Not recommended
reading. |
p. 105 |
CHAPTER X
CONCLUSION
AMERICA presents today in business, industry, science, and art
the result of having passed through a long construction period. Within the memory of those
still living, desert places have blossomed into hives of industry. This development from
nothingness into our present civilization has come about through production, operation,
sale, and installation of every manner of device on a constantly increasing scale.
If we could compare one square mile of land fitted with a composite of
what constitutes present-day American life with another square mile in its original state
of 1776 we would realize the changes brought about in the last 150 years. If we could
visualize the territorial growth, we would then have a true picture of what our forebears
have done for us. Looking backward on it all there stands out one fact. We have run a long
hard race and are now pausing to catch our breath. It has been a big task. |
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p. 106 |
| Over this period the vital need has been
construction and this has emphasized the production complex in our thinking and in our
doing. It could not have been otherwise with such a rapid expansion to be achieved. Where
our thinking now reaches to other nations and considers them in terms of possible markets,
our fathers' businesses were limited to local neighborhoods. Yet so absorbing has been the
task of production, that our minds have not yet passed beyond the local, individual, and
selfish state engendered by the past conditions. This state of affairs has
come into being in spite of us. As individuals we have all contributed and participated
according to the situations in which we found ourselves. There is little we would do the
same way did we have it to do over. We cannot go back. Who would want to? Who of us today
would wallow by wagon or on foot through mud and clay to make a new road to Chicago,
Omaha, or Los Angeles? Our fathers did that for us, but now we go in comfort on roads and
in vehicles that would have been beyond their wildest imaginings. |
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p. 107 |
| Our institutions are built for better or for
worse. Some call them greedy, unfair, monopolistic. They were built quickly, as were all
things, to meet the crying needs of the time. Perhaps they should be defended or
condemned. In our state of confusion it may seem that all things have been done wrongly,
so let us get back to principles and see if our points of view cannot be somewhat altered.
What we now have has been built and if we do not tear it down, what can be done? When a
part of our anatomy is infected we do not destroy the whole; we treat it so as to localize
the trouble and preserve the rest. We have an adjustment to face, not a
depression to fear. The world has not in the past, nor will it in the future, "go to
the dogs." The laws of life are such that they do not let the good be destroyed. So
while this book describes a philosophy and lays down principles, it shows above all, the
application of methods to all men, big and little, young and old. It shows how we can
present ourselves as persons, not as "beef on the hoof." It will help eliminate
the "fitting of the job to the man." |
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p. 108 |
| The expedient of "fitting men to
jobs" was a natural outgrowth of conditions when jobs were hunting men. Men could
find jobs because they existed. There was so much work to be done under the huge
construction program that anyone was put on the job that had to be done, hoping that they
would make good. The products of jobs manned in this way depended on the energy,
character, and ability of the man that someone hoped would make good. Our present
condition would indicate that the old way was not good enough. Unless we improve our
procedure we shall be back in the old groove again and go through the same cycle.
Putting the right man on the job is good business. Through Man Power Specifications the
right man can be found and, when found, recognized. The job is no more effective than the
man in it. The institution is no better than the people composing it. The institution or
business is efficient and profitable when those directing it know their own abilities and
the abilities of all in it and use them to accomplish the desired result. Eliminate chance
in the beginning and there will be less ... |
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p. 109 |
| chance involved in the result. Know Man Power as machinery
is known. One of the greatest possible contributions to civilization, to
ourselves, and to posterity is to rationalize an ideal into a working principle and to
project that principle into actual performance as a part of our daily life.
To help the individual render that service to himself is the object of
this book. |
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