Holbrook Fitz-John Porter on Management circa 1910

INDUSTRIAL BETTERMENT
By H. F. J. Porter
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION. SELECTION, EDUCATION AND STIMULATION OF WORKMEN; THEIR HEALTH, HOUSING, SOCIETY AND PROTECTION. A lecture delivered before the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA [republished from Cassier’s magazine, 1910]

[the below is an excerpt from the above referenced article]

To his surprise I told him that I did not care to see their letters, as they had no bearing on his case, and that he was acting like a man who felt he had something the matter with him physically and, without diagnosing his own case, had asked various friends what medicines they had been taking for their ailments, which were probably of an entirely different nature. I told him the only way for him to proceed would be to study his own needs, and when he had found out what they were, to meet them in the most effective manner. And this I then found was what be, on account of his method, or rather lack of method of management, did not know how to do.

Now, let us see what is the best way to bring about industrial betterment to meet the requirements of the working organization. In the first place, it is evident, owing to the varied conditions existing in different establishments, that in each case they must be studied in order to be understood, and that this study demands the application of the scientific method of investigation which, although of recent origin, has now completely replaced the empiricism of the past, if we expect to trace the relationship between cause and effect, between acts and their consequences. To secure this information and to use it effectively requires intelligence of a very high type to begin with, in conjunction with a course of instruction in the art of management. By these means only a knowledge of competent managership can be secured.

Competent managership is what has to be learned from those who, by actual experience in the field of industry, have proven to be successful managers, and by this I do not mean merely successful financial management in the interest of the enterprise, but that broader successful management which takes into consideration the employee, the community, the State and the Nation.

In the first place, management has largely to do with the understanding of human nature, and this element of man does not vary much, whether we have under consideration a few or a large number of people. The same principles apply whether we are concerned with the management of a small group, such as is included in an industrial enterprise, or a larger one as embodied in an industrial town or a city, State or a Nation.

There are many industrial enterprises employing in a single plant from 5,000 to 15,000 men and women who spend there the greater number of their waking hours. Each of these plants constitutes a good sized town.

In all of these the same social laws prevail. These laws are man-made and then enforcement is carried out by man. Civilization advances, customs change, and as fast as laws enacted to meet certain conditions prove to be ineffective, they have to be changed to meet the exigencies of the new situation.

It is by the study of history and the analysis of action and reaction that we are able to note tendencies, and tendencies are prophetic, inasmuch as they indicate the direction in which we are going and so give us foresight to determine whether we shall continue our course or change it.

source: http://archive.org/stream/cassiersmagazi381910newy#page/303/mode/1up