5: Concentration
The manger of a complex business often loses touch with reality. He cannot personally observe the operation of a dozen plants in a variety of location and a workforce of thirty thousand men who produce vast quantities of product that are sold across multiple continents.
Instead, he relies upon reports, which abstract all of this activity into rows and columns of numbers, and imagines what those numbers mean. His imagination may be flawed, and the data on which he imagines his data is incomplete, and as a result he routinely makes terrible mistakes in ways that are obvious to those who observe the actual work.
But more to the point of the present chapter, his attention is divided among many small things, which change every day. In attempting to manage such an enormous organization, his concentration is sapped. In an attempt to control so many things, he cannot focus much attention on any one thing - even if the information he is given and what he imagines it to mean happen to be accurate.
Effective management requires effective decisions, and effective decisions require focus and concentration. "One thing at a time - the most important thing, and at the right time" is to be taken as a rule, and one that cannot be cheated without consequences.
No man of genius has accomplished much by tending to his work in a scattered and superficial manner. Those who excel in any field of endeavor have focused on a single goal and placed the whole of their efforts into its accomplishment. This is true of science, the arts, and every field of endeavor - including business.
And yet, few people in significant positions of authority, who have the resources to accomplish great things, sufficiently focus their minds on a long-range task. The present chapter means to analyze the conditions to discover the reason and suggest a remedy.
Ubiquitous Distraction
The pre-industrial lifestyle mankind has practiced until only recently offered few distractions, but the post-industrial lifestyle is a constant sensory bombardment. At any given moment, a person in an industrial environment is beset with a constant bombardment of things that demand attention in our surroundings.
Every appeal for attention requires mental effort - even to ignore something requires us to recognize that it exists, consider what it means, and assess whether we should pay attention to it. That is, even if we decide to ignore it we have still undertaken the effort necessary to make that decision.
Simply existing in the modern workplace is complex and mentally strenuous - in each minute we must decide to ignore a dozen things to focus our attention on a few that require it. Even if the task we are attempting to do is not hard, there is a great strain in keeping distractions at bay.
In many instances, a worker is not efficient because of distractions. It is not through a lack of desire to perform his task well, but from lack of ability to focus on his work completely, under a constant assault of distractions from his environment.
Therefore, it follows that the best way to ensure a man is efficient in his work is to shield him from the distractions that prevent him from concentrating upon it. The task will be done more quickly and more effectively.
Involuntary Attention
As a basic definition: concentration involves the focus of attention on a given task.
Attention begins with perception: in an undisturbed environment, we perceive through our senses. Even standing in an empty room we see the walls, ceiling and floor; we feel the temperature of the room; we hear the most minute sounds. (EN: He doesn't mention this, but even if we attempt to cover our eyes and ears, we feel our own body and hear our own heartbeat and respiration.) In a cluttered environment we notice every object within sight, anything that makes a sound, anything we can smell, etc.
Perception causes us to evaluate the information we receive from our senses. We perceive an object and recognize it as a telephone, evaluating its color and shape to understand what it is, and our memory to understand what it does. Every object in our surroundings is thus recognized through a process of mental effort.
We have the ability to choose to focus on certain things and not others - and this is the basis of attention. However, evolution has trained the human mind to give inordinate attention to specific things: specifically, those whose state changes. If something is moving, or begins making a noise, our attention is irresistibly drawn to it. Things that make loud noises or quick motions especially so, because speed and loudness are characteristic of danger - and we do not have the ability to ignore such things under normal circumstances.
Attention is given to things that have the potential to be meaningful, and it requires a separate act of assessment to determine whether they are meaningful. A larger and fast-moving object is noticed quickly, and we must perform various mental exercises to recognize whether it is a threat. We recognize it to be a truck, then recognize it is moving quickly in our direction, then recognize that it will likely miss us. And only then can we safely ignore it.
