INCENTIVES IN INDUSTRY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1939, Page 5

INCENTIVES IN INDUSTRY

DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORATIONS It was often remarked that the great modern corporations were incompatible with individual initiative and enterprise, and he knew that this sometimes deterred young men from entering them, said Sir Harold Hartley, vice-president of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, addressing the graduating class of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If it were true, it would imply that they contained within themselves the seeds of inevitable decay. With the growing complexity of industry, specialists were necessary and only the large enterprise would give them scope and opportunity. The creation of these great corporations meant that the self-inter-est motive must largely disappear; they could not offer the same opportunities for individual profit, and, indeed, their oasis.of team-work implied a community of interest that was very different from the older outlook. There were still great prizes to be won, particularly in America, but for the great majority of the workers today there could be only a very limited prospect of material advancement apart from improvements in the social fabric and in the standard of living. Yet, with these and with security, they were the gainers. It was the realisation of this position that was directing more and more attention in industry to the study of the incentives: the satisfaction of sharing in the work of a great enterprise, pride in its achievements, the feeling of esprit de corps, the satisfaction of being able to make suggestions for improvements and of taking part in measures for the avoidance of disputes.