Rahn's Work Abilitiy Preliminary Material

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Rahn's Work Abilities
Preliminary Material
Title Page, Contents, Forewords

From A.W. Rahn's "Your Work Abilities
How to Express and Apply Them Through Man Power Specifications"
Harper & Brothers Publishers 1938

Intro | Prelim | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

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Pg. iii

YOUR WORK ABILITIES
HOW
TO EXPRESS AND APPLY THEM
THROUGH
MAN POWER
SPECIFICATIONS

A.W. RAHN
of the Western Electric Company
New York

Formerly General Supervisor Personnel Studies
Installation Department; Manufacturing En-
gineer; Employment Supervisor; Personnel Ex-
ecutive; Industrial Education and Training

REVISED EDITION

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1938

Note: This web site is NOT published, approved or endorsed by Harper & Brothers.

Pg. iv

YOUR WORK ABILITIES

SECOND EDITION
C-N

All rights in this book are reserved.
No part of the book may be reproduced without
written permission. For information address
Harper & Brothers

Privilege for individual use and application of this procedure is hereby granted
to any purchaser of this book by merely referring to the "Credit of the Rahn
Plan."

Any mass or group application or use of this method or procedure is a matter of
negotiation between the author and those desiring to make use of it.

The author's sanction is covered by copyright coverage.

Chapters I, VI, and VII are especially recommended

Pg. v

CONTENTS
	IN APPRECIATION		vii
	FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION		ix
	FOREWORD		xi
I.	"THERE ARE NO JOBS ------"		1
II.	WORK VERSUS JOBS		17
III.	WHY MAN POWER SPECIFICATIONS		26
IV.	WHENCE COME OUR CAPABILITIES		32
V.	WORK AS A COMMON DENOMINATOR OF PROGRESS		39
VI.	COMPOSING A MAN POWER SPECIFI- CATION		51
VII.	USING A MAN POWER SPECIFICATION		69
VIII.	INDUSTRIAL SIGNIFICANCE AND EFFECT		79
IX.	MASS APPLICATION		89
X.	CONCLUSION		105
XI.	SAMPLE MAN POWER SPECIFICATIONS		110

	CHARTS AND FORMS
	SOURCE OF MAN'S CAPABILITIES	facing p.	38
	WORK AS A COMMON DENOMINATOR	facing p.	50
	SKELETON MAN POWER SPECIFICATION		57
	SAMPLE "FUNCTIONAL PARAGRAPHS"		65
	SAMPLE LETTERS OF SUBMITTAL		76
	MAN POWER SPECIFICATION IN COMPLETED FORM	facing p.	140

Pg. vii

IN APPRECIATION

MUCH credit for projecting this work as now available for broader application and use is due to Mr. Guy E. Wyatt of New York. It was his enthusiastic interest and support which prompted me definitely to organize this philosophy, principle and method so as to provide a contributive medium for lifting the morale of the helpless by inspiring and directing a constructive attitude of self help. Without the intelligent and forceful projection provided by Mr. Wyatt, this work and material would have been confined to a limited application.

I thank Mr. Allen Wardwell of New York for his sympathetic interest in permitting Mr. Wyatt to further the exposition of this effort and for his assistance in obtaining important audiences for discussion of its merit. From these audiences was developed the stimulating approbation of many eminent minds.

I also give my thanks to the Western Electric Company management for the faith they placed in ...

Pg. viii

me, allowing me freedom of action in developing this hitherto unknown and untried procedure, and for their humanitarian attitude in granting me the privilege of helping those hundreds of individuals to whom this new approach brought results.

I extend to each of these my appreciation.

A. W. RAHN

Pg. ix

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

SINCE the publication of this new philosophy and this practical approach to the problem of WORK as contrasted to JOBS, there have been many and varied questions and requests for more detailed information.

In order to clarify some points there has beenadded a new Chapter III which points out the usefulness of Man Power Specifications to the executive as well as to the employee. In addition changes have been made in the text to help those making out their own Man Power Specifications.

The demand from individuals for help in drawing up their Specifications was so great that Mr. Rahn had to set up an organization in New York to counsel those who felt that they needed guidance in defining "What They Could Do."

The interest aroused by this constructive help to executives and individuals as well as the unexpected publicity given it in many quarters has shown the great need of a new angle of attack to ...

