128 proven ways

8/9/2019 128 Proven Ways

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W H AT T H E Y S AY A B O U T

R U S T O M J I ' S O T H E R B O O K S

M i c h a e l H . C a d b u r y, M a n a g in g D i r e c t o r , C a d b u r y B r o s .

L t d . , E n g l a n d .

I have en jo ye d rea d in g th i s bo ok and have passed i tround to a number o f fo lk he re wh o have been in te re s t -e d t o s e e i t . T h e i l l u s t r a t i o n s , t o d r a w o u t t h e m a t te ro f t h e t e x t a r e p a r t i c u l a r l y a t t r a c t i v e . A l t o g e t h e r i t

m a k e s a m o s t r e a d a b l e d o c u m e n t .

S . M o o l g a o k a r C h a i r m a n , Ta t a E n g i n e e r i n g & L o c o -

m o t i v e C o . L t d .

L e a d e r h i p i s s o m e t h i n g w h i c h w e c a n n o t le a r n f r o m

a b o o k . B u t a l i t t l e g u i d a n c e i n t h e s e m a t t e r s i s

a l l t o t h e g o o d . . . . c o n t a i n s a l a rg e n u m be r o f u s e f u l

h i n t s .

S i r N o e l H a l l , F o r m e r P r i n c i p a l , A d m i n i s t r a t i v e S t a f f

C o l l e g e , H e n J e y - O n - T h a m e s , a nd P r i n c i p a l , B r a s e n o s e

C o l l e g e , O x f o r d .

I r e a d t h i s b o o k w i t h g r e a t s a t i s f a c t i o n . I t i s w o n d e r f u lh ow y o u c a n g e t a w a y w i t h s i m p l e a n d p r o f o u n d t r u t h s ,

i f y o u p h r a s e t h e m w i t t i l y e n o u g h .

J o h n G a r n e t t , D i r e c t o r , I n d u s t r i a l S o c i e t y, L o n d o n .

T h i s b o o k i s m o s t i m p r e s s i v e .

H a r w o o d F. M e r r i l l , Vi c e - P r e s i d e n t , A m e r i c a n M a n ag e-

m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n .

T h i s b o o k i s e x t r e m e l y i n t e r e s t i n g . We s h o u l d l i k e t or e p r i n t s e v e r a l o f t h e i l l u s t r a t i o n s f r o m t h e b o o k i n t h ei s s u e s o f S u p e r v i s o r y M a n a g e m e n t . . T h e y t e l l a w o r t h -w h i l e s t o r y.

( i ) C o n t d .


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C h e s t e r B o w l e s , F o rm e r A m e r i c a n A m b a s s o d o r t o

I n d i a .

It is a t i m e l y a n d v e r y w e l l d o ne b o o k , r e l e v a n t n o t

on ly to the p rob lem s o f human re la t io ns in Ind ia bu ta l so in the U ni t ed S ta tes and the r e s t o f the w o r l d .

P u b l i c R e l a t i o n s , J o u r n a l o f t h e I n s t i t u t e o f P u b l i cR e l a t i o n s , L o n d o n .

A v e r y c l e v e r l i t t l e b o o k h a s b e e n p u b l i s h e d . A h i g h l ya m u s in g d o c u m e n t . . . w i t h m uc h v a l u a b l e i n s t r u c t i o n .

It d e s e r v e s t h e w i d e r e a d e r s h i p it h as w o n . . . A b o o ko n t h e s e l i n e s c o u l d v e r y w e l l be a b e s t - s e l l e r a m o n gp e o p le i n t h i s c o u n t r y .

L o rd P i l k i n g t o n , C h a i r m a n , P i l k i n g t o n B r o s . L t d . ,

E n g l a n d .

1 f i n d t h i s b o o k v e r y a m u s i n g , an d o f c o u r s e a l l t h e

m o r a l s d r a w n o n e a c h p ag e a r e r i g h t an d s u i t a b l e . . . Ihave no t seen an y t h i ng o f i t s k ind ne a r ly a s go od .

Times Of India, Bombay.

E p i s o d e s i n t h i s b o o k a r e d r a w n f r o m e v e r y d a y l i f ei n b u s i n e s s ; a n d l e s s o n s a r e d e l i v e r e d h om e i n al a n g ua g e d e l i g h t f u l l y f r e e fr o m t h e j a rg o n o f i n d u s t r i a l

p s y c h o l o g y . . . a t h o r o u g h ly e n j o y a b l e b oo k a nd a' m u s t ' fo r e x e c u t i v e s an d s u p e r v i s o r s .

S ir N o rm a n K i p p i n g , C h a i r m a n , C o n f e d e r a t i o n o f B r i t i s h

I n d u s t r i e s ,

I h a v e e n j o y e d t h i s b o o k . F o r t h e E n g l i s h r e a d e r Ith in k in te r es t is adde d by the f a c t tha t i t o r ig in a t ed in

I n d i a . I h o pe a n d p r e d i c t t h a t y o u r p r o j e c t f o r a B r i t i s he d i t i o n w i l l p r ov e m o s t s u c c e s s f u l .

C o n t d . o n b a c k - c o v e r . . .

( i i )


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Getting alongbetter with

people128 proven ways

M . K . R U S T O M J I

Illustrated, byRoma Chakravarty

P U B L I S H I N G C O M PA N Y, B O M B AY- 5 .


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A B O U T T H E A U T H O R

Minoo Rustomji, the author, had been working as theFin an cia l Co nt ro l le r of the T ata Enginee r ing & Loco-motive Co. Ltd. for many years and is now the PublicAffa i rs Adviser of Tata Services Ltd . This book hasbeen wri t ten mainly out of his own experiences.

Rustomji was educated in Europe. He is a CharteredAccountant and has also taken an Honours degree inHistory. He worked in the City of London for a numberof years. He is a keen sportsman and was a one t imeB r i t i s h U n i v e r s i t i e s B o x i n g C h a m p io n .

Rustomji was a member of the group from India thatwent to Oxford for t f ie Duke of Edinburgh 's Conferenceon Human R ela t ion s in Indu stry. La ter he was se lecte dby the Government of India to lead the National Pro-du c t iv i ty C o un c i l ' s Team on Cos t Accou n t ing andFinancial Control that vis i ted the USA and Europe tomake recommendat ions to Indian industry. The reportof the team rece ived wide acc la im.

He has w r i t te n a wide var ie ty of pub l ica t ion s tha t havebeen very wel l rece ived . His book "Business i sPeople" was an immedia te success and was republ i sh-ed by the Government of India. This book has beenwidely acclaimed throughout the world and has beenpublished in translation in many of the major languagesof the world. A fi lm is now being made of this book bythe Government of India.

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WHETHER A VERY BIG BOSS. . .

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O R A S M A L L B O S S . .

. . . we s t i l l have to know howto handle people i f we want

our show to run proper ly. Themore we know about people ,the bet ter wi l l we be able toget along. This book is allabout people .

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K EE P Y O U R M O U T H S H U T

This doc t r ine would cer-tainly help the f ish worldenormous ly. In the same way,in ev ery da y l i fe if so m ethin ghas to be ke pt confide nt ia lkeep i t conf ident ia l .Keep yourmouth shut . Res is t the temp-tat ion to le t your f r iends in

on secrets . I t may make youfee l im po r tan t . B ut don ' t doit.

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T U G O F WA R . . .

