SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT CONGRESS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29058, 21 November 1959, Page 10

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT CONGRESS

World Business Leaders ■ To Meet In Australia

[BV

WALKER PARR,

Reuter correspondent]

Business leaders from many parts of the world will gather in Sydney and Mebourne next February for the twelfth International Congress of Scientific Management. The Melbourne organisers expect more than 200 of the world’s leading industrialists and experts in management to attend the congress. The congress, which has its headquarters in Geneva, is held each three years.

The selection (at the last conference in Paris) of Australia as the host nation for the twelfth congress was a recognition of its advance in the field of secondary industry and also a challenge to Australian congress organisers.

Australia is the first of the “young’’ countries to stage the congres sto be held in two cities, ments even more complicated, the meetings will be split between the country’s two biggest cities— Sydney and Melbourne. This is believed to be the first congressto be held in two cities. The congress will open in Sydney on February 22 and continue there until February 26. Sydney, which is Australia’s largest city, is also the main entry point for delegates arriving by air. The second stage of the congress will be held in Melbourne, 500 miles away, from February 29 to March 4. The theme of the Sydney sessions will be “Management’s Methods in the Next Decade.” At the opening of the congress in Sydney, Mr Henry Ford 11, of the Ford Company of the United States, is scheduled to present the first address, introducing the theme of the first section of the congress. New Levels Sought Although the programme is still incomplete at least eight other countries will present papers during the morning session in the remainder of the Sydney section. Subjects will include: “The roles of management, labour and government in reaching for new levels in co-operation in commerce and industry”; “Organisation, decision-making, and communication and their relationships," with Lord Verulam, chairman of the British Institute of Management, as the speaker; “Marketing the Dominating Problem of the Years Ahead” (speakers from Germany and Japan are listed to introduce this subject); “Methods and Techniques to Improve Productivity,” with United States and Belgian delegates leading the discussion. All morning sessions will be plenary sessions, and delegates will have a choice of activities in the afternoon with scope to join discussion groups taking the subject of the morning session as their theme. When the congress moves to Melbourne, the Australian Prime Minister, Mr Menzies, will speak on the theme of the second part of the congress—“ Management in a Developing Country.” The choice of this theme, although it has world-wide importance, mirrors the present advances of Australia —one of the most rapidly developing countries in the world.

Development Problems

France, Italy, Chile, the United States, Austria, India, Britain and New Zealand as well as Australian speakers will present papers for discussion under many headings stressing development problems. During the Melbourne session the Indo-Pacific council will be inaugurated! The chairman for this event will be the Australian Minister for External Affairs, Mr R. G. Casey. , Mr Casey, in a message to the Australian Institute of Management said: “In this area where so many countries are pursuing vigorous plans of national economic and social development there is a premium on managerial skill.

, “The formation of the IndoPacific Council will; I am sure, help to promote the adoption of improved techniques throughout the region." ( As a background to all the sessions of the congress delegates

will have many opportunities to see the industrial and economic development of Australia. On the journey from Sydney to Melbourne arrangements have been made for many delegates to visit Canberra —Australia’s federal capital—built from a master plan ' among the rich farmlands of southern New South Wales. They will also tour the gigantic Snowy River hydro-electric and | irrigation project nearby, where * the engineers and workers, who j came from several nations, are changing the courses of big rivers 1 to harness their power and water, i Industries of many kinds will open their factories for inspection ■ by the visiting delegates. The role of host to the congress is Aus- ; tralia-wide. During the work of the con- ; gress, and when it is over, a full range of entertainments will be available to those delegates who want to relax with their Aus- j tralian hosts. To make sure that every dele- [ gate has the advice and help needed to see exactly what he wants in Australia an Australian family will be personal host to each visitor. This scheme borrow- ; ed from the successful personal host system employed during the I Olympic Games will make sure I that no visitor is without an Aus- 1 tralian "home” during the con-1 gress. Delegates* wives have their own | special schedule for the congress. ; At least two discussion sessions I are planned for the wives to exchange .views on their own managerial problems. Task Of The Wives In Sydney the wives will discuss “managing the home and family and taking time to be a ' person” and in Melbourne the title of the session will be “longrange planning for home and family.” But tours of Australia's > beauty spots, beaches and shops will fill most of the programme I planned for delegates* wives. To solve the language problem an international team of interpreters will provide a simultaneous translation of more than 1000 I listening sets to delegates at the sessions. Many interpreters will also be available to facilitate discussion between delegates from different countries. The official I languages for the congress are English and. French, and papers will be published in these, with perhaps one other language. The congress organisers are certain that Australian management, through the hundreds of delegates who will attend from , all States, will gain fresh ideas from overseas delegates and they I hope that Australia will provide I the stimulus to make the congress one of the most successful as well as one of the biggest in the history of the committee for scientific management. “Do-It-Yourself” Aerial Survey. —Two former air force pilots on the staff of the Fiji Lands Department carried out an aerial photographic survey of Viti Levu on a “do-it-yourself” basis which . saved the Colony thousands of pounds. It covered 38,409 acres and cost only £650. Such a detailed survey by ground methods would have taken about two years and cost about £57,000 compared with £650. The survey was made with a Drover aircraft hired from, Fiji Airways; photographic equipment borrowed from the Royal New Zealand Air Force; and an salvaged from unserviceable stores.—Suva.