r HF UC-NRLF $B IDE l"i5 'm fr'^.m AS r-;.-'" m ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ Data on Advertising Depart- ment Records By L, W. ELUS Supplementary to Section XI of ^Scientific Office Manugement^* by W. H. Leffingwell A. W. SHAW COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK LONDON '-^"^M^^^^K'^^^ COPYRIGHT. 1917, BY Digitized by u .. -. in 2007 with funding from .Microsoft Corporation littp://www.archive.org/details/dataonadvertisinOOellirich ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT RECORDS By L. W. ELLIS Some fellow's formula for efficiency runs like this : "First, pick a good man; second, give him a definite job; third, leave him alone." If my former general manager hadn't followed the last two-thirds of this formula to the letter, there wouldn't be any story. In fact, I am inclined to believe that the first part of the formula — about the good man — is superfluous. Almost anyone can learn to swim right off if he has to. Just take him young and throw him into deep enough water with nothing but instructions to kick and paddle. He'll swim all right. That's about all the help I got — a definite job and liberal language from the side lines. But I keep afloat. Herbert Casson told me once that system wasn't the only thing to efficiency, not by a long shot. He said it was the easiest thing in the world to standardize a practice that was all wrong. Efficiency picks out the right thing to do and then systematizes it. So if any of the systems I talk about won't apply to your business, forget them, quick. The only excuse for talking about them at all is that I shall explain not only the system but the reason for it. Then perhaps, having the reason, you can find something that will apply or can be adapted to a similar condition in your own business. This concern started business in 1853. In the fall of 1906 it hired its first advertising manager. He was a good one — very far-sighted. He devised splendid record systems — lots of them — and trained a splendid girl to keep the records. After three years he left for a bigger job. A young chap from a smaller competing company took his place. He was a fine fellow and a good producer, but he kept his transactions mostly under his hat. The clerk-of-all-work nearly went crazj'' (1) 369984 trying to keep track of details for the ten weeks this man was in full chr.^gi&-'»J*:*; Then, just at the close of the year, events happened fast. The company reorganized as a $22,000,000 corporation, bought four other companies outright, and rapidly took on the sale of products from fourteen more factories. All advertising plans had been held up, of course, awaiting this merger. As soon as it was completed all hands wanted display advertising, cata- logs, contract forms, and the like, at once, for the active selling season began the first of January. New Year's Day dawned fair and colder. I can still think of that day and shiver. For on that day the big boss called me over to his house, wished me a Happy New Year, and wished on me a job as advertising manager. Honestly, I couldn't tell a half-tone from an electrotype. Yet within twelve months we organized a big department and turned out a thousand separate advertisements and a thousand separate jobs of adver- tising literature. The young chap I mentioned as my predeces- sor stayed on but died in May. His successor came in June and went to the hospital in September for the remainder of the year. The rest of the little staff was almost as green as I was. And that's not the worst of it. The week my assistant died they turned over to us the sales correspondence department with 62 people. They gave us the multigraph room, and we turned out a million letters and forms that year. We got the photographer ; the house organ ; a sort of educa- tional publicity bureau ; a research department ; and the repairs catalogs. And then, for good measure, we got the stationery purchasing department and stock room, which was handling about 1000 live forms. We apparently got the management of everything that was loose. Remember, we w^ere dealing with the products of 19 dif- ferent factories — 950 separate items to advertise, both here and abroad — and we had the whims of 49 branch houses to pacify. It was a beautiful field for organization — one of the most nearly unlimited opportunities I ever saw. Nobody out- side the department eared how we ran it so long as we got out a carload of advertising every Saturday morning. (2) Well, I got by. I muddled through. I'm still alive. Sys- tem saved me. I don't claim any credit for it. Put any man in such a place ; get him to buy a house on the instalment plan, so he "dassent" lose his job — (that's me;) let him come through with an organization. But you've got to leave him alone to run his job : My bosses were too busy running theirs to care how I run mine. I had a definite job and I was left alone. So the efficiency formula — two-thirds of it — proved out. It.a ORDER FOR SPECIAL SERVICE O^ifarte BitiiniM aifmttmikf «atkarl>.i< ammtAM VlT^ (mOn