THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



Rubber Factory Foremanship. 



Hy Jo 



's ]l' right Cary. 



A FOREMAN is One whose acquaiiitaiuc with a business, com- 

 petence in directing workmen and handling detail, war- 

 rants a superintendent in placing him in charge of a 

 department. Where the "line control" method was followed he 

 had a wide range of responsibilities, such as hiring and dis- 

 charging workmen, o-K-ing time tickets, placing orders in pro- 

 cess, obtaining supplies for his department, controlling wage 

 rates paid to the men under him, and repairing machinery. In 

 the circumstances it was perhaps natural that he should believe 

 he knew his job better than anyone else, and he probably did. 

 He was jealous of his authority, prerogatives and so-called 

 "rights" ; was intolerant of outside suggestion, a foe to changes 

 and improvements unless recommended by himself; paternal 

 and dictatorial toward his men ; knew, or thought he knew 

 how each phase of the work should be done ; intended to be, 

 and was consulted constantly as a matter of necessity, there 

 being no one else ; and at the same time was strangely uncon- 

 scious of a well-developed "blind spot," one indication of which 

 was his persistent refusal to train an "understudy." 



Later, when meetings between the superintendent and the 

 foremen became a regular feature of the organization, he sat 

 ir. with considerable reluctance, and discussed the subjects un- 

 der consideration, or offered suggestions for improvements in 

 his own department just in proportion as he possessed an open 

 mind, or was conscious of the necessity for, or ambitious to see 

 improvements. 



This type of foreman has held his own well down to the 

 present, and belongs to what may be called the "old school." 

 To him, the new ideas that began, little by little, to filter through 

 the cracks in old line organization were things genuinely 

 disturbing. He thought the old way was a good way, and in 

 . many respects it was. He knew that the management had de- 

 pended upon him in a hundred ways, and had trusted his judg- 

 ; nient and fidelity, his acumen, foresight and force. He had 

 worked up from the bench, probably in surroundings inconven- 

 ient and unsanitary as compared with present-day equipment; 

 had seen his department expand from a few men to a hundred 

 or more, and new machinery take the place of old. He knew 

 the whole story, and his fiber was interwoven in every line, and 

 his personality impressed on the product from his department. 

 He was genuinely attached to the shop, and in particular to his 

 department, and was regarded as a successful foreman. 



When the shop was small he was pretty generally informed 

 as to the whole lay-out, but as the business grew he was more 

 and more confined by his duties, and his time and energies were 

 absorbed by them. The natural consequence was that the detail 

 of other departments escaped him, and very gradually but surely 

 he became detached from them. He was a capable mill-room or 

 other foreman, but he knew little about spewing machines, tire 

 building machines, presswork, shoe-making, or vulcanizing. He 

 could handle men, but knew little of costs, up-keep or scientific 

 management. He was simply a spoke in the big wheel, but as 

 such was very competent, and in taking off my hat to him I 

 wave him farewell, for this particular type of factory executive 

 is passing. The forward-looking factory management will de- 

 mand and secure foremen of a different type, better equipped. 

 Like the old, they will be dependable, forceful, systematic. Like 

 a trained chemist they must be able to analyze many things. 

 The new system will require them to be specialists in more than 

 one direction. 



An expert shoemaker under present practice may be selected 

 for inspector, and then it is but a step to the position of fore- 

 man. Or a cost clerk, as a reward for success, may be placed 

 over the tire makers. 



What to do with the old foreman? It will depend on what 

 \he laboratory terms his "elastic limit." In other words, can 

 he absorb new ideas and develop accordingly? Can he match 

 the new pace and keep up with it? The new method proposes 

 to give him every opportunity and encouragement to do so. 

 The chief difficulty will be found probably in his attitude of 

 mind. If he is ossified in the behef that his is the one best 

 way; if at heart he is opposed to changes; if he balks and uses 

 his influence to create and maintain hostility among employes, 

 then he will have to make room for the man who can meet the 

 new proposals with an opeii mind and the paramount desire to 

 be of the greatest possible benefit in the organization. 



The new method begins with the scientific selection of men. 

 N'ot that the old way was a failure, but the new way will re- 

 quire more from a foreman at the start and secure correspond- 

 ing results from him afterward. He must have all the good 

 points demanded under the old regime, plus a lot more. 



Is there such a thing as scientific selection of the man? Un- 

 doubtedly. You do not pick a plow horse for a racer, nor does 

 the crow displace the carrier pigeon for carrying messages from 

 the battlefield. Consequently there must be a type of man who 

 possesses inherent qualities capable of development along lines 

 that will make him a factory executive, beginning with fore- 

 manship. In the search for this exceptional man, however, the 

 very first thing to be assured of is the physical basis. This is a 

 feature of profound significance. Suppose you find a man who 

 qualifies intellectually, and you school him and coach him and 

 spend a lot of good money to equip him for the exacting duties 

 of the position ahead, and just at the time he is ready to'qualify 

 he goes to smash with a bad lung; or, in the midst of a strenu- 

 ous campaign where he is called upon for every ounce of his 

 personal equipment, he becomes a nervous wreck. 



Is, therefore, the possession of a fortunate combination of 

 brain and brawn essential to successful foremanship? Abso- 

 lutely. Having picked your man physically, the point next in 

 order for investigation is intellect. Intimately associated there- 

 with is a man's schooling. He may have been a star quarter- 

 back, or able to bat a ball to the bleachers, but if he "fell down" 

 in his studies while in school, you do not want him. There will, 

 of course, be exceptions, but as a rule the man who show-ed 

 no aptitude nor ambition in securing the rudiments of an educa- 

 tion, will, as a sequence, not have received that mental develop- 

 ment essential to enable him to "carry on" in the particular 

 field under discussion. The better the mental equipment, the 

 better are the chances for successful foremanship. 



Having picked a man with brain and brawn, the third essential 

 is temperament. Given a man with physique and mental equip- 

 ment, it does not follow that, tossed in a blanket, he will land 

 on his feet. He may be temperamentally unfitted for foreman- 

 ship. He may lack that vital essential, control of men. He may 

 have no "head" for detail, and a lot of other things. 



It is but fair at this point to give the psychologist an op- 

 portunity to "show him up." Some doubt his value. Many a 

 superintendent prefers to trust to what he calls his "judgment" 

 of men; he can "size them up." This faculty has been termed 

 the "sixth sense," but is after all, really psychology-. But psy- 

 chological or not, it is certainly good sense to take into account 

 a man's bearing, his facial angle, his voice, eyes, walk, and 

 especially any eccentricity that may distinguish him from the 

 ordinary run of men. These in sum make up for you a replica 

 of the man himself, and enable you to determine whether he is 

 worth taking a chance on. For, taking it by and large, it is 

 more or less of a gamble whether results will justify your 

 choice. 



