management of men

by Dr. W. L. KENT, J.P.

a Paper presented to the Liverpool Section

of the Institution, 12th November, 1958

THE subject on which I have been asked to speaktonight is taken, I understand, from your examina-

tion syllabus, as are all your lecture subjects for thecurrent year. I have therefore reviewed the syllabusunder this heading but I felt that you would notwish me to attempt to cover it comprehensively andmuch less would you wish me to describe techniques,so I have dipped into the syllabus at points where Ithought my own experience might be of value. I amtherefore making no attempt to work to a set pattern,but rather to deal with what I hope will prove to beinteresting aspects of this subject which will lendthemselves to discussion.

The whole subject of man management is, ofcourse, one of considerable controversy at thepresent time. There are those, on the one hand, whoassert that men with a scientific education andbackground are completely unsuited to the directionof others, which they claim should be left to thosewho have been educated in the humanities; whereas,at the other extreme, we have those who think thatthe scientist should be pre-eminent in all thingsincluding management. As is often the case, it islikely that the truth lies well between these twoextremes and I would suggest that a man's particularbrand of learning has very little to do with it, becausesuccess in the art of management depends uponqualities of personality, character, and temperamentwhich may be possessed by people of very differentkinds of education.

Naturally, I am inclined to the view expressed bythe late Lord Gherwell that in these days "it is moreimportant to know about the properties of chlorinethan the improprieties of Claudius", because I thinkthat in the modern world a manager who has beenbrought up on the science side—using this definitionin a very broad way to include not only chemists andmathematicians but also metallurgists, engineers andothers whose fundamental background has been anunderstanding of the basic sciences—has a con-siderable advantage over anyone who does notpossess scientific knowledge, because he can morereadily arrive at decisions connected with thetechnical side of the business and these must bemany. In addition, as Sir Alexander Fleck hasrecently pointed out, the scientist has a great dealto offer in the application of scientific methods tothe analysis and solution of administrative problems.

definition of managerI propose to return again to this question of the

characteristics of a successful manager, but first ofall I think we must define what we mean when wetalk of a "Manager" because, as a title, it can meanso much — or so little! I know of companieswhere there are so many managers that people incharge of quite small sections, employing only aboutfive people, have a managerial title. On the otherhand, in my own Company the only persons at ourfactories who have the title "Manager" are the

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Manager himself and the Assistant Manager who ishis deputy, and similarly the term "Manager" onlyappears in the titles of quite senior men at HeadOffice; but I also know of one or two companieswhere the term "Manager" is not used at all. By andlarge, however, for the purposes of this Paper, whenI speak of a manager I shall be thinking of someoneabove the status of Foreman who is in charge ofothers, so I shall be thinking not only of the man incharge of a large factory—often called the "GeneralManager"—but also of all his Departmental Headsand their deputies, together with the Superintendentsand Assistant Superintendents of sections of thefactory. In addition, there will be many othershaving a responsibility for people such as PlantEngineers, people in charge of Planning, those incharge of Inspection and Warehouses and those incharge of the offices or sections of them.

a two-way responsibilityIt is important, when we are thinking of those

who have responsibilities of staff status for otherpeople, that we remember that each one, whateverhis own position in the hierarchy, is also responsibleto others of managerial status. In the last resort thisapplies to everybody in an undertaking because,although we might regard the Chairman of theBoard of Directors as being the highest manager inthe hierarchy, we must remember that he is notreally his own boss because he is responsible to theshareholders. In a successful undertaking this maynot weigh very heavily upon him, but there arecircumstances in which the shareholders will exertpressure upon the Chairman of the Board and, ifthey so wish, the shareholders can turn out theChairman and the Board just the same as they canturn out those of us who are of lower status.

The point I wish to make in this connection,however, is that when we think about man manage-ment we should not just think about ourresponsibilities for and our relations with those wemanage; we should also think to very nearly thesame extent about our responsibilities to and ourrelations with those who are in authority over us,because we cannot be successful managers if eitherside of the relationship is unsatisfactory. If ourattitude to those above is not as it should be, we canscarcely expect that our management of those in ourcharge can be on the right lines and, conversely,however good our work may be for those to whomwe are responsible, it can scarcely be good enough ifour relations with those we manage are unsatisfactory.

the ideal managerMuch has been written of the make-up of the

ideal manager and I do not propose to deal withthis subject in great detail, but there are a fewpoints to which I think it proper to devote someattention.