STANDARDIZING THE SPECIAL SERVICE ROUTINE The upper form is the order for special service work. On this sheet are given specific instructions as to what is required, as well as the authority for the order, to what the cost is to be charged, and so forth. When the job is finished a report is made on the lower form and signed by the man doing the work The company's sales jumped that year from 5 to 17^ millions. The straight advertising expenditure (excluding stationery, and so forth) dropped from 2% to 1.6%. So much for the conditions. Let's get down to routine. Let's cut out the sales correspondence section and the stationery section. Then we can consider the real advertising department as it was finally organized. Keep in mind the fact that we had to organize as we went and produce a tremendous volume at the same time. We made plenty of false moves — we were (3) human — but we started out with some pretty definite principles. And because they worked I make bold to tell you that they will work in your department^ — I don't care how small or how big it may be. These fundamental principles are about as follows : 1. Definite written orders on each transaction 2. Permanent records, i3roperly grouped 3. Division of labor (at least division of functions) 4. Written standard practice instructions covering routine procedure 5. Capable understudies 6. Periodical analysis and report 7. Satisfactory reward for the individual ORDER FOR ADVERTISING Series. -Topic. . Date of order . . Territory Copy sent Cuts sent CoDV bv Lavout bv Si/e of space Page Lines Inches high Inches wide MEDIUM DATE DATE PUBLICATION CLOSE PUBLICATION CLOSE Lines to be treated . Remarks on copy. Remarks on illustrations Signed THE ORDER SHEET FOR DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS This interesting form gives the required data for properly preparing each display advertisement and also ties it up to the campaign of which the advertisement is a part. The data given includes the dates of closing and publication, the terri- tory and the products affected, and the dimensions of the advertisement Keep them in mind and we'll come back to them later. You practice them to some extent or you aren't making the most of your job. Now let's consider the machinery, starting with the first cog. Take first the educational publicity work, or what you might call the service section of the department. We had a "special (4) service instruction sheet.'* It told the "power-farming expert," or whoever did the work, to write an article for a given publica- tion; to go somewhere and give a lecture; to edit the house organ that month; or any other measly job. These sheets were numbered. One copy went into a numerical binder in my desk; one into a "special service job envelope" in the Record Clerk's file; one to the workman. When he finished the job he made his report, noted the time and expense on his sheet, and turned it in to me with all collat- eral material. Eventually it all went into the Record Clerk's job envelope. We had the basis for an accurate billing on work done for other departments. We had a continuous record of work in progress. And we had a permanent history for future reference. Daily £,r" PUBLICATION RECORD Semi-Monthly Monthly Date Publication City Stats Circulation PagBsi2a Cnlumnwide lines Closa Data puhlished Key symbol Date of contract The space is to be used before this date Quantity contract Total contract to date | Rate Commlssioa Discount Unes Pages Unes Pages Date run MacWne Advertisement number Copy from INVOICE Insertion checked | space Date Rate Space cost Commission charged Cash discount Date 0. K. By Date KEEPING TAB ON PUBLICATIONS The dovetailing schedules on the different products advertised require a compact record of the contracts or the approved estimates, against which insertions can be charged as they are run - a sort of perpKjtual inventory. This card is also convenient for checking insertions before the invoices are received Second, there was an order sheet for each display advertise- ment, numbered and filed in the same way. It showed the advertisement number ; closing and publication dates ; territory and products affected ; campaign of which the advertising was a part; dimensions of advertisement; publications to be used; (5) the producing victim (agency or department copy man) ; slant on copy and illustration, and shipping date. We used nearly 1000 separate advertising orders the first year. Two-thirds of them — trade paper advertisements, mostly — were filled in our own copy section — the rest by the agency. But on every one of them we had a complete record of the time, the place, and the purpose. Our advertising envelope held the typewritten copy and proofs of the finished advertisement. The face of the envelope showed the costs. We didn't try to remember, or guess, or even suspect — we knew. — 1 •^ / WHOLF NUMBER SPAHF OATF MFnillMS RECORD OF PURCHASES J. H. CO. DATE ORDER NUMBER PURCHASED FROM AUTHORIZATION QUANTITY COST COST EACH DATE BILLED DATE RECEIVED DATE 0. K'D. DEPARTMENT