. . . th i s is ha pp en ing thewhole t ime in everyone ' smind. The first reaction is tole t h im have i tand then amore r ea sonab le t hough tcomes in. For goodness sake,control yoursel f . Don ' t le tanything get done in anger, as

th e dam age done w i l l ta keweeks to undo .

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L IK E A B O O M E R A N G .

. . . c r i t ic i sm fo r th e sak e of c r i t ic i sm is un nec es-sa r y and dem ora l i s in g . A nd i t a lw ays ge t s toyour boss and to your Company. I f you canno tsay something good i t i s usual ly bes t to say noth-

ing at a l l . You don' t l ike i t when you discoverth a t som ebody is c r i t ic i s ing you beh ind yo urback . And nor does anybody e l se fo r tha t ma t te r.

So Ue tUi'uks'1 aiv. HAUckile

headed?

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C R E AT U R E S O F H A B I T. . .

. . . ev en lyin g on a bed ofnails can become a habit . Sodon ' t get too im pa t ien t w henyou are t ry ing to changehabi ts . I t takes more t imethan you real ise . Keep plug-ging at i t and be grateful fora l i t t le progress at a t ime.

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THE LITTLE TOUCHES. . .

. . . there ' s no ques t ion about i t . I t ' s the l i t t l etouches that make al l the difference. If one ofyour men is away s ick enquire about his heal thwhen he comes back. If he has a pimple on hisnose, ask him about it . If he takes leave toattend to his sick wife, the supervisor must rea-l ise w h at th is lea ve m ean s to the m an w hotake s i t . E nq ui re about he r hea l th . I t doesn ' tta ke too m uc h t im e or effo rt . I t 's ju st a ques -t ion of being thoughtful . But these l i t t le touchescer ta in ly make a l l the d i ffe rence .

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N O N E E D AT A L L . . .

. . . to show th is fe l low th e in te re s t ing s ideof his job. He has got plenty to keep hismind occupied. In a Works too i t ' s the same.If you w an t yo ur m en to w or k pro per lyyou must ge t them in te res ted in the i r work .Tel l th em w h at i t is a l l ab ou t and how thecom pon ents they a re m ak ing f it in to thef inal product . There is an interes t ing s ideto every job. Your men must f ind i t too.

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A W E A K L O O K I N G M A N .

. . . Josh i ' s a th in , weedy, inoffens ive- lookingfel low, but his men think no end of him. Hehas a way of making them fee l tha t theyrea l ly mat te r. When they or the i r fami l ies

become i l l he sympath ises wi th them. Hetr ies to help them as much as he can. Whenth ey inv i te him to th ei r l i t t le offspr ing 's f i rs tyear ceremony he is not too proud to go. Now on der the e ff ic ienc y s tand ard s in h issect ion are about the best in the Works.

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. . . t r y in g to ge t a bi t of in-for m at io n beh ind people ' s

S N O O P I N G back. Ou r su perv isor m ightmake an exce l len t de tec t ive

A R O U N D . . but as a boss he is no good ata ll . A d is t ru s t f u l superv isorcan never get any real lygood w or k ou t of his m en .Tr us t bege ts t ru s t and thesam e is t ru e abo ut m is t rus t .


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H IS FAV O U R I T E D A N C I N G G I R L

O ur Pa sha i s g iv ing he r an expe ns ivepre sen t . B ut look at th e jealou sy on th efaces of the o ther m em be rs of h i s ha rem .I t ' s th e sam e in an y orga nisat ion . If yougive anyone any favours you have got to bespec ia l ly carefu l . Others ge t to know and

unless favours and pr iv i leges a re g iven forespecial ly good reasons i t ' s bound to lowermora le .


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Y O U ' R E N O T R I G H T.

. . . Ram won't get too big for his boots if he'sgiven a spot of pra ise no w and t he n. M anysupervisors imagine that thei r men wi l l jus t s i tt ight and not s tr ive to do bet terthat theywill get too big for their boots if they are givena spot of pra ise. B ut th at is w he re the y arewrong. Everyone craves for apprecia t ion. I f ajob is well done, say so. People will not takeadvantage of praise. They' l l only str ive to dob e t t e r.


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FATA L .

. . . " I thought he meant tha t , " " I d id not rea l i sethis is w h at he w a n te d ." These are a l l phra sesto be dreadedand how of ten we ge t them.Misunder s t and ings , misunder s t and ings and ye tmore misunders tandings. I t i s only becausepeop le do not dou ble check. Th ey don ' t real iseth a t it is poss ible to get th e w ro n g e nd of th est ick. I t happens again and again. Check againwi th the next man. Make cer ta in you under-s t a n d .

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N E AT PA R C E L S . .

. . . are a l l very wel l in a packing Departmentbut in a Works also al l jobs should be properlyparcel led out so that every one knows wherehis job begins and where i t ends. Unless res-ponsibil i t ies are clearly defined there is boundto be confus ion. This is basic in org anisa t ion.Otherwise you wil l s tar t get t ing into otherpeople 's hair.

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. . . t ha t ' s wha t a good supe r-visor should a lways encou-

A S K Q U E S T I O N S . . . ra ge his m en to do. A nd if hecannot answer them himsel f ,le t h im not be at abo ut thebush. Let him te l l them thathe wil l f ind out for them. Liketh is he m ak es qu i te cer ta intha t f a l se rumours a re no t

spread and tha t everyonefee ls th a t he is p a rt of th eteam.

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R U N N I N G U P E VE RY M I N U T E .

. . . som e bosses ju s t love it . Peop le com ingup to the m ev ery m in u te for decis ions. I tboosts their ego. Such bosses never delegaterespons ib i l ity, beca use they nev er t ru s tanyone . Th ey are the people tha t c rea tebot t lenecks , becau se peop le have to ha ngaro un d them w ai t i ng fo r a decis ion. Th eyhave no t ime for cons t ruc t ive th inking . Evenm ore impo r tan t , t hey a re m ak ing the m orecapable ones among the people tha t workfo r them fee l f rus t r a t ed .

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IT H A P PE N S O F T E N . . .

. . . f a r more than mos t o f us imag ine .

People are blamed before a l l the facts areascer ta ined. In nine cases out of ten a wrongdecis ion is made because a l l the facts arenot proper ly known. How could Ram pos-s ibly ha ve don e the job tw o w eek s agow he n he w as aw ay on leave for th reew e e k s ?

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H E ' S

S O F T P E D A L L I N G . . .

You somet imes have to do

it when you play a piano. Inthe same way you have to doi t very of ten when you workin an organisat ion. Every or-ga nisa t ion has good and badpoints , b u t th er e is n o poin tin ta lk ing abo ut i ts m is-take s a l l the t ime. E m ph a-sise the good points andsof t pedal the bad ones . Thisis how morale is bui l t up.

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S TA RT O F F R I G H T .

. . . t h a t ' s w ha t you hav e to do be fo re youcr i t ic i se . Pave the way. Remember even thebest of people hate being told that they aredoing som eth ing in the w ro ng way . F i r s tf ind out something you can praise . Peoplewil l be much more wil l ing to take cr i t ic ismfr om som eone wh o a pp rec ia tes the i r good

points ; o therwise they wil l jus t br is t le up.

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O N E P E R S O NT O O M A N Y. . .

. . . no one w an t s Ham a roun dwhen they ' re in love. In deal-ing w ith peop le also if youwant to t ick off anyone, noone else should be presentnot even your secre ta ry

get rid of her too. Even anaudience of one person is oneperson too many.

