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Author: 
 
 B.F. Goodrich 
 
 
 The office desk 
 surroundings 
 
 Place: 
 
 Date: 
 
 [1917] 
 
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 MASTER NEGATIVE # 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION 
 
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 ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD 
 
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 Goodrich, The B. P., company, Akron, Ohio* 
 
 The office desk and surroundings. Akron, Ohio, 
 
 The B, F. Goodrich company [01917] 
 [ll] p. 16 on. 
 
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 TflE OFFICE DESK AND SURROUNDINGS 
 
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 Copyright, 1917 
 The B. F. Goodrich Company 
 
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 AVE you ever caught yourself 
 unconsciously taking the 
 measure of a business man 
 from the degree of progress- 
 iveness he shows in his 
 working habits? At one extreme is the 
 man who covers up his important papers, 
 forgets his engagements, runs his own 
 errands, sharpens his pencils, and fights 
 down his interruptions by sheer force. 
 
 For another, these things seem to take 
 care of themselves. He sits free and 
 easy, working carefully, watching, de- 
 ciding and doing things of importance. 
 No where is it more true: "Know the 
 workman by his tools." 
 
 Efficient business men today endeavor 
 to produce the greatest amount of work 
 with the least expenditure of effort. 
 They realize that in order to be efficient 
 they must have their office desks and 
 working tools arranged in such a manner 
 that they can be utilized to the best ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 SCHOOL 01 
 
 BUSINESS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 The desks of many business men re- 
 semble junk heaps or remnant counters. 
 They are the dumping grounds for every 
 kind of commercial material. Nothing 
 has a place and the owner of the desk 
 can find nothing he wants. In place of 
 every crevice and corner being occupied 
 by things needed in a day's routine, these 
 desks are loaded with material that 
 should be filed, sent to where it could be 
 put into use, or destroyed. 
 
 The result is confusion, and confusion 
 about a desk short-circuits effective, de- 
 cisive thinking and often causes mis- 
 judgment and costly mistakes. 
 
 Men who keep their desks free from 
 unnecessary or unused forms, files or 
 supplies, that is, keep the dead wood 
 cleared away, are able to handle their 
 tasks with greater precision and ac- 
 curacy. Men who systematize their desk 
 material soon get so they can find certain 
 material automatically and with little or 
 no expenditure of brain energy. A man 
 writing a letter with pen and ink makes 
 little effort in finding his ink well and 
 dipping his pen. Keeping things where 
 the hands will find them automatically 
 results in correct and unconscious habits 
 of work. This is not possible among ac- 
 cumulations of plunder, in, on top, or 
 about the desk. 
 
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 Not long ago, 250 successful business 
 men were questioned by a leading busi- 
 ness magazine regarding their personal 
 habits at their desks. The investigation 
 showed that these men concentrated on 
 one thing at a time and finished that task 
 before going to the next one. Their desks 
 were neatly arranged and free from ac- 
 cumulations of odds and ends. Their 
 desk drawers were arranged for conven- 
 ience in handling papers, supplies and 
 necessary equipment. 
 
 Only papers, folders and other material 
 regularly needed at the time should be on 
 the working surface of the desk. Only 
 papers and appliances regularly needed 
 in the day's work should be in the desk. 
 Whether it is the crude "cracker box" of 
 the shipping clerk or the highly polished 
 mahogany of the executive, the appear- 
 ance of the desk typifies and reflects the 
 man. 
 
 Careful study and discussion along 
 with time and motion tests suggest that 
 the arrangement of the material in the 
 desk, somewhat after the following would 
 help us in the execution of our work. 
 
 In the front of the center drawer, a 
 small compartment should be? layed off 
 by a division board. Here pens, clips, 
 bands, etc., should be placed, preferably 
 
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 in small glass containers that are fur- 
 nished. Penholders, pencils, erasers and 
 a ruler can be placed loose in this com- 
 partment. With this arrangement it is 
 possible to keep the center desk drawer 
 open about two inches all the time and 
 without reaching or shifting the chair or 
 your position you can have the necessary 
 supplies ready for use. It is not recom- 
 mended that you keep personal matter in 
 your desk but in case you do, it should 
 be placed towards the back of this middle 
 drawer. Large, flat record books should 
 be kept in the back of this drawer also 
 if they must be kept in the desk. 
 
 The right-hand top drawer is perhaps 
 the most used. Therefore, the things 
 most needed in the day's work should be 
 kept there. These things used especially 
 by the right hand, such as rubber stamps, 
 ink pads, paste, etc. Of course, if these 
 things are used constantly all day, they 
 should be put on the top of the desk. In 
 other words, the tools in constant use 
 should be arranged for the greatest con- 
 venience, consistent with the bluest 
 desk efficiency. 
 
 The upper left-hand drawer is prefer- 
 ably for blanks, forms and supplies that 
 are in daily use. If a small "Tickler" 
 file or daily reminder is used, it should 
 be placed in this drawer. 
 
