NEXT STEPS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
rent work in the government of the world's
largest city has made me see over and over the
tremendous importance of what we have called
over the years "personnel administration."
We depend in every large human organiza-
tion on the motivation, drive, and creative
teamwork of each part of that social entity.
Whenever studies have been made, even of the
smallest working units, the investigators have
found evidence of extraordinary differences in
human productivity and creativity, depending
on the internal social structure and the result-
ing individual and group motivations. Right
here in New York City, in minor activities, I can
show you increases of 20 to 30 per cent in effi-
ciency since the Wagner administration came
into office traceable primarily to confidence in
the sincerity of Mayor Wagner and his top
commissioners and their determination to deal
fairly with the city employees and to serve the
public honestly. Industry studies are full of
similar evidence all the way from the Haw-
thorne experiment down to the most recent
work of Francis Lickert, Peter Drucker, and
William H. Whyte, Jr.
I can hear you say to me: why certainly, we
have always known that. Let me say to you:
yes, we have always known it, but we have
very seldom translated that knowledge into
appropriate administrative theory or action.
We discover the importance of incentives, in-
formal organization, group dynamics, individ-
ual fulfillment in teamwork, and then we do
nothing about it. We treat these fundamental
insights as though they were a secondary realm
of administrative consideration, rather than
a necessary integral part of any sound theory
of administration.
The atomic scientists have been devoting
their energies to releasing the hidden energy
in physical nature. We have the same task: to
release the hidden energy in human nature.
This happens to be a much more important
quest.
In their study of the atom Bohr, Pauli, and
others developed the hypothesis known as the
exclusion principle, according to which no two
electrons in an atom can simultaneously have
the same spin and occupy the same orbit. It
follows from this, the chemists and physicists
tell us, that in any molecule however complex,
there seems to be an "awareness" by each elec-
tron of what all the others are doing in the
same structure and a strict adherence to the
rule that no two may play the same role.1 In
view of this intricate pattern of awareness in
the structure of matter, is there any wonder
that we find in human groups a complex pat-
tern of awareness, the exclusion of which from
our thinking gives us a theory of administra-
tion which is inadequate?
During the next decade, nothing must take
second place to our effort to understand the
patterns of human awareness and how men
who are working together in teams can find re-
lease for their full energies. We need to learn
how this is achieved specifically in defined sit-
uations. In other words, we need to take giant
strides forward in personnel administration.
Automation
UTOMATION is that new body of knowledge
which relates to the understanding and use
of mechanical, chemical, and electronic de-
vices for measuring facts; gathering, storing,
and processing information; making deter-
minations; issuing and controlling impulses
on a set formula; applying the powerful ana-
lytical tools of mathematics; and thus produc-
ing information, integrations, or decisions as
may be required for production and manage-
ment. The process dealt with may be as simple
as determining ratios, or as complex as fixing
the optimum production schedules for a mul-
tiple product corporation with several facto-
ries; and the mechanisms used may be as simple
as a thermostat for regulating your furnace or
an abacus for computing laundry bills, or as
complex as the latest giant electronic brain or
completely automatic oil refinery.
Each of these is, or can be, fitted into its
proper place in the rising art and philosophy
of automation.
These developments bring to us in adminis-
tration a new world of possibility. The labor,
drudgery, and time consumption which have
been barriers to operations analysis, instan-
taneous cost accounting, performance and pro-
gram budgeting, and the full analysis of eco-
logical statistical factors in planning and ad-
vance programming, as well as in measuring