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he was afraid not to.

The man labored because poverty threatened

him if idle. We were in what might be called

a “pain economy”; we worked to escape pain.

To-day this has largely been changed.

 

Employers, too, are experimenting boldly

with the idea of creating pleasure in work.

The first step has been taken in the very

general elimination of the old wasteful, neglectful

elements of factory and office environment.

Comfort, the first neutral element

of pleasure, is provided for employees just as

solid foundations are provided for the factory

buildings. There is light, heat, and ventilation

where a generation ago there were tiny windows,

<p 180>

shadows, lonely stoves, and foul air. Cleanliness

is provided and preserved; not a few of

the larger industries employ a regular corps of

janitors to keep floors, walls, and windows clean.

The walls are tinted; the lights are arranged

so as to provide the right illumination without

straining the workers’ eyes. The departments

are symmetrically arranged; the aisles are

wide; the working space is ample; there is

no fear to haunt machine tenders that a mis-step or a moment of forgetfulness will entangle

them in a neighboring machine. The factory

buildings themselves, without being pretentious,

have pleasing, simple lines and unobtrusive

ornamentation. They look like, and

are, when the human equation does not interfere,

*pleasant places to work in.

 

This is the typical modern factory; thousands

can be found in America. On this

foundation of good working conditions and

pleasant environment, many companies have

built more or less elaborate systems of welfare

work, whose effectiveness in creating

pleasure and efficiency seem to depend on the

<p 181>

purpose and spirit of the men behind them.

These systems frequently begin with beautification

of the factory premises and workrooms

—window boxes, factory lawns, ivied walls,

trees, and shrubs—and advance by various

stages to lunch rooms for workers, factory

libraries, rest rooms for women workers, factory

nurses and physicians, and sometimes the

development of a social life among employees

through picnics, lectures, dances, night schools,

and like activities. The methods employed

are too diverse and too recent to permit an accurate

estimate of their work or a true analysis

of the elements of their success. It is incumbent

on the employer to find or work out for

himself the method best suited to his individual

needs.

 

_To understand how pleasure heightens the

suggestibility of the individual it is but necessary

to consider the well-known effects which pleasure

has on the various bodily and mental processes_.

 

The action of pleasure and displeasure upon

the muscles of the body is most apparent.

With displeasure the muscles of the forehead

<p 182>

contract; folds and wrinkles appear. The

corners of the mouth are drawn down; the

head bowed; the shoulders stoop and draw

together over the breast; the chest is contracted;

the fingers of the hand close, and there

is also a tendency to bend the arms so as to

protect the fore part of the body. In displeasure

the body is thus seen to contract and

to put itself on the defensive. It closes itself

to outside influences and attempts to “withdraw

within its shell.”

 

With pleasure the forehead is smoothed

out; the corners of the mouth are lifted; the

head is held erect; the shoulders are thrown

back; the chest is expanded; the fingers of

the hand are opened, and the arm is ready to

go out to grasp any object. The whole body

is thrown into a receptive attitude. It is prepared

to be affected by outside stimulations

and is ready to profit by them.

 

That these characteristic bodily attitudes

of pleasure and displeasure have an effect

on the mind is evident. Bodily and mental attitudes

have developed together in the history

<p 183>

of the race. The conditions which cause a

receptive attitude of body cause also a suggestible

state of mind. The conditions which

call for bodily protection also demand a suspicious

and non-responsive attitude of mind.

The bodily and the mental attitudes have become

so intimately associated that the presence

of one assures the presence of the other.

 

_Pleasure and a particular attitude of body are

indissolubly united, and when these two are

present, a suggestible condition of mind seems of

necessity to follow_.

 

Thus by the subtle working of pleasant

impressions the customer is disarmed of his

suspicion and made ready to respond to the

suggestions of the merchant.

 

The effect of the suggestible attitude of the

body, as produced by pleasure, is increased

by certain other effects which pleasure produces

on the body.

 

Muscular strength is frequently measured

by finding the maximum grip on a recording

instrument. The amount of the grip varies

from time to time and is affected by various

<p 184>

conditions. One of the phenomena which has

been thoroughly investigated is the effect of

pleasure and of pain on the intensity of the

grip. It is well established that pleasure

increases the grip or the available amount of

energy. Displeasure reduces the strength.

 

The total volume of the body would seem

to be constant for any particular short interval

of time. Such, however, is not the case.

 

_With pleasure the lungs are filled with air

from deepened breathing; the volume of the

limbs is increased by the increased flow of blood.

Pleasure thus actually makes us larger and displeasure

smaller_.

 

This increase in muscular strength and bodily

volume due to pleasure has a very decided

effect upon the mind. The increase of muscular

strength gives us a feeling of power and

assurance, the increase in volume gives us a

feeling of expansion and importance. These

conditions produced by increase of muscular

strength and bodily volume contribute to the

general suggestible condition described above.