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E V E RY T H I N G . . .

Th e w ay a su pe rvis or wa lks , ta lks , theclothes he wears , h is punctual i ty, h is familyl ife , the w ay he t re ats his wif e is beingwatched the whole t ime by h is men. You ' l lbe amazed"Did you hear?he bea t h i s

wife las t week ." I t ge ts a round! That ' s whythe example set by a supervisor is so im-po r tan t . Th at ' s w hy he has to wa tch h isevery s tep. I f the behaviour of the super-visor is exemplary, h is men wil l fol low sui tand vice versa .

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A L I C K I N G .

. . . bu t in a W ork s p roblem s n ev er s tayl icked especial ly when you ' re deal ing withpeople . No m at te r w ha t you se t t le today,there ' l l be a new problem tomorrow. Andthen the same thing wil l crop up again afe w m on ths f ro m now. I t 's a l l pa r t of th eday to day job of a supervisor: he 's got to

have broad enough shoulders to bear th i s .It 's part of his job.

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J U ST A S A H O U S E . .

. . . i s bu i l t so we m us t t r y to bui ld uppeople the whole t ime. I f your men knowtha t you ' re in te res ted in t ry ing to imp rovethem and be t te r the i r p rospec ts they ' l l na-tura l ly want to break the i r backs for you .Th e dev elop m en t of people is the thin gwhich a Company expec t s f rom eve rysuperv isor. They must deve lop the ab i l i ty

of the people under them. And there 's nobet ter way to get on in a Company i f youdo just this .

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N O T J U ST C H A P T E R N I N E

. . .g o o d hu m an re la t ions is no t jus t onechapter of a text book on Management . I t ' sthe whole book. Working sa t i s fac tor i ly wi thpeople is not pa r t of a M an ag em en t job b uti t ' s the ent i re job. Human rela t ions is onething that you cannot delegate . Don' t for am om en t im ag ine th at i t 's the job of thePer sonne l Depar tmen t . I t ' s your job becausewithout i t you wil l do nothing effect ively.

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C O U N T T E N . . .

. . . th at ' s w ha t you shou ld do if you sud-de nly fee l l ike boil ing up. Cool dow n.M aybe in F ran ce a m ur de r com m i t ted inthe heat of passion is let off lightly, but inEngland and o ther count r ies there i s no th ingshort of the death sentence. That ' s a l l verywel l but in a factory anything done in a

m om en t of ange r can ha ve ve ry badresu l t s .

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PAT C H I N G U P T R O U S E R S .

. . . i s a ll ve ry w el l in a ho m e b ut fa r toom uc h t im e is spent in a W orks pa tch ing u pmistakes that are made. I t ' s a vic ious c i rc le :so much t ime and effor t i s spent patchingup mis takes tha t very l i t t l e t ime and energyis lef t fo r th in k in g ah ea d to avoid suc h

m is takes occ ur r ing in the fu tu re . B ut th i swe just must do i f we want our show torun p rope r ly.

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A M I L L I O N Y E A R S .

. . .an d i t 's a yo un g roc k at t ha t! H ere yousee R am as a bab y, a yo un g blade , as anold man. But measured aga ins t e te rn i ty h isl i fe is ju s t a f lash . I t m ak es one thin k,does n ' t i t? O ur span is r eal ly ve ry shor t .Why not make i t as pleasant as we can foreach oth er? Do you real ly thi nk i t w orth -w hi le .ge t t ing a l l ho t and both ered w i thprob lems day a f t e r day?

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T H E B L U E - E Y E D B O Y..

He's the biggest curse in any organisation.We're al l human, we al l have our l ikes and dis-l ikes . Bu t fav ou ri t ism can be terr ib ly ups et t ing.I t 's en oug h to tak e t he h ea rt out of any one ;su dd en ly finding th at so m ebod y else has beenpromoted s imply because he happens to be some-bod y 's great au nt ' s gra nd so n. Or because heand the Boss both come from the same vi l lage

in Gre enland !

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B E N D I N G O V ER B A C K W A R D .. .

. . . tha t ' s what our superv isor doestrying tobe fair and honest with everyone. If a bossis completely honest and fair, people wil l putup with a lo t of shor tcomings. There 's the othertype of supervisor. He 's the fe l low with a"conven ien t " m em ory . W hene ver any th ing goeswrong he immedia te ly c la ims tha t he nevergave those ins t ruc t ions . There ' s the type tha t

gives al l sorts of promises and when you try topin him down he wriggles out saying that con-di t ions ha ve changed. Yo ur m en wil l respectyou no end if you act straight with them.

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L O O K W H AT H A P P E N S . . .

. . . w he n an or de r is passed w it h o u t con-sul t in g anyo ne. O ur sup erv isor is a reaso n-able sor t of fe l low and he would wil l inglycarry out orders . But you must a lways f i rs tdiscuss an order wi th the people con-cerned i f you want an order to be carr iedout proper ly.

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S T R A N G L I N G H E R . . .

Po or Ra m could th in k of no oth er w ayof keeping h is l i t t l e woman f rom nagginghim. But you ' l l be surpr ised how of ten thissor t of th in g ha pp en s in a W orks. Som esupervisors imagine that by s t i f l ing a l l cr i -t ic ism people forget a l l about them. How

very s tupid. I f you keep something bot t ledup i t 's bou nd to exp lode som etim e ora n o t h e r.


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D O N ' T Y E A R N .

. . . I t ' s a l l ve ry we l l wan t ingthe pe r fec t fem ale bu t you cann ev er get pe rfe ct people tow or k fo r you. A good bossjust wades in and does thebest he can w ith w h at hehas . People d i ffe r enormous-

ly some are kind, some arehard-working , some are lazy,some are selfish. A good bossdoesn' t get discouraged easi-ly. That ' s why he getsresu l t s .

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R E A L LY F O O L I S H

So m an y bosses ar e fo ol ishly secret ive .Unless there ' s someth ing an employee jus thas to know , the y s im ply don ' t te l l h im.Of course people l ike to know what is goingon around them and they ' l l cer ta inly get toknow. But what they get to know is usual lya garb led v ers ion of wh at goes on. An d th eorganisat ion becomes a hot-bed of rumours .So g ive people the s t ra ight fac ts whereverpossible and don ' t h ide things .

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S H E E R I G N O R A N C E . . .

. . . that 's usually the cause ofmo st of the m istake s w emake in deal ing with people .We are so busy and so intentwi th ge t t ing th ings done tha twe somet imes forge t the

tho ug hts an d feel ings of oth erpeople. We only stop to thinkaf te r the damage i s done .

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B A D L U C K R A M .

His leave has been cancel led, jus t whenhe was ge t t ing every th ing very wel l o rgan-ised! In a Works too, the cancellat ion of anyprivi lege once given can have a bad effect .You should, the ref ore , be v er y ca ref ul be-fo re you give an yth ing . You jus t cann otcancel i t later.

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BO SS A R O U N D H E R E -

Th at ' s w ha t th e supe rv isor is t ry in g toshow. He 's t rying to make i t c lear to every-one that he 's the Boss . But he real ly doesn ' tcut any ice. The men think he 's just a bigpompous b lown-up ba l loon . The f i r s t th ing

anyone should do if he get 's kicked up is tobe humble and not th row his weight a round.

