Increasing Human Efficiency in Business Part 8

Employers are coming more and more to un-

derstand that conservation of physical forces means maximum output. The foundation, of course, is a clean, s.p.a.cious, well-lighted, and perfectly ventilated factory in a situation which affords pure air and accessibility to the homes of employees. In England and Germany the advance towards this ideal has taken form in the "garden cities" of which the plant is the nucleus and the support. In America there is no lack of industrial towns planned and built as carefully as the works to which they are tributary.

Some have added various "welfare" features, ranging from hot luncheons served at cost, free baths, and medical attendance to night schools for employees to teach them how to live and work to better advantage. The profit comes back in the increased efficiency of the employees.

_Even though the health be perfect and the att.i.tude of attention be sustained the will is unable to retain concentration by an effort for more than a few seconds at a time_.

When the mind is concentrated upon an

object, this object must develop and prove interesting, otherwise there will be required every few seconds the same tug of the will.

This concentration by voluntary attention is essential, but cannot be permanent. To secure enduring concentration we may have to "pull ourselves together" occasionally, but the necessity for such efforts should be reduced.

This is accomplished by developing interest in the task before us, through application of the fundamental motives such as self-preservation, imitation, compet.i.tion, loyalty, and the love of the game.

If the task before me is essential for my self-preservation, I shall find my mind riveted upon it. If I hope to secure more from speculation than from the completion of my present tasks, then my self-preservation is not dependent upon my work and my mind will irresistibly be drawn to the stock market and the race track. If I wish my work to be interesting and to compel my undivided attention, I should then try to make it appeal to me as of more importance than anything

else in the world. I must be dependent upon it for my income; I must see that others are working and so imitate their action; I must compete with others in the accomplishment of the task; I must regard the work as a service to the house; and I must in every possible way try to "get into the game."

_This conversion of a difficult task into an interesting activity is the most fruitful method of securing concentration_.

Efforts of will can never be dispensed with, but the necessity for such efforts should be reduced to the minimum. The a.s.sumption of the att.i.tude of attention should gradually become habitual during the hours of work, and so take care of itself.

The methods which a business man must use to cultivate concentration in himself are also applicable to his employees. The manner of applying the methods is, of course, different.

The employer may see to it that as far as possible all distractions are removed. He cannot directly cause his men to put forth voluntary effort, but he can see to it that they re-

tain the att.i.tude of concentration. This may require the prohibition of acts which are distracting but which would otherwise seem indifferent.

The employer has a duty in regard to the health of his men. Certain employers have a.s.sumed to regulate the lives of their men even after the day's work is over. Bad habits have been prohibited; sanitary conditions of living have been provided; hours of labor have been reduced; vacations have been granted; and sanitary conditions in shop and factory have been provided for.

_Employers are finding it to their interest to make concentration easy for their men by rendering their work interesting_.

This they have done by making the work seem worth while. The men are given living wages, the hope of promotion is not too long deferred, attractive and efficient models for imitation are provided, friendly compet.i.tion is encouraged, loyalty to the house is engendered, and love of the work inculcated. In addition, everything which hinders the development of interest in the work has been resisted.

How will a salesman, for instance, develop interest in his work if he makes more from his "side lines" than from the service he renders to the house which pays his expenses? How can the laborer be interested in his work if he believes that by gambling he can make more in an hour than he could by a month's steady work? The successful shoemaker sticks to his last, the successful professional man keeps out of business, and the wise business man resists the temptation to speculate. Occasionally a man may be capable of carrying on diverse lines of business for himself, but the man is certainly a very great exception who can hold his attention to the interests of his employer when he expects to receive greater rewards from other sources.

_The power of concentration depends in part upon inheritance and in part upon training_.

Some individuals, like an Edison or a Roosevelt, seem to be constructed after the manner of a searchlight. All their energy may be turned in one direction and all the rest of the world disregarded. Others are what we call scatter-

brained. They are unable to attend completely to any one thing. They respond constantly to stimulation in the environment and to ideas which seem to "pop up" in their minds.

