The
second function of the over-foreman is to smooth out the difficulties
which arise between the different types of bosses who in turn directly
help the men. The speed boss, for instance, always follows after the
gang boss on any particular job in taking charge of the workmen. In this
way their respective duties come in contact edgeways, as it were, for a
short time, and at the start there is sure to be more or less friction
between the two. If two of these bosses meet with a difficulty which
they cannot settle, they send for their respective over-foremen, who are
usually able to straighten it out. In case the latter are unable to
agree on the remedy, the case is referred by them to the assistant
superintendent, whose duties, for a certain time at least, may consist
largely in arbitrating such difficulties and thus establishing the
unwritten code of laws by which the shop is governed. This serves as one
example of what is called the "exception principle" in management, which
is referred to later.
Before leaving this portion of the subject the writer wishes to call
attention to the analogy which functional foremanship bears to the
management of a large, up-to-date school. In such a school the children
are each day successively taken in hand by one teacher after another who
is trained in his particular specialty, and they are in many cases
disciplined by a man particularly trained in this function.
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