In the first place, I think we can accept, as ageneral axiom, that the more senior a manager thelower the technical content of his job should be. Themanager of a large factory will have a considerable

technical staff to assist him and, apart from the factthat it i.s their job to advise on the technical aspectsof the work, he will not really have the time todevote to it. If he has come up through the technicalranks himself, he will naturally have a ready under-standing of proposals which are submitted and willbe able to bring a constructive criticism to bearduring discussions when decisions are about to bemade on technical matters, whether they refer to newplant, new processes or to modifications of plant andprocesses already in existence. The major part of histime, however, will be devoted to general adminis-tration in which he will give small portions of histime to each of his departmental heads, but will leavea fair amount of time available for consideration oforganisational problems, human relationships, andthe future of the business and those who work in it.

administrative abilityAs one goes down the scale, however, in most

factories the technical content of the work of lowergrades of manager will tend to increase until halfof their time, or possibly more in specialist depart-ments, will be spent on technical matters. Never-theless, whatever the grade of manager his ultimatesuccess will depend upon the ability shown as aleader and as an administrator rather than as atechnical man. This is not surprising when we reflectthat management is essentially a social responsibilitywhich arises because people are working togetherand some must guide and supervise.

In effect, the primary duty of all grades ofmanager is to provide conditions in which all thepeople under their control can give of their best.This applies whether we think of a small workshop,a large factory or a modern research laboratory.

What are the fundamentals which enable a manto provide the conditions which will bring the bestresults?

Firstly, let us deal with the character of theindividual himself. We all like to be able to lookup to those who are in command and it is essential,therefore, that the manager should be a person ofintegritv having high moral values. Arising fromthese, he will possess a strong sense of justicereflected in fair play for all and a keen interestin personal problems. Another aspect of characteris courage and while a reasonable physical couragemay be called for on occasion, it is much moreimportant that managers of all grades in industryshould have moral courage—the more the better!

Secondly, let us think of temperament. I haveheard it said that one of the most valuable possessionsof a manager is a sanguine temperament, which isdefined by my dictionary as meaning "inclined tohopefulness"; we should perhaps say "inclined tolook on the bright side." I personally am disposedto accept this view, because generally the peoplewho overcome difficulties are those who feel theycan be overcome; persons who look on the dark sideare often beaten before they begin. But apart fromthat, a factory or a workshop tends to take its tonefrom the person in charge and if he is reasonably

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bright there will be a bright "atmosphere" aboutthe place which will be all to the good. Naturally,this kind of thing can be overdone—our definitionwas "inclined to hopefulness" : not so frightfullyoptimistic that difficulties are overlooked instead ofbeing tackled, not so bright and breezy that thereis no discipline and in consequence efficiency suffers.

When one reads the newspapers nowadays onemight be pardoned for thinking that the mostprecious possession of the man at the top is an"unflappable" temperament! Perhaps it is when hehas to deal continually with emergencies of a life-and-death nature, but fortunately we do not needto do this so much in industry and I would suggestthat real "unflappability" also carries with it asuggestion of superiority akin to coldness or aloofness,These should be avoided as much as the tendencyto panic.

More important, I think, are qualities such asdecisiveness and yet a certain measure of restlessness.The decisiveness that prevents people feeling we areso changeable that they never know where they are,and at the same time is not tinged with obstinacy orinflexibility; the restlessness that is always seekingnew and better ways, but is not so restless thatsubordinates can never settle down to complete onething before they are hurried on to the next.

Overall, I suppose, we need an equabletemperament—one which only occasionally (andthen, we hope, for good reason) sends us intoextremes of behaviour or attitude. This will beapparent in most of the traits I have mentioned andis even more obvious when we think of the root ofall I have just been talking about—temper! We allknow that the irascible manager works under severalserious handicaps, fear, dislike, and—from themajority—a lack of wholesome truth. Here aboveall is the need for equanimity, but please don'tinterpret this to mean that the good manager never" goes off the deep end ", because I am quite sureit is sometimes good for him and others that heshould do so.

importance of leadershipAnd now, in all that has been said on character

and temperament we have been verging upon thethird point I want to deal with in this section ofmy lecture, namely, leadership. A leader "shows theway by going first" but he also "guides", "directs",

and "induces'3. It is this inducing which we have beenhaving at the back of our minds because it is so muchtied up with personal qualities of character, tempera-ment, and all we integrate into the one wordpersonality, but we must not neglect the other aspectsof leadership, because they are so important.

