Influence of Executives

IN attempting to rate influence of executives on production we must recognize fact that under our present methods executives as a rule seem to favor that system of production which to greatest possible extent relieves them of responsibility. Throughout our whole system of production there is a tendency to blame man lower down, rather than man higher up, with result that man in shop may be reprimanded, or even discharged, for an error in judgment which caused loss of a few dollars, while man at top, making a similar error in judgment costing thousands of dollars, too frequently gets by without anybody's knowing that loss was due to his failure. The existence of such a condition is not only detrimental to business system as a whole, but produces great hardships upon workmen as individuals. It is not claimed that executives in general desire to shirk their responsibility and place blame on others, but our business methods are still dominated by spirit of past, which was, the king can do no wrong, that is to say, if a man has power to do a thing, it is for him to do it, or, as would put it, he has a to do it. The flaw in this reasoning is in meaning of word right. All will agree that no man has a to do wrong; but we must understand more clearly what we mean by and wrong. A bridge is when it will carry load for which it was designed, wrong when it will not. In an economic or a moral sense an action is when it will advance cause of humanity, and wrong when it will not; hence, it is stretching meaning of word to apply it to a question of fashions. The Germans thought that which they expected would advance their cause was right, no matter what effect it had on other peoples. We fought to resist application of this idea, and may always expect conflict when an attempt is made to assert a right to detriment of others. It is not hinted that business man intentionally does wrong by making a decision that will in 18 257

Business · Economic Theory and Institutions