Standardization of Procedures

Abstract

A LL large-scale enterprises are faced with procedures difficulties. A sizable volume of paper work is generally regarded as normal in the performance of administrative operations. Over a period of time, transactions of all types are likely to accumulate an evergrowing number of uncoordinated forms, copies, and routing instructions. Sometimes it seems that paper work has a life cycle of its own, constantly reproducing and expanding. If undisturbed, this life goes on year after year, providing numerous supervisors and clerks with a justification for existence which takes on the appearance of great importance. Only determined action can halt the rapid growth of paper work, or procedures, as it is sometimes called. The reasons for pruning are obvious, but the desire is not always present-especially in government. Government activities, however, like those of business enterprise, are carried on in order to accomplish definite objectives, such as the construction of a cantonment, the collection of funds, or the settlement of a claim. In these activities the