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CRISES INEVITABLY OCCUR. .

. . . w he re the r e a re thousan ds of men wo rk-ing one can no t alw ay s avoid a crisis .Sometimes cr ises are bound to occur. Butthe imp or tan t th ing to r em em ber isth at of ten a cr is is can be ant ic ipate d andcounter act ion taken. A good supervisor is

th e m a n w ho w ar n s his officers we l l inadvance. He doesn ' t wai t for the cr is is todevelophe makes a lo t of noise unt i l some-th ing happens .

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O NL Y O NE POINT OF VIEW ..

. . .you ca n ' t b l am e Ra m , can yo u? B ut in afa ct o ry if yo u co nsid er only one po int ofview and the f irst thing that comes to yourm ind , you w il l ce r ta in ly get in to t rou ble .For goodness sake, don ' t take act ion unt i lyou have cons idered a l l the d i ffe ren t po in tsof view.

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The fe l low tha t re fuses to take 'No ' foran answer usua l ly ge ts what he wants inth e long ru n . If h e ke ep s on at i t ha rd

enough, she wil l eventual ly say 'Yes ' . Keepplu gg ing at i t if yo u w an t to get an yt hi ngdone and never g ive up .

D O N ' T G I V E U P

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A N I V O RY T O W E R .

. . . tha t ' s w he re the b ig boss l ives and h e

doesn ' t le t anyone know anything at a l l . He 'sprob ably a f ra id th a t Pe kin g or Moscowmight get hold of i t ! What an absurd a t t i -tude. I f the men are not t rus ted and takeninto confidence, th ey ' re c er ta in ly not g oingto bother to do one hand ' s tu rn more thanabsolu te ly necessary.

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A GOOD IDEA. . .

. . . has been k icked in thehead s imply because some-body who ought to have beenconsul ted was not consul ted .You h u rt h is pr id e an d i t ' shard to get him to co-operate .B efore tak in g ac tion a lw ays

consul t the people concernedfirst.

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O T H E R P E O P L E S ' S H O E S

Our supervisor is a l l ready to s tep into theshoes of the boss higher up because he hasg iven h is own people enough t ra in ing andop po rtun i t ies an d exp er ie nc e to do his ownjob. The success of supervisors depends toa larg e ex te nt on w ha t the y hav e done tot ra in the m en u nd er th em to do the i r ownjob.

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D O N ' T H O V E R

Don' t snooperv isecons tan t checking andconstant quest ioning is only going to upset

and confuse Ram. Be d igni f ied : two or th reet im es a day is a l l r igh t . Bu t don ' t con t inua l lynag and peck: don' t be an old hen.

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LIKE A COG IN A WHEEL.

. . .you wil l say th is is fa r fetche d, bu t the w ay

one t rea ts m an y of our w ork m en leads to thesame resul ts . They become despondentallini t iat ive goesand they just don' t care. I t 'sa day in and day out rout ine with no one both-er ing about th em . No one te ll ing them w ha tthey are makingwhether i t i s par t of a t ruckor an excav ator. They d on ' t know w he re the

pa rts go. Tr y th e oth er ap pro ach . Ta ke an in-teres t in themtel l them things . They wil l res-pond wonderful ly and your shop eff ic iencyfigures wil l shoot up.

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M I X I T. . .

. . .a sup ervis or has th e au th or i ty to tel l peo-

ple to do things, but this wil l be done muchbetter if he mixes i t with a l i t t le persuasion. Noone l ikes to be ' or de re d. I t 's mu ch b ette r to m ixyour ins t ruct ions with words such as "suggest" ,"would you mind", "I wonder i f you would" .That ' s the best way to get resul ts and the resul tswil l be far better than if you ordered peopleabou t . Th ere are m any di ffe ren t w ays of givinginstructions but they wil l be best obeyed if youmix things a l i t t le .

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A M I S TA K E

Of cou rse, i t is. Ra m ce r-

ta in ly did no t do i t on pur-pose. Maybe he needs a pairof glasses. M ay be he ha d abad n igh t . The impor tan tth in g abou t every m is take ,however, i s to take a con-s t ruct ive view. Don' t concen-t ra te on the mis take so muchbut on the s teps that have tobe take n to avoid m ak ingsuch mis takes aga in .

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I T H A P P E N SO F T E N E R

T H A N Y O U T H I N K . . .

.. .be for e yo u realise it, abarrier has grown up be-tween you and the people

you supervise. Watch outfor this. Never get out oftouch.

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C H E S S I N I T S P L A C E . . .

. . . is all very we ll. It sharpens the brain. Butyou cannot treat your people like chess piecesand manipulate them. Remember they arehum an too : the y are also intere sted in thingsand like to take the initiative just as you do.

If you treat them accordingly you will get farbetter results.

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M aybe i t' s an ex t re m eexample but there ' s no ques-t ion about i t . A spot of praisenow and then does anyamount of good. Most of ushave so many worr ies of ourow n th at we forg et to give

T H E I D E A praise . The next t ime Ramdoes a sa t is facto ry job, sayso.

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A C O M P L IC AT E D C A L C U L AT I O N

Our superv isor i s t ry ing to prove tha t i t ' scorrect . T ha t ' s a l l ve ry we l l w i th an a lge-bra ic pro blem . Bu t you ' ll be sur pr i se d a tthe enormous amount of t ime and effor tpeople spen d to prove tha t th ey ' re r igh t .Even when they know they a re wrong , they

hate to admit i t . But the cur ious thing ispeople rea l ly respec t the man who admi tshis errors quickly. I t ' s the mark of a bigm a n .

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R E M E M B E R . . .

The most impor tan t man in Ram's wor ld i she h imsel f . I t doesn ' t mat te r what Ram's jobmight bemaybe c leaning lava tor ies , maybeworking as a he lper, maybe a c rane man, maybecollecting gar ba ge . B ut as fa r as R am is con-cerned , the im po rtan t th ing s in the w orld a rethos e wh ich affect h is ow n l i fe . R em em ber, R amis ve ry im po rtan t to him se lf . Eve n if he is thejunio rm ost messen ger boy nev er brush h im off.

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G I V E T H E D E V I L H I S D U E . . .

. . .Ram is ce rta in ly no t a dev il . H e's a good,sol id , workman. And he 's going to come outaga in and aga in wi th ideas for reducing manhou rs , sav ing m ate r ia ls and so on. An d

why? I t ' s because he is a lways given recog-nit ion. No one claims his ideas as their own.

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T H E

S U P E R I N T E N D E N T

D O E S N O T

P R O D U C E

H e does no t tu rn a screwor a bolt nor does he keep aledg er. He has to w or k en-t i re ly through o thers . Thatis why a good knowledge ofhu m an re la t ions is so ve ryi m p o r t a n t .

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I f you do have to bawl outsomebody take h im as idewhere you can ta lk pr iva te ly.Don' t cr i t ic ise him in f ront ofothers . With praise i t i s d i ffer-en t . W hen a m an has donesomething good, praise himloudly so tha t h i s f r iends andco-w orke rs get to kn ow al labout it too.


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T H E F R O N T O F F I C E . . .

. . .is all ve ry w ell. It 's c er tain ly a ver y imp o-sing and co m fortab le bu i lding bu t for goodnesssake get out of it as often as you can and getdown on to the shop f loor and meet your men.K no w at f i rs t han d th e condi t ions un de r w hichthey workhave cha ts wi th them. You wi l lget very good resul ts that way.

