James Bray Griffith (1871January1, 1937"James B. Griffith", at ancestry.com. Accessed 2005-02-25.) was an American business theorist, and head of Department of Commerce, Accountancy, and Business Administration at the American School of Correspondence in Chicago, known as early systematizer of management.Norman A. Hill. "Efficiency of labour in the heating", in: Transactions of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, Vol. 18 (1913), p. 266.Yates, JoAnne. "For the record: The embodiment of organizational memory, 1850–1920." Business and Economic History. 1990. p. 176JoAnne Yates (1993) Control Through Communication: The Rise of System in American Management.
Biography Born in Maryland to Thomas Francis Griffith and Euphemia Hill, Griffith came into prominence in the 1900s. Early 1900s had joined the International Accountants' Society, Inc.,National Association of Accountants and Book-keepers, International Association of Office Men (1907). Business, the Magazine for Office, Store and Factory. p. 12. a home study school founded in 1903 in Chicago. There he was director of the Course in Systematizing,Arch Wilkinson Shaw. The Magazine of Business, A. W. Shaw Company, Vol. 7 (1905), p. 354. and published his first book on systematizing in 1905. Earlier in the 1900s he had published a series of articles in The Life Insurance Independent and American Journal of Life Insurance,Griffith, James Bray. "A card system for the solicitor", in: The Life Insurance Independent and American Journal of Life Insurance, Vol. 15–16 (1903), p. 48Griffith, James Bray. "Some suggestions for the accounting department", in: The Life Insurance Independent and American Journal of Life Insurance, Vol. 15–16 (1903), p. 122Griffith, James Bray. "A modern filling system", in: The Life Insurance Independent and American Journal of Life Insurance, Vol. 15–16 (1903), p. 143 and in McGraw Hill's The Magazine of Business.Arch Wilkinson Shaw. The Magazine of Business, A. W. Shaw Company, 1904. Vol. 5. p. 312, 412, 508J. B. Griffith. "A Card System for Building and Loan Associations", in: The Magazine of business, Vol. 6 (1904), p. 266
Later in the 1900s Griffith joined the American School of Correspondence, a distance education high school founded in 1897. For the Department of Commerce, Accountancy, and Business Administration Griffith wrote a series of instruction papers, among others on Advertising & Sales Organization (1909), Purchasing and stores department (1909), Records of labor and manufacturing orders (1909), Theory of Accounts (1914).Stone, Williard E. "Who Was Who in Accounting in 1909?." The Accounting Historians Journal (1975): 6–10. Griffith was head of the Department of Commerce, Accountancy, and Business Administration until the late 1910s.American Technical Society (1920) Accountancy and Business Management.The Accounting Historians Journal, Vol. 1–3 (1981), p. 6
In 1910 Griffith was Managing Editor of the Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, a general reference work on accounting, auditing, bookkeeping, commercial law, business management, administrative and industrial organization, banking, advertising, selling, office and factory records, cost keeping, systematizing, etc.Accountants' Index: A Bibliography of Accounting. (1921), p. 860.Darrell D. Dorrell, Gregory A. Gadawski (2012) Financial Forensics Body of Knowledge. p. 125.
Work
Systematizing, 1905
In the 1905 Griffith published his first work, entitled Systematizing. A 1907 review explained, that the demand for trained systematizers – men who have learned the science of business organization – is far greater that the supply. Such men experience no difficulty in securing lucrative positions, while those who engage in the work professionally soon attract as many clients as they can successfully serve.National Association of Accountants and Book-keepers, International Association of Office Men (1907) Business, the Magazine for Office, Store and Factory. (1908) p. 14
Furthermore, the review claimed that systematizing can be learned by means of the course in systematizing under personal direction of J.B. Griffith, who with the assistance of some experts, perfected the only practical plan of teaching systematizing and business organization offered by any institution. No other educational organization is prepared to offer such thorough instruction in the subjects embraced in this course. Like other business subjects, the only practical way to learn systematizing is by actual practice — actually systematizing a business – and that explains the success of the course.
The system concept In the 1905 Systematizing Griffith (1905) opened with stating that, before we can intelligently take up the study of system, we must first consider what the term means. According to Griffith, the term system as applied to business is: the plan under which the work of the entire business is carried on; the plan for conducting each department and for taking care of every detail; the method of recording the various transactions of the business and collecting information in such form that as will most clearly exhibit the condition of any department.Bray (1905, p. 3-4)
Griffith continued that, the key note of system is economy. A perfect system handles the details in a given department with the least possible labor. It unites the plan for handling these details into a harmonious whole for the quick and economical conduct of that particular department. The systems for conducting the various departments must in turn be united into a plan for the operation of the entire concern.