What about this capacity for "showing the way"—how does that come into our daily jobs? It isn'talways easy to see that as a separate issue and inconsequence there is a tendency to belittle it. Supposewe start by thinking of the unpopular decision thathas just come "from upstairs". How do we tacklethat? By telling our subordinates about it in anapologetic way and saying just what we thoughtabout it when we first heard of it—or by thinkingabout it first, finding out everything in its favourand then putting it over as something over whichwe are prepared "to show the way by going first" ?

And then, of course, there are endless problemscoming "up" the line with which we have to deal. Ifwe know our jobs it is simple to deal with many ofthem, but it is when the real troubles come thatleadership becomes more difficult—the need to showthe way by finding better solutions than those alreadyavailable, the self-confidence to put them forward,the ability to stand up for these and to get themaccepted, the courage and resolution to go first inputting them into practice and ensuring that thepolicy laid down is in fact implemented—all theseare essential ingredients of leadership. People willfollow a man who possesses these qualities and ifyou doubt it just think of Winston Churchill andMontgomery, and other successful war leaders, andyou will see that it is true. That is not to say thatindustry should be handled like a war, or that thequalities which make a war leader will be equallysuccessful in industry; but by and large there arecharacteristics of leadership common to both andamong them those that I have mentioned.

However, it is not my purpose to enumerate allthe qualities required in a manager. I have pointedto some of the most important because we couldnot discuss man-management without a backgroundof this kind, and I conclude this section by hopingthat I have said sufficient to provide that and tostimulate thought.

I am now going to deal with a few essentials togood management which I think need specialemphasis.

Dr. Kent graduated in metallurgy at Birmingham University and was awarded hisPh.D. for post-graduate research. His industrial experience covers a period of 30 years,all with The British Aluminium Co. Ltd., at Bank Quay, Warrington, where he has beenManager for 10 years.

Keenly interested in the problems of management and the training of all grades, Dr.Kent is a member of several professional bodies and a Governor of Warrington TechnicalCollege. He helped to found the Warrington and District Productivity Committee, beingone of its early Chairmen. He is a Past President of the Warrington Chamber ofCommerce, Past Chairman of the Lancashire Chambers of Commerce Committee, and aJustice of the Peace for the County Borough of Warrington.

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co-ordinationAll writers on management rightly stress the

importance of co-ordination. Every successful managerhas the capacity to bring people together to workeffectively as a team. Obviously the first requirementof anyone desiring to obtain co-operation from othersis that they should be co-operative themselves, andI think the second is that they see and state clearlywhat the objectives of their co-operation are. Aprerequisite, however, is that "sticky" problemsshould be dealt with early and on this I cannot dobetter than quote Urwick (The Manager, February,1957, page 115):—

"the best kind of co-ordination consists not inknocking heads together after friction has occurredbetween individuals, but in anticipating possiblecauses of dispute and ironing them out before troublecan develop. Good managers are not trouble-shootersafter the event. They are abortionists who stopembryonic troubles from getting born. This is acontinuous process in any organisation."

Urwick goes on. to underline that it is the jobof individuals—and not committees—to take this kindof forestalling action, though of course one of thestages in doing it effectively may be the act ofbringing people together to get all the facts to decidewhat shall be done.

communicationsThis question is allied to that of communications.

