Maw 1948 WALTER J. MURPHY, EDITOR
Citizenship, lncorpor ated dictionary makes interesting reading W to the thoughtful mind. Its definitions, compelled to be a t once brief and precise, frequently are as EBSTER’S
successful as great poetry in expressing fundamental truths. Two definitions from the collegiate edition, taken together, sum up a relationship well worth some thought : I‘ Corporation***A body.politic or corporate formed and authorized by law t o act as a single person * **” “C&zen***A member of a state; a person who owes allegiance to a government, and is entitled to protection from it.”
Much conscious or unconscious propaganda has been about “the soulless corporations.” This characterization is not entirely true. Corporations have an opportunity-indeed, they have an obligation-to contribute as citizens to the well-being and progress of our nation. Examples can be given to shdu. that many corporations do. The corporation is obviously a rather complex “person.” It can function as a citizen in several ways. Industrial organizations that produce goods, or offer services almcst unavoidably contribute to the welfare of the nation; they create wealth through processing operations that convert crude ores and other raw materials into products of value and utility. As organizations capable of accomplishment they are this country’s greatest strength in times of national peril. This aspect of their citizenship is clearly established, and they are individually and collectively available in time of war. Corporations make a citizen’s contribution when they honestly interpret for local or national government the effect of its acts on their legitimate self-interests. They are an organic part of the community, and what does them harm also harms the larger group. They also have greater opportunities for real statesmanship. Every organization of any size has a unique accumulation of experience. This resource can be used to give priceless aid on many civil issues entirely unrelated to the corporation’s business interests. Awareness of this opportunity for citizenship appears to be growing. Roland P. Soule, vice president of American Machine and Foundry Company, in a recent address stated:
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“Every company has its specialists. But how many today have even one man working single-mindedly and whole-heartedly for uninterrupted growth in the country’s total production-which is the one thing mcst important to every company’s continued success in the coming years? Here is a new responsibility that must be shouldered by every company which realizes it cannot prosper unless the whole country prospers***.” Le R. Boulware, vice president of General Electric, speaking before the American Management Association February 27, feels the present time is particularly well-chosen for getting a response to such industrialsponsored activities. “Businessmen have not for 15 years had an opportunity where a positive program of theirs in the public interest had such a chance of being recognized as such. They have not for 100 years had such an opportunity to explain the proper working of our free system to a nation eager to listen and determined to take any action that is right.” Operating policies that earn the friendly respect of their customers and the general public are another form of eorporation citizenship. The ccmpany reaps obvious benefits of customer good will ; it also influences the entire public attitude toward the corporation, both in general terms and as an individual company, as an element of the social structure. From the corporation’s business practices the public either concludes that it is good, and deserves continued existence and growth, or that it is bad, and requires legislative control to limit its excesses or to destroy it entirely. Just as the corporation has a citizen’s opportunity to use its organizational talents in the community’s service, it also can nourish the scientific commonwealth from its accumulated technical experience. The pages of this publication convincingly show that this element of citizenship exists in practice. It is well to ask, however, whether the company stimulates submission of these papers as its own policy, or acts from a desire to keep its professionally conscious employees happy, We suspect the basic motive varies from on&organization to another. Really outstanding and unambiguous examples of industrial citizenship for the scientific community exist, however. The remarkable papers on vapor pressures and azeotropic data published within
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the past year by members of the Dow Chemical Company are eminent illustrations. Companies willing, in effect, to donate a large portion of an able employee’s time to the demanding requirements of a key position in a technical society are practicing citizenship in the scientific community. The AMERICANCHEMICALSOCIETY’S program would be drastically different without the efforts of those working for A.C.S. interests with their employer’s consent during the working day, using the employer’s facilities. Finally, the corporation has a particularly personal obligation to show its citizenship by being a good “family man” to its employees. People who are proud of the company they work for and who believe in its policies make for stability and harmony generally. Mutual management-employee relationships are discussed a t some length in the editorial “Human Engineering” which appeared in the March 8 issue of Chemical and Engineering News. The professional employee has some quite specific needs that the employer can supply in practicing citizenship in its relations with members of its own family. The technical person’s foremost need is the opportunity for continued professional growth. His job gives him experience that may or may not aid materially to this end, depending on the proportion of his abilities it requires. He will always have the further need for keeping u p with the constant advances in his profession. A truly professional man’s education never ends. Where schools are available, the employer can support attendance through partial or total payment of tuition fees. Where they are absent, classes almost always can be organized under the instruction of more advanced staff members. The Mansanto Chemical Company has received well-deserved approbation for inaugurating “sabbatical leaves” at full pay for one year for selected professional employees. The employer’s encouragement of technical employees to attend scientific meetings will not replace the more thorough classroom activities in specific fields of knowledge. Such attendance will, however, put the employee in tune with current developments and stimulate him to discover fields of growing importance. It is an act of good citizenship for the employer to respect the technical employee’s professional interests. Pride in a difficult job well done brings a natural desire for professional recognition, which is traditionally satisfied by a paper read before a scientific meeting or published in a technical journal. This pride can be turned to bitter disgust if the company considers the employee’s professional associations only an opportunity for commercial exploitation. Where public relations departments, which are usually under a nonscientific head, have a voice in the procedure, the danger seems particularly great in not understanding the professional sensitivities of the author. We are not so unrealistic as to urge that the em-
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ployee can be given complete freedom to publish what he will of the company’s work. A reputation for liberality can be earned while still protecting elements of know-how that really are competitive assets. The professional pride and interest of the technical employee in his work should be recognized in the daily routines. Inflexibility in arrival and departure requirements has robbed many a young chemipt and cheniical engineer of much of the satisfaction of working overtime, with no thought of extra pay, to solve a difficult problem. We have saved until last comment on what is probably the most difficult field. yet one of the most important, in which a corporation can practice citizenship in its dealings with its professional employees. This is the citizenship of giring the employee a fair chance to find his true level in earning power and professional skill. In his economic bargaining, a person in the chemical profession faces a real dilemma. If he is actually a professional his talents are unique; much of his potential value to the employer rests on a combination of capabilities not duplicated in any other person. No wonder he is so strongly repelled by the implications of collective bargaining! Yet as an employee he does not have the freedom the doctor. the lawyer, and the relatively few chemical consultants have in setting a fee that compensates him in direct measure to the value others place on his services. Dissatisfaction a t his impotent position is doubtless the root of the disturbance the employee-chemist or chemical engineer feels when he views the startling advance in relative living standards made in recent years through collective bargaining by the trades. The employer will gain directly, as well as perform an act of real citizenship, if he gives the professional employee adequate opportunity to learn what value others place on his services. The employer will gain especially from the employee’s peace of mind. The employee most likely to be vocally dissatisfied with his salary will probably find on actual investigation that his impressions of greener pastures elsewhere were distinctly inflated. Employers will recall how abruptly many technical employees changed their attitude about their pay and job when manpower controls were dropped following the war. When the employee was once again free to go elsewhere, he saw the advantages of the old job in truer perspective. The employer has long known that technical meetings are good places for discovering new talent for the organization. If h e has a genuine interest in the well-being of his professional employees, he can encourage them to use the same forum for the individual economic bargaining appropriate to the chemical profession. Corporations that deny their obligations as citizens are disfranchising themselves of one of the greatest social privileges available on the earth today-the operation of a free democracy.