One of the brilliant features of the human mind is how quickly it is able to perform these assessments. Walking down the sidewalk in a bustling city presents many things that could be threats, and there may be a dozen or more things at once that are perceived, noticed, assessed, and ignored. All of this happens without conscious deliberation. (EN: Though there is some evidence that even though we are not consciously aware of making so many decisions at all times, we still suffer from the stress of doing so unconsciously.)
It's briefly mentioned that things that present opportunities rather than threats also command attention. The sight of a beautiful woman or the scent of ripe fruit command attention, even to the man who will have neither of them. Again, this is instinctual and beyond our control to notice and give attention - though in most instances we assess and decide to ignore them, whether we realize that the opportunity does not exist, or merely choose not to avail ourselves of it at the time.
Thus considered, a majority of our attention is given to things of which we are unaware, and a majority of things of which we are aware are considered to be unworthy of attention: false threats and false or unappealing opportunities.
Choosing to Concentrate or Ignore
There are very few things to which we voluntarily give attention - and again, we tend to give them attention only for a short period of time until we recognize that they do not require our attention.
It requires just as much mental energy to decide to pay attention to something as it does to ignore it. We must perceive it, understand what it is, consider what it might do, and analyze whether we wish to give it further consideration. Whether we ignore it or concentrate upon it requires the same process thus far.
When we choose to give additional attention, even for a moment, this is an act of concentration. But because we have chosen to concentrate on one thing does not render our senses immune to additional input from other things - which is to say that wishing to concentrate on something does not give us the ability to concentrate upon it.
Other things that come to our attention may distract us from giving attention to those we choose - or at the very least prevent us from giving our full mental focus to the things we wish to focus upon. It is impossible to perform even the simplest of tasks while being distracted by other things.
As such the decision to concentrate on one thing requires us to attend to the task of ignoring everything else that might distract us. Ignorance does not mean we are unaware, and we must go through the full mental process (perceive, understand, consider, analyze, and decide) to ignore everything that comes to our conscious attention while we are attempting to focus on one thing.
The Necessity of Concentration
Institutions of learning exemplify the necessity of concentration. The student is removed from the world to a classroom environment that is free form distractions that he might concentrate on his studies. A library provides an environment in which silence is strictly enforced, so that patrons may concentrate on their reading. A schoolboy cannot focus on his lessons at a busy playground, nor a reader upon their text while standing on the corner of a city street.
Whenever someone seeks to give concentration to something, they banish all distractions - they withdraw from the bustle of daily life to an environment where they can be free from distraction. Or more accurately, they withdraw to an environment in which they do not need to tend to the constant mental effort (perceive, understand, consider, analyze, and decide) required to decide to ignore things that might distract them.
Specifically, because it is impossible to escape the mental effort required to ignore things that might distract us, we instead seek to remove ourselves to an environment in which every possible cause of distraction does not exist.
As an aside, laws and ordinances pertaining to "noise pollution" reflect the degree to which a society recognizes the importance of concentration. Trains are prohibited from sounding their whistles within city limits, drivers are discouraged from using their horns indiscriminately, and so on because these loud noises disrupt and distract people who are performing tasks that require concentration. Though it is noted that society makes selective choices: a paper mill that distracts everyone with a horrible stench is permitted to operate for the sake of the economic benefit it provides a community.
Further aside, he mentions the construction of office buildings, residences, stores, and factories as creating barriers to noise - either shielding those inside from unwanted noises from the exterior, or in containing noise within a space to avoid becoming a nuisance to those nearby.
The author notes that he has been focused on audio distractions, as sound seems to be the most common and insistent in his time. Sights, smells, temperature, and touch (though very rarely taste) can also constitute an unwanted distraction.
Not all distractions can be banished. In an office environment, there is the constant noise of conversation, the clicking of typewriters, and the loud ring of telephones that can be cacophonous. But the interior layout of an office is also designed, like the construction of a building itself, to provide barriers to sound. An executive's office is a place he can withdraw, close the door, and focus on his work. Assigning the steno pool to an enclosed space whether the clatter of their typewriters will not distract other workers is to contain the noise distraction.
