Increasing Efficiency In Business - Walter Dill Scott (ebook reader browser .txt) 📗

results will be far short

of what might be desired. Persistent effort

in any direction is not without result, however,

and any increase in concentration is so valuable

that it is worth the effort it costs. If a man

lacks power of concentration in any particular

direction, he should force concentration in that

line and continue till a habit results.

 

Our control over our muscles and movements

far exceeds our direct control over our

attention. An attitude of concentration is

possible, even when the desired mental process

is not present. Thus by fixing my eyes on a

page and keeping them adjusted for reading,

even when my mind is on a subject far removed,

I can help my will to secure concentration. I

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can likewise restrain myself from picking up a

newspaper or from chatting with a friend when

it is the time for concentrated action on my

work. By continuously resisting movements

which tend to distract and by holding myself

in the position of attention, the strain upon

my will in forcing concentration becomes less.

 

_Concentration is practically impossible when

the brain is fagged or the bodily condition is far

below the normal in any respect_.

 

The connection between the body and the

mind is most intimate, and the perfect working

of the body is necessary to the highest efficiency

of the mind. The power of concentration is

accordingly affected by surroundings in the

hours of labor, by sleep and recreation, by the

quality and quantity of food, and by every

condition which affects the bodily processes

favorably.

 

Recognition of this truth is behind the very

general movement, both here and abroad, to

provide the best possible conditions both in the

factories and the home environment of workers.

Employers are coming more and more to un-

<p 122>

derstand that conservation of physical forces

means maximum output. The foundation,

of course, is a clean, spacious, 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

attitude 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

<p 123>

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, competition, 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

<p 124>

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 assumption

of the attitude 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-

<p 125>

tain the attitude 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 assumed 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 competition 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.

<p 126>

 

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-

<p 127>

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

<p 128>

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 constituted that these

distractions can never be overcome. Such

<p 129>

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 passive_

<p 130>

_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 muffled,

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 massed 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 attitude 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-

<p 131>

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.