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ST EP O N E M A N U P . .

. . .and 20 oth ers ar e b oun d to be disap poin tedand they wi l l a ll a sk : "W hat abou t m e ? " ."What has he got which I haven ' t?" . Humannature being what i t i s , i t happens of tener thanyou th ink and i t happ ens every w her e . Thebest an sw er is to tak e pains: to ma ke Surewhen you kick up someone, the claims of every-one e lse have been fa i r ly considered. Are yousure you have considered the case of that quietl i t t le fe l low who works in a far away cornerof you r W orksh op ? A re you sure you hav e notbeen led away by the smart young fe l low whocan tal k th e h in d leg s off a do nk ey ?

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/

R IG H T R O YA L Q U A R R E L . . .

. . . t h a t ' s wh at the b ig boss is having w i th h iswife . And he has a marvel lous car and a veryim po rtan t jo b. B ut mo ney is only one fac tor inl i fe . Happiness comes f rom other equal ly im-po rta n t th ing s as w el l . Look at the glow on the

faces of our supervisor ' s family. And he 's earn-ing only one-tenth of the salary of the big boss.

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S M A L LG R I E VA N C E S . . .

i

. . .becom e b ig gr ievanceswhen men don ' t ge t a chanceto ex pre ss the ir opinion. Al i t t le pin-pr ick snowbal ls in to

so m ethin g big . A nd al l th iscould have been preventedby nipping i t in the bud inth e first place. It ' s a m a tt e rof a l i t t le forethought andimag ina t ion .

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A G O O D

LISTENER

. . . th at ' s w ha t our boss is .He 's a wise m an. He kno wsthat everyone l ikes to expresshis opin ion spec ially t o hisow n boss. Ju st l is tening h elpsto ease tensions and to getthings off people's chests.

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P Y T H A G O R A S WA S A W I S E M A N . . .

. . . bu t even h e based h is fam ou s theo ry oncer ta in assumptions . In deal ing with peoplea lso the person who makes the assumpt iontha t the people who work for h im are un-t rustworthy, lazy, and dishonest , wi l l surely

make them so. But i f you assume that theyare good workers and reasonably hones t , theodds are that they wil l l ive upto i t .

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L O O K AT R A M

Ram knows that he won' t fa l l . And so i t shouldbe in a fac tor y. L et the m en feel sec ure . Letthe m feel se l f -confident . Let them feel th ey areimportant . The great Einste in said that one ofthe biggest problems of our present day societyof bigger and bigger organisations was to let theord inary man fee l tha t he mat te rsthat he i s

i m p o r t a n t .

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W H AT A F E L L O W

B ea u t i fu l wo m an , wh i t e sands, pa lm t r eeswaving. But our supervisor is not going tobe taken in by a l l th is . He wants to checkand do uble check befo re he m ak es h isproposal of marr iage. Maybe this is carry-ing things too far, but in real l i fe if youwant to ge t someth ing done proper ly youjus t mus t check and double check .

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T E M P TAT I O N . .

. . . of course , R am is tem pted . W ho w ou ldn ' tbe ? Ev en a Sa int w ou ld f ind i t difficult to ke ephis eyes away from a s l inky f igure . But whendea ling w ith people, fo r goodness sake, do n' tbe tempted to contradict outr ight and te l l peo-ple they are wrong. Play i t cool . Only then wil lyou get their goodwill and co-operation.

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IT 'S A L M O S T A U TO M AT I C ..

. . . to duck ta kin g responsibi l i ty if an yth ing goesw ron g. I t ' s the ha rde st th ing in the wo rld toadm i t tha t we have m ade a m is take . W e spendhours t ry ing to prove we are r ig h t . W e th ink

of a mil l ion exc use s . Bu t w hy ? A dm it yo urmistakes. People wil l respect you for i t and youwill save a lot of time all round.

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A L O T TO D R I N K

Our f r iend cer ta in ly has had tha t and heis promis ing marr iage . He cannot back outof i t late r. He ha s p rom ised . In th e sa m ew ay in any org anisa t ion, if any pro m isesare mad e , espec ia lly abo ut people 's fu tu reprospects , you can no t back out of th em .

Such p romises a re r emembered r igh tdow n to the le t te r. A prom ise m ad e m us tbe kept .

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C O M M U N I C AT I O NF O R A R O C K E T P L A N E

. . . i s very impor tan t . I t ' s a l so most impor-tan t in a W orks. You' l l be su rpr ise d howrumours begin. People jus t love to gossipand make mischief . I t ' s the same al l overthe world . Not ices and ci rculars are seldomread. And this makes the task of good com-m unic a t ion even m ore im po r tan t . If thet ru e fac ts a re pro per ly pu t over ha lf thetroubles in a Works would cease .

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TO THE LETTER

I t 's not ne ces sar y to follow a thi ng tothe let ter. I t may get you hopelesslytied up in red tape. A l i t t le f lexibil i ty is al lto the good. Of course you must have Rulesand Regulat ions and you must obey themif your show is to run proper ly. But don ' t

be a slave to them. If procedures are cum-bersome, for goodness sake take s tepss t ra ightaway to ge t the Rules changed .

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THE TWO WISE MEN

Plato and Socrates are famil iar to a l l ofus . The thi rd fe l low on top was equal ly wiseand tha t was Aris tot le . I t w as he who saidtha t "no m an is in tent io nal ly bad ." W ecannot help going the way we do. Our ex-per iences have made us what we are . Sothe more we unders tand why a person doesthe things he does, the less angry wil l webe . When someone makes us angry, remem-

ber ten to one he 's not doing i t on purpose.

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PA S S I N G T H E B U C K . .

. . . i t happ ens o f t e ne r tha n you th ink .People hate s t icking their necks out espe-cia lly if th er e is a cha nce th at the y m ay becr i t ic ised for i t . When persons take the ini -t ia t ive you m us t be tole ran t of a fe w err ors ;o therwise your men wi l l on ly do what theyhave to do and pass the buck . They ' l l have

their a l ibis a l l neat ly t ied up. They ' l l nevertake a chance of being wrong, they ' l l showno ini t ia t ive .

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FOLLOWS, D O ES N 'T IT ?

When somebody irritates you, stop immedi-ately and think out what makes him act the way

he does. To understand WHY a person acts theway he does helps you to be much more under-standing. It was wise old Aristotle, wasn't it,who said, "to understand all is to forgive all."

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P I T C H I N G I N

It 's all very well pitching in occasionally togu ide the m en to get over a toug h spot. I t m ak esan excel lent impression. I t shows that the sup-ervisor does not consider himself above suchwork. But the main job of a supervisor is to guideinspire and improve the work of others. I t 's sur-

pr is ing the number of them that don ' t fol lowthis. They get themselves involved in so muchdetai l that they have no t ime for their real job.

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I N T O C O N F I D E N C E

If pe op le are in th e kno w , if th ey aretak en into confide nce, i t m ak es fo r goodt e a m w o r k . L e t t h e m u n d e r s t a n d w h a t t h e yare t ry ing to accompl ish and why. Alwaysbe open to suggest ions and consider them

prompt ly. People should be made to fee lthat their boss ' main interest is in helpingh i s mennot push ing them.

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N O T H I N G D A M P E N S S O M U C H . . .

