Shop Management

SHOP MANAGEMENT 143 lost in this way, five will be stimulated to work to the very limit of their abilities, and will rise ulti- mately to take the place of the man who has gone, and the best class of men will apply for work where these methods prevail. But few employers, how- ever, are sufficiently broad-minded to adopt this policy. They dread the trouble and temporary inconvenience incident to training in new men. Mr. James M. Dodge, Chairman of the Board of the Link-Belt Company, is one of the few men with whom the writer is acquainted who has been led by his kindly instincts, as well as by a far-sighted policy, to treat his employés in this way; and this, together with the personal magnetism and influence which belong to men of his type, has done much to render his shop one of the model establishments of the country, certainly as far as the relations of em- ployer and men are concerned. On the other hand, this policy of promoting men and finding them new positions has its limits. No worse mistake can be made than that of allowing an establishment to be looked upon as a training school, to be used mainly for the education of many of its employés. All employés should bear in mind that each shop exists, first, last, and all the time, for the purpose of paying dividends to its owners. They should have patience, and never lose sight of this fact. And no man should expect promotion until after he has trained his suc- cessor to take his place. The writer is quite sure that in his own case, as a young man, no one ele- ment was of such assistance to him in obtaining new opportunities as the practice of invariably train-