140 Materials and Their Handling 



When a man must be instructed, not only on the 

 thing to be done, but also how it must be done, he 

 is not using his own judgment very much and he 

 needs a maximum of supervision. He is, conse- 

 quently, not of as great value as the man who 

 thinks, 



Developing Initiative in Use of the Methods. 

 Early in the course, it was stated that the most 

 important part of the work of a supervisor in 

 industry is the proper judgment and capacity to 

 handle men. The more men a supervisor can 

 handle well, keeping them happy and alert on the 

 job, the more valuable he becomes to industry. 

 Men can be handled more easily and with less 

 supervision as they are taught to use their judg- 

 ment; for in that case they require less instruction 

 and inspection the two most important time- 

 consumers in the supervision of men. The en- 

 deavor of the foreman must be to take the men 

 who can do things, when they are told exactly 

 what to do, and gradually educate them so that 

 they can determine how to get the result when 

 they are told what is wanted. This is the process 

 of changing a man so that, instead of following 

 slavishly the method laid down for him, he will 

 be able to develop a new method for his own work 

 with the help of his foreman. 



Unless men are taught to use initiative 

 and thereby gradually develop some parts 

 of the established method, they will not 

 grow in efficiency to the point where they 

 require less supervision. 



