The Knack of Managing

E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
Published by FACTORY MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE 330 West 42nd Street New York City, N. Y.
330 West 42nd Street New York City, N. Y.

Someone once said—probably it was Mr. Schwab—that given the right organization it was no harder to manage the U. S. Steel Corporation than to operate a peanut stand.
And Mr. Schwab ought to know, although no life-sized portrait of him all dressed up like a peanut vendor has ever been brought to our attention.
However that may be, his statement is interesting—especially interesting because his appraisal of the job of managing very nearly approaches ours. In The Knack of Managing, you see, much of the emphasis will be on the fact that the fundamental PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT apply to every business alike. And if we may start out with the premise that managing Mr. Schwab's Bethlehem Steel Company is not such a far cry from operating a pretzel plant or a furniture factory, our battle is already half won.
THE PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT vary not at all, however different may be the MECHANICS OF APPLICATION.
How often the editor, how often the equipment salesman, listens to that time-worn tale of woe: My business is different. So-and-so can do that sort of thing. But I make gadgets—and your conveyors, your air conditioners or whatever it is you write about or sell, won't do me a bit of good.
Of course his business is different—different in its individual characteristics, its financial, sales, production, labor problems. But they are only the CLOTHES the business wears. They may differ from the clothes of another enterprise as widely as the frilly importation from the Rue de la Paix differs from the sleazy issue of the East Side sweat shop. But underneath the clothes the artist knows there is the human body—and a study of anatomy is necessary before he can paint the picture. Beneath the clothes of the business are the principles of management—The ANATOMY OF MANAGEMENT—the framework upon which the completed structure is built.