The demand for men of originality and brains was never so great as it is
now, and the modern subdivision of labor, instead of dwarfing men,
enables them all along the line to rise to a higher plane of efficiency,
involving at the same time more brain work and less monotony. The type
of man who was formerly a day laborer and digging dirt is now for
instance making shoes in a shoe factory. The dirt handling is done by
Italians or Hungarians.
After the planning room with functional foremanship has accomplished its
most difficult task, of teaching the men how to do a full day's work
themselves, and also how to get it out of their machines steadily, then,
if desired, the number of non-producers can be diminished, preferably,
by giving each type of functional foreman more to do in his specialty;
or in the case of a very small shop, by combining two different
functions in the same man. The former expedient is, however, much to be
preferred to the latter. There need never be any worry about what is to
become of those engaged in systematizing after the period of active
organization is over. The difficulty will still remain even with
functional foremanship, that of getting enough good men to fill the
positions, and the demand for competent gang bosses will always be so
great that no good boss need look for a job.
Of all the farces in management the greatest is that of an establishment
organized along well planned lines, with all of the elements needed for
success, and yet which fails to get either output or economy.
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