I/EC
The Professional Side
The Research Chemist —Important Source of Management Material A criticism leveled a t the chemical industry in this time o f technical personnel shortages is the movement o f technical p e o p l e into m a n a g e m e n t positions. W e have asked Dr. Scott, w h o is himself a " d i s p l a c e d " research chemist, to present the g e n e r a l picture o f w h y research men m a y b e m o v e d into management, how they react, w h a t they contribute, a n d w h a t arrangements can b e m a d e to recognize m a n a g e m e n t - c a l i b e r p e o p l e w h o wish t o stay in research.
I EAM EFFORT
as
a
development
of h u m a n culture is a phenomenon which has reached its fullest flower in the United States—to such an extent that the phrase has come to be recognized as a living svmbol for the name of our country. Its practice is just as universal in modern industrial organizations as it is in the more easily comprehensible spectacle of professional baseball. Moreover, the similarity between a business and a baseball team is a very real one in more than superficial ways. Each plays to win ; each seeks to obtain the best individual talent available for its roster; each strives to utilize that talent to the optimum advantage of the individual and of the whole organization. T h e members of the industrial team are as easy to identify as those of a baseball club: stockholders, research, production, sales, and management. Less obvious, perhaps, is the definition of their functions, particularly those of management. If the analogy to baseball may be extended, however, management can be compared to the role of team manager. Its primary responsibilities are purely administrative, a n d are concerned with policy formulation, long-range planning, and the optimum utilization of talent : people. It must anticipate the whole season as well as the game of the day and the next play of that game. Although
it may be of itself a team, management is as much a part of the industrial team as the baseball manager is of his, and wins or loses just as much. At this point the parallelism between management and the baseball club manager might appear to diverge. This is not true. T h e manager was once a first string player who developed his innate talents and interests to such a degree that he earned his position on the squad, but who has attained his role as manager by virtue of other qualities which may bear no direct relationship to his athletic prowess. Management is a group whose members have demonstrated those same distinguishing characteristics. In the case of a baseball team the manager m a y have been a pitcher, a catcher, a shortstop, or a fielder. In a chemical company, a member of management m a y have been a research chemist or engineer, a production man, or a salesman. It's as simple as that, a n d as logical. T h e research chemist or engineer, in a very real sense, is regarded as being a part of management as soon as he reports for work. His discoveries in the laboratory will have a profound influence on the future of his company even though at the moment he m a y not be called upon to participate in the executive decision to exploit those discoveries commercially. His imagination, in-
SAMUEL L. SCOTT received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Illinois a n d joined D u Pont in 1940 as a research chemist at the Experimental Station in Wilmington. Transferred to the Personnel Division of the Employee Relations D e p a r t m e n t in 1946, Dr. Scott's function is the interviewing a n d assisting in placement of P h . D . candidates in all technical fields.
genuity, and intelligence exert a far-reaching effect on his company's continued well-being. It is only natural that the management positions in research organizations today are filled primarily by research men whose creative ability and leadership qualities enable them to contribute importantly to the effectiveness of the laboratory. Furthermore, the expansion of technical opportunities in other phases of the chemical business—an inevitable outgrowth of the greater complexity of modern technology—has provided additional administrative positions which the research m a n can consider. Any such evolution results from the satisfaction of one or more of three conditions—need, inclination, and ability. T h e most compelling of these is probably need. While total employment in the chemical industry increased 1 4 . 3 % between 1948 a n d 1953, the growth of technical employment during the same period was appreciably greater: 27.6% for chemists, 4 5 . 1 % for chemical engineers, and 6 1 . 9 % for other technical people. Even though some increase might be expected to accompany the growth VOL. 48, NO. 9
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SEPTEMBER 1956
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THE PROFESSIONAL SIDE of the industry, the greater rate of employment of technical men would seem out of line with all normal expectation in spite of the fact that the more complex operations to day require a higher number of men with technical backgrounds to effect them. Part of the answer lies in the trend toward greater numbers of management people in industrial organizations generally. For example, during the past 25 years the ratio of supervisory staff to production people has changed from one-to-15 to one-to-8. It is only natural that the industries which depend on research for their continued health and growth, should draw upon their research organi zations to fill managerial positions in other phases of their business. The complexity does not confine itself to the research laboratory— it moves into production, into sales, into the additional services dictated by its very existence. Thus the research man is needed in a variety of industrial activities, in the aggregate referred to as manage ment. He moves into these positions to satisfy the need, and the migration has a salutary effect on the whole organization. It strengthens the management team, and it promotes better understanding and liaison with the philosophy and objectives of the research staff. T h e individual researcher knows that the same opportunity exists for him, if he is qualified and so inclined, and he trusts the judgments of an adminis tration whose members have under gone the same training and experi ence as he. This is beneficial even though he may realize that his chance of reaching top management is statistically small. The position of a research man who has advanced into a top-level administrative position which em braces activities so broad and di verse as to preclude his continued participation in research is not unique to industry. A close rela tionship exists in academic circles, where the talented research pro fessor may become a dean or college president and find that he must relinquish part or all of his research program. His colleagues might re gret the exigencies of the situation— from an objective, long-range view point, with regard to the students
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY For further information, circle number 93 A on Readers' Service Card, page 139 A
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THE PROFESSIONAL SIDE who otherwise would have bene fited from their frequent contacts with that inspirational individual— but they welcome the opportunity to rely on the judgment of a m a n whose stature they respect and whose experience is closely comparable to their own. T h e industrial research chemist feels the same way as his academic peer. With regard to inclination, it is reasonable to expect that a fraction of research chemists, just as is true of those in other professional pursuits, would lean toward administrative outlets. Someone is sure to interject the opinion that the decision of top research men to exchange the labora tory bench for the mahogany desk often has nothing to do with inclina tion b u t is a result of the external pressures or inducements occasioned by recognition of his singular talents. T h e need for administrators exists, and this need has undoubtedly influ enced many such decisions. T h e inducements may take the form of increased economic rewards or en hanced prestige. Research men, like everyone else, have been reared in the great American tradition that to "get a h e a d " is the proper a n d only course of action.
