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

success. The manner of eating,

of sleeping, and of caring for all the needs

of body and mind are for most persons mainly

a matter of habit, yet they, to a large extent,

determine the condition of health and the

length of days.

 

We become fond of doing things in the

manner to which we have become habituated.

This tendency manifests itself to an abnormal

degree in the drinking and the smoking habit.

In a lesser degree we see the same thing in the

attachment of the babe for his pacifier and the

child for his chewing gum. Habit creates a

craving for the good as well as for the bad.

The ways to which we have become habituated

seem pleasing to us whether they be good or

bad. There is truth in the proverb, “Train

up a child in the way he should go and when

he is old, he will not depart from it.” It might

be added that the child will not want to depart

from the way to which he has been trained, for

<p 323>

the habits thus acquired beget a fondness for

the acts themselves.

 

It is very unusual for any one to acquire

a language after the age of twenty so as to

speak it without a foreign accent. All other

personal habits are like the use of language in

that they are acquired during the early years

and are not easily changed. So far as personal

habits are concerned, but little change

need be anticipated after the twentieth year.

 

SOCIAL HABITS

 

Our treatment of others is largely a matter

of habit. We are affable or gruff according

to habit. Honesty and dishonesty in dealing

with others is, in the main, a matter of habit.

The honest man is the one who takes honesty

for granted and acts honestly from habit.

So soon as he begins to observe that he is an

honest man, to call attention to the fact, and

to be much impressed by the honor of his

choices—at that moment suspicion of him

should be entertained, for honesty has with

him ceased to be a habit.

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We classify individuals largely by means

of their personal and social habits. By these

the gentleman is recognized as surely as the

boor. By means of them we select our friends

and engage new employees. Efficiency in

every life calling depends upon our success in

dealing with people. Such success is largely

dependent upon the social habits that we

acquire.

 

OCCUPATION HABITS

 

Until the recent rise of interest in psychology,

relatively little attention had been given

to the study of those habits which are developed

in business. When proper care is not

given to the formation of these habits developed

in connection with one’s daily occupation,

wrong habits are certain to appear. The mason

makes two motions with his trowel where

he should make but one. The accountant

substitutes “short cuts” in adding where all

the operations should be taken in regular order

and made as automatic as the few short cuts

previously developed. The executive has the

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habit of depending upon “desultory” memory

where the logical should be developed. The

salesman in speaking to a critical customer

says “he don’t,” instead of saying “he doesn’t”;

“gents’ goods” instead of “men’s goods.”

Every investigation into the human actions

and the human methods of thinking as involved

in business reveals the presence of unfortunate

habits such as the examples here cited.

 

Therefore, one of the most noteworthy events

in the business and industrial world of the last

twenty years is the study of the occupation

habits of the workman to which reference was

made in the first paragraphs of this chapter.

The research has been especially successful

in dealing with the occupation habits of mechanics.

 

The fundamental discovery was made that

the workman’s occupation habits are not such

as enable him to accomplish his task in an

economical and efficient manner. To discover

what occupation habits should be developed,

experts in each of several typical

establishments were assigned the task of

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making a careful study of every movement of

eye, hand, foot, and body, and the rate and

sequence of all the movements necessary for

performing single tasks most easily and efficiently.

The experts were also to study the

tools, the materials, and conditions best

adapted to the work. In general, the experts

found the greatest opportunity for improvement

in the *movements of the men. As a

result of this research, numerous processes

have been scientifically standardized. The

workmen have been taught the new and better

way and have been drilled till the processes

have been, so far as possible, reduced to occupation

habits. The workmen have been easily

induced to acquire the new habits, as their

earning capacity is thereby greatly increased.

Ordinarily, a considerable bonus is awarded to

all workmen who develop the desired habits

and perform the task exactly as prescribed by

the expert.

 

An investigation into the results secured

from the adoption of this scientific attempt

to study and to regulate the occupation

<p 327>

habits of workmen reveals most gratifying

success.

 

Mr. H. R. Hathaway, an expert engineer,

testifies that “under this system a workman

can turn out from two to four times as much

work” as he was able to accomplish when

working with his old habits,

 

Mr. Lewis Sanders, of the General Engineering

Company, New York, reports most

satisfactory results from the introduction of

this systematic attempt to regulate the occupation

habits of employees. A typical example

which he reports is the following: It

regularly took a man one minute and forty

seconds to set a piece in a jig. “After a study

of the exact motions required to pick the piece

up and set it accurately, we showed the same

man how to do it in twenty seconds.” This

workman soon reduced the correct movement

to habit, attained the specified speed, and

without in any way working harder than formerly

was assisted to increase his efficiency four

hundred per cent.

 

A well-known engineering company re-

<p 328>

quired the reading of twelve thermometers,

each every two minutes. The man assigned

to the task could rarely read so many as

eight of them in the two minutes. An expert

took up the problem and at first could

do no better than the first man. The expert

studied the most favorable position of the

head and eyes for reading, eliminated all

useless motions, and discovered that the

twelve thermometers could then be read in

one minute and fifty seconds. The workman

who previously had with difficulty read

eight thermometers in two minutes soon

acquired the proper occupation habits and

was enabled to read the twelve with perfect

ease. His efficiency was increased forty per

cent, and the task was rendered less exacting

than before.