Some people can read a book or paper with perfect satisfaction, even though companions around them are talking and laughing. For others, such attempts are farcical.

Many great men are reputed to have had marvelous powers of concentration. When engaged in their work, they became so absorbed in it that distracting thoughts had no access to their minds, and even hunger, sleep, and salutations of friends have frequently been unable to divert the attention from the absorbing topic.

_There are persons who cannot really work except in the midst of excitement_.

When surrounded by numerous appeals to attention, they get wakened up by resisting these attractions and find superfluous energy adequate to attend to the subject in hand.

This is on the same principle that governs the effects of poisonous stimulants. Taken

into the system, the whole bodily activity is aroused in an attempt to expel the poison.

Some of this abnormally awakened energy may be applied to uses other than those intended by nature. Hence some individuals are actually helped in their work at least temporarily by the use of stimulants. Most of the energy is of course required to expel the poison, and hence the method of generating the energy is uneconomical.

The men who find that they can accomplish the most work and concentrate themselves upon it the most perfectly when in the midst of noise and confusion are paying a great price for the increase of energy, available for profitable work. To be dependent on confusion for the necessary stimulation is abnormal and expensive.

Rapid exhaustion and a shortened life result. It is a bad habit and nothing more.

_Many persons seem able to disregard the common and necessary distractions of office, store, or factory_.

Other persons are so const.i.tuted that these distractions can never be overcome. Such

persons cannot hear a message through a telephone when others in the room are talking; they cannot dictate a letter if a third person is within hearing; they cannot add a column of figures when others are talking. Habit and effort may reduce such disability, but in some instances it will never even approximately eliminate it. Such persons may be very efficient employees, and their inability to concentrate in the presence of distractions should be respected. Every business man is careful to locate every piece of machinery where it will work best, but equal care has not been given to locating men where they may work to the greatest advantage.

By inheritance the power of concentration differs greatly among intelligent persons. By training, those with defective power may improve, but will never perfect the power to concentrate amidst distractions. To subject such persons to distractions is an unwise expenditure of energy

_Concentration by voluntary attention should be avoided, but concentration by secondary pa.s.sive_

_attention cultivated. Organized business interests should eliminate such public nuisances as surface street cars, elevated trains, venders of wares, screeching newsboys, smoking chimneys, and the like_.

In individual establishments walls may be deadened to sounds, telephones may be m.u.f.fled, call bells may be replaced by buzzers with indicators, clerks may have other methods than that of calling aloud for "cash" or for floor walkers, typewriters may be ma.s.sed with a view to reducing the general commotion, the illumination at the desks may be increased, discomforts should be reduced to a minimum, work may be so systematized that only one task at a time demands attention.

At least the att.i.tude of concentration should be habitual. The bodily condition favorable to the best concentration may make profitable such devices as firm lunch rooms, the building of industrial villages, and so on.

Concentration is secured positively by bringing into activity the various motives which affect most powerfully the different individu-

als. There should be a universal taboo on horse racing and all forms of gambling. Even "side lines" should be completely discouraged.

Some individuals are so hindered by the ordinary and necessary distractions of business that special protection should be granted to them.

CHAPTER VI

WAGES

AS A MEANS OF INCREASING HUMAN EFFICIENCY

FIFTY years ago works on psychology were devoted largely to discussion of ideas and of concepts. To-day the point of emphasis has changed, and we are now paying much attention to a study of "att.i.tudes." It is doubtless important to a.n.a.lyze my ideas or concepts, but it is of much more importance to know my att.i.tudes.

It is vital to know how to influence the ideas of others; but to be able to influence their att.i.tudes is of still greater significance.

We all know in a general way what we mean by an att.i.tude, but it is difficult to define or to comprehend it exactly. I have one att.i.tude towards a snake and a totally different one towards my students. If when hunting

quail I happen upon a little harmless snake, I find that I respond to the sight in a most absurd manner. Dread and repulsion overcome me. I can hardly restrain myself from killing the snake, even though doing so will frighten the birds I am hunting. I am predisposed to react in a particular way towards a snake. I sustain a particular att.i.tude towards it.

