A discourse on problems of management planning in the public service with special reference to the responsibilities of the supervisor

177 Pages·07.764 MB·English

by  Swanson, Jess Nelson

A DISCGDPSE Oil Pr(G BLEEP OP EAEAGEEEET
PLANKING IN TEE PUBLIC SERVICE V.ITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO TEE RESPONSIBILITIES OP TEE SUPERVISOR
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Government
The University of Southern California
In P artial Fulfillm ent
of the Requirements for the Degree
Plaster of Science in Public Administration
by
Jess N. Swanson
June 1942
UMI Number: EP64456
All rights reserved
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This thesis, written by
...... JESS N. SWANSON........... M
under the direction of hiLs. Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill­
ment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.
/'
Dean
/n
Secretary
Date...Xim&t...19A2.........................
mmittee
/
PREFACE
The m aterial contained in this thesis is one d istin ct
part of a more extensive study en titled Supervision in
Public Management which is being conducted by Professor
John M. P fiffner and a sta ff of research assista n ts. The
broad outline of the study was conceived by Professor
Pfiffner; however, the detailed break down in which the
study appears is the author’s.
In writing the original manuscript the footnote and
citatio n forms of the commercial publisher were used, and
through permission granted by the Graduate School the same
form is used throughout this thesis including the b ib li­
ography.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I
ORGANIZATION FOR
MANAGEMENT PLANNING
I. TPIE GENERAL TESOFY OP; PLANNING .......................... 10
Vho should be responsible for planning . . 10
The integrated planning structure . . . . 13
Levels of planning .................................................. 17
II. TEE PLANNING AND PROCEDURES DIVISION . . . 26
Location of the planning and procedures
division ...................................................................... 26
The functions and duties of the
planning and procedures division . . . . 31
Internal organization of the planning
and procedures division ................................... 36
I I I. TEE AUTHORITY AND OPERATING
RELATIONSHIPS OF TEE PLANNING AND
PROCEDURES DIVISION FTTH SUBSIDIARY
PLANNING STAFFS AND OPERATING DIVISIONS . 39
Operating relationships ........................................ 39
The functional department head as an
agent in the integrated planning
s t r u c t u r e ..................................................... 52
V
CHAPTER PACE
IV. TEE SUPERVISORS RELATION TO PLANNING . . . . 60
Placing responsibility on the line . . . . 60
The supervisors responsibility to
develop a co-ordinated work program . . 64
The workers part in planning ......................... 71
PART II
THE TECHNIQUES OF PLANNING
I. APPLICATION OF THE TECHNIQUES OF
MANAGEMENT PLANNING .................................................. 73
The work flow s t u d y .................................................. 82
Sim plification and synthesis .............................. 85
II. THE RELATION OF STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE
TO SUPERVISION ............................................................ 95
The philosophy with standards should be
approached in terms of achieving better
s u p e r v i s i o n ................................................................. 97
Measuring production or service rendered . 100
Measuring quality of performance . . . . . 108
Determining the effort which should be
expended in attaining the objective . . 109
Special considerations in establishing
standard time allowances 125
vi
CHAPTER PACE
III. USING STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE AS A
SUPERVISORY A I D ........................................................ 130
Work programming and budgeting . . . . 130
Determination of proper work loads and
allocation of personnel .............................. 132
Scheduling and co-ordinating the
productive process ................................ 135
Delegating and controlling .............................. 138
Rating and disciplining ................................... 143
Improving Performance ........................................ 14 6
Improving morale ....................................................... 150
The use of costs as a measure of
p e r f o r m a n c e ........................................................... 151
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................ 157
APPENDICES:
A--Deleted organization chart of a large
government agency showing the relation of
an integrated planning structure to the
general organization ........................................ 163
B--Q,uestionnaire used by the United States
Department of Agriculture in work
sim plification study ........................................ 164
C--Example of a work flow c h a r t ......................... 165
INTRODUCTION
hhat is planning?'* Planning is a cover-all word with
various meanings for different people. Thus in public
administration the term has been used most widely, and proba­
bly f i r s t in point of time, in connection with city planning
which is a form of physical planning. In the field of
supervision, however, the usage is that of scien tific manage­
ment. The very heart of Fredrick Winslow Taylorrs system
was the planning department of the factory wherein special­
ists planned operations and work flow. These are TaylorTs
own words:
. . .In the case of a machine shop which is
managed under the modern system detailed written
instructions as to the best way of doing each piece
of work are prepared in advance, by men in the
planning department. These instructions represent
the combined work of several men in the planning
room, each of whom has his own speciality, or func­
tion. One of them, for instance, is a specialist
on the proper speeds and cutting tools to be used.
He uses the slide-rules which have been, described as
an aid, to guide him in obtaining proper speeds, etc.
Another man analyzes the best and quickest motions
to be made by the workman in setting the work up in
the machine and removing i t , etc. S till a third,
through the time-study records which have been ac­
cumulated, makes out a time table giving the proper
The section en titled "That is planning” was written
by Professor John Ivl. Pfiffner as an introduction to this
study when it was started by him in January, 1940. It is
reproduced here with his permission.
2
speed for doing each element of the work. The
directions of a ll these men, however, are written
on a single instruction card, or sheet.
These men of necessity spend most of th e ir time
in the planning department, because they must he close
to the records and data which they continually use in
their work, and because th is work requires the use of
a desk and freedom from interruption. Human nature
is such, however, that many of the workmen, if left
to themselves, would pay but l i t t l e attention to
their written instructions. It is necessary, there­
fore, to provide teachers (called functional foremen)
to see that the workmen both understand and carry out
these written instruct ions
The planning approach as just outlined today consti­
tutes the essence of basic operations in a ll well-managed
industrial u nits. To be sure, certain aspects of Taylor’s
system, such as the functional foreman, have not been as
wholeheartedly embraced as others. Furthermore, the rigid
application of time-and-motion study has frequently run up
against the obstacle of obstinate human nature. Nevertheless,
the essence of Taylorism is today very v irile and tenacious.
Indeed, management planning seems to a ttra c t more attention
and command greater prestige as the years go on.
It is only rather recently that one has heard the
wrord planning, used in the above sense, applied to the
internal management phases of government. It probably was
brought in by some sc ien tific management men who took
^Fredrick V. Taylor, The Princlples of Scientific
Management (Harper & Bros., New York, 1911), pp. 122-123.
3
positions in Washington. Some of them were employed in the
old Bureau of Efficiency; and when that was abolished they
found their way into the Farm Credit Administration, the
Treasury Department and elsewhere. It Is interesting to see
a few of them now in positions of genuine administrative
leadership, for example McReynolds of the White House s ta ff,
and Ballinger of the Treasury. A number of management
engineers came into the Federal Service during the depression
of the 1930*s, which accounts for the exceptionally large
and active Washington chapter of the Society for the Advance­
ment of Management. The result is that one hears the term
f,planningfl applied to internal management much more often
in federal government than state and local.
Management planning is in essence based upon research
and fact-finding. It studies, investigates, gathers data,
secures a ll of the available data; organizes these data so
as to reveal th eir true meaning, and. comes out with a plan
of action. The aim is to define the purposes and objectives
to be accomplished; know a ll of the factors and information
bearing on getting the job done; and then find out the best
way to proceed, hith those who may in sist that there is no
one best way for any particular task or assignment, but that
each may be done equally well in several ways, there is no
inclination to quarrel here. Scientific management does not
in sist on a single nbest way; but It does demand the right