. . .as cr i t ic ism th ro w n out a l l th e t ime.People ha te be ing to ld tha t they ' re wrong.Do you know that there 's a real ar t in cr i -t ic is ing effect ively? I f the boss is competentand confident of his own abil i ty, he doesn' tfeel the need to show his super ior i ty by cr i -t ic is ing others . There are ways and ways inwhich one can cr i t ic ise . Look how our super-visor does i t . He has certainly got tact . Hedoesn ' t rub anyone up the wrong way.

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W H Y G R I N D O U T L E T T E R S .

. . . i t ' s so much eas ie r to do something faceto face or ove r th e te lephon e. I t saves y ou rt ime, your secretary 's t ime, you avoid de-lays , you get c lar if icat ion im m ed iate ly andyou get something done. For goodness sake,

don ' t wr i te le t te rs .

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H A P P E N S E V E RY W H E R E . . .

. . . p eo p l e wi l l nev e r b lame them se lves .When something goes wrong they usua l -ly stand aloof. I t 's always someone else orsomeone else 's depar tment that is in thewron g. You ' ll be surp r ised. Bu t people are

a lwa ys read y to b lam e o thers bu t nev erthemselves . This a t t i tu de crea tes b i t te rn essand ce r t a in ly doesn ' t make fo r t eamwork .

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E A R P L U G S . . .

. . . m ayb e n ot qui te l ike tha t bu t tha t ' s w hatmost people put on in reali ty when they l isten tospeeches. T ha t ' s w hy com m unica t ion is so diffi -cul t . Do n' t imag ine t ha t people lis ten to w ha tyou say, or read al l the notices you issue becausethe y do n' t . O nly abo ut 10 pe r cent of the p eoplethat l is ten to a speech have understood i t andmost of this is forgotten the day after. The firststep in good communications is to realise this .

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A P L A N . . .

. . . "No good". I t hap pe ns so of te n. M an y anexce l lent sche m e is vetoed because, a m icro-scopic f law is discovered. How very s tupid.You' l l be surpr ised at the number of f ine

ideas tha t have come to noth ing jus t becausesomeone has d iscovered very minor defec tsin them. Watch out for this .

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A S C I E N T I F I C A P P R O A C H . .

. . . Th a t ' s wh a t we w an t . Eve ry superv iso rshould se t as ide a few min ute s ev ery day jus t

to th ink . Mos t of us rush a rou nd m a d l y -doing each job that comes. If we set aside afew minutes everyday jus t to th ink a l i t t l eand plan where we are going, i t wi l l helpenormous ly.

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A P O L I C E M A N .

. . . i s a l l ve ry wel l . Bu t you ce r ta in ly can ' tbe a pol ice m an in the W ork s the w ho let ime. You can ' t check how m uc h t im epeople spend in the lavatory or how mucht ime they take over their tea . Pol ice meth-ods are useless on a long-term basis. A farbe t te r a l te rn a t iv e i s ge t t ing your m en to

work because of the respect which theyhave for you and the Company.

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G E N E R A L - S T O F * E

CLEAN LI M E:*

PRPMPTWES*

RE6ULARJTY-A

EFFICIENCY

on ^M-y FRIENDLY*

D AY IN A N D D A Y O U T...

. . .m ost good sup erviso rs h av e to sel l ideas:pu nc tua l i ty, eff ic iency, reg ula r i ty . Sel l ing isa big par t of every supervisor ' s job. He 's asalesman, the only difference is that he 's se l -l ing ideas , not things. He must make hiscus tomers want to buy.

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D E M A N D T H E FA C T S

Vague rumours , i ncor rec t

information and gossip do at r emendous amount o f ha rm.I t makes us miserable . I t ' s badfor morale . I t ' s bad for pro-duc t ion . You have rumoursa l l over the wor ldfromC ha rin g Cross in Lo nd on to

Bor i Bunder in Bombay. Butlet each one of us do ourbest to prevent loose talk. Letus try to get hold of the truefacts .

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T H E AV E R A G E F EL LO W.

. . .do es n' t le ar n al l th at easi ly. Don 't exp ecthim to know something by te l l ing him once.You have to go back again and again beforesomething really sinks in. I t takes t ime. Ifyou realise this not only will you be a goodsupervisor but i t wi l l a lso make your l i femuch happ ie r.

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O P E N W I D E

One may open one 's mouth as wide as pos-sible in the dentist 's chair, but in dealingwith people have a second thought even onthe s imp lest m at t er s . Get yourself in to thehabi t of t r y in g to see the oth er fe l lo w 'spoin t of v iew before you open your mouth .I t cer ta inly takes a l i t t le effor t but the re-sul ts are wel l worth i t .

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G O O D F O U N D AT I O N S . .

. . . that ' s what a bui lding has to have i f i thas to las t . In the same way you can getgood decision s only if the y ar e b ased onsound pr inciples . One should never take acourse of act ion w hich app eals for themoment. If al l decisons are based on soundprinciples you will get consistency of action-and this cer ta inly helps i f you want yourshow to run proper ly.

SOUND \SvJPRINCIPLES

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You don ' t have to cut open a man's headto find ou t w h a t 's in his m ind . B ut if youdo t ry to visual ise the other man'sthoughts before you take any act ion, you ' l lbe surpr ised at the resul ts . I t wi l l enableyou to han dle problem s much be t te r.

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AT L EA S T A T H O U S A N D P EO P LE .

. . . in dif fere nt par t s of the w orld a re han dl ingproblems ident ical to yours . Some are doing i tbe t te r and some worse . Maybe in New York .M aybe in Bo m bay . M aybe in Hong K ong . Tryto f ind out the people that are handl ing yourproblem b et t e r . Get to learn w ha t they aredoing and then improve on i t . Get to know allthe bet ter ways of handl ing your own problems.Then there wi l l be no s topping you.

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H E B E AT H E R L A S T N I G H T .

I t get ' s around. People s tar t ta lking. That ' swh y th e ex am ple set up by a sup erviso r isso impor tan t : the way he ta lks , the wayhe behaves, the way he dresses. I t makesal l the diffe ren ce. His m en are w atch inghim l ike ha w ks the wh ole t ime . You

wouldn' t think so but they are. A good ex-ample is infect iousjust l ike an epidemic,and that goes for bad examples as wel l .

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I N T O A P U D D L E . .

. . . an d yo u w ill f al l into one too if youjump to wrong conclusions. For goodnesssake, get a l l the facts before you make adecision. Find out the other man's point ofv iew. Truth has many face ts . Get to knowas m an y of th em as you can, and the n m ak ea decision. But don' t come out with half-

ba ke d decisions w hich you h av e to chopan d c han ge in a few day 's t im e.

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P U F F E D U P.

. . . t h a t ' s w ha t has happened to our super-visor jus t bec ause he has bee n pro m oted .Nobody l ikes to work for anyone who takes

his success so seriously. Who would like towork for a boss who is cont inual ly impres-sed with a sense of his own importance?

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STICK IT OUT.

. . . don ' t be afra id of s ticking you r ne ck o ut . I tdoesn' t matter if you get hurt once or twice.I t 's the only way in which to get things done.And you can be sure that a boss real ly worthhis sal t is going to have high regard for thechap that 's wil l ing to st ick his neck out, andtake a chance of ge t t ing h u r t . Re m em ber for

every one successful idea of Edison, ninety-ninew ere com pletely off the m a rk . He cer ta in lystuck his neck out and look where i t got him!

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TA K I N G S O U N D I N G S . . .