This scheme of containment or avoidance has been implemented in virtually all environments Even the residential space, with the placement of walls and doors, shows a need for containment - with bedrooms located far from common spaces to allow the door to be shut so that someone may sleet, with a kitchen in a location where the sounds and smells of cooking do not distract those in other rooms and doing other things, and so on.
Being Considerate of Others
Not environments are carefully designed, such that there are constant distractions to those who are attempting to do things within them. Even those that are carefully deigned fail to completely eliminate distraction, and do not even sufficiently reduce distraction to enable those within them to give adequate concentration to necessary tasks. In such environments, people can and generally do show some consideration of others in minimizing the distractions they cause.
A considerate person will, upon undertaking a task that might constitute a distraction to others, take some measure to avoid distracting others in his environment. Some men are simply inconsiderate. Others wish to be considerate, but will not undertake an unusual amount of effort to prevent others from being distracted. And it may ultimately be impossible to be adequately considerate of others simply due to physics, constraints on resources, or constraints to behavior.
The office worker who wishes to avoid distracting others with his telephone conversation may be unable to do so because he has been issued a cheap telephone which requires him to speak loudly, because the cord is not long enough for him to carry it to a nearby conference room, or because he is forbidden by a draconian supervisor from leaving his desk for any reason.
It is for reasons such as these that people cannot demonstrate the consideration they are naturally inclined to show their fellows.
(EN: The notion of natural inclination is questionable, considering the early days of cell phones. It seems very often that people who are quite capable of being considerate of others, such as leaving a theater to have a telephone conversation, simply refuse to do so - whether they are inconsiderate of others or merely wish to show off. Granted, text messaging has curtailed that, but even in the present day there are still constant examples of those who show no consideration of others.)
Distraction Self-Defense
Where the environment does not sufficiently mitigate distractions, and when those who cause distractions are incapable or unwilling to show consideration, the last line of self-defense against distraction is modifying one's own behavior to escape distractions.
It is an unfortunate truth that many managers fail to appreciate the necessity of concentration in work - or do not understand psychology well enough to understand that being undisturbed is not something that can be done by sheer act of self-discipline - and place their workers in environments where they cannot concentrate. Doing so undermines the effectiveness and efficiency of work, which should be chief among their concerns, and considerable gains may be made by simply making arrangements to protect the workers from distraction.
The author mentions the common practice of coming to the office early (before others arrive) or staying late (after they depart) as methods to avoid distraction. There is also, in some professions, the possibility of leaving the office to work - whether to go to a place such as a library or to take the work into one's own home when it is impossible to concentrate in a noisy office.
But, per the previous example of the employee who wishes to show courtesy by not distracting others, workers are often prevented by the physical nature of their environment or the rules and policies of management from removing themselves from a situation that prevents them from being able to concentrate on their work.
The Myth of the "Power" of Attention
Unfortunately, it is often assumed that a person has an "ability" to pay attention or the "power" concentrate no matter the distractions in their environment - as if it is a deficit in the willpower of a worker, rather than the distractions in his surroundings, that causes the worker to be unable to focus on his work.
In a bustling and noisy environment, an individual cannot help seeing and hearing things that demand his attention - or which push themselves to the forefront of his perception and require him to undertake the mental processes to identify these stimuli as things that can be ignored. And when there are many distractions, the majority of a person's time is spent dismissing those that are unimportant, to such degree that they have no mental capacity left to focus on those which are important.
As such, when a work environment is contrived, through bad planning or careless indifference, such that a worker is constantly distracted, he will be unable (not merely unwilling) to focus on his tasks. It is not a matter of willpower or desire, but merely a fundamental process of human psychology - a man can no more focus on a task in an environment of constant distraction than he can be expected to carry five hundred pounds of material.