The result, according to Griffith, is a thoroughly systematized business—a complete machine—in which every department is operated and each detail handled without friction and with the smallest possible expenditure if time labour and expense.
Graphic illustration of the organization
A really systematic organization, according to Griffith (1905), is one in which all of the departments work in harmony; in which every person in the establishment for the Executive head down, conforms to and performs his part of the work according to the system laid down. As applied to business concerns, the idea is best illustrated by a chart.Bray (1905, p. 14-16) Griffith explained:
At the end of the first chapter a chart is presented of a business organization (see image), which has similarities with both an organizational chart and mind map. The charts building blocks mention both business function (executive), departments (Mfg. Dept.; Selling Dept.; Accounting Dept.; etc.), records (Purchase Records; Sales Ledger; etc.), business activities (Time Keeping; Cost Accounting; etc.), and cost accounting classes (Labour Direct; Labour Indirect; etc.). In a similar way organization departments had been pictured by Griffith, such as the Purchasing Department, Stock Department and Advertising Department (see below).
The presentation of these kind of preliminary organizational charts was rather rare in those days. The work itself has similarities with the series of system charts, Horace Lucian Arnold had published two years earlier in his 1903 The Factory manager and accountant.Arnold, Horace L. (1903). The Factory manager and accountant, some examples of the latest American factory practice; collected and arranged by Horace Lucian Arnold (Henry Roland). The Engineering Magazine company. p. 317-332.
It is remarkable, that these diagrams were also not republished in Griffith's later works. Griffith did develop the concept into a single chart of the Duties, Responsibilities and Authorities of Department Heads (see image), which was first published in Griffith's Administrative and industrial organization (1909), and republished in the 1910 Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration,Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, (1910) Vol 4, p. 312.
Despite these efforts to introduce these visual aids, they didn't become that popular yet. In the 1920s a survey revealed that organizational charts were still not common among ordinary business concerns, but they were beginning to find their way into administrative and business enterprises.Alexander Hamilton institute (1923) Organization charts. p. 6
Charting factory layout and routing Another feature Griffith demonstrated in his work Systematizing and later works is the charting of factory layout and routing. In Systematizing he gave one example in the third section about "The Stock Department", where as example he illustrated two arrangements, or routing diagrams, for handling lumber:
Griffith explained, that the arrangement of the stock should be such that all unnecessary handling will be avoided. The references in Section Whether it be the store house of a country store or the supply room of an immense factory, the stock most often required should be placed where it can be readily removed, while that seldom called for may be stored in the more inaccessible corners. Where the concern is large enough to require several storage places, these storage places for the different classes of stock should be located with special reference to the departments in which the stock is used.Griffith (1905, p. 73-74)
Suppose the location of lumber yard, dry kiln, lumber shed and factory to be such as shown in Fig. I. Note How the lumber must travel back and forth, crossing the same space three times. Compare this with the arrangement shown in Fig. II.The lumber is taken the shortest possible distance and never goes over the same ground twice. Where buildings have been permanently located it may not be possible to change the general plan, but improvements can be made in nearly all cases. Take the plan in Fig. I: If the lumber yard was located immediately back of the dry kiln, at least 25 per cent of the labor of handling the lumber would be saved. The plans which we have shown illustrate examples of good and bad system in the location of one class of stock.
The layout and routing of a typical manufacturing plant are often more complex, see for example figure III, but the principles remain the same.Griffth (1909, p. 37)
Documenting Policies and Procedures In Systematizing Griffith showed to be a proponent of documenting policies and procedures. He argued:
As to the form that an order should take, the only satisfactory form is the written order ... If the request is in writing neither [the sender nor the recipient] is obliged to depend on his memory. The written order removes all chance of dispute as to its conditions, neither can there be a question of the authority of an order which bears the signature of the head of a department ... Another great advantage of the written order is that the head of a department may keep copies and follow-up each order to see that it is properly executed.Griffith (1905, p. 19-20); as cited in: Yates, JoAnne, Creating organizational memory : systematic management and internal communication in manufacturing firms, 1880-1920 Cambridge, Massachusetts : Sloan School of Management. 1988. p. 7.
Yates (1988) commented that "the written order, whether to an individual or to the whole company, became part of organizational memory rather than just individual memory. It was then available for whatever future needs might arise."Yates (1988, p. 7)
Manufacturing Costs
The tenth section of Systematizing focussed on manufacturing costs. Griffith started explaining that a cost system in any manufacturing plant is a necessity, yet in those days there were many manufacturers who hadn't discovered its importance. With cost systems Griffith meant a system by means of which the actual costs of manufacturing the product can be accurately determined.Bray (1905, p. 355-86)