Team work;

              HASKINS & S E L LS
C E R T I F I E D P U B L I C A C C O U N T A N TS
NEW YORK
C H I C A GO
SAN FRANCISCO
LOS ANGELES
DETROIT
ST. LOUIS
BOSTON
CLEVELAND
BALTIMORE BULLETIN NEW ORLEANS
SEATTLE
DENVER
ATLANTA
WATERTOWN
PITTSBURGH LONDON
V O L . II N E W Y O R K , M A R C H 15, 1 9 19 No. 3
Team Work
A N army's speed is determined by its
slowest man. A fleet of battleships
goes as fast as its slowest ship. A chain is
as strong as its weakest link. The length
of time required by a group of accountants
for the accomplishment of a piece of work
is determined by the time which the slowest
man in the group requires.
Where two men are working together,
one calling, the other checking, the indif­ference
of either man to the work of his
team-mate renders the work of the team
less efficient by comparison than that of
other teams.
In the simple matter of calling and check­ing,
the man who is checking may have to
locate the figures on different sheets and
often by dates. If the man who is calling,
for example, does not allow ample time for
the figures to be found, confusion occurs,
repetition is necessary, and time is wasted.
If, on the other hand, the man to whom
the figures are being called is not paying
attention or not concentrating on his work,
the same thing may be true. Work of this
kind, although it may seem routine and in
a measure unimportant, requires careful
thought and diligence on the part of both
members of the team.
The caller must call with accuracy and
precision. "Thirty-o-five" may mean
thirty dollars and five-cents or three thou­sand
and five dollars. The caller must be
sufficiently specific in order that the checker
may understand. To hear is not neces­sarily
to understand. To understand, the
checker must react to the words and sense
their meaning. The saying "less haste,
more speed" very often applies to work of
this kind. The work is co-operative from
beginning to end.
In an organization such as ours much
depends upon the ability of the men to
work together.
An accountant in charge without assis­tants
is in as bad a predicament as a num­ber
of assistants without an accountant in
charge. The completion of a piece of
work requires execution of the details as
well as supervision. It is the group work­ing
as a unit which performs the task.
An accountant in charge should take an
interest in and be considerate of his as­sistants.
He should see that they have
proper working facilities and that all have
equal opportunity to demonstrate their
ability; that they are instructed as to what
is required of them and informed as to
the purpose and scope of the work.
The assistants, on the other hand,
should appreciate the responsibility which
falls upon the man in charge and make
every effort to assist him effectively. They
should realize that he labors often under
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