It will be found that in organization there are MANY major factors involved.
The following three, however, give the most problems:
1. Personnel
2. Hats
3. Lines.
Technology is a subdivision of both personnel (who may have to be specially trained before they can be considered personnel) and hats (which are mainly admin technology and line functions).
To solve any problem, one has to recognize what the problem is. One cannot solve problem A by trying to solve problem B or C. Example: Problem: broken-down car. You cannot fix the car by repairing the kitchen lino. Example: You cannot floor the kitchen by fixing the car.
All this may seem obvious when obviously stated. But there is a more subtle version. ANY PROBLEM THAT DOES NOT SOLVE IS NOT THE PROBLEM. There must be some other problem.
Locating and isolating situations (problems) in an organization is the technique of the Data Series. That technology will find for one the problem that should be solved.
As there are three major organizational factors these then also form the core of all organizational situations (or problems, same thing).
Each one of these is its own zone — personnel, hats, lines.
Each one has its own problems. There are situations in personnel. There are situations in hats. There are situations in lines.
They are related. They are not identical.
You will find you cannot wholly solve a problem in lines by solving personnel. You cannot wholly solve a problem in hats by solving lines. You cannot wholly solve a problem in personnel by solving the other two.
Example: Production hours are down. Fifteen new personnel are added to the area. Production stays down. It was a problem in lines.
Example: Confusion reigns in the pipe shop. The lines are carefully straightened out. Confusion still reigns. It was a problem in hats.
Example: Broken products are wrecking org repute. Hats are carefully put on. Products continue to be broken. It was a problem in personnel.
Example: The org stays small. Executives work harder. The org stays small. It was a series of problems in personnel, hats and lines, none addressed at all.
You will see symptoms of all this in various guises. The test of whether or not the right problem was found is whether or not production increased in volume, quality and viability.
In actual practice one works on all three of these factors constantly — personnel, hats and lines — when one is organizing.
You will find with some astonishment that failure to have or know or wear or do a hat is the commonest reason why lines do not go in. That personnel is hard to procure and train because hats and lines are being knocked out. That hats can’t be worn because lines or personnel are out.
Situations get worsened by solving the wrong problem instead of the real problem. In the Data Series this is called finding the right Why.
Organizational problems center around these three things in the broadest general sense. More than one can be present in any situation.
Production problems are concerned with the particles which flow on the lines, changed by the hatted personnel, with consumption and general viability. So to make a full flow from organization through to distribution, one would add raw materials, changed state of materials and their consumption. Organization is not an end-all. To have value it must result in production.
But when personnel, hats and lines are not solved, production is very difficult. Therefore to get production one must have an organization to back it up. And personnel, hats and lines must exist and be functional. If these exist, the rest of the factors of establishment can be brought into being.
It goes without saying that organization involves other problems like space, materiel, finance, etc. These and many more also enter into “Whys” of no production. But dominating others are problems in personnel, hats and lines. Others tend to solve if these are handled and organized.