so important as what he does, and that

... the game is more than the player of the game
And the ship is more than the crew,

or, as another poet with a Kiplingesque turn of mind and phrase has it,

It is not the guns or armament
Or the money they can pay.
It's the close cooeperation
That makes them win the day.
It is not the individual
Or the army as a whole,
But the everlastin' team work
Of every blooming soul.

Each man is directly responsible to his immediate superior. He should
never, unless the circumstances are unusual, go over his head and he
should never do so without letting him know. It should be impossible,
and is, in a well-organized house, for men coming from the outside to
appeal over a member of a firm. Responsible men should be placed in the
contact positions and their responsibility should be respected. Salesmen
are warned not to bother with the little fellow but to go straight to
the head of a firm. Like most general advice, it is dangerous to put
into universal practice. The heads of most firms have men to take care
of visitors, and in a good many instances, the salesman helps his cause
by going to the proper subordinate in the first place. It is all very
well to go to the head of a firm but to do it at the expense of the
dignity of one of the smaller executives is doubtful business policy and
doubtful ethics.

"Passing the buck" is a gentle vice practised in certain loosely hung
together concerns. It is a strong temptation to shift the accountability
for a mistake to the shoulders of the person on the step below, but it
is to be remembered that temptations, like obstacles, are things to be
overcome. The "buck," as has been pointed out, always passes down and
not up, a fact which makes a detestable practice all the more odious.
One of the first laws of knighthood was to defend the weak and to
protect the poor and helpless; it still holds, though knighthood has
passed out of existence; and the creature (he is not even good red
herring) who blames some one else for a fault of his, or allows him to
take the blame, is beneath contempt.

When a mistake has been made and the responsibility fixed on the right
person the penalty may be inflicted. If it is a scolding or a "bawling
out" it should be done quietly. Good managers do not shout their
reprimands. They do not need to. The reproof for a fault is a matter
between the offender and the "bo