Manpower

by Lincoln C. Andrews

Perhaps the most important of these fundamentals for the leader to realize is the deep-seated desire of every individual to maintain his self-respect and to have his right to self-respect recognized by those about him. The biggest step man ever took in the attainment of civilization was that of the ancient fathers when they discarded the worship of Sun and Fire, and conceived a God endowed with human attributes. They thus gave man the right to claim that he was "made in the image of God." On that man founded his philosophy of life and has more and more demanded and fought for and sometimes won a recognition of his claim to self-respect. Made in the image of God; he resented being lashed as a slave in the galleys or driven as one in the chain gangs; he felt the indignity of being a serf; and he came to realize the inconsistency of being arbitrarily governed. He has thus slowly fought his way upward toward his ideal, and has won his right to self-respect in government and in community living, to the profit of both.

Out of this evolution came democracy; and the second fundamental for the leader is to appreciate that in handling men to-day he is no longer handling serfs or hirelings. His men are citizens of democracy—made or in the making. Many leaders have not realized this, or thought out what it should mean in determining their methods of control. In reality it is the only foundation for any intelligent modern system of discipline. Democracy requires of each citizen that he be a self-respecting, self-thinking, responsible individual, capable of making decisions and acting on them in his civil capacity. These qualities of citizenship are demanded for participation in community affairs and are publicly appealed to for political purposes. They are of the atmosphere in which each man lives as a member of the community. It is only reasonable that the self-same individuals who operate under the principles of democracy in all their general affairs should do better work under democratic rather than autocratic control. The rights of individuality and of self-direction have been hardly won and are dearly held. They do much toward making the democratic citizen the able man he is to-day, and are in reality a splendid basis for his control.

The highest type of army discipline is developed on a thorough recognition of these very qualities in the men. It is practiced by all who have appreciated the meanings of the modern social and political development of the individual, and learned how to benefit by its advantages for getting efficiency. There still exist, however, many unthinking officers who get their ideas of discipline from the traditional rules formerly evolved for the control of serfs and mercenaries. But their day is rapidly passing, as the modern principle is more and more widely accepted that the man in ranks is an intelligent, self-respecting individual, that he may be interested equally with the leader in the success of the cause, and that in large measure he is capable of adding to its success out of his own individual effort and intelligence.

The following definition of democracy by Professor Carver presents clearly the two elements which must be given consideration: "Two things and two things only are essential to real democracy. The first is an open road to talent, that is to say that every man shall have an opportunity to rise to positions of power and responsibility in proportion to his ability regardless of birth, privilege, caste or other social barriers. The son of the peasant may become the ruler in government or the employer in business by sheer force of his own merit, if he happens to possess merit. The second essential of pure democracy is that they who are in positions of power and responsibility shall be made sensitive to the needs, the desires and the interests of those over whom they exercise power and responsibility." Such democracy may well be recognized in his dealings if one wants success with his men. The road to advancement must lie wide open to ability and ambition, without a suspicion of favoritism and with encouragement for any individual who may aspire to follow it. Likewise the way for the honest expression of individual opinion and feeling must be open from the ranks to the leader without prejudice and with consideration. This recognizes their rights and develops their powers as individuals interested in a common cause. Such conception of rights in dealing with men is practical, is truly democratic and is highly efficient. It has worked to best advantage in army discipline, it is working successfully in many business organizations, and it is a sure foundation for efficient management in any group working for any purpose. When the interior administration of states' prisons is successfully run on the basis of democratic principles, it would seem possible to apply them to the control of almost any other group of men.

The governing idea is therefore for the leader to build up the self-respect of his men and their sense of individual responsibility, and thus to control their actions. He does not want them to be dogs; he must never treat them like dogs. He wants them to show intelligence; he must show confidence that they have intelligence. He wants them able to make decisions and to act on them for the common good; he therefore tells them what is to be done and why, not how to do it, and thus develops their resourcefulness and initiative. He wants their co-operation in loyal teamwork; he therefore asks their ideas as to methods, encourages their suggestions, and assumes that they are intelligently interested in the common success and able to bring something of value toward winning it. In short he considers them to be active partners with himself in the working out of a common purpose, and treats them as such.

