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The Columbia University Libraries reserve the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. Author: Dicksee, Lawrence Robert Title: Efficient administration: a prime essential to... Place: London Date: 1920 MASTER NEGATIVE # COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DIVISION BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD mmmum Business 23b D66 %" Diokseo, Lawrence Robert, 1864- •«• Efficient administration: a prime essential to Britain's economic recovery, a lecture by Lawrence R. Dickseo. ••• London, Gee, 1920 # cover-title, 8 p. ?.?. cm. o RESTRICTIONS ON USE: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: 2^, i^aha DATE FILMED: TRACKING # : REDUCTION RATIO: I2x IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA (IIA) IB ilB S ^1Q4 INITIALS: wv M5U QQg^;r FILMED BY PRESERVATION RESOURCES, BETHLEHEM. PA. ^^- > O a CD o o CO X -< ^^. 3 3 > a- CI o m (DO ^ O O CO X < X M '^ A^' ^, ^. 'V^ ^e % ^ > aV .*»^ > o 3 3 .^ > Ul A^ ^-.^. f^ '^ (£> .^* % < ^p ^^ 'fcP fp fvT m o TP ED "o > C a> I TU ^ T^O CO 0(/) ; m 3D o m r^^ '^1^ ^^1^^. ■^ ^o ^fp l-» ISd CJI o i 3 3 }^ ABC bcdef 2\rn FGH jKIm HIJKLMN nnopqrst IJKLMN nopqrst <0 15 OPQR uvwxy fic •^ CO H-_, J^c CT^X ^-< 00 INI 51^ o^x ^-< 00 fM vo o ^^M, '' ^^^ ■i^. x*-. 4^r^. /!•. ■^P^^TSJHImI ■■*;- u ■ i ♦ ■ yrv, ' Z^5^ Columbia Winibtvaitp in tde dtp of ^eto gork LIBRARY School of Business ^I'i il II SCHOOL OF BUSINESS With the Author's Compliments. Efficient Adtninistration A Prime Essential TO Britain's Economic Recovery. A LECTURE BY LAWRENCE R. DICKSEE. M.Com., F.C.A. {Sir Ernest Cassel Professor of Accountancy and Business Methods in the University of London) . • §our fieabf nip iPatfter Itnotoetft t^at pe fjabe nuti of all \%m tilings. 13ut jiefit pe first tfje iftinglrom of <5otr. anlr p^is tigfjteousness ; anlr all tftese things ii%sX\ br alrtJclr unto »o«." London : Gee & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 14 Queen Victoria Street, E.C. 4. 1920. ;J J I — V w^l SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ^ju4A/^^-<0 EFFICIENT ADMINISTRATION : A Prime Essential to Britain's Economic Recovery. A lecture by Professor Lawrence R. Dicksee, M.Com., F.C.A., at a meeting of the London Branch of the School of Accountancy Students' Association, at Essex Hall, Essex Street, Strand, London, on Thursday, September i6, Mr. J. D. C. Mackay in the chair. Chairman'' s Introduction Mr. Mackay said he was proud of the forma- tion of this branch of the Students' Association, which had been attended with so much success. It was quite evident they had a most capable execu- tive, consisting, as it did, of men who had organising ability and energy, and that was just as it should be. If his pleasure could be enhanced in any way this would be because Professor Dicksee was to lecture that night. They appreciated the honour he had done them. Accountancy was the youngest of the professions, and this was borne out when they realised that the men who made the litera- ture of the profession were still alive and at the height of their mentality. Amongst those who had made the litera- ture of the profession, Professor Dicksee stood in the foreground. The debt they owed him was a very large one. Education would be impracticable without text- books, and those of Professor Dicksee were of the highest value and impDrtance, and were valued, not only in this country, but in America and all over the world. The Lecture. Professor Dicksee said : The choice of the subject of my lecture to you this evening has been that of your Chair- man, and I am particularly glad it has been so, because it struck me as one of the most useful subjects for a single lecture, where the aim is necessarily not so much to convey exact information as to inspire interest in a course of study. Our present subject — the vital importance at the present time of efficient administration- is a particularly happy choice for those studying accounts, because there is rather a tendency on the part of those in charge of the accounts of an undertaking to adopt the attitude of the disinterested spectator. This attitude is quite a proper one for accountants from one point of view, but the tendency is rather for the accountant to regard himself as someone cut off from the actual business, in- stead of being a co-worker. The place where the account- ant does his work is called the office. The place where the outside people do their work is called the warehouse, the works, or the factory. In South America, the name given to the works or factory is " officina." The words " office " and " factory " really mean the same thing— the place where the work is done; but the fact that we use the words " office " and " factory " as implying two quite different things, shows, I think, that we have got in our minds a sort of close partition between the account- ant's work and the work of the practical business man. tew people realise that "office" is really the same as ' factory." It is, therefore, worth our while now and again to try to get more closely into touch, in mind and in spirit, with the workers. Efficient administration, as suggested by the title of my lecture, is a prime necessity for Britain's economic recovery. Ihe use of the word " recovery " suggests that one has to recover from something; that there has been ground lost, and that we have got to win it back. We all know that that is so, as compared with 1Q14. There has been great wastage of property, many persons have been diverted from production, stocks of essential commodities have been brought low, credit and exchange disorganised, transport facilities rendered inadequate, and, worst of all, the morale to-day can only be described as deplorable' It may seem out of place, now that the war is over, to hark back to It, and call up painful memories by the use of similes suggestive of war. I will come to that point later but at the moment I may say I am doing it deliberately,' because I think it the only useful way to approach our subject. ^^ When the Armistice came, the idea, as put forward in the newspapers, was that the men should come back and get to work, and achieve the economic recovery that we all felt was necessary. They came back -all but the best of them— but they have not done much else. The appeal made to them to get to work and repair the wastage of war was not so very absurd when we bear in mind the claim put forward for some years before on behalf of organised labour, as being the sole producer of aU the wealth in the world ; but we ^hJl f'^'^f-.