June 1953
WALTER J. MURPHY, EDITOR
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The Attributes of the Professional Manager &hour train ride between New York and Washington A recently provided an opportunity t o read and digest a ddlenging book entitled “Fundamental Research in Administration-Horizons and Problems,” and we recommend it bigbly to those in the managerial field and to those chemists and chemical engineers who may feel an urge to enter admink+ trative work. The hook setually consists of an address, “What Does Industry Expect,” delivered by Sidney A. Swensrud, president of the Gulf Oil Corp., on the occasion of the dedication of the new building housing the Graduate School of Industrial Administration of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and a round-tahle discussion of the g e n e d subject of fundmental research in administration. The discussion was participated in hy 12 of the nation’s leading business a h n h trators, graduate educators, and researchers, staged as a part of the dedication ceremonies. Space permits only limited comment on one segment of Mr. Swensrud’s speech, but those Seriously interested in the broad subject of management will 6nd the entire talk and round-table discussion brimming over with thoughbprovoking ideas. The Graduate School of Industrial Administration of Carnegie Tech was endowed by the late William L. Mellon. In Mr. Swensrud’s introductoryremarks, he pointed out that Mr. Mellon in his lifetime witnessed a managerial revolution. Mr. Mellon came into a world of gaslight, of dbusiness, of simple factories and industrial processes. Today modern industry, certainly a Iarge portion of it, is vaat and complex. No one man can hope to know and manse in detail all the elements of any major business concern of today. Modern power and modern processes and techniques have revolutionised industrial proceases and have taken them beyond the comprehension of any hut expert technologists. No man today has the personal finanoial resources to provide the capital for even a small part of today’s industrial giants. From this vast complex of change, Mr. Swensrud singles out two developments of major significance: (1) The day of the professional manager is here; (2) modern management rests increasingly on fitting together men and technology. He then goes on to point out that in many fields in American industry today, an increasing number of management jobs are being filled by men who were engineers hy original training. We all know this to he true, although, at least in the chemical and chemical process industries, there are many in managerial and administrative posts who were trained as chemists rather than as chemical engineers. We believe Mr. Swensrud would agree. And now to the real meat of his comments. Their signiiicance is ohvious.
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every management man knows that it is dl too easy for the engineer and the scientist t o he narrowly trained and
oriented, unsuited for taking on management responsibilities because of his lark of broad knowledge and understanding of tho nlsny other phases of husincss. Knowledge of technology is important in modern industry, but the engineer nlouc is apt t o hen mere technician. The engineor who is going to he more than n skiiled technician has to broaden his training and his understanding in at least three important ways. One, he has to undentand the meshing of functions in a business enterprise. He has to know the interrelations of production, marketing, Iinance, human relations; the prohlems raised by the relationships; and the ways in which the profeasional manager endenvors ta deal with these prohlemn. Two, he has to underatand the limitations of the strictly technical approach to problems, and to appreciate how, in favorable circumstances, imagination may break through these limitations . . . Three,he has to understand that the management of businogg enterprise is not only the organization of matcrialn, equip ment, and proces8e8. Even more important, it is the organization of human beings in dective working groups. How to get people to do things is the prime question in every discussion of labor relatiom, in every discussion of the admiuistration of salesmen, in every discussion of supplier-customer relations, in just ahout every discussion of organization and management. All too frequently, we hear another type of opinion expressed by srieutists and engineers-namcly, that m a ~ g e r ~ oradministratorsneed very little in the way of special trsiniig or skills except an ability to woo the boss’s daughter successfully. All too frequently, wientists and tichnologista look down on those who are successful administrators, with considerable disdain and a feeling that such individuals are where they are only hy good fortune and tlicy would be miserable fnilures as scientists and technologists. The latter may or may not he t r u e i t depends upon the individual. However, it is well to keep in mind that some highly surrcsvful scientists and engineers become less than successful when appointed to managerial or administrative positions. Mr. Swensrud points out that it is the man who sees beyond today’s joh, the mnn who can take on the new and difficult task, the man who knows his fundamentals well and learns the details as he needs them, who has the caliber of being the professional mannger. Such mrn are in short supply. Training and experience as a chemist or chemical engineer are wonderful assets to the professional manager in the chemical and chemical proress industrics, but they are not the whole ball of wax. That is why many progressive companies are selecting promising material from their srientsc and technical personnel for further training a t Carnegie Tech‘s Graduate School of Industrial Administration or its counterpart in other institutions.
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