I will not spend much time on it here in view of itspopularity as a subject for conferences and manage-ment literature, but it is most important and youcan only neglect it at your peril. It is perhapscommonplace to say that if management of peopleis to be satisfactory a first essential is effectivecommunication, but I know from experience that alarge percentage of managers who are ready toconcede that point do nothing to make themselvesefficient in it. The first needs, surely, are that onehas a good command of the English language andis fluent in the use of both the written and thespoken word; a corollary is that these abilities shouldbe reflected in the use of simple words and an easystyle that assist understanding. These things are onlyacquired by hard work and conscious effort but arewell worth the trouble, and to the young man whoaspires to be a good manager I would say that anessential part of his training is to take part indiscussions at meetings like the present and, ifpossible, to join a debating society. All my adult lifeI have been thankful that some inner urge promptedme to join the School Debating Society and to take aleading part in one debate every year, withimpromptus whenever possible, however much myknees shook and my tongue dried up in my throat.These things still happened when I first jmet a sit-down strike and on many occasions when I hadhurdles to overcome in meetings with senior officialsor with employee representatives, but owing to thefact that I had experienced it all before, I was notseriously handicapped.

There are some who do not experience theseterrors, whose confidence is so great they can take onanybody any time, but both for them and all therest another essential to good communications ispreparation. Very often the man who dare not standup to say what he thinks has handicapped himselffrom the start because he did not prepare himselfbeforehand, and incidentally this is also one of thereasons why committees fall into dispute. Themanager who calls a committee to consider a problemshould prepare himself in good time and shouldexpect that those attending come prepared also. Thisavoids loss of time, enables all the facts to be gatheredtogether quickly and in good order, and so lays thefoundations for prompt and wise decisions.

participationThese considerations lead naturally to the point

that whenever possible the wise manager gives hissubordinates a sense of participation in decisionswhich are made. This will naturally take place inindividual discussion so far as departmental mattersare concerned, but in dealing with problems of ageneral nature which may affect most of the peoplein the factory, a great deal of it will be done throughcommittee work. There is, of course, a certainlimitation of the extent to which participation cantake place, because obviously if a decision has beenmade at a higher level it may be merely a matter ofpromulgating the decision and gaining acceptancefor it; on the other hand, it may be necessary to workout the implementation of a decision made at highlevel and in such an instance the maximum amountof participation should be given in that stage.Perhaps these techniques of co-ordination, communi-cation and participation can be illustrated by anexample taken from my own experience.

example of co-ordination, communication andparticipation

The example I wish to quote is fairly recent andconcerns the conditions applying to the 1957 wageincrease. My Company is not a member of theEmployers' Federation and wage rates are negotiatedseparately, but we do tend to follow nationalagreements made by the Employers' Federation. Inconsequence, when agreeing the wage increase for1957 we obtained an assurance from the unions oftheir willingness to co-operate with the Company intrying to secure improved productivity and betterdiscipline.

We decided to follow up on this and as a firststage two or three meetings were held withDepartmental Heads. The first meeting, at which Iannounced the objective and indicated my ideasof the kind of things we could tackle, was compara-tively short. Other contributions were made to thelist and we then adjourned for a few days to giveeveryone an opportunity of thinking things over.When we met again we discussed all the suggestionsmade, decided upon those which should be followedup and reviewed in some detail the methods ofimplementation; shortly afterwards a further meeting

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was held in order to reach final decisions. Followingupon this preparatory work, in which you will notethat all Departmental Heads participated, we calleda meeting which was attended by all staff above therank of Foreman who have control over other people.In addition, a few specialists who have considerablecontact with employees on the floor were also invited,despite the fact that they did not possess lineauthority, in order that they would be aware of ourprogramme and could talk intelligently about it ifthe need arose.

At this meeting the whole programme was putbefore them and questions and comments invited.Following that there was a special meeting for allStaff Foremen in order that they could be completelybriefed. The day after the meeting of Staff Foremenwe had meetings with all the Shop Stewards, towhom the programme was again submitted andopportunities given for questions and comments.

allaying apprehension

As usual on these occasions, the main necessitywas to meet objections and to deal with fears arisingfrom too vivid a use of the imagination. Notes weremade of a number of points of detail which requiredattention and these were dealt with later that sameday through the appropriate staff. The aim was toremove every obstacle, however small, to the carryingthrough of the full programme, which coveredgeneral timekeeping, not only in relation to the timeof attendance at the beginning of a shift, but alsoleaving work early for meal breaks, the question ofthe length of tea breaks and action against employeesresponsible for unsatisfactory work or for unreason-able absences from the job. We also improved thesystem of warning people for infringements, in orderthat we should be in a satisfactory position ifdisciplinary action had to be taken.

