 |
Profit Sharing
Many successful merchants and manufacturers, however,
disdain agents and intermediaries in this relation and are always accessible
to every man in their organizations; holding that, since the cooperation
of employees is the most important single element in business, the time given
to securing it is time well spent.
Even though human sympathy may well be regarded as the most important consideration
in increasing loyalty, it is not sufficient in and of itself. The most patriotic
citizens are those who have, served the state. They are made loyal by the
very act of service. They have assumed the responsibility of promoting the
welfare of the state, and their patriotism is thereby stimulated and given
concrete outlet. A paternalistic
government in which the citizens had every
right but no responsibility would develop beggars rather than patriots.
Similarly in a business house ideally organized to create loyalty, each employee
not only feels that his rights are protected, but also feels a degree of responsibility
for the success and for the good name of the house. He feels that his task
or process is an essential part of the firm's activity; and hence is important
and worthy of his best efforts. To cement this bond and make closer the identification
of the employee with the house many firms encourage their employees to purchase
stock in the company. Others have worked out profit-sharing plans by which
their men share in the dividends of the good years and are given a powerful
incentive to promote teamwork and the practice of the economies from which
the overplus of profit is produced.
Loyalty may be developed by Education in House History and Policies
The stability of a nation depends on the patriotism of its citizens. Among
methods for developing this patriotism, *education ranks as the most
effective. In the public schools history is taught for the purpose of awakening
the love and loyalty of the rising generations. The founders, builders, and
saviors of the country, the great men of peace and war who have contributed
to its advancement, are held up for admiration. From the recital of what country
and patriotism meant to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant, and a host
of lesser heroes, the pupils come to realize what country should, and does,
mean to them. They become patriotic citizens.
Grounding the New Employee in Company Traditions and Ideals
In like manner the history of any house can be used to inspire loyalty and
enthusiasm among its employees. Business has not been slow to borrow the methods
and ideals of education, but the writer has been unable to discover any company
which makes adequate use of this principle. That this loyalty may be directed
to the house as a whole, and not merely to immediate superiors, every employee
should be acquainted with the purposes and policies of the company and should
understand that the sympathy which he discovers in his foreman is a common
characteristic of the whole organization, clear up to the president. The best
way to teach this is by example-- by incidents drawn from the past, or by
a review of the development of the company's policy.
To identify one's self with a winning cause, party, or leader, also, is infinitely
easier than to be loyal to a loser. For this reason the study of the history
of the firm may well include its trade triumphs, past and present; the remarkable
or interesting uses to which its products have been put; the honor or prestige
which its executives or members of the organization have attained; and the
hundred other items of human interest which can be marshaled to give it house
personality. All this would arouse admiration and appreciation in employees,
would stir enthusiasm and a desire to contribute to future achievements, and
would foster an unwillingness to leave the organization.
Some companies have begun in this direction. New employees, by way of introduction,
listen to lectures, either with or without the accompaniment of pictures,
which review what the house has accomplished, define its standing in the trade,
analyze its products and their qualities or functions, sketch the plan and
purpose of its organization, and touch upon the other points of chief human
interest. Other companies put this information in booklets. Still others employ
their house organs to recall and do honor to the interesting traditions of
the company as well as to exploit the successful deeds and men of the moment.
An organized and continuous campaign of education along this line should prove
an inexpensive means of increasing loyalty and efficiency among the men. To
the mind of the writer, it seems clear that the future will see pronounced
advances in this particular.
Personality can be overdone, however. Workers instinctively give allegiance
to strong, balanced men, but resent and combat egotism unchecked by regard
for others' rights. Exploitation of the employer's or foreman's personality
will do more harm than good unless attended by consideration for the personality
of the employee. The service of more than one important company has been made
intolerable for men of spirit and creative ability by the arrogant and dominating
spirit of the management. The men who continue to sacrifice their individuality
to the whim or the arbitrary rule of their superiors, in time lose their ambition
and initiative; and the organization declines to a level of routine, mechanical
efficiency only one remove from dry- rot.
How Efficiency and Loyalty of Workers may be Capitalized
Conservation and development of individuality in workers may be made an important
factor in creating loyalty as well as in directly increasing efficiency. Great
retail stores put many department heads into business for themselves, giving
them space, light, buying facilities, clerks, and purchasing and advertising
credit as a basis of their merchandising; then requiring a certain percentage
of profit on the amount allowed them. The more successful of Marshall Field's
lieutenants were taken into partnership and, as in the case of Andrew Carnegie
and his ``cabinet of young geniuses,'' were given substantial shares of the
wealth they helped to create.
Some industries and stores carry this practice to the point of making specialized
departments entirely independent of the general buying, production, and selling
organizations whenever these fall short of the service offered outside; while
the principle of stock distribution or other forms of profit sharing has been
adopted by so many companies that it has come to be a recognized method of
promoting loyalty.
Regard for the employee's personality must be carried down in an unbroken
chain through all the ranks. It may be broken at any step in the descent by
an executive or foreman who has not himself learned the lesson that loyalty
to the house includes loyalty to the men under him. |
