Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-03-28
Letters to The Star
Policy and Performance Viewed
as Different Functions
TO the Editor Of The Star;


as Different Functions
To the Editor of The Star;
If we are to believe what some would
have us believe, then American business
management has done q superb job
towards winning the war and Govern
ment has fallen down miserably. Others
would have us know that the contri-
button of Government has been mag
nif1cent and business management has
failed to measure up to requirements
AS usual, neither view is entirely right
nor completely wrong. Both factions
have scored some significant successes
and failures.
Management consists of two definite
jobs which are essentially different even
though they must be intimately related
for the success of the whole enterprise.
And that applies to running peanut
stand, global war, or a permanent
peace. The two functions are the deter
mination of policy and the execution
thereof. The first is deciding on what is
to be done and why it is to be done.
The second is application of the best
tools of all kinds to get things done.
Best performance in either job is gener-
ally turned in by men of distinctly diff
ferent abilities and temperaments This
separation has been recognized in our
affairs, both in private enterprise and
in government. In the first case, it is
usual lin larger affairs to have board
of directors which determines the policy
of the organization. This consists of men
who do not necessarily know the init
mate details of operations, but who do
have broad general knowledge and ex-
perience and the widest possible view
points. They determine what the COM
pany shall do and why it shall do So
Then there is the operating staff includ-
ing the officers. These persons must
know intimately the operating details
for actually getting things done in the
best way. In Government, the people
as whole through the Congress as a
board OF directors establish policy and
then the operating agencies execute the
will Of the people as codified by its
board of directors.
So much for the normal peacetime
routine. When it came to war; the sys-
tenn was not carried out in the same
way Time moved too swiftly for the
old process to function, with the desired
efficiency. Hence we got the two func-
lions of policy determination and oper-
ating execution very completely mixed
up. We did not know what we wanted
to do. nor particularly why we wanted
to do anything. Hence the question of
now to do what we did not even know
we wanted to do, really proved a prob
lem. First of all, we fell down in policy
determination. The people were not
clear IN their minds and soon Congress
let the administration take the ball in
determining what to do and why. So here
and there men had to be put willy nilly
in positions of great responsibility. A
number of very excellent What and
Why men were put into "How and
When" spots and the other way around
Often the character Of the job changed
with the times and the men who might
have been good selections at first be-
came poor occupants of changed jobs.
This Nation has as its precedent
breaking President a man who will be
recorded in history as one of the great
est leaders this Nation or any other has
produced In the field of What and
Why" AS an inspirational leader, in re-
lation to the larger spiritual and ma
terial goals of the people as a whole we
have to go back at least as far as
Lincoln to find comparison. But by
the same token, the President probably
will be recorded in history as the veriest
tyro in actual operation as How and
When" executive. He has almost invari-
ably been right in what he wanted to do
and why he wanted to do it. And he
has been almost as completely wrong in
how he has tried to do it and when. He
has chosen generally the wrong kind
OF brains good as they may be- for the
spots he has put them in and so has
gotten poor operating results.
Which brings us back to the first cues
ton. Government made countless mis-
takes in operations which should have
been intrusted to businessmen who
have the best 'know-how." Contrari.
wise, businessmen had too much influ.
ence in Government in the policy de-
termining spots for which they had NO
experience. These men helped make de-
examinations in the best interests OF
much narrower fields than situations
called for. They then proceeded to get
into the actual operations which should
have been left to others. Older Govern
ment employees suffered from the same
Kind OF confusion. Thus, in may WAYS il
is remarkable to look back on the great
results we have secured with such in
excusably sipshod methods. 1t took an
unconscionable time to decide what and
why. So the how and when suffered
Then as the first became clear. the Sec
ond improved much more rapidly. That
is where business management has
secured its real results, while Govern
ment finally got squared away on pro-
duction policy. Now if we can keep the
two separate again perhaps we can
speed the winning of the war and the
laying of groundwork for a real peace
EDMAR.