It may be said that in all this there was perhapsnothing very new, but there was to be a generaltightening up and for this purpose it was essentialthat we should have the full support of every memberof the supervisory team from the Chargehandupwards, and also the support of the Shop Stewards.The final stage consisted of talks to the Ghargehandsand Assistant Foremen on every shift, and at eachof these talks we arranged for staff who had beenabsent on holiday or sick leave in the previous talksto be present, so that they would know what wasgoing on. We also added a sprinkling of others uponwhom the main responsibilities would fall, so thatthe shift supervision would see that they were gettingthe full support of the staff apart from myself.

We decided to have a starting date for thiscampaign against lost time and so forth, and afactory notice was posted ten days beforehandinforming employees of our intentions and asking fortheir co-operation. On the day that the programmecommenced, every Assistant Foreman and Charge-hand coming on duty received a personally addressedconfidential envelope containing a letter from mereminding them that the campaign started that date,enclosing a copy of the notice, which of course they

would already have seen, and indicating that Iexpected them to tackle any problem which arosewith firmness but also with discretion. Naturally,every Foreman coming in at 7.30 also received aletter and this contained a copy of the letter sent tohis subordinates and similarly, at 9 o'clock, on cominginto work, every Departmental Head and Superin-tendent received a letter which contained copies ofthe letters to the Foremen and the Assistant Foremenand Chargehands. Each of the letters was appropriateto the grade receiving it and each of them wassigned individually by myself, although of coursethe letters themselves were produced from stencils.In all, these preparations and the follow-up tooksomething approaching five days of my own timeand in total perhaps up to a day of the DepartmentalHeads' time, but I have little doubt that the successof the campaign was due to the careful preparationsmade, involving full prior consultation with theemployees' representatives and the very completecommunication of every aspect of the matter to allconcerned in it, and also the follow-up letters whichput all grades of supervision on their toes from thetime of starting.

Incidentally, there is one point about putting overmatters of this kind to various groups of supervisorswhich I consider to be very important, namely, theuse of a prepared and written out speech. I havefound from experience that it is not easy, even on acomparatively simple matter, to put over the samespeech several times—even three times—withoutsubtle changes of emphasis unless full notes are used.It is vitally important that senior staff and theirassistants and the foremen should all have the samemain instructions and the same supporting storywithout different shades of meaning, and also thatthe supervisory grades on each of the three shiftsshould have the same too.

So I always use a typed script and I am quite surethe audience do not think any the less of the speakerfor doing it. They are set a good example of carefulpreparation and as a minor aspect it also warns themthey have no hope whatever of getting away withpersonal aberrations from the declared policy.

Also, in putting these things over and answeringquestions I always have the assistance of my deputy—or, in his absence, a senior Departmental Head—to ensure that I do not go wrong or give a falseimpression. I find also it is most helpful if the sessionis a long one, because the second party sometimessees a point behind a question that might be missedby the main participant, and often they can come into reinforce a point most usefully.

Just a final point on this subject. We also had asimilar campaign with respect to staff and for thispurpose I addressed a meeting of all staff employedanywhere about the offices or factory to indicatewhat we required from them too.

decision-makingThere are some who feel that the making of good

managers, particularly in the higher grades, is centredupon the techniques of decision-making; they thinkthat if we could determine the underlying principles

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of decision-making an important gap in the trainingof managers could be filled. A good deal has beensaid and written upon this subject, and ProfessorShackle of Liverpool University has produced amathematical diagram expressing the relationshipbetween the uncertainty in making business decisionsand success or failure. This has given rise toconsiderable discussion in learned quarters—althoughwhether these investigations will have a practicaloutcome is difficult to say at the present time— butit seems to me that we cannot talk usefully about theposition of decision-making in management affairsunless we clearly distinguish between the differentkinds of decisions that have to be made. I think thatan easy way of classifying them is on a time basis,and if we do this I think it will be recognised thatdifferent techniques may be required for dealingwith different kinds of decisions. My definition wouldbe as follows :—

(1) short-term decisionsThese are decisions which have to be given more

or less on the spot and they can conveniently bedivided into two categories :

(a) Matters upon which a decision should be easybecause the person having to make it possessesan adequate knowledge of the background,which enables an immediate decision to begiven. Such decisions continually arise duringthe day for all grades of manager, not only onthe technical plant where job knowledge,customer's requirements and so on are ofprimary importance, but also in the manage-ment and control of people where knowledgeof the Company's personnel policy, factoryrules and so on are the background informationwhich the decision-maker must have at hisfingertips. By and large these decisions presentno real difficulty to the person who is on topof his job. They are made readily and withconfidence.

