June 6, 191 8] 



NATURE 



267 



iinder discussion for a very considerable time, but 

 eventually was allowed to drop. Naturally, no 

 official reason was given why the proposal met 

 with such a fate ; possibly the permanent officials 

 were opposed thereto for the reason that, in their 

 opinion, the institution of the proposed courses 

 would have made the branch in question "too 

 strong-" — that is to say, too efficient. 



It would almost appear as if the attempt to 

 attain such a result in the public services was 

 regarded as a most reprehensible act. Yet it must 

 be evident that, before .scientific methods can be 

 put into practice, such methods must be learnt 

 and understood ; also that individuals in the public 

 services are no more capable of acquiring such 

 knowledge by mere intuition than are those em- 

 ployed in civil life. Further, it is generally recog- 

 nised that ,the days have long gone by. when bold- 

 ness in enterprise can make up for the lack of 

 systematised knowledge and method, whether in 

 the industries and in commerce, or in the 

 domain of State activity, in diplomacy and in 

 war. 



The science of administration is concerned. alone 

 w^ith those lessons- which teach how the highest 

 state of efficiency can be secured in the. enterprises 

 with which men busy themselves ; the principles 

 involved therein lie, as M. Fayol reminds, us, 

 within a narrow compass. "Administration" is 

 neither an exclusive privilege nor a personal 

 quality of. those controlling or managing an under- 

 taking or enterprise ; it is really a function which, 

 like all essential functions, comes into play 

 between the head and the members of a body 

 corporate. It must be distinguished from manage- 

 ment, which is a rule concerned with the care and 

 skilful conduct of the whole of an enterprise, a 

 role that must provide for the efficient perform- 

 ance of the following essential functions — namely, 

 the administrative, technical, commercial, finan- 

 cial, that of custodianship and that of book-keep- 

 ing. 



Although "administration" is only one among 

 the above six functions, nevertheless it demands 

 that foresight, efficient organisation, co-ordina- 

 tion, and control shall prevail throughout the 

 enterprise or undertaking, and it comes into play 

 not only in the enterprise or undertaking as a 

 whole, but also in every part and in every opera- 

 tion thereof. 



Most powerful aids to efficient administration 

 exist in "Taylorism " and in a sound organisation 

 within the enterprise or undertaking; the former 

 concerns the "science of efficiency" in relation 

 to the individual ; the latter concerns the same 

 "science" in relation to- the body corporate. 



"Taylorism," or chronometrage,^ consists in 

 the determination of factorial values in time units 

 for each item of the work of individuals when 

 performed in the most efficient manner human 

 beings are capable of. Such values can be .ascer- 

 tained in relation to every branch and item of 

 human activity, and, when. properly applied, afford 



1 The invention of Mr. F. Winslow Tavlpr, of the Bethlehem Sieel Co., 

 U.S..^. 



NO. 2536, VOL. lOl] 



an unsurpassable check, of a preventive and 

 anticipatory order, against waste of human effort. 



Organisation consists in the proper subdivision 

 of the work of an enterprise and in the most effec- 

 tive employment of the personnel necessary , to 

 carry it on. The principles involved are few in 

 number, but no single uniform organisation can 

 be devised .which will suit the varying require- 

 ments of every undertaking : each must be pro- 

 vided with an organisation specially designed in 

 relation to the nature of the operations that have 

 to be conducted therein. 



In the case of private undertakings the instinct 

 of self-preservation is an impelling force, and, in 

 consequence, they are, as a rule, provided with 

 a sound and efficient organisation. On the other 

 hand, in the case of the public services artificial 

 conditions, as a rule, prevail, and the question of 

 the survival of the fittest is not a troubling factor ; 

 in consequence. State undertakings are often pro- 

 vided with an illogical or unsound organisation. 



Strange indeed are the ways of political re- 

 formers who concern themselves with State organ- 

 isation and^ administration. In recent years, by a 

 curious irony, struggles were started about the 

 same .time of a nature that whereas one State, 

 which possessed aji admirable organisation, might 

 have been seen attempting to abandon the same 

 for one less efficient, another State, which had 

 become tired of inefficient methods, might, on the 

 other hand, have been seen endeavouring simul- 

 taneously to introduce industrial conditions into 

 its public services ; these struggles were witnessed, 

 in 1912, in .Sweden and Italy, and arose in con- 

 sequence of the reports of Royal Commissions. ^ 



Sweden, at that time, possessed an old-established 

 organisation in its public services— one that 

 was brought into existence, in 1634, by that great 

 administrator, Oxenstierna, who had fixed with 

 precision the powers of the great Departments 

 of the Swedish Government and had vested the 

 management of State undertakings in Admijiistra- 

 tive Boards, whereon both technical and .adminis- 

 trative officials serve. Even the Commission that 

 recommended changes in the well-tried State 

 organisation of Sweden — changes which are, in the 

 opinion of the well-informed, likely to introduce 

 a bureaucratic encumbrance and political mis- 

 management in Swedish State undertakings of a 

 technical character — has spoken favourably in its 

 report of these Boards : it has stated that the inde- 

 pendent position occupied by the Administrative 

 Boards has in the past proved a considerable safe- 

 guard and had acted as a powerful element in 

 contributing to the smooth working of the State 

 machinery, whilst providing a f>owerful incentive 

 towards progressive ideas. 



Italy, on the other hand, at the period in ques- 

 tion possessed an organisation in its public services 

 scarce half a century old, an organisation which 



2 (i) " Departementalkommitterades BetSnkande." (Stockholm : H. L. 

 Beckman's Boktryckeri, 1911.) (a) " CommisMone Reale per lo Studio 

 1 echnico, Amminislrativo e Finanzario del Servizio Telefonico in Italia." 

 (Rome: Tipocrafia dell' Unione Editrice, 1911.) (3) " Commissione Reale 

 per il Riordinamento dei Servizi Postali e Telegrafici." (Rome : Tipografia 

 ditta Ludovico Cecchini, 1912.) 