THEIR ORDER CHARGE /., J ;■% \ HEMARKS: THE ADVERTISING ENVELOPE Here is the final resting place of the advertisement order, the manuscript copy, the proofs of the advertisement, and special correspondence. The printed form on the outside, as shown here, gives all the costs of getting up the advertise- ment, such as art, plates and composition, but not the cost of the space Again, there was job order for each piece of advertising literature. When a sales promotion manager asked for a piece of literature, a souvenir, or some display material, we made him sit down and think it out with us. We set down rough specifications as to size, cost, postage, quantity, distribution, (6) product, copy and illustration plan, and so forth, and get his approval. Then we could work intelligently. The Record Clerk supplied the joh and form nunihers. The copy man's duplicate was pasted in a folder, or jacket. He kept all his material in the jacket instead of lying around loose. When he wasn't working on the job the jacket was supposed to be in the job envelope. And while the job was progressing the Record Clerk's envelope was accumulating purchase orders, correspondence, and the like, for a complete, 23ermanent record. ORDER FOR ADVERTISING Subject LITERATURE AND NOVELTIES Job number Date of order Date expected Form number of advertisement Last job number Number of pages Size (approximate) inches high x Inches wirfn Postage cents; estimated cost, each Stock: Covar cents; total $ Ink Inside Ink ReqiiRsteil hy For the benefit of Aiithori7firi hy Department Division — Branch — Line — Dealers Circulation: Sale — Exhibitions — By mail from the branches or the home office — By the salesmen and dealers Envelope stuffers — Catalog insert Immeriiate distribution: Dealers Branches 1 Reserve stock Remarks on circulation Copy to be furnished hy Date 1 Remarks on copy THE JOB ORDER FOR ADVERTISING LITERATURE Whenever any display material, such as advertising literature, novelties, and so forth, are required, the rough specifications are first set down covering the size, cost, postage, quantity, distribution, product, copy and illustration plan. Then the order is O. K.'d and the work is started The copy man working on an advertisement or catalog had to make a written requisition for library or illustrative material wanted. Red Tape? Sure, but with as high as 100 advertising and job orders out at one time we had to know where and what, and the boys soon saw the point. When they didn't see it we had a heart-to-heart talk. Life those days was too short for us to spend running around in circles. We locked up six finished copies of each job as soon as we got through, and nobody but the legal department could draw (7) on this reserve. Just another bit of caution that might save a trade mark now and then, besides making it easier for succeed- ing generations of copy men. There was a circulation- Work order for each job of direct mailing, covering the material to be used; list circularized; details of matching, signing, sealing, postage, and so forth, and finally the report of time, costs, and the like, to be filled out by the Circulation Forewoman and the Record Clerk. Each girl in this section, by the way, made out a daily time sheet. This gave us exact cost records on jobs and efficiency records on the girls. More red tape, but in 18 months we graduated 19 girls to better jobs downstairs as a result of our telltale* figures. There was a definite order blank for multigraph work, and the operator kept an envelope on each job. Results — ^we made a nice profit out of other departments. We soon found out just where we could beat the printer and where we couldn't, and chose our work accordingly. There were, of course, definite purchase and shipping orders. We issued definite specification to printers — one form for liter- ature and one for stationery and forms. Naturally we had written stock room records. Verbal orders didn't go anywhere around the place. We got rid of buying the stationery and storing it, but first we corralled the compiling of it, including forms, of course. We cut out about 20 special letterheads. We standardized dozens of ledger forms involving special non-stock binder sizes and unnecessary w^aste in cutting expensive stock. We elimi- nated dozens of unnecessary shades of color and kinds of stock, and enabled the local printers to lay in good reserves of stand- ard papers with some assurance that they would be used. And we got much quicker delivery. We did all this by a dummy specification sheet, made out in conference with the department head requesting the form. We got him to say "yellow" and "about so big" and leave the rest to us. Then we issued a regular specification sheet calling for a standard size, weight, and color. The purchasing department did the rest, all but keeping the inevitable envelope. Don't get the idea that all these orders and records were (8) JOHN HANCOCK COMPANY BOSTON. MASSACHUSEHS SPECIFICATIONS OF PRINTED MAHER SUBMIHED FOR PRICE QUOTATION TO GENTLEMEN: - Please give us an immediate