Edward Cadbury: Employee

“On one level, then, Cadbury can be seen as a classic example of Victorian industrial paternalism, albeit carried to greater lengths than in most other companies of the day. On another level, however, the Cadbury system resulted in a very strong, highly flexible organisation which, thanks to the strong levels of employee commitment and participation, could draw on a large bank of experience and intelligence to solve problems and undertake what amounted to continuous improvement. The employee participation system in particular meant that Cadbury was constantly upgrading its processes and products. Herbert Casson regarded Cadbury in the 1920s as one of the best-run companies in Britain, if not the world, and summed up the key to its success very succinctly: ‘At Cadbury, everybody thinks.”

Edward Cadbury

Morgen Witzel (2003), Fifty Key Figures in Management. p. 39
Quote on the Cadbury company at the time Edward Cadbury was managing director

World , Intelligence , Problem , Thinking

“[The younger employees] do not appreciate fully the great change that is taking place in their lives, nor do they realize the added responsibility that "growing-up" brings with it.”

Edward Cadbury

Source: Experiments in industrial organization (1912), p. 2; As cited in: Felix Behling et al. (2015; 194)

Change

“Suggestions [by employees] are invited on the various matters indicated under the following headings : —
1. New or improved goods.
2. Improvement in method of manufacture.
3. Suggestions appertaining to advertisements or methods likely to increase sales.
4. Improvements with reference to management.
5. Suggestions affecting the social well-being, Athletic and other clubs, Societies, Libraries, Magazine, etc.
6. Any suggestion of whatever character so long as it bears some relation to, or is connected with, the Works at Bournville.”

Edward Cadbury

Source: Experiments in industrial organization (1912), p. 212; Partly cited in: Morgen Witzel (2003), Fifty Key Figures in Management. p. 39

“The supreme principle [in Industrial Organization] has been the belief that business efficiency and the welfare of the employees are but different sides of the same problem. Character is an economic asset; and business efficiency depends not merely on the physical condition of employees, but on their general attitude and feeling towards the employer.”

Edward Cadbury

Introduction, p. vii; Partly cited in: Felix Behling et al., The Changing Worlds and Workplaces of Capitalism. 2015, p. 194
Experiments in industrial organization (1912)

Feeling , Business , Problem , Dependency