. . . th at 's w h at ships do to find out de pth .Unless they do this they may come in for asevere crash and become wrecks. In a factory

also i t 's the same. There 's nothing l ikesounding out a person or a group of personsbefore taking action. I t may help to avoid adisaster later on.

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Y O U ' L L B E S U R P R I S E D . . .

. . .Ram w ill go on to tell h er th a t she is asslender as a young saplingand she just lovesi t . The human appet i te for praise is prodigious.In a fa cto ry i t is th e sam e. Pr ais e is th e m osteffec tive m an ag em en t too l. W hat people wa ntmost f rom a job is recogni t ioncredi t fortheir efforts. Most of us are quick to criticisebu t slow to p ra ise . W e shou ld be ju st the op-posite .

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D O N ' T

U N D E R M I N E

W he n you ass ign responsi-bil i ty to any assis tan t , do n' tle t people ignore him. Make

su re tha t they con sul t h imfirst before appealing to you.

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V I N E

People are interested to know what goeson around them; they want to know whatis happening and is going to happen.Whether you l ike i t or not they will get al lthe information they want . No one can pre-vent them. But unless one is careful the oddsare tha t the informat ion they ge t f rom thegrape-vine wil l be misleading, garbled andinco rrect . Do n't let th em tu n e in on the

grape-vine. Give them the facts. This is thef inest answer to rumours and misleading in-fo rmat ion .

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N O T A U T O M AT I C .

. . . not l ike the m ach ine in our dra w ing .Don' t imagine that people who work for youwil l cont inue to be happy and contented.This rarely happens automatical ly. You haveto w or k ha rd at i t. A supe rvisor h as f re -qu en tly to say to himself : "N ow let m e seewhom I have been neglect ingI have notspoken to 'A' for a long t ime. I must have achat wi th h im." Everyoneno mat te r howlow down in the hierarchy he might belikes to feel that he is needed and wanted,that he means something in the organisa-tion.

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WHISTLE

Ho w m an y of us ha ve a m en tal wh is t lethat tel ls us to stop when a cri t ical si tuationar ises; because the next few seconds wil lbe cruc ial . You can ei th er sta rt the ballmoving towards a peaceful solut ion or youcan get into a f rui t less nerve racking, t imeconsuming a rgument , wh ich may ru in arela t ionship that has taken years to bui ldup. Listen to the whist le. Stop.

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L O G I C A N D

P L ATO . . .

. . . a n d Ar i s to t le we n t to -gether. But no amount oflogic or a rgument wi l l makeanyone change his mind i f hedo esn' t w an t to. You canargue t i l l you are blue in theface. People are not going to

bel iev e tha t you are r ightunless they w an t to bel ieveit . You ha ve to w in th eirhear ts , not their minds.

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P R O D U C T I O N

N O W O N D E R . . .

. . . pro du ct ion is going do w n. If the supervisoris lazy an d with ou t any se nse of du ty th e m encannot be otherwise. Napoleon said that therewere never bad soldiers but only bad officers.This applies equally well to civil l i fe. Everythingdepends on the example of the supervisor. His

sense of punctual i ty, the way he ta lks , the wayhe walks , the way he dresses , h is behaviour;every l i t t le detai l mat ters . I t i s amazing howquickly the men catch on to the type of super-v isor they have .

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IS IT NECESSARY

Of course, he's busy. But he cannot possi-bly do his work properly under the condi-t ions in which he works. He works 14 hoursa day. He tak es pap ers home. He su ffers f ro mstomach ulcers . His wife thinks he is head-ing fo r a b reakdown. Na tu ra l ly ! Who

w ou ldn ' t un de r th e c i rcum stances? I t ' s be-cause he thinks he is indispensable. He ima-gines in his foolishness that no one else cando any of his jobs. He has no idea of delega-tion.

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W H AT 'S H E D O I N G ?

He's heading off a misunders tanding. I t

is so much better to follow up a let ter per-sonally or over the telephone so that youhave a chance of explaining and meet ingobject ions before they become ser ious. Liketh is you head off misunders tandings .

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H O L D Y O U R F I R E

That 's what you should do when some-thing goes w ro ng . Th ere is a lw ays a tem p-tat ion to le t som eone hav e i t . B ut thisshould be res is ted . W hen som ethin g goeswron g, the re 's usual ly a reason poor

materials , faulty instructions, lack of train-ing and so on. When you find out thecause, a t tack that and not the man.

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E VE N W H E N H E 'S F I S H I N G . . .

. . .Ra m 's f r ie nd s can not kee p aw ay fro mhim. And i t 's because Ram is so veryf r ie nd ly h imsel f . To ha ve f r ie nd s you mu stbe fr iendly. I t 's the same in a Works aswel l . You must win the f r iendship of yourmen and you can do this by being fr iendly.Yo u'l l f ind tha t you ' l l get a m uc h be tte r job

done as wel l .

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Y O U ' L L A LWAY S G E T G R I P E S . . .

. . No sup erv isor w or th his sal t shou ld everexpect everything to move smoothly. Peo-ple wil l a lw ay s co mp lain no m at te r how

things are . Things wil l a lways go wrong.But that 's precisely the job of the supervi-sor : to smoothen out mat te rs ; to takethings in his str ide.

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T H E R O O T C A U S E . . .

. . . tha t ' s w ha t we should t ry to f ind out.When a man complains don ' t jus t run himdown. Find out what ' s bi t ing him. Some-thin g is c lear ly w orr yin g Ra m . I t can ' t beth e cold because the tem p er at ur e is veryhig h a nd ev eryone fe els l ike hav ing asiesta. G et to th e roo t cau se, th en find asolution.

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T H E B IG I . . .

. . . you get t his ty pe of sup er-v i s o r e v e r y w h e r e a l w a y sthrowing h is weight a roundand a lways pre tending to bea big boss and always show-ing off. B u t he re al ly does notcut any ice. People catch onquickly enough. His menwon' t respect him nor hiscolleagues. T he y w ill al lth ink of him what he real lyisa pom pou s l i t t le u ps tar t .

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. . . the Eskimos in their ig-loos sometimes refuse toaccept new ideas. There's a

EVEN IN natural conservatism in allhuman be ings . But look

G R E E N L A N D . . . w h e r e w e 'd b e if E diso n h adth is a t t i tude! We would haveno electric l ight . No tele-phones. Be open to new ideas.I t 's t r u e th a t fo r ever y hu n-dred ideas which Edison hadonly one was pract icable . Butso wha t !

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L O O K AT Y O U R S E L F S O M E T I M E S

If you have a grim serious look, watchou t . Peop le would m uch pr ef er to dea lw ith a ha pp y, smiling face. I t 's infectiou s.I t makes others happy as wel l . Watch outfo r this . Look at yourself in th e glass som e-t imes .

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N E V E R A G A I N

. . of cou rse, yo u'r e no t going to get ou rsup erviso r come up w ith ano ther sugges-t ion . Sugg est ions are ten de r pla nts . Theyhave got to be careful ly nursed. But i f theboss acts as if suggestions were reflectionson his ability, he's certainly not going toge t any more sugges t ions in fu ture .

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I N T H E C O N T R O L R O O M ..

. .a switch is f l icked and elaborate machi-nery is set on foot to send off the deadlymissile. In ordinary l ife too if there is noproper control a few words said in angermay set into motion action which will ruinthe relat ionship of a l ife t ime. For good-ness sake control you r tem pe r, controlyour words. Just th ink of the enormousdamage done by just a few words spokenin anger.