quotation upon the foHowine printed nutter, tlie specifications for which are here iWen: Oescription Quantity Number o( pages Cover size Stock, body. size, tjuailty and weight Stock, cover Inks, body Inks, cover Number of pages of composition in the body Composition on the cover Binding Number of illustrations Size of illustrations Number of Illustrations to the page Delivery of the copy and cuts to you Proofs Delivery' Special Remarks PLEASE NOTE If the stock is furnished by us.lt wBI be of satisfactory working quality, in the sizes you direct Say when, provided the cuts and copy are delivered to you as sUted above Fill in spaces left blank for that purpose, then sign below and return to JOHN HANCOCK COMPANY. Boston.Mas$achusett$. addressing the envelope 'For the attention of the department' Respectfully submitted Accepted- (Name of y By »ur company) Ry THE REGULAR SPECIFICATION SHEET A sheet like this is used when obtaining bids from printers. By giving clear, concise, and definite specifications for every job of printing, c. large part of the uncertainty as to just what is desired is rejaoved, and all bids on the same job are therefore more likely to cover the same quality of material and workmanship (9) installed the day after New Year's. Every kink in the system grew out of some hair-raising muddle and was adopted in self defense. Every time a row occurred that could be traced to a weakness in the system we got the evidence together, consulted everybody involved, worked out a routine and then set down in writing just how that subject should be handled thereafter. You may call it a rule book, a law book, a Bible, a book of routines, a manual, or what-not, but if you can run an advertis- ing job without written standard practice instructions of some sort you can begin Monday morning to make yourself a better manager by writing it all down. Make every man, woman or office boy that has individual responsibility write down, just what he does and just how he does it. Take these essays, edit them, see how they dovetail — or don't dovetail — then, with this picture before you, face the fact that your main grief is prob- ably your own fault and not the fault of subordinates who are working at cross purposes at your own direction. There is no detail of operation too small for your earnest attention — once. You can profitably spend a half-day, if nec- essary, in consultation with a six dollar office boy as to the best way for that boy to handle the details of his job. But after you've reached an agreement, and considered the boy's func- tions in relation to the advertising department and to all other departments, you are criminally negligent if you don't write it down where it can't get away. Reduce that boy's job to writing and file it as a law that will give him supreme authority to run himself without direction and without interference. If you don't, you're not doing your utmost in making responsible men out of those under you. And you're not so good an executive as you might be. Give every person under you a definite job and written authority for doing it. Then let him alone and make every- body else leave him alone so long as he stays on the track. Then you're a real manager — not a gang boss. One careful decision as to procedure can be made to apply to a hundred cases. Make your decision with the consent of the governed, then make all hands stick to the letter of the law until you find a better way and then make that the law. The funny thing is that if you do insist on standard practice a staff soon gets to like it. It restricts action of course, that (10) is, action on hunches. But it also gives each individual absolute freedom of action within the limits of his job. It separates functions, makes decisions in advance, and greases the machin- ery until an organization becomes self-managing to an almost unbelievable extent. An engraver said one evening, "How do you do it? I've been around here all day. Everybody is working — everybody seems to know just what to do — yet nobody is giving orders and nobody is running around asking for them." It was a very sincere tribute to our standard practice book. As each procedure was adopted and written up, three copies were made. One was posted for three days on the bulletin board. One went into my book. The third was routed, and after each individual concerned had initialed it, this copy went into a third book which was always at the disposal of the staff. When a man got off the track we had him — he couldn't plead ignorance of the law. Changes and corrections went through the same routine. Orders and general policy information from dow nstairs* went into the book as issued. If they conflicted with our standard practice we raised the issue at once and I can say that we get those conflicting orders changed more times than we changed our own. We had to keep the book right up to date. Standard instruc- tions had to be followed until someone found in a pinch that they wouldn't work. Then he had to show why and draft a new regulation. Our dejjartment