Detroit evening times., 1945-07-19

uritinR about Aug. j.
IT DOES not matter whether
Il the economy of a country is
eapftt4ffStte te-er- soetaftSttc; #
there is 10 be production there
must be management.
The labor force works accord
ing to instructions; management
werks AT thinking planning, SD
pcrvlSing, direction
When industry was small in
production and the numbers en-
ployed, there was never any
question as 10 what was man.
agement and what was labor.
The owner of an enterprise
managed; his employees labored'
The distinction is no longer
altogether clear,
In fact. one of the principal
questions that management, gov
ernment and labor unions face is
precisely at what point does
management begin.
A national union of foremen
has been organized and is APP
plying to the NLRB for the
right 10 represent foremen for
purposes of collective bargaining
in many industries.
Some companies have already
signed up with this foremens
union, the principal one being
the Ford company.
THIS is essentially not ques-
i tion of collective bargaining.
It is not a question of the
closed shop, of the right OF
unions TO exist.
II is a question of the tech
niQue of management.
What the NLRB should settle
is not whether particular
union should repl sent a group
of foremen in a specific COM
pany because what needs to be
defined is the role Of the fore
man: is he part Of the labor.
force or is he part OF manage
ment?
If the foreman is TO be re-
garded as part of the labor
force, then American industry
must be reorGaniZed from the
bottom up, because at some
point management begins. Ira
ditionally, it begins at the varl-
Gus grades of foremen and
moves through five or six levels
to supervision.
II that has been the wrong
way 10 organize, then the fore
mans managerial duties should
be taken from him and he should
be reduced TO the labor force.
Then management begins else
Where-gets a new name, a new
title, new distribution OF
duties.
IF THE process Of management
L is 70 he criticized, II must be
done against the facts of Amer
lean production which offers AS
evidence its astounding fleXIbll-
ity and capacity during this war
when II has outclassed both in
quality and quantity every in
duStrial country in the world.
Only one country. Germany
contested this primacy and Ger
many lost.
Starting -if4-19S9= =at-seFatehr-
with practically no war indus
tries. the United States has been
able 10 mobilize an industrial
capacity which supplied not only
itself but Soviet Russia, Great
Britain. China and France with
all the necessities of war.
This was accomplished with
an astonishing supply 10 the
American civilian population
and with a measure of supply
10 the civilian population of
Great Britain and Soviet Russia.
And no sooner was the war,
with Germany declared over
than the amount of goods avail
able 10 American civilians was.
actually increased and automo-
biles. for civilian use were put
into production while the war
with Japan continued.
TIAT is the record. II may
L he attacked as not perfect,
At times and in places, wasteful,
as expensive.
But the fact stands that the
task set before this country was
first to convert from pcace-tlme
10 wartime production; Sec
ondly 10 produce vast quantities
OF specified and often absolutely
novel commodities 70 satisfy un-
measured and fantastic de-
mandS. thirdly. 10 rccOnvcrt
quickly from wartime TO peace
time production with mini
mum Of unemployment and
social disturbance during the
ChangcOVcr.
That task. American manage
nent faced and carried through
with astounding success so far.
And during the whole Of this
task, management began at the
level Of the foreman.