(b) Decisions which it is necessary to make becauseof an emergency. Such decisions are thosewhich we generally characterise as having to bemade "on the spur of the moment". They callfor rapid thinking and the correctness of thedecision made is determined by a large numberof factors, including the knowledge andexperience of the decision-maker as well as hischaracter, intelligence and good fortune.

I suppose it is here that the advantages of areasonable amount of "unflappability" are mostapparent. It is essential to keep cool to allowthe brain to do its best work, and the firstthing to decide is whether there is in fact anemergency or not. Some people are so nervousand panicky that they live in a continual stateof emergency and so tend to make hastydecisions on matters which do not require them.

Assuming, however, that we are faced witha real emergency, the main essential is to work

with only such degree of haste as is called for.Obviously an outbreak of fire or an electricalmishap may call for instant action—almostwithout thought—and the correct degree ofpromptitude is probably obtained by keepingup-to-date one's knowledge of what to do andhow to do it, coupled with occasionaladmonishments to one's reflexes on how to actif it does happen.

If the emergency is one relating to people,the need for coolness is perhaps even greaterand the main need is to remove the incidentfrom the "emergency" category to one whichcan be dealt with in a more leisurely way. Timedoes not permit us to go into the techniqueswhich may be used here, but I think they willbe well-known and all I need say is that weshould make sure to be decisive and act quicklyif the need for it exists; sometimes speedy action,which is not quite the best, on a careful analysisis more valuable and brings better results thana more correct action carried out later.

(2) medium term decisionsIn this category we can put all decisions where

the time factor allows us to investigate a situationfurther before making a decision; into it fall many ofthe decisions we have to give in relation to peopleand plant. Most of our production planning fallsinto this category and so do many of the decisionswe have to make arising from requests fromemployees which do not readily fall into the normalpattern. In this connection, and particularly wherewe are dealing with people, perhaps one of the mostimportant things to decide is whether a problemreally falls into the first classification and demandsan immediate decision or whether the circumstancesare such that time is available—or by some ingenuitycan be made available—in order to permit of furtherthought and particularly of obtaining furtherinformation which will enable a more accuratedecision to be made.

(3) long term decisionsInto this group we put many of the matters which

are finally decided by higher management, such asthe purchase of new plant, the introduction of a newline of business, the alteration or rates of pay andconditions of service, either for workpeople or forstaff. In these matters it is often necessary to conducta fair amount of investigation and enquiry in orderto obtain the whole of the information required tocome to a satisfactory decision. Perhaps an importantpoint here is to make sure that matters, andparticularly those which affect the welfare of people,are not put into this category if they can be dealtwith in one of the earlier categories, because often aproblem is made more intractable and more difficultof solution if a decision is postponed unduly. How-ever, it is really this group of decisions which peoplegenerally have in mind when they talk about thetechniques of decision-making by managers, and thepoint they are concerned with is what goes into

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making the final decision, particularly where the factsavailable are insufficient to enable one to proceed withcertainty and the decision is based on little morethan a personal opinion. This applies to manycommercial matters and to those concerned withtechnical development where it is possible to makeor lose considerable sums of money, depending uponthe ultimate correctness of the decision reached.

taking actionAnother aspect of this matter of the making of

decisions is that when a decision has been reached,it is also necessary to put it into effect, and thereare some people whose minds invariably lead themto the correct decision but who nevertheless lack theconfidence to give effect to it. They find all kindsof excuses to defer action, particularly if it is onewhich they think will not be popular, and especiallyif it means unpleasantness with other people.

