Increasing Efficiency In Business by Walter Dill Scott (top 10 most read books in the world TXT) đź“–
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was able to accomplish more, however, than
other men of apparently superior ability who
were able to work long hours daily for many
<p 24>
years. Darwin made the most of his ability
and increased his efficiency to its maximum.
For a parallel in business, Cyrus H. McCormick
might be named. The inventor of the
reaper and builder of the first American business
which covered the world was not a man of
extraordinary intellect, wit, or judgment. He
had, however, the will and power to focus his
attention on a single question until the answer
was evolved. Again and again, his biographers
tell us, he pursued problems which
eluded him far into the night and he was
frequently found asleep at his desk the morning
following. When roused, instead of seeking
rest, he addressed his task again and
usually overcame his obstacle before leaving
it.
All these considerations point to one conclusion.
It is quite certain, then, that most of
us are whiling away our days and occupying positions
far below our possibilities. A corollary
to this statement is Mr. Taylor’s conclusion that
“few of our best-organized industries have attained
the maximum output of first-class men.”
<p 25>
_Not to give too wide application to his discovery
that the average day’s work is only half
or less than half what a first-class man can do,
it is more than probable that the average man
could, with no injury to his health, increase his
efficiency fifty per cent_.
We are making use of only part of our existing
mental and physical powers and are not
taxing them beyond their strength. Increased
accomplishments, and heightened efficiency
would cultivate and develop them, would
waken the latent powers and tap hidden
stores of energy within us, would widen the
fields in which we labor and would open up
to us new and wider horizons of honorable
and profitable activity.
In succeeding chapters will be described
specific methods, many of which are employed
by individual firms, but which could be utilized
by other business men, to insure their own efficiency
and that of their employees. The experiences
of many successful houses will be linked
to the laws of psychology to point the way that
will bring about greater results from men.
IMITATION
AS A MEANS OF INCREASING HUMAN
EFFICIENCY
TWENTY years ago the head of an industry
now in the million-a-month
class sat listening to his “star” salesman.
The latter, in the first enthusiasm of
discovery and creation, was telling how he had
developed the company’s haphazard selling
talk and had taken order after order with a
standard approach, demonstration, and summary
of closing arguments. To prove the
effectiveness of “the one best way,” he challenged
his employer to act as a customer,
staged the little drama he had arranged, secured
admissions of savings his machine would
make, ultimately cornered the other, and sold
him.
“That’s great,” the owner declared the in-
<p 26>
<p 27>
stant he had surrendered to the salesman’s
logic. “If we can get all our agents to learn
and use this new method of yours, we’ll double
our business in three years.”
Then followed discussion of the means by
which the knowledge could be spread.
“I’ve got it,” the manager announced at
last. “I’ll telegraph five or six men to come
in”—he named the agents within a night’s
ride of the factory—“and you can show
them how you sold fifteen machines last week.
“We could take down your talk in shorthand
and send it to them, but that wouldn’t
do the business. I want them to watch you
sell, to study how you make your points, how
you introduce yourself, how you get your
man’s attention, how you bring out his
objections and meet them, how you lead up
to the signing minute, and show him where
to sign. *What you say is about half the trick:
*how you say it is the convincing part—the
thing the slowest man in the force by watching
you can learn more quickly than the smartest
could work out at home.”
<p 28>
The result of that conference was one of
the earliest organized training schools for
salesmen in the country. It was an unconscious,
but none the less certain, utilization
of the instinct of *imitation for increasing the
efficiency in employees. Since then, business
has borrowed many well-recognized principles
from psychology and pedagogy and adapted
them to the same end.
Many important houses have grafted the
school upon their organizations and *teach
not only raw and untrained employees, but
provide instruction calculated to make workmen
and clerks masters of their jobs and also
to fit them for advancement to higher and
more productive planes. Teaching is by example
rather than by precept, just as it was
in the old apprentice system.
_The newer method uses even more than the
older a perfect example of the process and the
product for the learner’s imitation and makes
them the basis of the instruction_.
No man was made to live alone. For an
individual, existence entirely independent of
<p 29>
other members of the race is the conception
of a dreamer; apart from others one would
fail to become *human. Modern psychology
has abandoned the individualistic and adopted
the social point of view. We no longer think
of *imitation as a characteristic only of animals,
children, and weak-minded folk.
_We have come to see that imitation is the
greatest factor in the education of the young and
a continuous process with all of us. The part
of wisdom, then, is to utilize this power from
which we cannot escape, by setting up a perfect
copy for imitation_.
The child brought up by a Chinaman
imitates the sounds he hears, hence speaks
Chinese; brought up in an American home,
English is his speech—ungrammatical or
correct according to the usage of his companions.