^^T^' ^' '^^y ^'^- ^Vhatever our precise shade of pohtical views may be, we must admit that effi- cient direction IS not now conspicuous among the workers If labour was now trying to do its best towards economic recovery, it might be reasonable to admit the claim that abour IS the source of all wealth. But what at the present time IS organised labour doing? To a very large extent we must aU agree that it is using its organisation to withhoTd production, with the result (whether it is intended or not) of creating further shortage. The appeal to labour to repair the wastage of war has so far had no good effect. My suggestion to you this evening is that to a large extent the failure is due to the appeal having been made, I will not say to the wrong parties, but in the wrong way — direct to labour, instead of being made through adminis- tration. Labour can do great things, but little or nothing without guidance. That guidance it is the function of administration to provide. If we pause to consider for a moment what the word " administration " means, we find that it still further rein- forces that idea. To administer is to render aid or ser- vice. Such administration will be efficient when it achieves a desirable result, and it will, in the main, con- sist of doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. It seems to me that efficient administration has two aspects, material and spiritual. In each of these aspects it should be educative rather than directional. It suffers very often from the wrong assumption that authority of itself gives knowledge. If we take the view that adminis tration represents the leading force in connection with all useful work, we shall see that it cannot be effective if it always operates from the rear. One can drive from behind, but one cannot lead from behind ; and, in so far as leadership is necessary, the rank and file, no matter how able they are, can do very little without leaders. Here you see I come across the military simile again. It is difficult to speak on the subject in any other way. Per- haps some of you may wonder why I use terms recalling these unpleasant things. It is because I think it is essen- tial to Britain's economic recovery for us to remember that we are still at war, and that we shall always be at war so long as the world lasts. If we are not warring against one thing we are against another. Just now we are at war against ignorance and sloth, and without that kind of war there can be no progress. If administration represents enlightened leadership, it may give very good value to the rank and file by enabling them to concentrate upon their own particular job. We all know that there are men in a small way of business who are never free from worry, who never make good ; men who would be far better off as employees, simply because they have no administrative ability. If we were to abolish administration, all employees would be in that position, save the few that had administrative ability. One of the functions of administration is to find a job suitable for each member of the rank and file. By that I do not mean to find a job in the sense of creating posi- tions that are paid for whether there is any use for them or not. I mean, considering the work that has to be done, resolving it into its constituent parts, finding out the qualities required for the performance of each separate part of the work and distributing that work among the workers in the best possible way — staff selec- tion it is sometimes called. And hand-in-hand with staff selection goes, or should go, staff training. The old-fashioned method of managing a business, 1 need hardly remind you, was — and to a large extent it still is — to call out for qualified workmen, and then to grumble at those who offer, and complain that they are deficient. The last thing the old-fashioned administrator ever thought of doing was to train his staff ; he exf)ected them to come to him ready trained. If it were possible for them — I do not mean exceptional individuals, but as a whole — to train themselves in the best px)ssible way, that would be reasonable, but a little inquiry into facts is sufficient to show that it is not possible. It is only the exceptional man that can achieve any reasonable standard of competency by being self-taught in whatever line of activity we may choose to think of. Being self-taught means picking up your ideas as you go along by observing others, and, in the vast majority of cases, without the possibility of observing the best people. It is a system which, under the most favourable conditions, serves to perpetuate mediocrity, and very often it does much less. That is what, as a nation, we have been very much in the habit of doing with regard to those kinds of things that, after all, make up the prosperity of our country. How little in our heart of hearts we believed it to have been an efficient system is shown by the fact that we never think seriously of adopt- ing that method in connection with our games. Boys at school do not pick up cricket and football ; they are taught them. The