grew very fast. The book was a godsend when it came to breaking in new people. A new man's first job was to study the book for at least thr^ days. Then he was ready to go to work without bothering busy people with a lot of questions. He didn't have to ask what a given file was — all he needed to find out was where it was located. But perhaps the most satisfying use of the standard practice book was in keeping* other departments on the track. In any company you. are bound to have clashes between departments. We could always show that our people were not running wild. After bumping into our book for a few months the two depart- ments that gave us the most grief — sales and purchasing — started a book of their own. I appropriated the idea from the Larkin Company. You who know how standardized that concern is can judge whether (11) management with the aid of standard practice instructions is better than management by work of mouth alone, or whether it isn't. I know that the standard practice book was the biggest single factor in the system which we worked out successfully. 1 claim no especial credit. I merely saw a device that would solve most of my managerial difficulties, grabbed it, and sold it PRODUCTION ORDER DATE ISSUED DATE WANTED finwpring Whole number arivprtispm^nt Title or subject Form number arivprtisempnt Assigned to Job number Date By natp Ry Plates nrderetl of Printing ordered of (Irrier number Hate rtpxt apprntfPfl hy Hatp. 1 ayniit apprnveri hy nnpy apprnupri hy Revise apprnveil hy Final approval nafe Ry PROGRESS OF THE ORDER 11 PRINTER 1 ENGRAVER | PUBLICATION Notified space scheduled _r Copy sent » Form number 1 Whole number n Order complete from advertising production manager. Layout sent ! Whole number Cuts sent '< : Received this Productio Retouched copy in for 0. K._| Retouched copy returned ' Delivered to JDate ; sifORri Number of proofs wanted j St proof raceivRri i Date To he out i (eturned t" 2nd proof received ! Form number : Date Form number Returned i Final proof received. j 0. K'd proof returned i Whole number _ Date Following to ; CHIEF CLERK ADVERTISING PRO! 1 Please furnish following: )UCTION DIVISION '^''""""'""'" Remarks i 1 s ! — 1 c. J •-- ■^. — ±^^ pJ Helivfiry prnmisBrt Completed lob examined and approved by When THE PRODUCTION ORDER JACKET This is a two flap folder just large enough to go into the job envelope when folded. The insert shows a portion of the right hand flap, which provides a receipt for the order, and requisitions for material. The copy man puts all his material into this jacket, which is kept in the job envelope when not in use to the department. The real credit must go to my helpers who adopted the idea with heart and soul. They wrote the book and they made it the living, vital force it became in our business. One more illustration and I'm done with this topic. After 16 months of organization and production I was ready for a vacation. We hired an assistant manager — a good man. He (12) came on a Saturday. I gave him the standard practice book, the organization chart, and a few notes on matters pending, and "beat it" the next day. I was gone ten weeks. While I was gone the management of the company was changed overnight. RECORD OF PURCHASES PRINTING AND STOCK PURCHASED FROM DEPARTMENT THEtt OROER CilAiifiE QUANTmr COST FREIGHT EACH BILLED RECEIVED 0. ICd RETOUCHING PLATES OODER njRCHASED NUMBER FROM OUAMTtTY COST FRD6HT COST I DATE DATE ( DATE PER I BILLED RECEIVED 0. K'd QUANTin COST FREKHT DATE DATE DATE EACH BILLED RECEIVED 0. K'd V y Description. Quantity Number of pages. StOCkcBody) .Si2e.(B«dy)_ stock (Covr). Sirt X- Ink iB«dy^_ Job Number .Ink (C«nr). Composition (Body). .Composition (C«nr). Binding { Band _Ptrfortthig. Pliistratinns anii sl7A Average number to page Specifications sent to Their bM • Remarks. For tin original siMcmcatiiim ontMsJoDSM rium luunhM Form Number Approximate Distribution THE JOB ENVELOPE On the front of the job envelope are given the job number and brief specifica- tions for the job, the bids received, and the approximate distribution of the material. The back contains a complete record of all art work on that job. Correspondence, duplicate invoices, and other papers are filed in the envelope Drastic retrenchment was the order. Thousands of employees were dropped. I was in Switzerland when I heard about it. I knew my assistant had a definite job, whether I had or not, and I had no choice but to leave him alone. When I got back, (13) a month or so later, I found the department running smoothly along, somewhat worried, but practically intact, and I had hardly been missed. The standard practice book saved my job. It saved jobs for the people in my department. And I say to you that if you can get your department, big or little, to build a real standard practice book for you, you and they can weather almost any storm that ordinary business can develop. <;i>riA« WORK ORDER -CIRCULATION ROOM Sllhj«Rt Inh niimher Date of order Wnrk for Details of work material. COST SHEET Wnrk hefiin RnmpletPil Renort