If one boy in a group walks on
stilts or plays marbles, the others follow his
example. If a social leader rides in an automobile,
wears a Panama hat, or plays golf,
all the members of this circle are restless till
they have the same experience. The same
<p 30>
phenomenon is seen in the professions and in
business. If one bank decides to erect a
building for its own use, other banks in the
city begin to consult architects. If one manufacturer
or distributor in a given field adopts
a new policy in manufacturing or in extending
his trade zone, his rivals immediately consider
plans of a similar sort. Partly, of course,
this act is defensive. In the main, however,
imitation and emulation are at the bottom
of the move.
For the sake of clearness, in studying acts
of imitation we separate them into two
classes—_*voluntary_ imitation (also called conscious
imitation) and *instinctive imitation (also
known as *suggestive imitation).
A peculiar signature may strike my fancy
so that consciously and deliberately I may
try to imitate it. This is a clear case of
voluntary imitation. Threading crowded city
streets, I see a man crossing at a particular
point and voluntarily follow in his path. In
learning a new skating figure I watch an expert
attentively and try to repeat his perform-
<p 31>
ance. In writing letters or advertisements
or magazine articles, I analyze the work
of other men and consciously imitate what
seems best. Or I observe a fellow-laborer
working faster than I, and forthwith try to
catch and hold his pace.
The contagion of yawning, on the other
hand, is instinctive imitation. Also when in
a crowd during the homeward evening rush,
we instinctively quicken our pace though there
may be no reason for hurry.
For precisely similar reasons, a “loafer”
or a careless or inefficient workman will lower
the efficiency or slow up the production of
the men about him, no matter how earnest
or industrious their natural habits. Night
work by clerks, also, is taken by some office
managers to indicate a slump in industry during
the day. To correct this the individuals
who are drags on the organization are discovered,
and either are revitalized or discharged.
_I have seen more than one machine shop where
production could have been materially raised_
<p 32>
_by the simple expedient of weeding out the workmen
who were satisfied with a mere living wage
earned by piecework, thereby setting a dilatory
example to the rest; and replacing them with
fresh men ambitious to earn all they could, who
would have been imitated by the others_.
In these instances it is assumed that the
imitation is not voluntary, but that we
unconsciously imitate whatever actions happen
to catch our attention. For the negative
action, the “slowing down” process, we have
the greater affinity simply because labor or
exertion is naturally distasteful. One such
influence or example, therefore, may sway us
more than a dozen positive impulses towards
industry.
Imitation thus broadly considered is seen
to be of the utmost importance in every walk
of life. The greatest and most original genius
is in the main a creature of imitation. By
imitation he reaches the level of knowledge
and skill attained by others; and upon this
foundation builds his structure of original and
creative thought, experiment, and achieve-
<p 33>
ment. Furthermore he does not imitate at
random; but concentrates his activity on
those things and persons in the line of his pursuits.
Among my associates are both industrious
and shiftless individuals. I instinctively imitate
the actions of all those with whom I come
in contact; but if I am sufficiently ambitious,
I will consciously imitate the acts of the industrious.
This patterning after energetic models
will render me more active and efficient than
would have been possible for me without such
examples.
_Imitation, accordingly, is an imperative factor
both in self-development and in the control of
groups of individuals. Knowing that I instinctively
imitate all sorts of acts, I must take
care that only the right sort shall catch my attention_.
And since imitation is a most effective aid
in development, I must provide myself with
the best models. To reduce my tendency to
idleness or procrastination I must avoid the
companionship of the shiftless. To acquire
<p 34>
ease and accuracy in the use of French, I must
consort with masters of that tongue.
In handling others, the same rule holds.
_To profit from the instinctive imitation of
my men, I must control their environment in
shop or office and make sure that examples of
energy and efficiency are numerous enough
to catch their attention and establish, as it were,
an atmosphere of industry in the place_.
There are instances in which it would be
to the mutual interest of employer and employee
to increase the speed of work, but conditions
may limit or forbid the use of pacemakers.
In construction work and in some
of the industries where there are minute subdivision
of operations and continuity of processes
this method of increasing efficiency is
very commonly applied. In many factories,
however, such an effort to “speed up” production
might stir resentment, even among the
pieceworkers, and have an effect exactly opposite
to that desired. The alternative, of
course, is for the employer to secure unconscious
pacemakers by providing incentives
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for the naturally ambitious men in the way of
a premium or bonus system or other reward
for unusual efficiency.
To take advantage of their conscious or
voluntary imitation, workpeople must be
provided with examples which appeal to them
as admirable and inspire the wish to emulate
them. A common application of this principle
is seen in the choice of department heads,
foremen, and other bosses. Invariably these
win promotion by industry, skill, and efficiency
greater than that displayed by their fellows,
or by
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