man who wants to play bridge without losing his money takes lessons. If a man wants to excel at golf he takes lessons from a professional. We always appreciate the importance of training and teaching in connection with our amusements. Directly a matter is in any way within the range of athletics we realise that training is some- thing rather apart from teaching, and perhaps even more important, and we recognise that good results cannot be produced unless we live the life that makes it possible to produce good results. Then another point. Directly we want to achieve some- thing more than the mere passing of the time by these recreative pursuits, we take— and young people come to it instinctively— a very great interest in records. The average schoolboy knows a great deal more about the statistics of cricket, and attaches a great deal more value to them, than the average business man knows of statistics in connection with his own work. Of course, everything can be overdone. We can devote so much attention to bury- ing our heads in figures and statistics that we really have tlo time left to look up and see what is going on ; but it is very important that we should study what is happening, because only by that means can we possibly tell what it is reasonable to expect. You will, I am sure, all bear me out, when you come to think of it, when I say that there is a general tendency for us all to be too easily satisfied with our achievements — not perhaps all our achievements, because we most of us pro- bably have some particular thing that we are careful of and doubtful about, and perhaps that is the very thing we do best ; but with regard to most of the things we do, or ought to do, we are quite satisfied we do them well. There are various ways, of course, of testing whether a thing is done well or badly. Some are easier than others, but just as an illustration — and only as an illustra- tion — let us try the test of speed. In connection with practical business it is obvious that in the long run the remuneration of the worker has to be provided out of the work produced, and it is clear, there- fore, that speed of production is a matter of importance. It is not a matter we can afford to overlook, although, like everything else, it is an idea that can be overdone. In regard to this question of speed — because it is the one aspect of the matter that I can put before you in a more definite way than any other — I should like to draw your attention to a few figures. Men employed in shovelling coal from one place to another were found to average, doing it in their own way, i6 tons of coal per day, but when they had been taught how to do it they were able to shovel 59 tons per day with less exertion. Bricklayers, left to their traditional methods, were in the habit of averaging 120 bricks per hour, but when taught how to do it they could readily lay 350 per hour. Compare that with the num- ber of bricks laid per day in this country at the present time. Now let us get on to something perhaps more within the practical experience of many of you here this evening. Supposing someone is regarded as a competent typist ; that very likely means he, or she, could average on fairly straightforward work from 40 to 45 words per minute. That is not bad typing. At the present time, to the best of my knowledge, the world's record is 143 words per minute. In shorthand, the shorthand clerk varies his speed more than the typist; it may be anything from 80 to 120 or 130 words a minute. The world's record is 322 words per minute. I am not suggesting for a moment that every worker could achieve a world's record ; that would be as absurd as to suggest that everybody could run 100 yards, or a mile, in the record time; but beyond doubt a know- ledge of what has been done by others is a most useful spur, and a very good corrective of that self-complacency we are all very apt to fall into. I will give you another illustration which you can test for yourselves. Most of you shave in the morning ; the probability is that the great majority of you have never counted the number of strokes you make with your razor in the process. The number of strokes you make is not necessarily an index of your ability — that is to say, the smaller number is not conclusive proof that you do it better or quicker, but you may be sure that the number is as large as it is mainly because you do not think beforehand what you are doing, but you just go on with a sort of reflex action of the hand without thinking what you are doing. Try the experiment next time, and count how many strokes you make ; then make up your mind that that number can be reduced by half in a fort- night, and I am perfectly certain you will find you can do it. I have tried that with a number of students, and have never known it otherwise. In my own case I found I took as many as 320 strokes, which is certainly a large number. I got it down to 112 quite easily. Then the first time I put it to a body of students I found that, com- pared with their experience, 112 was quite a large num- ber, their best being 52. That was rather a shock to me, but I was not to be beaten, and I got down to 52 within a week. From 320 to 52 is a big difference. The funny part about it is that if you do not count for a week you will find the number going up again. That is typical of everything ; if we are not always on our guard, we find that we are always slipping back. But administration, of course, does not consist in forc- ing the pace: speed, and nothing else. In so far as it is possible to increase speed it does so, in the main by studying precisely what motions are performed in the fulfilment of the task. Cutting out useless motions diminishes fatigue. In this matter we have been greatly assisted by the camera. We can get instantaneous photo- graphs of the most rapid