 

If I am in a suggestible condition and if I

<p 185>

also feel an unusual degree of assurance in my

own powers and importance, I shall have such

confidence in the wisdom of my intended acts

that there will seem to be no ground for delay.

Furthermore the increased action of the heart,

due to the effect of pleasure, gives me a feeling

of buoyancy and invigoration which adds appreciably

to the tendency to action.

 

We thus see why pleasure renders us more

suggestible and hence makes us more apt to

purchase proffered merchandise or to respond

to the suggestions of our foreman or our executive.

We also see why it is that a man may

increase his efficiency by pleasing those with

whom he has to work, whether they be customers

or employees.

CHAPTER VIII

THE LOVE OF THE GAME

 

AS A MEANS OF INCREASING HUMAN EFFICIENCY

 

THE motives discussed in previous chapters

are fairly adequate for developing

efficiency in all except the owner or

chief executive. The employee may imitate

and compete with his equals and his superiors;

he may work for his wage, and he may be loyal

to the house. To increase the industry and

enthusiasm of the head is a task of supreme

importance. Interest and enthusiasm must

be kindled at the top that the spark may be

passed down to the lower levels. It can never

travel in the opposite direction.

 

How, then, is the president to light his fires

and transmit his enthusiasm to his managers

and other subordinates? Not by working for

<p 186>

<p 187>

money alone, nor through imitation, competition,

or loyalty to the works of his own hands.

All these may be essential, may be powerful

subordinate incentives to action, but singly or

collectively they are not adequate. In any

organization, the head who attains the maximum

of success must depend for his enthusiasm

upon an instinctive love of the game.

 

The subordinate possessing such love of

the game and independent of others for his

enthusiasm is sure to rise. The subject is,

therefore, of vital importance both to the

executive and to the ambitious employee.

Every employer feels the need of such an attitude

towards work, both in himself and in his

men.

 

An attempt will be made in this chapter

to comprehend this instinctive love of the

game, to discuss to what extent it is inherited

and to what extent subject to cultivation, and

to analyze the conditions most favorable for

its development in respect to one’s own work

as well as that of his employees.

 

The love of the game is in part instinctive,

<p 188>

and its nature is made clear by consideration

of certain of the instincts of animals.

 

The young lion spends much time in pretended

stalking of game and in harmless

struggles with his mates. He takes great

delight in the exercise of his cunning and in his

strength of limb and jaw. Fortunately for the

young lion this is the sort of activity best

adapted to develop his strength of muscle

and his cunning in capturing prey. However,

it is not for the sake of the training that the

young lion performs these particular acts.

He does them simply because he loves to. In

like manner the young greyhound chasing his

mates and the young squirrel gathering and

storing nuts have no thought beyond the instinctive

pleasure they find in performing these

functions. To each there is no other form of

activity so satisfactory.

 

Man possesses more instincts than any of

the lower animals. One pronounced instinct

in all normal males is the hunting instinct.

Grover Cleveland went fishing because he

loved the sport, not because of the value of

<p 189>

the fish caught. Theodore Roosevelt did not

hunt big game in Africa because he was in need

of luscious steaks or tawny hides. He was not

working solely in the interest of the Smithsonian

Institute nor to secure material for his

book. Doubtless these were subsidiary motives,

but the chief reason why he killed the

game was that he instinctively loves the sport.

He endured the hardships of Africa for the

same reason that fishermen spend days in the

icy water of a trout stream and hunters lie still

for hours suffering intense cold for a chance to

shoot at a bear.

 

_For some men, buying and selling is as great a

delight as felling a deer. For others the manufacture

of goods is as great a joy as landing a

trout. For such a man enthusiasm for his work

is unfailing and industry unremittent_.

 

He is suited to his task as is the cub to the

fight, the puppy to the chase, the squirrel to

the burying of nuts, or the hunter to the killing

of game. His labor always appeals to

him as the thing of supremest moment. His

interest in it is such that it never fails to in-

<p 190>

spire others by contagion. For such a man

laziness or indifference in business seems anomalous,

while industry and enthusiasm are as

natural as the air he breathes and as inexhaustible

as the air itself.

 

By classifying the love of the game as an

instinct, we seem to admit that it is born

and not developed; that some men possess

it and others do not; that if a man possesses

it, he does not need to cultivate it, and that

if he does not possess, he cannot acquire it.

There is doubtless much truth in this, but

fortunately it is not the whole truth.

 

Some instincts are specific—even stereotyped

—and not subject to cultivation or

change. Thus the bee’s instinctive method of

gathering and storing honey is very specific

and definite. The bee is unable to modify its

routine to any great extent. The bee which

does not instinctively perform the different

acts properly will never learn to.

 

There are other instincts not so stereotyped

in manner or constant in degree. The

instincts of man are much more variable than

<p 191>

those of the lower animals

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