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In a very few instances there may be negative forces which affect decisions to go into administrative work, such as the fear that failure to accept an opportunity to move into such a position m a y brand the researcher as lacking in ambition or gratitude or may prejudice his future progress forever. A number of chemical companies have demon strated their comprehension of this circumstance by devising nonadministrative positions which recog nize and reward the superior re search talent. O n e type of such positions, sometimes designated as the research associateship, is awarded to those top-notch laboratory people whose primary abilities and interests lie in the research realm. T h e research associateship program is an intelligent plan which effectively refutes the charges that research men must go into management in order to advance. Other high-level nonadministrative staff positions which require advanced technical training for their competent execution pro vide opportunities for research men
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
OXYGEN key to modern industrial processes
Control it with...
ARNOLD O. Beckman O X Y G E N
INC.
A N A L Y Z E R S
Oxygen is one of the most impor tant factors found in modern chem ical and industrial processes. Whether to minimize product oxidation (pre pared atmospheres, air infiltration, etc.) . . . or to insure adequate oxygen for efficient combustion (boilers, kilns, etc.) . . . or to control oxygen for proper process operations (am monia, acetylene, air fractionation, etc.) oxygen control has become too important in today's operations for any
profit-minded executive to overlook. And because they are the only instru ments that measure oxygen content directly, accurately and conveniently, Arnold O. Beckman Oxygen Analyzers have become the leading instruments for modern oxygen control in a wide range of applications —from catalytic refineries to cement kilns—from power plants to personnel protection. These instruments (and systems) can be built to meet your individual needs.
offer m a n y u n i q u e a d v a n t a g e s . . . SELECTIVITY: Highly sensitive to oxygen. Effects of gases other than oxygen are negligible. HIGH ACCURACY: 1 % of full scale (Example: ± 0 . 0 5 % 0 2 on range 0-5% 0 2 ). MANY RANGES: Full scale ranges from 0-1000 ppm or up to 0-100% O2 available. Combustion ranges 0-5, 0-10, 0-15% 0 2 supplied with 0-25% 0 2 check range. Multi-range instruments available. RAPID RESPONSE: Standard Analyzers-95% response in less than 1 minute. Special Units —95% response in 7 seconds! USE ANY RECORDER: Millivolt output for potentiom eters; current output for miniature electronic recorders and galvonometers; air output for pneumatic receivers and control systems. Model F3: Ranges of 0 - 1 % , 0-5%, 0-10%, and higher. Meter on door for convenient readings at sampling point.
PACKAGE UNITS: Analyzers and controls may be built into a cubicle with sampling components wired, piped, and ready for installation as a single unit. SAMPLING SYSTEMS: Complete standard systemscomponents, package or portable units are available.
Model G2: Full scale ranges 0-0.1%, 0-0.5%, and others for low 0 2 con tent. Ranges 90-100%, 95-100% O2 for high O2 content.
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
THE PROFESSIONAL SIDE whose interests develop along more humanistic than scientific routes. There is little doubt that all re searchers who have accepted ad ministrative posts have done so voluntarily. Even though a man may have followed his inclinations to go into research without a thought to managerial possibilities, it can and does happen that he may dis cover that he also enjoys adminis trative work. His company, needing managerial talent, must grant him the privilege of changing his mind and avail itself of the opportunity to utilize an individual who knows its problems and wants to help solve them. T h e last-but-not-least condition to be considered is that of ability. T h e old-fashioned notion that all researchers are highly introverted individuals who are so dedicated to their experimentations that they have no talent for anything other than abstract phenomena may still exist but it is rapidly becoming extinct. No doubt there will always be a sufficient number of extreme cases to give credence to the carica ture to those who choose to look for it—this is true in every walk of life— but supremacy in one type of endeavor is too often accompanied by superiority in others to be ignored. T h e top-notch research m a n can, and frequently does, possess as much administrative ability as a top-notch anyone-else. If he does, he should have the opportunity to exercise that ability. To return to the earlier parallelism between industry and the baseball team, it would seem that in both instances the role of manager re quires not only the responsibility of inspirational leadership and per sonal example but also the ability to select those individuals who will be most productive on either the indus trial or athletic team. T h e indus trial manager who supervises re search personnel must accept the premise that each employee is in dividually constituted. He must ex ercise rare judgment in determin ing whether the chemist or engineer is achieving the greatest degree of satisfaction from his present field of work or whether, irrespective of need, his inherent capacities could be better utilized in another sphere of activity.