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O F F T H E H A N D L E . . .

. . you ' l l be surpr ised ho w ofte n in a W orkswe tend to f ly off the handle. But this issomething which we must t ry to avoid a tal l costs. Anything done in anger willa lw ay s lead to bad resu l ts . Kee p you r per-sonal feelings and prejudices r ight out ofthe pic tur e . Th at ' s the secret of ge t t ing

along with people sucessfully and i t takes alot of self-control. The fellow who is goodat controlling others must first learn to con-t ro l h imsel f .

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T H E B IG PAY O F F.

. . . y o u ' l l be su rp r i sed bu t i t

i s not money. People l ikepraise and appreciat ion, espe-cially w he n i t comes fr o mth e hig he r up s. M ost of usimagine that praise is goingto m ak e people s lack. Bu twe are wrong. Apprec ia t ion

invar iab ly leads to be t te ra n d h a r d e r w o r k .

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N A P O L E O N ' S A L L V E RY W E L L

Maybe he was one of the greates t men thatever l ived. But even Napoleon came to asad end. Please don' t you try to be a Dic-ta tor in the works. Bossing about without-consul t ing anyone . Shout ing orders and notl is tening to anyo ne 's opin ion. Dictator ia lmethods might ge t you somewhere forsomet ime but they cer ta in ly won ' t workall the t ime. You end up by going to St .Helena. Force, fear, big bossdom can onlysucceed for a short whileif that .

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E V EN T H E C H A I R M A N 'S P E N C I L .

. . .has an eraser on i t . We al l make mis-takes . That is why they put erasers on pen-ci lseven the Chairman's . Don' t be afraidof admit t ing mistakes . We cannot be r ightall the t ime. The man who is r ight only 60per cent of the t ime can be a howling suc-cess if he is qu ick to corre ct his m ist ak es

the rest of the t ime. The funny thing ispeople real ly respect a man who admits hismistakes quickly. I t 's the mark of a bigm a n .

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J UST AB OU T IT..

. . . he insists th at each per son should bekept in t ight compartments . The resul t i sthat every one knows his own job verywell , but whenever anything goes wrongwhenever anyth ing i s d i ffe rentand in adynamic economy things are a lways chang-ing every thing col lapses. No one takesany init iat ive. This isn ' t the way to run ap la nt . You jus t cannot com par tme nta l i seev ery on e. Be t ter to keep every one in theover-a l l p ic ture .

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PEOPLE DON'T LIKE IT. . .

. . . they don ' t l ike being t rea ted l ike pup-pets wh o can be played arou nd w ith . Theydon't l ike the supervisor to do al l the think-ing and plan ning him self . The y l ike topa rt ic ipa te as w ell . Th ey l ike to fee l tha tthey also have a hand in doing a job. Noone l ikes to be manipulated l ike a puppet.I t just won't get you results .

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N AT U R A L LY. .

. . our supervisor is going to get results .H e doe sn' t imag ine him self as the peerless"kn ow -al l" lead er. He le ts every one feelth at the y also ha ve a p ar t to pla y. Healways consul ts people before taking act ion.Like this our supervisor wil l not only getgood team-work but he will also get plenty

of excellent suggestions.

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. . . th a t ' s ho w Ra m can nowdo i t . But i t took him yearsand years . In the sam e wa yw hen you a re dea l ing w i th

B L I N D F O L D . . . people a l l changes takeplenty of t ime and plenty ofpa t ience . People can ' t change

the ir old ha bi t s an d person-ali t ies very fast . This realisa-t ion wil l enable you to dealwi th people much be t te r andalso make l i fe easier for you.

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Maybe i t i s bu t there mustneve r be an y th ing w hims i -

cal about the Rules andRegulat ions in an organisa-t ion . People must know howthey s tand . They must knowtha t a f te r so m an y years ifthey work reasonably wel lthey wil l get th at far . L et

there be a real heal thy res-pect for the Rules and Regu-lat ions which are la id down.

W H I M S I C A L

Make the s l ightest deviat ion and every-body kno ws i t . Do n' t imagine that suchthings can be kept secret . All sorts of ques-t ions are then put . "What about my owncase?"no one can afford to play aboutwi th such impor tan t mat te rs .

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L I C K A S M U C H A S Y O U L I K E

Just look at our supervisor l icking theboots of his big boss. Anyone can be politean d nice to th e big boss ; a f te r all the bigboss has a considerable influence in our l ife.But i t 's the way we treat the l i t t le peo-plethat 's where the quali ty of a goodsupervisor comes out. "The real quali ty ofa big man is the way in which he treatsl i t t le people."

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S M A RT E R

Don't imagine that they will take i t al lin . An average em ployee is mu ch sm ar terth an you th in k. He sees thro ug h insincer i ty

in no t ime. Don't t ry to be clever with him.He'l l spot i t quick enough. The only wayto handle people is to be sincere and honest .

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A H U N D R E D T IM E S ...

IN A H U N D R E D H O M ES

You probably don ' t real ise i t , but i t ' s t rue.Each action of a supervisor is discussed thread-bare and a hundred t imes. By the wives , by thechi ldren and even by the nagging mo thers - in-law ! So ta k e g rea t c are be fo re coming to a de-cision.

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ST U PI D , ISN 'T IT ?

Fancy throwing away va luable bank notes .But you ' l l be surpr ised how much is wastedevery day in factor ies . May be not bank notes ,but skil l , enthusiasm, abil i ty, drivea largenumber of people who are a t present in rout inejobs ha ve these qual i t ies . Bu t w e don ' t m ak eful l use of them. Any number of people wouldgive their r ight hands to do more responsiblejobs. Don' t imagine that you are the only manth at h as the qu ali t ies of ini t iat ive and im agin a-t ion. Th e othe r fel low ha s the m too. Do n't lethis quali t ies run to waste.

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JUST MY

A S S I S TA N T. . .

. . . this is th e w or st th in g youcan say. When you delegateresponsibi l i ty for some opera-t ion to a subordinate , youmust be carefu l to respec this au th or i ty in th at area .You must bui ld h im upNever minimise h is pos i t ion .

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L O S I N G TO U C H .

. . . are you close to th e people wh o w or kfo r you as close as you used to be ? Ifpr es su re of w or k has caused you to losetouch with them, then pul l up your socks.Nothing is more important than being con-stan t ly aw are how the people un der youth ink and fee l .

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L I K E A Y O U N G T R E E S A P L I N G ..

. . . if you give i t a good sta rt w ith fer t i l ise rs andthe right type of manure, a sapling will givemasses of fruit later on. I t 's the same with in-s t ruc t ions . Be care fu l r igh t f ro m th e s ta r t . Becer ta in to give the m clear ly . Be cer ta in th atthey have been unders tooddouble check .Ask them to repeat your inst ruct ions so as to

make cer ta in that they have unders tood. Ali t t le addi t ional care taken in the ear ly s tageswil l g ive a ve ry f r u i t fu l ha rve st la te r o n.

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I t 's no good tel l ing a man after 25 years,when he has one foot in the grave howmuch you appreciated his workhe's re-t i r ing any ho w . I t w ould hav e given Ram

so much pleasure if he 'd been appreciatedoccasionally while he was st i l l on the job.

W H AT ' S T H E P O I N T

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