In the presence of my students I find that a spirit of unselfish devotion and a desire to be of a.s.sistance are likely to be uppermost.

That is to say, I sustain towards my students an att.i.tude of helpfulness, a predisposition to react towards them in such a way that their interests may be furthered. In fact, I find that we all take particular att.i.tudes towards the people we know and towards every task of our lives. These att.i.tudes are very significant, and yet they are often developed by circ.u.mstances which made but little apparent impression at the time, or may have been altogether forgotten. I cannot recall, for instance, the experience of my boyhood which developed

my present absurd att.i.tude toward harmless snakes.

When witnessing a play, my att.i.tude of suspicion towards a particular character may have been promoted by means of music and color, by means of the total setting of the play, or by some other means which never seemed to catch my attention. These concealed agencies threw me into an att.i.tude of suspicion, even while I was not aware that such a result was being attempted.

This modern conception of psychology teaches us that in influencing others we are not successful until we have influenced their att.i.tudes. Children in school do not draw patriotism from mere information about their country. Patriotism comes with the cultivation of the proper att.i.tude towards one's native land.

_Success or failure in business is caused more by mental att.i.tude even than by mental capacities_.

Nothing but failure can result from the mental att.i.tude which we designate variously as laziness, indifference, indolence, apathy,

shiftlessness, and lack of interest. All business successes are due in part to the att.i.tudes which we call industry, perseverance, interest, application, enthusiasm, and diligence.

In any individual, too, these att.i.tudes may not be the same towards different objects and may be subject to very profound changes and developments. A schoolboy is frequently lazy when engaged in the study of grammar, but industrious when at work in manual training. A young man who is an indolent bookkeeper may prove to be an indefatigable salesman. Another who has shown himself apathetic and indifferent in a subordinate position may suddenly wake up when cast upon his own responsibility.

Few men of any intelligence can develop the same degree of interest in each of several tasks. Personally I find that my shiftlessness in regard to some of my work is appalling.

Touching my main activities, however, I judge that my industry is above reproach.

The preceding chapters (particularly the chapters on Imitation, Compet.i.tion, and Loy-

alty) were attempts to discover and to present the most effective motives or factors in producing in workers an att.i.tude of industry.

Based on a study of psychology and of business, methods were presented which may be utilized with but little expense and yet are effective in awakening instinctive responses in the worker and hence greatly increasing his efficiency. The present chapter will deal with an even more effective means of securing an att.i.tude of industry since it appeals to three of the most fundamental and irresistible of man's instincts.

_With most of us the degree of our laziness or our industry depends partly upon our affinity for the work, but chiefly upon the motives which stimulate us_.

For our ancestors, preservation depended upon their securing the necessary means for food, clothing, and shelter. In the struggle for existence only those individuals and races survived who were able to secure these necessary articles. In climates and regions removed from the tropics only the exceedingly

industrious survived. In warm and fertile lands those who were relatively industrious managed to exist. Because of the absence of the necessity for clothing and because of the abundance of available food, races have developed in the tropics which are notoriously lazy. The human race, individually and collectively, works only where and when it is compelled to.

The energetic races, those which have advanced in civilization, live in lands where the struggle for existence has been continuous.

Necessity is a hard master, but its rule is indispensable to worthy achievement. The instinct of self-preservation and the industrious att.i.tude are responses which the human race has learned to exercise, in the main, only in case of need. Self-preservation is the first law; where life and personal liberty are dependent upon industry, idleness will not be found. Wealth removes the obligation to toil; hence the poor boy often outdistances his more favored brother.

Individuals work for pay as a means of

self-preservation, and unless that is satisfactory other motives have but little weight with them. The needs of the self which preservation demands are continuously increasing.

The needs of the American-born laborer are greater than those of the Chinaman. Regardless of this higher standard of living and the ever increasing number of "necessities,"