“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success,” said Ford. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”
Ford not only revolutionized the automotive industry and the way the world moved, but he also came to be known for his unique labour policies. Controversial at times, the underlying concept behind Ford’s human resource policies was the notion of teamwork. By eliminating inequalities among his workers, Ford created an environment in which innovation was encouraged and individual accountability was paramount.
Ford believed that the concept of the equality of man was little more than a romanticized delusion that had no merit in the business world. As he observed his workers, he recognized that some were strong while others were not and some were intelligent while others were not. Each having their own strengths and weaknesses, Ford decided early on to create an environment that would equalize them.
In hiring his workers, Ford practiced the somewhat unusual business practice of ignoring all of a person’s history and prior experience. “It doesn’t matter to me if a man is from Harvard or Sing Sing,” he said. “We hire the man, not his history.” Instead, what Ford looked for was a willingness to work. He believed that every man, no matter what his past, had some good in him and only needed to be given a chance to succeed. It was this faith in his workers’ abilities that inspired many of them to do their best for Ford.
Ford also refuted the practice of hiring experts in the belief that they would restrict the potential for growth and innovation. “That is the way with wise people – they are so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done; they always know the limitations.” With all their good advice, Ford joked that they would also never get any work done. What Ford was looking for was “a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done.” He wanted a team that would be inspired to work hard and look for potential ways to improve efficiency and production.
To further promote this, Ford refused to give specific designations to his employees. “I don’t believe in titles,” he said. “They make people think they are superior.” Instead, everyone was considered at an equal level and each had an important level of individual responsibility. By eliminating the limits of authority, Ford was able to maintain a relatively stable workforce, with no attempts to go over another man’s head.
Ford’s high wage model, where his employers were paid twice the average rate, also served as a source of inspiration and loyalty among his workforce. “Paying high wages is behind the prosperity of this country,” said Ford. “One’s own employees ought to be one’s own best customers.” This accounts for the massive line-ups that could be found daily outside of Ford plants as people often waited months to be hired.
“You will find men who want to be carried on the shoulders of others, who think that the world owes them a living,” said Ford. “They don't seem to see that we must all lift together and pull together.” Indeed, that was what Ford tried to inspire in his workers – a sense of working and pulling together. It was only in doing so that Ford was able to generate such a hardworking team, who stood proudly behind his rise to the top.
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