Nothing has been said thus far regarding the invention of new forms of articles to manufacture, or of new methods of machinery for manufacturing articles.  These elements and many others are necessary in order to complete a successful plant, but the fundamentals embraced in a statement regarding the habit-action of man represented by special ability and skill acquired by experience, and the habit-action of the group acquired in the same way, constitutes a measure in determining the way at ninety per cent of the cross roads in industrial progress.  Anyone undertaking the creation of a new organization or the management of a going concern must grasp these facts.

The value of experience, if acquired in an industry where such fundamental principles have been recognized, should be given the highest rating.  Experience, however, in an industry where the energies of men were not most effectively employed and where there was not a recognition that the effective employment of man’s energies require a general development of mind and body up to the man’s capacity, cannot be counted as wholly good unless, through force of purpose, there is the strength to adopt a new path.

[Footnote]industrial management.

[Footnote text:  A revision of material originally under title of Human Factor in Works Management by James Hartness, published by McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., New York.]

The navigator in preparing for a voyage carefully examines each of his instruments.  He must know the present error of his chronometer and its rate of change, and its general reliability as indicated by its past record.  He must also know errors in his compasses for each point, and he should have the fullest information regarding the degree of reliability of every other means on which his success depends; and, last but not least, he must accurately determine his starting-point or point of departure.

In taking up the subject before us we will do well to follow his example.

In doing so, our task will be to examine two principal elements:  one, the means on which we depend for interpreting the information that is available; and the other, the source and character of the information.

The means may be considered analogous to the navigator’s instruments, and is no less a thing than the brain or mental machinery; and the information is simply the world about us as seen in the existing things, such as machinery, methods, popular notions, textbooks, etc., all of which may be classed as environments, and may be considered as analogous to the charts and other publications of our worthy example.

Like the mariner, we must determine the degree of reliability of all these sources of information and our means for interpreting observed facts.

When we have ascertained this we will know what allowance to make from the “observed” to get the actual facts.  With this knowledge we will be able to accurately determine both our starting-point and best course.