operations, and throw them upon the screen to get the general effect of how the thing has been done, or should be done, as the case may be. We can then reduce the pace at which they are thrown upon the screen, so that the movements may be analysed exactly. It is not to be expected that those who have been aiming at a high rate of speed in the past have accidentally stumbled upon the best possible method. Good results come only as a result of careful study. In the illustrations I have given you we have seen that there is scope for very considerable improvement. That is, scope for still further study. Administration, again, does not consist merely of staff training, so as to speed up results; it also involves study of the psychology of fatigue. This is very necessary, if we are going to maintain these results, so that we may find out the conditions under which work can best be done. The average individual rank and file worker knows little about that. He is in no danger of smashing himself up by neglect of the necessary rests ; but on the other hand there are casualties every year, probably every day, from this cause, and these casualties in the nature of things often occur in connection with the most promising workers. There is great scope for further inquiry in this direction, although during quite recent years a good deal of pioneer work has been done. But we have to take a much wider outlook yet, before we can really claim that we have been administer- ing to the needs of the worker. It is not merely enough to watch the individual worker at work and instruct him in the best way. We have also to see that he is supplied with the conditions which make for good results. This is classified to-day under the heading of Welfare W'ork. In all the large factories to-day are welfare workers, whose functions differ very materially according to the circum- stances. The welfare worker may be anything from a domestic factory inspector on the one hand, to a games master on the other. Very often the welfare worker has the engagement of employees. Looked at from this point of view, we are dealing with what we may call the personal aspect of employment, and the aim is to supply that human factor in connection with employment which was formerly crowded out in large undertakings when the number of employees became so considerable that the management lost touch with the employees as human beings. There is much room for development on these lines, and much scope for adminis- tration ; but nothing, it seems to me, can take the place of some sort of human intercourse, however slight, between the individual workers and the chief. My experience is that the more works managers, or managing directors, are able to keep in personal touch with all their workers, the better. They should not only know them by name, but be able to talk to them. W^e might regard that as one of the tests of administrative ability. But that is not all there is to be said. There is such a thing as suitable housing, and provision for reasonable recreation, and education, and so on. And as regards housing, we have also to consider the position under which the worker operates while at his work. If we are expecting from A. and B., two workers, a similar output in quan- tity and quality we are manifestly unreasonable, unless we not only give them similar tasks to perform but also give them similar means of performing them and similar conditions. If we want to get the best resuhs we must supply the best conditions for the production of them, and it is up to the administration to do that. In the ordinary course of events it is not reasonable to expect good results in the absence of suitable equipment, suitably placed. INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE I will give you another illustration which you can test for yourselves. Most of you shave in the morning ; the probability is that the great majority of you have never counted the number of strokes you make with your razor in the process. The number of strokes you make is not necessarily an index of your ability — that is to say, the smaller number is not conclusive proof that you do it better or quicker, but you may be sure that the number is as large as it is mainly because you do not think beforehand what you are doing, but you just go on with a sort of reflex action of the hand without thinking what you are doing. Try the experiment next time, and count how many strokes you make ; then make up your mind that that number can be reduced by half in a fort- night, and I am perfectly certain you will find you can do it. I have tried that with a number of students, and have never known it otherwise. In my own case I found I took as many as 320 strokes, which is certainly a large number. I got it down to 112 quite easily. Then the first time I put it to a body of students I found that, com- pared with their experience, 112 was quite a large num- ber, their best being 52. That was rather a shock to me, but I was not to be beaten, and I got down to 52 within a week. From 320 to 52 is a big difference. The funny part about it is that if you do not count for a week you will find the number going up again. That is typical of everything ; if we are not always on our guard, we find that we are always slipping back. But administration, of course, does not consist in forc- ing the pace: speed, and nothing else. In so far as it is possible to increase speed it does so, in the main by studying precisely what motions are performed in the fulfilment of the task. Cutting out useless motions diminishes fatigue. In this matter we have been greatly assisted by the camera. We can get instantaneous photo- graphs of the most rapid operations, and throw them upon the screen to get the general effect of how the thing has been done, or should be done, as the case may be. We can