dateri 191 item Quantity Hours Cost per 100 Total cost Remarks Estimated Actual stamps Envelopes Letters Labor Ovprheail Totals Work and material furnished to advertising department. Distribution of charges. Signed. .Circulation clerk. _0. K'd by. THE CIRCULATION- WORK ORDER For each job of direct mailing a sheet like this is made out covering the material to be used, the list or lists to be circularized, and the details of matching, signing, sealing, postage, and so forth. This sheet also contains the report on the time and costs. It is filled out by the circulation forewoman and the record clerk Of course you can't put people's names in a standard prac- tice book. People come and go — an organization is permanent, if you build it right. So we gave everybody a title, sometimes two or three. When we started our organization on the basis of functions we found the same fellow on it in various places. That immediately suggested that some of them swap parts of their work. Then we had coherent units — ^no criss-crossing. Next we moved those units around to save steps. We placed new stairs to land people in the secretary's room, which accommodated the secretary, one general stenographer, two messengers, the bulletin board, and a multiplex sample ex- (14) hibit. Traffic just naturally had to gravitate to and from this room as a center. It was the easiest thing in the world for an intelligent secretaiy to keep his finger on the pulse of the department while I stayed in my dug-out and worked. It took us nearly a year to get to a point where we felt really settled and could begin to refine our methods in detail. We had taken six departments that reported to the general manager and welded them into one; established definite written routines; charted the organization according to functions, and placed the different sections where they could get at each other with the least possible confusion. So now we may leave the general story of organization and take up a few of the every day details that might be of interest, not forgetting that we still have three main principles to account for. I was personally responsible to the general manager for expenditures and policy. Our work was not censored in advance, but it had to fit. We had to know what was going on. We had to be up to the minute on the plans and acts of the gen- eral management, the sales department, the factories and the experimental corps. That meant frequent conferences with department heads, but we also had an intelligence service, a regular spy system. That meant our being real friends with the local foremen, the local salesmen, men in the drafting rooms, clerks in the sales and traffic departments, the general manager's private secretary, and every man from the outlying factories or branches that we could get hold of. Every man in the department was constantly on the lookout. The staff prided itself on being the information center. Every clew was run down and every bit of information went into a morgue for instant reference. So our campaigns did fit, and we seldom had to make awkward explanations after the fact. The secretary's staff had a definite job, which was to let me alone as much as possible. They shunted callers. They sorted and disturbed mail, looked up previous correspondence, and answered most of my letters before I had the pleasure of seeing them. They sifted trouble cases and got all the facts before bringing me the grief. They discouraged the practice (15) of each employee's running in to see the boss every few minutes on some trivial question that a little thought would answer. Department people were taught to collect the points they couldn't answer and bring up a number of them at one time for concentrated work. The department got so it didn't care much whether I was in town or not. It ran beautifully so long as I let it alone. We had a very few confidential papers in the executive files. Everything else about the place was free as air and almost as easy of access. So I had no monopoly on information and didn't have to spend my time in dispensing it. I kept one folder handy, labeled "Vanity and Ammunition." It held certain bouquets passed to us and sundry other bits of evidence that common sense told me would be useful in emer- gencies. I never went "on the carpet" without it. You can well afford personally to write a comprehensive annual report. Your concern may not ask for it. It may not be read. But it checks you up in your own eyes and places a milestone to tell you whether you are going ahead or back. I have done it for years and it is a liberal education to me now to read my old reports. It keeps me from being impatient now with fellows who know a lot more than I did at their present ages. In this particular case my reports were divided as follows : 1. Status of organizations, including names of personnel, salaries and recommendations 2. Statement of policy governing the year's work, quoted from a previous statement, and comparison with the year's activities 3. An account of the year's work of each section 