It is noted that certain persons do have (or evolve) a seemingly exceptional ability to focus on a task in an environment of distractions, but this is abnormal. Moreover, focus is generally maintained simply by ignoring stimuli without performing an adequate assessment of whether they should be ignored. Many horrendous industrial accidents are the result of a worker who did not give adequate attention to something that would have enabled him to avoid catastrophe - and this is because he is so distracted on a regular basis that he has become habituated to ignoring his environs.
Mental Fatigue
Aside of the immediate situation, another factor limits a worker's ability to concentrate: mental fatigue.
Physical fatigue is well understood: a person who has poor nutrition, little sleep, little recreation, hard work, and long hours becomes constantly exhausted - such that he is routinely functioning at a diminished level of physical capacity. His strength and stamina are sapped.
Mental fatigue, meanwhile, is poorly understood and even disbelieved. This is generally for lack of any visible evidence, until mental fatigue has progressed to such an extreme that it becomes physically evident. And even then, it is blamed on the worker's willingness to maintain mental focus rather than recognized to be the result of mental fatigue.
Those who analyze industry, such as Smith, are beginning to measure the effects of physical fatigue on the workers - and it is becoming recognized that a man's workload must be managed. Reasonable working hours, a reasonable workload, and frequent breaks have been found to improve efficiency and effectiveness of those whose work is primarily physical in nature. The same has not been recognized or even sufficiently analyzed in professions that require mental rather than physical exertion.
Boredom
In order to command attention, am object must be interesting - otherwise it will be ignored.
One way in which the human mind achieves efficiency is in ignoring things of little importance. An object that is not moving will be ignored in favor of one that is in motion; a sound that is routine will be ignored in favor of one that is novel. All of this has to do with the basic mental instinct to give attention to the one thing that presents the greatest danger or opportunity and ignore all else. This, again, is not a matter of habit, but a basic quality of the human mind.
And so it follows that things of little interest are ignored. Motionless objects, constant sound patterns, routine movements of the body, and so on become a kind of mental wallpaper that lose its ability to command attention when they become routine and predictable. We simply become unaware of them, in much the same way that we are not distracted by our own heartbeat and breathing.
In that sense, a worker involved in a routine task can be observed to enter into a trance-like state in which the motions of his body become repetitive and are ignored. This does not necessarily mean that he is giving them no attention at all, merely that they are maintained without effort. The mind simply "goes blank" when engaged in a constant and interrupted sequence of motions, and a man becomes like a machine: efficient but mindless.
Work that is "efficient but mindless" has drawbacks. The first is that being mindless is not the same as being attentive. A worker who is shoveling coal into a furnace at a constant will continue to do so, paying no attention to the temperature of the fire, and adding too much or insufficient fuel.
The second drawback is that mindless work is uninteresting, which has a long-term effect on morale: a person who finds their work to be unchallenging and uninteresting is not happy in his profession, but finds work to be boring and annoying. It is said that his heart is not in his work, but it is more accurate to say that his mind is not in it - as he has become mentally disengaged.
(EN: I don't think this is necessarily true of all people or at all times. There are certain people who enjoy monotonous work and the ability to "switch off" their mind during a task. I would agree that such people are not engaged or mentally challenged, but they do not seek to be so. It's "just a job" and time at work seems to pass quickly. It can also be observed that many leisure pursuits fall into the category of mindless pastimes, and people seek opportunities to engage in activities that require little attention. So the implication that it is necessary to be completely mentally involved in a task is false or at least not-always-true.)
Cultivating Concentration
Attention an concentration cannot be taken for granted, but must be cultivated. An individual who commands only himself will at times make an effort to remove himself from distractions to focus his mind on a matter of importance. A businessman who commands a cadre of workers must likewise undertake an effort to shield them from distractions so that they may be focused in their work.
