GOVERNMENT Coming: Square Deal in Pentagon? Pentagon appoints Kushnick as first step to carry out Hoover suggestions on personnel problems JTRODDED by a Hoover Commission r e -
port, the Defense Department is getting r e a d y to attack its personnel problems. Xo do so. Defense has appointed William H. Kushnick t o head a special a d visory committee. Facing Kushnick, Executive Director of t h e Instrument Society of America, is a formidable arr a y of recommendations made by a Hoover Task Force. Kushnick's job will b e to take action o n those recommendations. His group then will report to the Armed Forces Policy Council priorities and means for p u t t i n g into effect the more than 60 specific recommendations of the Hoover group. Many recommendations m a d e b y a Hoover subcommittee o n special personnel problems affect chemists a n d chemical engineers working in t h e laboratories of t h e Defense Departm e n t . It is particularly with this subcommittee's report, summarized below, that Kushnick's group must deal.
• The Reid Report. When it began its work, t h e Hoover Commission appointed a subcommittee headed by Thomas R. Fieid to investigate the special personnel problems in t h e Defense Department. Mincing no words, the Reid group now scores t h e military for failing to modernize its departments to keep pace with t h e increased importance of support activities in modern warfare. If its recommendations are followed, says the subcommittee, they will result in "recruiting a n d selecting better qualified people, improving the management talent available, and keeping competent people on t h e job." In addition, through more efficiently conducted operations an annual saving of $388 million to $1.2 billion could be realized. )> Military vs. Civilian. There has always been an overlapping of military a n d civilian interest in the Department of Defense that will never b e completely resolved. T h e nation will never
Kushnick Group Faces These Suggestions in Reid Report • Decide which management a n d technical jobs will b e filled b y civilians and w h i c h will be filled by military officers • Give career civilians more opportunity to rise to higher positions • Provide greater training opportunities, both within the department and at universities, to develop competent civilian managers and technicians • Increase salaries of civilians in the u p p e r grades to be more in line with the pay-responsibility ratio prevalent in industry • Delegate to managers at all levels primary authority and responsibility for administering their personnel a n d programs • Humanize the personnel program • Note cost reduction and improved performance in evaluating of a project or selecting managers for promotion
success
• Assign militai > officers to specialized projects only where the officers can be expected t o be competent • Increase length of assignment t o special projects so that officers can be of real benefit t o the project
4806
C&EN
N O V . 7, 1 9 5 5
W i l l i a m H. Kushnick
Priorities for personnel problems? permit t h e department to be run completely b y the military, and military science makes complete civilian staffing impossible. Net result is no clear-cuj: separation between areas of military influence and civilian influence. This has led to t h e wasteful practice of duplicate staffing, asserts the Reid group. Below t h e secretarial level, t h e civilian scientist or specialist is normally subordinate to military officers. T h e usual pattern is a military man in charge with a civilian as his technical assistant. Role of the civilian technical assistant is to "provide continuity a n d technical know how, and train the procession of military officers w h o are assigned to the key positions." T h e Reid subcommittee suggests developing a definite policy stating which jobs wall b e filled by civilians a n d which will b e filled by military officers. For instance civilians could take over where management and technical skills usual to t h e civilian economy are required, where continuity of management and experience can b e better provided by civilians, and at fixed support activities throughout the world. T h e military could take over all combat-related activities immediately supporting operational forces and positions necessary for the training of officers. • Dead End J o b s . Civilian technical people feel stymied and are prevented from advancing to positions of greater responsibility, says the Reid group. This is chiefly because the majority of higher level administrative positions are held by military officers. At one installation employing 3268 civilians with 28 military assigned, nine of t h e 11 top jobs were held b y military officers. Constant rotation of officer supervisors after a short period of assignment aggravates the situation, says t h e report. An officer has hardly become familiar with the ramifications of his assignment when h e is replaced by an-
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C&EN
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other n e w m a n . Such rapid shifting of supervisors tends t o develop a cautious, stand-pat attitude on t h e part of t h e temporary incumbent rather than t h e bold, daring attitude s o necessary for successful research a n d development. U n d e r the circumstances, technical people waste enormous amounts of time in training a n d becoming adjusted to n e w supervisors. They often feel progress is being made at a snail's pace. > High Turnover. Frustrations such as these play h o b with morale of t h e scientific staff. This i s reflected in t h e abnormally high rate of turnover of r e search and development people, some times estimated t o be over 507c during t h e past three years. T h e Reid group says: "The research a n d development group expressed the strongest feelings of all occupational groups against their status quo." Most w e r e dissatisfied with m a n a g e m e n t of research and felt t h a t ability and performance counted for little in advancement, t h e report adds. Also gnawing at civilian technical m e n is the lack of opportunity for per sonal and professional development through organization—sponsored train ing a n d training in outside institutions financed by Government. By contrast t h e military has a n outstanding program of officer training t h a t has paid off handsomely in results. An opinion sur vey b y the Reid group among key per sonnel shows that, while 7 3 % of t h e officers have received full time training at Department of Defense expense, only 16% of the civilians have received comparable training. • W r o n g End of Telescope? O n e of the most serious criticisms leveled b y the Reid g r o u p at t o p management is that it b e c o m e s so involved with t h e problems of local operations that t h e broader p r o g r a m appraisal is over looked. Result is that, instead of b e ing free t o plan and appraise results, top level personnel "resort t o a police function which results in detailed m a n agement controls at t h e local l e v e l / ' Basically, says t h e Reid report, this o p erating practice sterns from insufficient delegation of authority. Local m a n a g e m e n t is heavily b u r d e n e d with numerous, unnecessarily d e tailed controls established by higher echelons. T h e higher staff levels a r e quick to s a y t h a t these controls a r e merely guides b u t fail to a d d that even minor exceptions often require approval b y higher echelons, notes the Reid r e port. Best remedy according t o the Reid g r o u p is t o revamp t h e organization along business lines—decentralize a u thority a n d give more authority a n d responsibility t o field levels of m a n a g e 4810
C&EN
N O V . 7.