4. Statement of output and costs compared with the budget 5. Resume of continued and uncompleted work 6. Recommendations as to policy for the coming year 7. Estimate of appropriation required to carry out this policy My file of annual reports would be my main solicitation if I were trying to sell myself to a new firm. As each report was written I was so close to the details that I had to tell the truth. I couldn't dress it up and leave out the unpleasant details. (16) Report fully to yourself at least once a year. It*s good for what ails you. The Record Clerk was a party to every transaction. Noth- ing could get by her. The machinery wouldn't work. Her records on jobs — ads, literature, special service, mailing, etc. — were based largely upon 9x12 envelopes, open at the top, with no flap. Four different envelope forms were used, printed front and back to accommodate for summary of costs, and so forth. These envelopes seldom left the files except when reports were being made up, or a new job of similar character was being laid out. Each envelope took the place of three to five previous card indexes and made it a simple matter to analyze our work. We kept an expenditure book and analyzed our own expen- ditures. All invoices came fik'st to Ithe Record Clerk for checking against purchase orders, estimates, and so forth. Invoices were entered on the proper envelope, also in a book with parallel columns which distributed expenditures as they were posted. We made a monthly report based on invoices passed which gave a more satisfactory comparison with the appropriation than the controller's record of bills paid. Our annual report classified expenditures by products; by terri- tories; by class of material produced; and by sections of the department. Display advertising reports showed the cost of space, commissions, cash discounts, art, and plates. Reports on literatureshowed quantities ; distribution ; and printing, art, and engraving costs. We voluntarily went so far as to furnish the treasurer each month with a statement of his probable payments on our account for the next period. Shortly after the management was changed we outlined our absolute needs for six months in advance and were within two per cent of being dead right. So they let us alone some more. Our figures earned us the privilege. Six girls, averaging $44 per month made up this section for handling records and reports. They handled all job records; checking and clipping; rate and correspondence files; files of drawings and engravings; stock records; purchases, invoices and accounts, and did considerable stenographic work besides. (17) This section saved its cost and paid dividends every month in the year. Three other devices handled by this section are worth noting. One was a "Future Job" envelope, similar in size to the original but of different color. This was filed right behind the original. We put all kicks and criticisms on a job in the "Future Job" envelope — all suggestions and all data for the next edition. It discounted memory and gave the copy man a flying start the next time. The second was a system of permanent looseleaf binders — big ones — each devoted to one product in all its sizes and models. This was our "Morgue." Each binder covered in part: 1. Product's excuse for existence, such as the view of the inventor, builder, salesman, and so forth 2. Sizes, variations, and accessories 3. Territory or markets to which adapted and most favor- able thereof 4. Field performance, comprising testimonials and rec- ords of tests 5. Costs, prices, competitive prices, terms, and discounts 6. Weights, shipping data, and the like. In short we collected all the "inside" information that would give a new man a clear perspective before he began to write, us well as information up to the minute. It is a fact that our best catalog man was with us a year before he ever saw a thresh- ing outfit at work. But by that time his vanity file was full of bouquets from the sales force. The third device was an 8^x11 card that superseded five card indexes on illustrative material. We had the Dewey deci- mal system in our library so we applied it to our drawing and engraving files, also. The copy man found his information in the library and then went for his pictures under the same index number, or vice versa. This card recorded purchases, and data on inventory, filing, and shipping. It took care, not only of one drawing from a subject, but of all drawings, negatives, lantern slides, prints, engravings, and electros from that sub- ject, in whatever form or size. When a man found the picture he wanted, he had before him a record of every reproduction that had been made of it and where that particular reproduc- (18) tion was — whether we had it, or a printer, engraver, or publication. All this work of the record section may seem out of the question in a small department. But in a later connection I got it all done — substantially — but on a smaller scale, with one $40 girl. The functions of such a section are the same, regard- less of size. We have