Just as an employee has a responsibility to protect his men against physical perils and fatigue, so does he have the responsibility to protect them against psychological perils and mental fatigue. He cannot place them in an atmosphere of constant distraction and command, or even expect, that they concentrate on their work but must tend to the safety and sanitation of the mental aspect of their employment.
The industrial revolution has done much to make work boring and unfulfilling. The activities of a craftsman such as a carpenter were varied, and if he found one task boring he could switch to another. The activities of a worker in a furniture factory are monotonous: he is tasked with fashioning the legs of a chair, and that is the only thing he does all day long every day - he has neither the satisfaction of fashioning a useful object, nor any ability to do something different for a break from the monotony. Work becomes mindless, soulless, and endless drudgery.
There is a brief mention of salesmen, who often sell "side lines" on his own in addition to the product of his primary employer. Often, he may find these sidelines more profitable and more interesting to sell. And for that reason, many houses have strictly forbidden it: a salesman for a shoe factory must sell shoes, and cannot sell polish or laces or socks or any other item his employer does not furnish. As such he is unable to be of greater service to his clients or take greater satisfaction from his worn, for fear of losing his employment.
Natural Proclivities
Physiology tells us that the human brain is identical from one person to the next, buy psychology clearly demonstrates that this machine is used in different ways by different people. There is some argument over whether slight differences in the biological organ cause some men to work differently from others, or whether this is merely a matter of their upbringing and training - but it is moot, as most business men do not raise their workers from childhood, but hire them such as they are, and must understand them such as they are.
Some individuals seem to have a natural proclivity to focus their mind on a very specific goal and disregard all the rest of the world. Some of the greatest inventors and artists have demonstrated this single-mindedness to great ends. Other men seem to be scatter-brained, unable to attend to one thing and constantly hop from one thing to the next, unable to see an idea to completion before something else "pops up" in their minds.
Some individuals can read a book with perfect satisfaction, whereas others consider reading to be intolerable. Some can focus their minds on reading in a noisy cafe where others around them are talking, others cannot. By the same token, some individuals can work in an environment of distraction, others cannot.
Some individuals can maintain attentiveness to their tasks, and to do what might be considered excellent work even when they are deprived of sleep or even intoxicated. Others produce horrible work when they are slightly tired or barely intoxicated.
The most sought-after workers are those with high levels of concentration, who seem to be able to focus their minds when others cannot. Such men are precious, but such men are rare. One cannot run a factory as if every man can keep pace with the fastest and best, any more than one can yoke horses together and expect the slowest and weakness to keep up with those with unnaturally high strength and stamina.
In automated assembly lines, a businessman may operate several machines that function at different speeds - and in general has learnt that the speed of the slowest machine sets the pace of the line. They do not seem to recognize that the same principle applies to their human workers. If they gave as much care to their men as they do to their machines, realizing that each piece of equipment must be placed where it works best and the speed of the line set according to the slowest machine, they would find work is completed efficiently and effectively and at a reasonable and sustainable pace.
Reducing Distraction
Employers have taken some half-hearted measures in reducing the distractions in the work place. The higher an individual's status in the company, the better care is taken from them: the top managers are generally well-insulated from distraction, where the rank and file workers (who ironically have more direct influence on the production of the operation) often are not.
Scott then mentions some random things that can be done:
- Use walls to reduce the noise from outside activities and to contain the noise of the activity taking place
- Muffle telephones, replacing the loud bells with softer buzzers or lights so that they are not heard at a distance
- Find methods for clerks to summon support staff other than shouting at them
- Create a special room for typewriting, or create sound buffers around any area where it takes place
- Seek to reduce the discomfort and distraction in every way, considering whether the sights, sounds, and even odors to which a worker is subjected are necessary for his work. Consider anything unnecessary to be a distraction.
There must also be an "attitude of concentration" that becomes part of the corporate culture. Men must be encouraged to do whatever is needed to focus on their work (and never punished for addressing or escaping distractions) as well as to respect the need of others to concentrate upon theirs.