 

Typewriting is carried on by habits. The

habit of writing most naturally formed is

that known as the sight system. Recently,

attempts have been successfully made to enable

the operators to form the habit of writing

by touch rather than by sight. The

<p 329>

operator who acquires the habit of locating

the keys by touch writes much faster and

with less nervous strain than the operator

who writes from sight.

 

No one has been more successful in studying

occupation habits than Mr. Frank B.

Gilbreth, an expert in the building trades.

He discovered that in constructing a brick

wall a good mason can lay one hundred

and twenty bricks in an hour and that in

laying each brick he makes eighteen distinct

motions. The motions were not made in an

economical sequence; some of them were

useless, and merely exhausted the energy

of the workman. Mr. Gilbreth attempted

to apply to the industry of bricklaying the

principles of billiard playing. Every motion

of the mason should be a “play for position.”

He should make each motion so

as to be ready for the next. For example,

the motion of placing the mortar for the end

joint should end with the trowel in position

ready to cut off the hanging mortar. When

the motions are made in the correct sequence,

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two or more of them can be combined and

performed in but little more time than would

be required to make each of the separate

motions. Thus, cutting off mortar, buttering

the end of the laid brick, and reaching for

more mortar can all be performed as a single

movement. In this way the motions of the

mason have been reduced from eighteen to

five per brick. All this change has been

brought about from a study of the occupation

habits of masons. In discussing the results,

Mr. Gilbreth says: “It has changed the entire

method of laying bricks by reducing the kind,

number, sequence, and length of motions.

The economic value of motion study has been

proved by the fact that we have more than

tripled the workman’s output in bricklaying

and at the same time lowered cost and increased

wages simultaneously, and the end

is not yet.”

 

Attempts to develop beneficial occupation

habits in executives have not yet been

exhaustively and scientifically carried out.

Such experiments are, however, sure to be

<p 331>

successful, and it is quite probable that before

another decade has passed the habits

of executives will have been as successfully

studied and controlled as have the occupation

habits of mechanics cited above.

 

The introduction of physics and chemistry

have led to marvelous results in methods

of manufacture and transportation. Those

who have given most attention to the advances

of psychology during the past two

decades are confident that by the proper

application of psychology the efficiency of

men is to be increased beyond the idle dream

of the optimist of the past. Since by a study

of habits the efficiency of men in fundamental

occupations has been increased from forty

to four hundred per cent, it is hard to prophesy

what results are to be secured from more extensive

studies.

 

{The remaider of this etext (Index + Advert.) is raw OCR}

INDEX

 

Ability, potential, 231.

Accidents, mine, 96.

Acclimated, 17.

Acclimatization, 18.

Accountant, experienced, 319.

Advance, periods of, 232; of

learning, 242.

Africa, 189.

Air, 172; foul, 180.

Alertness, mental, 44.

Alphabet, repeating, 284.

Altruistic, 203.

American, business, 24; steel—

makers, 48, 206; executives,

118; ideals, 205; people, 209 f.,

219.

Architecture, 174.

Armour, 87.

Athletic, contest, 9; events, 169;

trainer, 2 11.

Attention, 3; passive, 109 f.;

secondary passive, 112 ff.;

voluntary, III ff., 123, 234,

249 ff., 279.

Attitudes, 132 ff., 177; receptive,

182, 183, 187; promotion of,

193, 202, 215; “do-or-die,”

250; personal, 279 ff.

Authority, plenary, 88.

 

“Bad days,” 207.

Bessemer converters, 48.

Bicycles, 194.

“Big” selling months, 72.

“Bogy” in golf, 55 f.

Bohemian woman, 288.

Bonus, 35, 142, 145, 165, 178,

252, 304; system, 297, 326.

Book, W. F., “Psychology of

Skill,” 227.

Bookkeeping, experience in, 282.

Boor, 324.

Boss, 49, 83, 178, 253.

Boy, messenger, 7; errand, 277.

Brain, 309.

Breakdowns, 208.

“ Breaking in,” 41, 232, 237.

British Iron and Steel Institute,

49.

Brooding, habit of, 216.

Bryan & Harter, _Psychological

Review_, 230.

 

Cabinet meetings,” 119.

Campaign, educational, 102, 155;

advertising, 238.

Capacities, mental, 134, 178.

Capitalizing

experience, 303 ff.

Carnegie,

Andrew, 49 ff.; mills,

57 f., 87; his cabinet, 94 f.,

221.

Caution in competition, 61.

Cells, brain and muscle, 172,

173.

<p 333>

<p 334>

Chemistry, 4, 7, 331.

Christ,

85, 206.

Clauston, Dr., 206.

Cleveland, Grover, 188.

Clubs, local, 220.

Coach, 9, 303.

Coaching, effect of, 9, 10.

College grades, 16.

Combustion, 171.

Commendation in competition,

62 f., 73.

Competition, 48 ff .

Concentration,

104 ff .

Connection,

body and mind, 121.

Consciousness, 172.

Conservation of individuality,

94.

Consumption,

comparative, 50,

172,173.

Contests, 68; shooting match, 69;

balloon race, 70.

Co<o:>peration of employees, 80.

Cost of living, 160.