This leads us to a consideration of the mannerin which decisions should be carried out. Obviously,the timing of a decision can be all-important andalso the method in which it is handled. There arefar too many people who think that a decision havingbeen made, it is only necessary to issue a notice ora memorandum and all will be well, whereas veryoften a great deal of good staffwork is necessary toensure that the decision is accepted and properlyworked and applied by all concerned. In largeestablishments this is particularly necessary in all thataffects people, because considerable dissatisfactionsare bound to arise if a decision made at high levelis interpreted or applied differently by managers indifferent sections of the undertaking. We must bearin mind, too, that while some decisions should beimplemented without delay, there are others where itpays to take some time in preparing the groundbefore practical consequences ensue.

It is probably in this group of actions that theneed arises most for correct attitudes and relation-ships between all grades of staff. I referred earlier tothe need for us to think in terms of our attitudes bothupwards and downwards, and suggested that thesemust be well-balanced and correct in both directions.As subordinates we have a duty to support andsustain our superiors—as managers we have a rightto expect it from our subordinates, but only insofaras we ourselves give it.

Circumstances may well a"rise in which we haveto implement decisions we do not like, and we canperhaps turn to a situation which was written upsome time ago in the Press for examples whichreflect many of the points on which I have beenspeaking.

According to this Press report, an industrialcompany had an agreement with certain TradesUnions providing, among other things, extensiveprivileges for Shop Stewards. These included facilitiesfor paid weekly meetings; for overtime to be workedonly with their permission; and for complaints fromworkmen to be referred to the Shop Stewards andnot to Foremen.

We can well imagine the difficulties to which thisagreement gave rise. In particular, the setting up of

the Shop Stewards as a competing group of super-visors broke all the principles of good managementand especially that the line of authority from themanagement to the grade of supervision nearest theordinary grades of worker should be unbroken. Manygrades of staff must have felt that this decision waswrong at the time it was taken, and one can wellunderstand any resentment which Foremen mighthave felt on being supplanted by the Shop Stewardsinsofar as dealing with complaints from their menwere concerned. Nevertheless, the decision havingbeen made by the Company, it was right and properthat all grades of staff should implement it faithfullyand do their utmost to make the policy a success,whatever their personal feelings might be.

A year or two ago there was a several weeks'stoppage of an important group of workers in con-sequence of which the management withdrew theagreement, and applied for membership of theEngineering and Allied Employers National Federa-tion, which does not recognise Shop Stewards Com-mittees or Convenors and gives Shop Stewardsthemselves only such facilities as are reasonablyrequired to perform their normal Trade Unionfunctions. This sudden and complete reversal of policyagain brought its problems, but it may well be thatthe Company considers it was worthwhile, asrelations appear to have been better since. Neverthe-less, I am sure you will agree with me in thinkingthat such violent swings in policy are not good forthe morale of any undertaking because they involvesuch considerable reversals in loyalty, particularlyfor the Foremen, that even with very goodpreparation and staff work it cannot be easy tosecure satisfactory results.

lack of joint consultationApart from this, however, the policies followed

seem to suggest a lack of joint consultation and ofthe methods which should be employed in itsapplication; in fact, it can scarcely be said that jointconsultation can be present in an organisation wherethe Shop Stewards are first of all elevated into theposition of a particular and special kind of super-visory grade, and then later lose this position andalso the privileges which had been peculiar to theirown appointments. Surely the intermediate position,which is much more common in British industry,where the Shop Stewards are recognised as the dulyappointed representatives of the employees andnegotiate on their behalf in accordance with agreedprocedures while receiving no other special privileges,is much to be preferred.

We may use this story also to point another moral—that it is no use worrying about things it is not inour power to change. By all means look forward,think constructively and—when opportunity allows—speak constructively on such issues, but until a moreopportune time accept the situation without gettingworked up about it. There is an American sayingwhich has its application here :— "IF IT'S BADFOR YOUR STOMACH ULCERS IT'S BADFOR YOUR MANAGEMENT." Even moreconstructive in some ways is the European : "GOD

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GRANT US THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THETHINGS WE CANNOT CHANGE; THE COUR-AGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS WE CAN; ANDTHE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE."

putting new ideas into practiceAnd now, finally, let us look very briefly at one

of British management's besetting sins—the slownesswith which new ideas are taken up and put intopractice. Some will say that this is a technicalproblem, but in my opinion it is partly a questionof the outlook of the individual and partly a matterof man-management: on both counts, therefore,it qualifies for consideration tonight.