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 The lower right-hand drawer is usually 
 a file drawer and contains only material 
 pending completion or pertaining to the 
 department. This file space should not 
 be a storage place for general file folders 
 but rather for reference information, re- 
 ports, correspondence, follow-up data, 
 work in process, etc. 
 
 Four folders or pockets may be made 
 up for this file and used to advantage if 
 properly filed in labeled manila folders 
 or paperoid pockets, either correspond- 
 ence or cap size, any of which may be 
 secured from stock. 
 
 For example: — 
 
 1. Material to be dictated. 
 
 2. Questions to be taken up with 
 Dep't. Heads. 
 
 3. Cases needing immediate con- 
 sideration. 
 
 4. Follow-up material. 
 
 Be sure that in all cases this arrange- 
 ment is just as simple as requirements 
 will permit. 
 
 In the back of this drawer, cleaning 
 and dusting cloths, oil cans, typewriter 
 tools and towels can be stored. They are 
 then never buried and easily available 
 when wanted. 
 
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 The two lower left-hand drawers are 
 most convenient for keeping those things 
 that are not used constantly but often 
 needed in the day's routine. Text and 
 reference books, sales manuals, tele- 
 phone directory, in fact, all things that 
 are not used often but really needed for 
 the execution of certain duties, should be 
 placed in these two drawers. 
 
 On the top of most business desks are 
 two highly important pieces of equip- 
 ment; the telephone and mail trays. A 
 pad should be always near at hand so 
 that notations regarding messages re- 
 ceived over the telephone can be made. 
 It is usually unnecessary to have more 
 than two trays on any desk. More than 
 two hampers efficient messenger service. 
 Route incoming and outgoing material in 
 the standardized directions — from left to 
 right— the "in" tray should be to your 
 left and the "out" tray to your right. 
 Push buttons should be placed so that 
 they can be reached without moving any 
 part of the body except the arm. 
 
 On leaving the office at night the top of 
 all desks should be cleared of everything 
 except the telephone and desk trays. 
 Effective janitor service is necessary in 
 an office building as large as ours and the 
 clerical force must co-operate by placing 
 
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 articles where they will not accumulate 
 dust or create confusion. If desks are 
 cleared of papers, correspondence, sta- 
 tionery forms, price or bulletin books, 
 etc., before leaving at night, janitors are 
 going to be able to work in a more effi- 
 cient manner. Your office is going to 
 greet you more pleasantly the next morn- 
 ing too, because there is nothing so dis- 
 tressing the first thing each day as a desk 
 surface piled high with dusty confusion. 
 
 The manner in which you keep your 
 office surroundings reflects your methods 
 of working. You may arrange your desk 
 so that it will be most serviceable to you, 
 but if you allow an accumulation of 
 forms, stationery, index cards, library 
 magazines, etc., to lie around in and on 
 cabinets, you are pulling against the 
 power that makes for better office work. 
 
 An office is not a place for an accumu- 
 lation of everything; where papers are 
 lost, data mislaid, records buried and 
 every nook and corner is crammed with 
 plunder; where it doesn't matter whether 
 you hit or miss the waste-paper basket; 
 where, when the plunder in the corners 
 is disturbed, a cloud of dust arises to 
 meet the investigator and pollutes the air 
 other workers must breathe. Where a 
 part of each day is wasted in weary 
 
"1 
 
 search for needed matter. Where con- 
 fusion prevails not only in appearances 
 but as well in plans and methods. Such 
 a place does not deserve the name "Of- 
 flce'* and those who persist in contribut- 
 ing to such conditions do not deserve a 
 place in a real office. 
 
 All weaknesses that retard the flow 
 of office routine should be overcome. In- 
 ter-office and departmental detail must 
 be done automatically and with a simple 
 system. Effective thinking is smothered 
 and efficient execution of duties are 
 hampered by confused office surround- 
 ings. 
 
 Visitors often gain their impressions 
 of you and our Company by the ap- 
 pearance of your desk and our offices. 
 None of us would wear a soiled collar to 
 work; why live in an office that im- 
 presses the visitor as needing a thorough 
 renovating? 
 
 It is difficult to make any set of rules 
 for placing desk material properly. The 
 man at his particular desk should know 
 better than anyone else what things he 
 needs the most and where they are ob- 
 tained quickly and easily. Desk effici- 
 ency is not a fad, it is a living factor for 
 success for all business men. 
 
 4 
 
 
 I)- 
 
 The man wha achieves the greatest suc- 
 cess is the man who uses to the best advan- 
 tage each sixty minutes of every, hour. 
 
 Time economizing is more important 
 than money economizing. The right use 
 of time is the price of every earthly ac- 
 complishment. 
 
 Business men can borrow a million in 
 money but they cannot beg, borrow, steal 
 or create a minute. 
 
 Everything possible should be done by 
 the business man to do the most in the 
 least time. Arrange your desk materials. 
 Have all things near at hand and in a place 
 where they are easily available. 
 
 Desk efficiency disciplines. Desk in- 
 efficiency undermines ability and success. 
 
 Form 4352 l-18-2m 19578 
 
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