Shop Management

94 SHOP MANAGEMENT The writer found this difficulty at first to be an almost insurmountable obstacle to his work in organizing manufacturing establishments; and after years of experience, overcoming the opposition of the heads of departments and the foremen and gang bosses, and training them to their new duties, still remains the greatest problem in organization. The writer has had comparatively little trouble in inducing workmen to change their ways and to increase their speed, providing the proper object lessons are presented to them, and time enough is allowed for these to produce their effect. It is rarely the case, however, that superintendents and fore- men can find any reasons for changing their methods, which, as far as they can see, have been successful. And having, as a rule, obtained their positions owing to their unusual force of character, and being ac- customed daily to rule other men, their opposition is generally effective. In the writer’s experience, almost all shops are under-officered. Invariably the number of leading men employed is not sufficient to do the work eco- nomically. Under the military type of organiza- tion, the foreman is held responsible for the successful running of the entire shop, and when we measure his duties by the standard of the four leading prin- ciples of management above referred to, it becomes apparent that in his case these conditions are as far as possible from being fulfilled. His duties may be briefly enumerated in the following way. He must lay out the work for the whole shop, see that each piece of work goes in the proper order to the right