covered five of the seven principles — written orders, permanent records, standard practice instructions, divi- sion of functions, and reports. The other two — ^understudies and the reward of individuals — are closely allied. INDEX NUMBER SUBJECT UNE ITEM SCREE SIZE ORDER PURCHASED FROM FOR QUANTIT Y COST COST EACH DRAWING NUMBFR NEGATIVE CABINET NUMBER DRAWER DATE NUMBER 1 2 3 — 1 ' -• -1 r^ . . LINE DATE QUANTITY FOR SENT TO ADDRESS STATE VIA ON HAND ?i 24 ~ 25 ?fi 27 28 ?9 30 • 31 34 35 MAKING ONE CARD DO THE WORK OF FIVE This card records the purchase, filing, and shipping data of all reproductions of the same subject. Under "item" is noted the kind of reproduction, such as original, negative, or zinc.Thus each "line" number represents a detailed de- scription. A proof that will identify the subject at large is pasted on the back The death of one advertising production manager and the illness of another in our department threw a heavy load upon the next man in line. He passed his work on down. The extreme pressure of our regular work gave us no chance to speed up anywhere except at the bottom. Each of us sub- scribed to the theory that we ought not to do anything that could be done by cheaper help. As a result we had a capable (19) understudy at every point. We very rarely had production interrupted because nobody understood what came next. Volume alone was the problem, week in and week out. The introduction to our standard practice book pictured an ideal. This ideal was a state wherein any individual might be "fired," get sick, or die without being missed. That was the ideal from the company's standpoint. But it was also pointed out to the staff that the man who could be fired because he had put his job where it could be handled by somebody else was just the man the company was always looking for to fill a vacancy higher up. We were travelling fast, and promotions to new work came fast enough to give our ideal a definite meaning. To the man who kept himself ready for his 'reward our ideal was no empty dream. PHOTOGRAPH REQUISITION DATE NEGATIVES SUBJECT PRINTS ENLARGEMENTS PRICE ■ — Negative Copy Block Size Negative number Mounted Unmounted Matte 1 Black and vKhite ~~| Sepia u -.^ ■ — -^ These are wanted for Name City Charge to. Remarks. Street. State_ ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT KNOWING WHERE THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE Illustrative material is useless if it can not be located within a reasonable time. An uncomplicated form somewhat like this one is used to requisition photo- graphs, or other library material, and makes the handling of this work com- paratively simple, especially when several orders are out at one time The executive who isn't constantly figuring out bigger jobs for his men, so they can make more money, isn't growing. The most humihating occurrence I can think of is to have a good man come and ask me for more money. I always try to "beat , (20) him to it." And I've lost very few men that I didn't help to get a better job somewhere else. The employee who keeps his job all to himself for fear some one will take it away from him will never have a better one. He'll be the man with the one talent, and on the day of reckoning he'll lose that. But it's the manager's job to give him the right slant — ^to help him develop his understudy — and to find the man's reward. If he can't possibly find it in his own concern then let him graduate the fellow when he's ripe and fall back on the under- study. Keeping men who don't belong to you doesn't get you anywhere. Harrington Emerson has twelve principles of efficiency. I don't know what they are. Taylor, I think, has ten. I started out by giving you three — get a good man, give him a definite job, and let him alone- — and said that under some conditions the last two were enough. I've outlined seven. You probably can write those over into five, or nine. The number doesn't make much difference. They all arrive at the same total. I started to talk about system. System is one thing — details, routines. I've told you about a few of the systematic devices we found useful. But it's hard to talk about systems without explaining conditions. It's hard to talk about conditions without getting off into the theory of organization. And then you run right into the subject of efficiency, which is nothing but the standardization of good systems. I believe that most men, if they had been put up against a similar job, would have reacted about as I did. So I have given you my experience as I see it, believing that the principles I had to recognize to keep ahead of this particular job — the hardest job I ever want to have — will stand the test in yours. The system perhaps won't apply. The seven principles will. (21) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. ^^^ 19W48 vm 1 ' ■■'11 > '- ill! ^^ Hi! 1; X' ■ ► -.'•■>• HI LD 21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 I !!i TC 92896 3G9984 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA UBRARY !l:l! i'-'':i^::MimmMmmi