Pg. x

the problem of work. Many letters from those who have benefited from applying the methods described in this book testify to the value and usefulness of The Rahn Plan.

CHARLES O’CONOR SLOANE

Pg. xi

FOREWORD

DURING the Depression good men were being laid off and the author of this book was delegated to help them find work outside his company. When many trips up and down the usual channels led to no satisfactory haven, it became necessary to chart a new course over unmapped seas to the desired port.

This he has done.

Starting with the "effect"-"there are no jobs" - he worked back to the "cause" - "men do not know what they can do." He then devised a method, based on sound principles, which enables any man to draw up his own "Man Power Specification": a statement of "what a man can do" and where he can do it," based on and proved by "what he has done." In so doing the author laid out a new channel which led to the long sought harbor of Work.

Not satisfied with laying out a course for others to follow he has acted as pilot to hundreds, has learned many of the unforeseen hazards of the ...

Pg. xiv

course, has set up signals, made corrections and had the satisfaction of seeing 80% of the travelers make a satisfactory landfall. The few that did not reach the Port of Work failed in their endeavors for many causes. Analysis of these failures showed no errors in the course laid out, but rather subjective failings in the travelers themselves.

In other words this book shows the individual how to use and profit by a tried and proved course and method, which has been a boon in the lives of over six hundred people who have followed its suggestions to a successful conclusion. It has been an inspiration and a practical job-getting tool for men and women whose incomes had ranged from $200,000 a year to 15 cents per hour. It has been my privilege to read scores of letters written to the author by those who found work by drawing up their Man Power Specifications. I can testify that the results obtained, both practical and spiritual, re little short of amazing.

Accompanying every new automobile is an instruction book. By following the directions given therein the veriest tyro can learn how to make the car function after a fashion. The good driver is the one who knows the "whys" of the car's actions, ...

Pg. xii

as well as the "what to do's." He is not satisfied with the superficial knowledge that if he pulls a lever a certain thing will happen. He wants to know the reason for the result. Knowing that, he is capable of meeting intelligently the emergencies that daily arise.

So it is with the functioning of the Rahn Plan - the generic name for the philosophy and principles behind the methods outlined in this book for making out Man Power Specifications. The results of following the directions contained in the following pages will show whether the reader has studied or skimmed over the pages giving a summary of the philosophy underlying the method. Experience over a period of years has shown that the novelty of this method of attacking the work problem requires a receptive mental attitude. A Man Power Specification can be drawn up by following the instructions, but the result will be but new proof that what you get out of life or any effort is in direct proportion to the labor you put into it.

The scope of the early chapters has been determined by the methods proved successful in conditioning the minds of men in personal interviews.

Pg. xiv

The intent and underlying thought of this book is to make generally available to individuals the service which has been of such tangible help to several hundred men and women. In personal contacts the approach has necessarily varied somewhat, whereas in the written word it must be standardized. To the questions that will un doubtedly arise, due to special conditions and to the differences in men's minds, the answers can be found by a careful study of the philosophy in the earlier chapters.

For the benefit of those whose interest in the subject of unemployment and work is broader than that of a man looking for a "job," several chapters have been added after the explanation of the procedure to be followed in making up one's Man Power Specification. Here again experience has pointed the way. In the course of counseling with many people of all degrees of prominence in the business world, invariably the question of the wider application of this philosophy has been discussed. These discussions have been started by those being counseled, indicating a general appreciation of the lack of something constructive in the economic system.

Pg. xv

The outlines of the answers to such questions will be found in the later chapters. The author has summarized these chapters from a manuscript which covers in detail the philosophy, psychology and principles behind the Rahn Plan. Brief though the outlines in the present volume are, they point to the path that can be followed, a path leading to a better and happier industrial life.

The writer of this Foreword has seen the Plan operate, has seen the results secured by all kinds and conditions of people. He knows that it will help if intelligently followed. The amount of help and the satisfaction in the result attained will perforce depend upon the ability of the reader in using the information here offered.

Study it, therefore, and think. The economic and spiritual consequences will be both surprising and satisfying.

CHARLES O'CONOR SLOANE

April 30, 1936.
South Orange,
New Jersey,
U.S.A.