The opposite condition is the employment of energies of mind and body in ways that cannot produce high degree of ability. With such desultory use of energies, a day's work is of relatively small value, and there is no progress.
Of the two extremes we find the most prevalent to be the scatter- brain and scatter ability type.
The industries of the higher type lead in providing the best implements and in organization of best team work by which each worker produces the greatest value for a given expenditure of energy.
The essential bearing Of these facts is that the worker as well as the business man should compare his work with the work of others with whom he is in competition.
In these days of long distance transportation our competitors in the market may be a long distance away.
If it is in agriculture, the question of climate, soil and degree to which highly efficient implements can be used, are important factors.
If it is in the professions we must see how we can acquire the greatest proficiency and opportunity. This again involves the question of the extent to which we must specialize.
The measure then of success is the value of our services as compared with the services of others.
One of the important problems in industrial management is the extent to which specialization should be practiced.
On one hand we see the ill effects of a routine repetition where there has been an overdose of repetition—one that has gone beyond the beneficial point—and on the other hand, we find that the greatest achievements in the sciences and professions have been wrought by those who have concentrated in a way that has given them a higher development. Unfortunately in many of the industries, the development of machinery has gone forward with the sole end in view of dollars and cents, disregarding the effect on the worker.