Description
Mr. J. Bassingthwaite is the accountant in the A.B. Food Processing Company. He has just returned to his office after lunch and a session with the production manager. He takes a concerned look at the two-inch pile of letters to be signed and mentally wishes that he had a shorter name. Like every Executive, Mr. B is aware of the pressure for efficiency-the need to complete more work in less time. What should he do?
There is no question that precious minutes could be saved by lopping a few letters off his name. Or, he could inscribe an unimpressive scrawl and have his secretary type his name beneath. Or, and this is the sanest but, perhaps, more impractical method, he could delegate to his assistant the right to sign his or their own letters. Or, better still, he could question the necessity of each letter and adopt some other means of communication in some cases.
There we have only one of the frustrating obstacles to the problem of efficiency. He could, in a few minutes, list dozens of moves that would increase his efficiency in the performance of his job. But most of them would be summarily dismissed as not worth the effort to apply.
Yet, in this instance, he has a problem. In ten minutes, he is due at a meeting with the Chief. If he does not sign these letters now, they will miss the mail, and some of them must go out today. The monthly cable to London must be sent on time-it always has been-and a miss would be unthinkable. Why does the boss call a meeting when he knows that on this day Mr. B is flat out?
ISBN: AUSTRALIANEXE
