Evening star., 1941-01-16

tune. VINO nad E
Just returned
from a coast-to- David Lawrence.
coast trip during which he had an
opportunity to learn at first hand a
good deal of what is going on in the
aircraft industry, and when I asked
him for his principal impression,
he said:
1--WE who are on the outside of
the industry haven't the slightest
idea of how intense the manage
ment strain happens to be. The
headaches are not all in the blue
prints or in the gadgets nor in the
hiring of more labor or in the
gathering of raw materials. They
come in the management strain to
which this and other industries
have suddenly been subjected.
Just picture yourself trying to
run your own business as you think
It should be run when you are I'M
dertaking an expansion. You seek
the best talent available. You call
In the best group of executives you
can find. You lay down a program.
Then suddenly some one calls up
from Washington and says the pro-
gram has to be doubled or trebled
Or else somebody says that some
thing you have Just finished doing
must be scrapped in favor of some
thing else that has just been found
to be better.
Rapid Expansion Problem.
"Supposing if you occupy six floors
of a building somebody suddenly
tells you that you must have addi-
tional personnel which would occupy
rs floors. Think of the management
problem-the strain of enforced ex-
pansion in a given limit of time.
This is time too when the man
agement isn't permitted to confine
itself to its own job or to the plans
laid down by its own board of di-
rectors or owners. No, the manage
ment of an aircraft plant today has
a hundred absentee bosses, and a
great many of them are on the tele-
phone asking questions that can't
be answered right way and demand
:ng action that can't be gotten in
a minute.
Now in the normal course of
events, you would take time to get
on a train or a plane and go to
your customers head Office and talk
it over. You'd reason with him and
3fy to get more time for delivery or
more of a warning when he wants
q bigger order. But not in war
time. Your customer is the Govern
ment of the United States and the
thousand and one officers here and
there or defense commissioners or
their assistants have something to
say. And they all, as rule, want
to talk to the president or manager
OF the company. He can't delegate il
to some one else. Everybody in au-
thority wants to talk to the prin-
cipal.
That's the type of management
strain we are facing in America
and it is as important, if not more
important, than the labor strain OF
the financial strain or the hundred
and one other strains that come ul
when we find ourselves put to the
task of expanding an industry two
or three hundred per cent in 6
space of time unheard of In the
history of industrial operations"
Management in Government.
The picture of management strair
painted above will not be new tc
many an industrial leader. The
National Capital has been a meccs
Of businessmen for several months
now. They are an inarticulate
group-they do not complain, but
in their bewilderment they keep or
trying to see through the maze oi
Government plans and specifica-
tions. They do not issue public
criticisms, but it is evident from
their behavior that they want Gov.
ernment itself to get some manage
ment and get it quick.
During the last World War, the
favorite phrase which was heard
around here was "co-ordination.
There were co-ordinating divisions
and committees on coordination
and lots of co-ordinators. Some
thing finally had to be done to CO.
ordinators and that came wher
Bernard M Baruch was put in
charge of the War Industries Board
Management is an intangible moi
well understood in Washington be-
cause governmental affairs are rur
by far-fiung group of officials who
operate under a theoretical manage.
n1ent-the President or the Con.
gress. The executive branch of the
Government is too big for any ont
man to administer nowadays, so the
alternative is to delegate manage
ment, but because of the politlca
implications which Government
often considers ahead of others there
If hesitancy to delegate authority
where it belongs.
Britain has solved the problem
by delegating authority to certain
individuals who report to the PRIME
Minister and the cabinet as whole
but once authority is delegated i
is not subject to constant chang'
and harassment by those higher VI
for the simple reason that in war
time there is no time for bickerinI
and only time to get the needed re-
suits.
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