Table Of ContentTHE CONTROL OF STAFF-RELATED OVERHEAD
By the same author
THE MANAGEMENT OF DRAWING AND DESIGN
THE CONTROL OF
STAFF -RELATED
OVERHEAD
ARTHUR BREARLEY
T.D., B.Sc., M.Sc., C.ENo., M.LMECH.E., M.I.PRon.E.
M
For my wife Margaret with my thanks
ISBN 978-1-349-02666-1 ISBN 978-1-349-02664-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02664-7
© Arthur Brearley 1976
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1976 978-0-333-18593-3
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1976 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in New Tork
Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras
SBN 333 18593 5
This book is sold subject
to the standard conditions
of the Net Book Agreement
Contents
List of Figures VI
List of Tables Vll
Acknowledgements Vlli
Preface IX
Introduction
2 Background to the Problem 7
3 Methods, Procedures and Systems 23
4 Measurement Techniques 30
5 Control Systems 52
6 Status, Motivation and Incentives 68
7 Industrial Relations, Trade Unions and Consultation 82
8 Maintenance, Audit, the On-going Problem 98
9 The Programmes Available 103
lO The Four Case Studies 109
11 The American Experience 140
12 The Necessary Features of a Programme 156
13 Conclusions 166
References 171
Index 177
v
List of Figures
l.l The changing U.K. balance of industrial and non
industrial employment, 1962-73 3
1.2 Increase in non-industrial employment, excluding agri
culture, as a proportion of industrial employment,
1962-73 4
2.1 Shares of total in employment 10
4.1 The four main rating scales 48
5.1 Attendance hours I - algorithm I 58
5.2 Attendance hours 2 - algorithm 2 59
5.3 Standard hours I - algorithm I 60
5.4 Standard hours 2 - algorithm 2 61
5.5 Performance I -algorithm I 62
5.6 Performance 2 - algorithm 2 63
11.1 Trends in employment by type 140
11.2 Productivity and wage trends - finance and insurance
industries 141
11.3 Kearney survey-number of respondents by industry
and number having programmes 142
11.4 Kearney survey - distribution by industry of thirty 'more
successful' programmes 144
11.5 Kearney survey - use of techniques in the thirty 'more
successful' programmes 149
11.6 Kearney survey-number of techniques employed in the
thirty 'more successful' programmes 150
11.7 Kearney survey-significant variances in use of technique
between thirty 'more successful' and sixty 'less successful'
programmes 150
11.8 Kearney survey-distribution by size of thirty companies
having 'more successful' programmes 151
11.9 Kearney survey-first year productivity gains realised
through implementation of programme 153
11.10 Kearney survey-subsequent-year productivity gains
following realisation of first-year initial benefits 153
Vl
List of Tables
2.1 Trends and projections of employment in Great Britain,
1961-81 8
2.2 The occupied population of Great Britain by major
occupational group, 1911-61 11
2.3 Percentage of white-collar workers m the employed
population 12
2.4 Composition of the labour force by industry, showing the
number of white-collar workers, and the growth trends 13
4.1 Evaluation of techniques 45
4.2 Ratings for walking - British Standard scale 49
7.1 Trade union membership and density, 1964-70 84
11.1 Kearney survey-definition and use of clerical control
techniques 14 7
11.2 Kearney survey - use of techniques by companies having
'more successful' programmes in various industry groups 151
Vll
Acknowledgements
The author and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly
given permission for the use of copyright material.
H.M.S.O., for statistics used in Fig. 1.1 and Table 2.1, and for Fig. 2.1.
H.M.S.O. and G. S. Bain, for statistics used in Table 2.2.
I.L.O., for statistics used in Fig. 1.2.
R. Lumley and Methuen Ltd, for statistics used in Tables 2.4 and 7.1.
Gower Press Ltd, for some of the measurement technique information
in Chapter 4 already used in a different context in the author's
The Management of Drawing and Design, 1975.
A. T. Kearney, for source material used in Chapter 11.
viii
Preface
This book is about the control of staff-related overhead. It outlines
possible arrangements, not involving significant capital expenditure,
for the systematic control of that part of any organisation's overheads
which directly relate to white-collar workers. It does not set out to deal
with every aspect of management and administration which could
conceivably affect the numbers and the total cost of staff employees in
any organisation. Clearly the range of such aspects is wide and would
be outside the scope of any book of this kind. Neither is it a textbook of
office methods and procedures nor of staff management.
What the book does do is to start from the clear fact that the pro
portion of white-collar workers in the overall population of the
developed nations has grown and continues to grow. In the United
Kingdom that growth is at a pace which means that by the eighties
there will be more white-collar workers than manual workers in the
United Kingdom. Staff-related costs as a proportion of the overall
costs of most organisations in the U.K. have also grown and continue
to grow. Again the same trends exist in all other developed economies,
with the United Kingdom being an important example.
The book emphasises that the problem is a world-wide one, common
to all developed nations. Much of the information in the book is based
on United Kingdom examples. The justification is that the problem
and the issues surrounding it are particularly complex in the United
Kingdom, which probably has the most difficult combination of the
relevant circumstances.
Possible approaches to the continuous improvement of staff pro
ductivity by methods not involving significant plant and equipment
capital expenditure are examined. Comments are made on those
approaches and a suitable course of action for managers concerned with
the issues is recommended. In doing so, the book also particularly
examines recent experience in the United States where the proportion
of white-collar workers is already much higher than in the United
Kingdom.
The text is intended for a general management audience inter
nationally, and is mindful of the particular needs of senior managers
lX