The only possible excuse—not reason, but excuse—for the old-fashioned "roughneck" foreman with his discipline inspired by fear is the existence of his gang of ignorant immigrant laborers, uninterested in civilization and decent living, apparently willing to live like dogs and to be treated as such. Even these could be better handled by better methods. Furthermore the nation has learned that such citizens do not pay and intends by education and restriction of immigration to free herself of them. This will mean more intelligence among laborers, and that the foreman of the future will have to be able to boss not a group of ignorant foreigners but a group of thinking citizens, many of whom will be properly striving to win the job of being the boss themselves. This will mean that to hold his job he has got to be a good foreman, know his work, and above all know how to handle men decently. Being a foreman is going to be a real job, for which real men will fit themselves in order to make good.

A third fundamental consideration is to appreciate how modern conditions have made the possession of personal character an essential to successful leadership. The development of the individual, self-conscious that he is a reasoning being with the rights and responsibilities of self-determination, has put into the discard the divine right of kings and the infallibility of sphinx-like utterances from those in authority. The man who rules to-day does it through personal contacts with his subordinates. He must therefore really have the personal character. It is of course inherent in us to endow the holder of an office with those attributes of dignity and personal character which should go with it. But personal contacts are going to pierce this hereditary veil, and will soon expose the man for what he really is. And he cannot make good unless we find him possessed of character—find him a man who always keeps his word, who lives up to the principles of the square deal, and who appreciates that he is dealing with humans and is accordingly considerate. Such qualities preclude his showing injustice, deceit, indifference, or brutality. They thus eliminate fear and suspicion from the minds of those about him and give free play to their better instincts, which makes for getting their best efforts either as followers or as co-workers. It is clear then that it is vitally important to give careful thought in the selection of leaders to their personal characters; and that this possession of character must come to be the sine qua non for candidates for office, political, civil, or industrial. For all this applies quite as forcibly to the leaders of labor as to any other. Here as elsewhere only those can win in the end whose character and purpose are pure; who believe in the square deal; who are unselfishly honest in the administration of office; who consider the human rights of their followers and give them opportunity to grow and develop through the free exercise of their constructive instincts. Democratic leadership is constructive. It builds individual character in its followers, and stands secure on that foundation.

A fourth fundamental is to appreciate the big part played in man's control by his own personal instincts and habits. "Man is a reasoning creature. God's image." Yes; but he is also the willing slave of instinctive impulses and personal habits. He uses his reason to determine the course he will pursue, not to regulate the multitudinous details of his actions in carrying it on. As planned by nature, these minor actions are directed by natural impulses and personal habits. Impulses and habits—they rule almost our every act. It is remarkable when we stop to think of it and realize how few things we do actually as the result of thinking. Thus in a well-ordered life a man may get up in the morning, bathe, shave, dress, and go to breakfast without having to make a conscious decision. Instead of having to decide which shoe to put on first, he even laces and ties his shoes without thinking, and thus may occupy his mind with thoughts of the day's work. Habit guides him without thought through all these necessary steps which he must take daily.

The interesting fact to the leader is not alone that these habits control so absolutely, but that any habit may be easily and unconsciously formed by repetition of the act or thought, and that a habit once formed is overcome only by conscious effort and even by determined action of the will. The leader uses this for controlling his men. By insisting on certain things always being done in certain ways, he establishes in them habits of daily conduct which make his routine administration of duties free from constant care of details. A wise leader finds the reason for many of the difficulties and seeming derelictions of his men in the fact that they were the acts of previously formed habits not yet eliminated. For this reason also he prefers to train green men rather than old ones. He knows he can readily inculcate in them the habits he wants them to have, and without the great difficulty of eradicating the previously formed habits which he does not like.

Equally common with habits in their control of the actions of man, and equally important as a consideration for the leader, are the impulses to action that come from natural instincts. Of course it is true that man's will and determination are stronger than his instincts, and that if they are set to any given purpose they can force every instinctive impulse from his field of consciousness and hold his actions to the predetermined course. But such control of man's actions is fatiguing to the man, and does not give the results that come when his mind is happily at ease and free to entertain the impulses from the constructive instincts with which nature has bountifully endowed him for the good of the race. Thus necessity may make a man determine to do his work in spite of brutal treatment and injured self-respect, and he will carry through the day's work well enough to hold his position, but not much better. Good work, anything like the maximum of a man's accomplishment, cannot be produced in that spirit. Such work comes only with the free play of man's better instincts. It should be clear then that the leader who controls through appeal to these instincts will get better results than he who rules by force or the compulsion of circumstance. A good leader must therefore give thought to these things, until he comes to feel instinctively how men react to the ordinary things of life. They are matters of frequent reference in discussing the principles of leadership.