Perhaps I ought to commence by saying that inthis direction I make no claim for being differentfrom my fellows. I am very conscious of havingopposed new developments in the past, both technicaland sociological, which I should not have done, andI am conscious of the fact that since I becamemanager of a large factory I have not alwayssucceeded in persuading others, my Company insome things and my staff in others, to the rapidacceptance of moves which I have felt to be correctand which later have been proved to be so. I knowI am not alone in this, and that it is a common trait inBritish industry. It is an essential aspect of goodmanagement to deal with this and in my view toolittle attention is given to it in all grades. How canwe make ourselves and others more receptive to newideas—so receptive that everybody is willing to pushthem for all they are worth and get them appliedquickly?

So far as we ourselves are concerned, there is muchwe can do to develop a new attitude. A realisationof the existence of the problem is a good start. Thenext thing is the development of a really judicialattitude to new ideas so that we completely divestourselves of prejudice and look at new proposalswithout bias, or, if there is to be bias, let us err onthe side of being ready to give things a trial.

Perhaps here I ought to pause for a moment andinterpose that all this really is necessary. In caseyou doubt it, may I ask you to think quickly of twoor three people in your own place of work whosestock reply to a proposal for some new developmentis that it is impossible. Yes, of course, you can thinkof them easily! Now, have you never said that? Or,if you've only said it a few times, is it absolutelycertain that it was impossible in every case?

There will naturally be some things that areimpossible—customers sometimes try to insist wedefeat the laws of nature, for example. But verymany things said to be impossible in the 1930's arean accomplished fact today—and how much betteroff our industry would have been then and todayif people had been more ready to get on with theminstead of saying "Impossible!"

Now, how about the other side of it—how do wegain acceptance for our ideas, both above and below ?First of all we must work them out clearly, becauseif we can't expound them so that other people caneasily understand them, we cannot expect them to be

accepted. One of the best ways of doing this is to setthem out on paper, listing the advantages and dis-advantages, and perhaps finally producing a reportwhich—if it has to go to higher authority—shouldshow if at all possible an estimate of costs andanticipated savings or profits as may be appropriate;and in this connection my experience has shownthat many more matters in industry can be expressedin financial estimates than people think. (This isanother of the directions in which "impossible" isoften shown to be wrong).

On the other side of the picture, what are thesalient features when trying to get something newaccepted and carried out in reasonable time?Assuming your ideas are clear and you can make agood case, what else is necessary? In the first place,as I said earlier in a similar matter, try to giveothers a sense of participation by asking for theircomments and suggestions, and giving them carefulconsideration to accept whatever you can. Theattitude that "this is my idea and mine alone" willnot bring co-operation; the acceptance of usefulsuggestions in connection with it will. And here letus remember that to bring someone else along withus it may well be worth while to accept theirpreferences on detail where it does not very muchmatter which is right. In fact, the man who isnearer to the job is often more likely to be right onsuch details than the General Manager.

Having said all this, it is also necessary to add thatin some cases human behaviour results in thesevarious steps being used as vantage points byobstructionists and we must watch for this. Acertain amount of patience can be justified at first,but if advantage is being taken of it, then a line ofaction should be laid down and instructions issuedfor it to be given effect without further ado.

conclusionIn the limit, I suppose we can sum up our ability

—or otherwise—to get things done in the way wethink they should be done, and at the desired speed,in the one word "leadership". I have made somereference to it previously and it could well be thesubject of more than one lecture itself, so I willcontent myself by referring to one of the greatestleaders of all time—Nelson. We are told that "theessence of his leadership was that he could inspirethose around him to excel even their former best."One of his officers wrote "He is the cleverest andquickest man, and the most zealous in the world. Inthe short time we were at Sheerness, he regulatedand gave orders for thirty ships under his command,made everyone pleased, filled them with emulation,and set them all on the qui vive . . . "

You will notice from these extracts that he knewhis job, was an efficient organiser, and extremelyzealous; in addition he "made everyone pleased andfilled them with emulation".. And so we return tothe point from which we started—that much ofsuccess in management derives from the characterof the man, and I think it right to add that many ofthe right characteristics can be acquired by the manwho is willing to make the effort.

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