then reduce the pace at which they are thrown upon the screen, so that the movements may be analysed exactly. It is not to be expected that those who have been aiming at a high rate of speed in the past have accidentally stumbled upon the best possible method. Good results come only as a result of careful study. In the illustrations I have given you we have seen that there is scope for very considerable improvement. That is, scope for still further study. Administration, again, does not consist merely of staff training, so as to speed up results ; it also involves study of the psychology of fatigue. This is very necessary, if we are going to maintain these results, so that we may find out the conditions under which work can best be done. The average individual rank and file worker knows little about that. He is in no danger of smashing himself up by neglect of the necessary rests ; but on the other hand there are casualties every year, probably every day, from this cause, and these casualties in the nature of things often occur in connection with the most promising workers. There is great scope for further inquiry in this direction, although during quite recent years a good deal of pioneer work has been done. But we have to take a much wider outlook yet, before we can really claim that we have been administer- ing to the needs of the worker. It is not merely enough to watch the individual worker at work and instruct him in the best way. We have also to see that he is supplied with the conditions which make for good results. This is classified to-day under the heading of Welfare Work. In aU the large factories to-day are welfare workers, whose functions differ very materially according to the circum- stances. The welfare worker may be anything from a domestic factory inspector on the one hand, to a games master on the other. Very often the welfare worker has the engagement of employees. Looked at from this point of view, we are dealing with what we may call the personal aspect of employment, and the aim is to supply that human factor in connection with employment which was formerly crowded out in large undertakings when the number of employees became so considerable that the management lost touch with the employees as human beings. There is much room for development on these lines, and much scope for adminis- tration ; but nothing, it seems to me, can take the place of some sort of human intercourse, however slight, between the individual workers and the chief. My experience is that the more works managers, or managing directors, are able to keep in personal touch with all their workers, the better. They should not only know them by name, but be able to talk to them. W^e might regard that as one of the tests of administrative ability. But that is not all there is to be said. There is such a thing as suitable housing, and provision for reasonable recreation, and education, and so on. And as regards -housing, we have also to consider the position under which the worker operates while at his work. If we are expecting from A. and B., two workers, a similar output in quan tity and quality we are manifestly unreasonable, unless we not only give them similar tasks to perform but also give them similar means of performing them and similar conditions. If we want to get the best results we must supply the best conditions for the production of them, and it is up to the administration to do that. In the ordinary course of events it is not reasonable to expect good results in the absence of suitable equipment, suitably placed. 8 It IS up to the administration also to provide continuity of work, and that can only be done by very careful plan- ning, which often involves thinking a long time ahead. We have got to consider, when we are deciding whether to take a particular order or not, how we are to carry it out. In so far as it is the function of administration to guide, i,t can only guide, as distinct from driving, by pointing out the way — and pointing out that it is the right way — and keeping the rank and file informed of what they are doing. We want to be continually comparing what is with what should be. Competition has its uses in this regard, as was proved by the competition amongst rivetters in shipbuilding during the war, when one yard was competing with another as to the number of rivets that could be driven in a given time. A very common criticism of any attempt at centralising administration is that it makes work monotonous. Don't believe it. The really monotonous or uninteresting job is always the job that is indifferently done. Whatever it may be, if it is really well done, you may be quite sure it is not uninteresting to the man who does it. If we can get workmen to take a really living interest in what they are doing they will never complain that their work is uninteresting. But above all, administration means the inspiration of uplifting ideals, that brush away all clogging doubts and distrusts, and banish fatigue. It must be upon the right lines materially, because it has to deal with material things ; but at heart it is essentially a matter of the spirit. Nothing can permanently succeed, if done in the wrong spirit. It is for the efficient administrator to renew a right spirit within us, so that we each no longer seek the welfare of ourselves, our families, or even of our class. So that we may strive in work not only to find our own soul, but rather the great One-Soul of all our race. Then, and then only, shall we be irresistible — because Efficient. Do the Right thing, in the Right way, at the Right time. A vote ot thanks to the lecturer terminated the proceedings. !ffi JJSG' Dicksee Efficient administration AUG 1 1921 I9fl! _ mv 3 im COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY UBBARIES 0041408853 WftR 211994 fy\SH oossS i ■fr t END OF TITLE