Part 9

One of the important characteristics of the mind is its tendency to lose sight of everything except the subject in mind. One danger is dodged by jumping into another which we have not seen. Both dangers were plainly in sight to any one who had not concentrated on one of them.

In the regular every-day business life, we seem to have ample time to consider each problem. But in reality our great length of time is offset by a great number of elements to consider, and a more profound effect of long continued teaching or molding of our environment.

For years engineers have concentrated energies on the steam-engine of the reciprocating type. The master-minds have made important improvements in the design, and many have given up their entire existence to the science of analyzing the effects of each variation in conditions of working the steam.

Our textbooks, our teaching, our observation all concentrated our attention on this type.

For some reason Gustav deLaval, followed by C.A. Parsons and Nikola Tesla, broke away from this spell, and we have the steam turbine engine. These individuals are endowed with master-minds, but the task of producing the turbines was probably no greater than the task of others in improving the reciprocating type.

In one case a great step has been taken. In the other, we have an example of men of undoubted ability laboring hard for entire lifetimes with relatively small gain.

This example applies to more than the inventors' world. It has many parallels in the cold business management of a manufactory and in any one of its departments. Business management requires the same kind of reasoning and getting away from the spell of environment. But this phase we shall consider later under another head.

The point to be brought out here is the effect of the spell of environment in magnifying the importance of existing views and methods, and the deceptive part this trusty brain plays in binding us to unnecessarily hard work.

Cure for Mind Wandering.

The mind should not be allowed to wander, for wander it will if it is not rationally directed. It should be furnished with some interest, either in the form of study that is taken up out of working hours, and which can be permitted to occupy the mind while work of the habit kind is being done, or, if it is not a study, there should be some wholesome interest or pleasure.

Music to some furnishes this need. Music heard in the home or elsewhere will sometimes occupy the mind during working hours when the work is of a monotonous character. In some instances music has been provided during a certain part of the day, just for this need of workers who are employed in an occupation that in itself furnishes no mental nourishment.

But these extreme cases do not represent the vast majority. They apply only to the needs of the mind of those engaged in a work in which they can awaken no interest. Nearly all kinds of work offer a chance for the average man to get interested directly in the work itself. Such an interest soon bears fruit in the results as well as in the comfort of the worker, and it is this phase on which we must depend for making specialization comfortable and profitable to the worker. It is this phase that is wholly overlooked by those mentioned above who have seen or felt the joy of work that comes to one who rambles into a new field. We fail to see that the same kind of mental pleasure may be obtained while working along the natural and efficient lines of habit, and that in one case we have had pleasure at great expense of wasted energy, and in the other case we may have made a true progress for ourselves and others by moving along the rational way.

The Manager's View.

The important duty of weighing up these various views devolves on the management, and its action should be in accordance with the complete and corrected view. It must consider the subject from a top viewpoint, and must then act.

The manager keeps in mind that the machines must be built, purchased, and used by human beings, so he carefully studies their peculiarities. He knows that change of thought or habit requires time.

In looking over the history of one of the companies engaged in machine building, we find that the cost of the labor has been lowered to about one-fifth of the original. In view of this and the fact that a very slight change in model sometimes involves a temporary increase in the cost of labor three-fold or more, we see good reason for reluctance in making changes, even though we know that two or three years later the labor cost may drop as low as that previous to the change in model.

The inventor, the promoter, the salesman, and the oversanguine manager do not always foresee such things.

The manager sees the enthusiasm with which the selling organization hails the new model. He realizes that they know the faults of the previous type, and he also knows that no one knows the faults of the new, but he lets it go. Some enthusiasm must be had, even if it be dearly purchased. He knows there will be many a troublesome delay due to the newness, even if the whole scheme proves very much better than the previous type.

This manager knows that his business success rests on the facility with which the machines are satisfactorily built, the readiness of the buyers, and, last but not least, the facility with which the product is used. The facility with which the product will be used, to his mind, is almost beyond overestimation.

Sub-division of Work.

The division of work into separate operations makes it possible to divide the subject into relatively small sub-problems. This division of the subject itself brings it within the capacity of the lesser brains and makes it very much easier for a brain of greater power. In other words, the subdivision of work makes places in which all mental equipments may be used.

It is of no benefit to any one to keep the problems difficult by making each man think out a process for accomplishing each one of a great variety of operations, when the work may be so divided that it is only necessary for him to think of just one little part of the whole. And we should not befog the issue by saying that this is degrading.

Some of the greatest scientists that the world has known have concentrated attention to the smallest conceivable part of this world, pieces so small that the microscope alone revealed them to the eye. There is a chance for the thinker in most any of these places that have grown out of this process of finest subdivision of work. The hardship comes only when the mind cannot get interested in the work. In many cases this is undoubtedly due to a misfit, but in most cases it seems to be due to a false notion that there is nothing there of interest.

The subdivision of work must go on. If hindered in any one plant, industry or nation more than in others, the result will be a loss to that one, and on the other hand, the one that carries it to the most efficient point will become the most powerful.

This subdivision develops greatest dexterity and skill, as well as the keenest comprehension of the ways and means of attaining a given end. And this dexterity of operation is more easily carried on than is the fumbling uncertainty of the work of the more primitive type.

Care in Applying New Theories.

The manual worker's energies are so absorbed in the physical tasks that he is annoyed by any suggestion to change his method. If he were given the position at a desk he would probably be interested in the progressive schemes for betterment of methods of work or management of business.

Bearing this state of affairs in mind, it behooves the progressive man to approach the problem of applying his theories in a very careful manner. He must realize that the men in various parts of the work are under stress of every day's requirements that makes it very difficult to intelligently take up any new scheme of procedure. Many an ideal doctrine is a beautiful thing in theory but of little value if its introduction requires an immense but unavailable energy to put it into practise.