1955
man found that automation was wel comed as "progress" by all witnesses, including those w h o feared it would cause short-run hardships. Among t h e witnesses with this type of opinion was Vannevar Bush, president, Carnegie Institution of Washington. Bush says automation will bring long-run benefits but possible "distress and hardship for individuals" in t h e near future unless "wisdom and restraint" are used. • No Explosive Effects. Patman seemed generally reassured, however, that wisdom a n d restraint would b e used by industry for the most part. H e concluded that automation will spread through the economy gradually a n d without "explosive effects." Nor does Congress Likes Automation Patman foresee a n y widespread u n e m ployment because of automation's sudden impact. He also concludes that Industry is g e n e r a l l y a w a r e factory jobs will be safer a n d less m o of its responsibilities t o notonous. worker replaced b y automa Adding weight to these conclusions tion, Congressional group was the earlier testimony of Allen V . _Ας*-ίη ^î^p^j-Qj. .^ç |-Ke Nations.' 3iires.ii of Standards. Astin said h e believed this country's future economic health No N E W LEGISLATION or legislative and expansion depended on mechanizachianges a r e required to keep pace with t h e impact of automation on the n a tion of all kinds. Automation, to h i s tional economy, concludes Rep. Wright way of thinking, is just another facet P a t m a n (D.-Tex.). He m a d e this state to the broad area of mechanization m e n t as h e brought to a n end his sub upon which t h e present economy is Astin also pointed out t h a t committee of the Joint Economic Re based. many of the τχ:achines, such as compu port's hearings on automation (C&EN, ters, developed by NBS d o routine Oct. 3 1 , p a g e 4 6 4 8 ) . types of work. This repetitive work is Only major flaw h e found during of such magnitude that any organiza t w o weeks of testimony was that t h e railroad industry leaders h a d not "rec tion, were it to hire enough personnel to do t h e same job, would find it eco ognized their responsibility" t o retrain nomically impossible. Without compu a n d relocate workers laid off b y laborters, no one would be hired and t h e saving devices. Patman warned that "Congress will do something about i t " problem would never b e solved. With computers, jobs are made possible, t h e i n t h e future unless the industry takes problems a r e solved, a n d t h e technol action. ogy and economy progress. On the positive side, however, Patment for more efficient operation. • W h y Do α Better J o b ? T h e sub committee deplores the absence of t h e profit motive or an effective substitute for the industrial profit a n d loss state ment in Defense Department opera tions. Missing are group goals for cost reduction a n d performance improve ment which a r e continually reset t o provide fresh challenges. Managers have n o incentive to cut costs and im prove performance since these factors have little significance in recognition a n d promotion. Again a return to cur rent business practice is t h e solution suggested by t h e Reid group.
Potomac
Postscripts
• The
Hazard
Reactor
Staff
is
shifted to AEC's Civilian Application Division. Transfer will augment work of the Division in protecting t h e public from potential hazards in the growing private atomic energy in dustry. Staff formerly was under t h e General Manager's Office. • A
reduction
in r e d t a p e for
certificates of necessity is here as t h e Office of Defense Mobilization abolishes form O D M F - 1 , requiring Census Bureau reports.
be decreased b y a Food a n d Drug Administration advisory ruling. I t asks industry t o p u t warning state ments on label. • Changes in flammability limits for various fabrics are under study by the Federal Trade Commission. Revisions a r e concerned with plain fabrics and looped fabrics such a s "terry cloth." • Census of Business and ManufacLU-lCa OKJKJll W i l l
• Accidental poisoning of children b y overdoses of aspirin and other salicylate preparations is expected to
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