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Published in The Oak Ridger
Published in The Oak Ridge Observer
Published in Y-Source
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Jack Case — Jack Case Management System (03/16/2006)
By D. Ray Smith — This article about the history of Jack Case — namesake for the Jack Case Center — focuses on a letter received at his retirement from A. L. Conte, manager of Union Carbide Battery Products Division, which extols the virtues of a leadership style he learned at the feet of Jack Case while working at Y 12.
Anyone who knew Mr. Case will agree with the effectiveness of the simple yet profound management style he practiced consistently and without fail. Successful managers learned from him; unsuccessful ones who didn't were not long left in positions of responsibility — it was that simple.
Dear Jack,
If I were making a speech on the occasion of your retirement from Union Carbide, this is what I would want the other guests to know.
It doesn’t seem possible that enough years have gone by for you to be retiring, but then I remember that after 10½ years in Oak Ridge, I have now been in Cleveland for 20 years. I wish you good health and much happiness as you leave Y 12. Fortunately for the Nuclear Division you will leave behind a host of colleagues who have learned the “JCMS,” Jack Case Management System, after which the good parts of the Union Carbide Management System (UCMS) must have been taken.
I have never forgotten how good and important you made me feel about myself and my job when I was fresh out of college and just starting my UCC career at Y 12. I called you about a work order (because somebody laughingly suggested it) I had sent to the machine shop for the Health Physics Department. You invited me to the shop so I could explain the problem in more detail. In spite of all the really important work you had to do, you took time to give me a tour of the shop and introduce me to all of your department supervisors and to personally explain the shop priority system. That was a grand day for me, and I use it often as an example of the human side of top management.
As I worked for you in my assigned task of project engineering for the then Mechanical Operations Division, I often pondered what it was about jack Case that brought out the very best in all the people who worked for him from superintendents to machinist and machine operators. I call it the Jack Case Management System now that I am more attuned to such Corporate thoughts. Back then, I just knew that Jack Case was a “hell of a Guy” and it might be wise to emulate the attributes I had been exposed to.
What then is the Jack Case Management System? Well, the way I perceived it is as follows:
1. Select well-trained, hard-working and objective people who are considerate and concerned about the general well being of their subordinates.
2. Tell them what you want to accomplish.
3. Trust them and let them do the job.
The results were the development of able men like Claude Hensley, Jim Thorpe, John Gordon, Pete Rinderer, Harold Alvey, Lyle Langdon, Harold Babb, Henry Spec, just to name a few, and a host of others who always rose to meet the deadlines and get the work out.
When I left Oak Ridge to take a job with the Battery Products division, I took “JCMS” with me and have used it since. I am grateful that I had an opportunity to know you and to work for you. Thanks for what you taught me.
Not too many people come to Cleveland just for the fun of it, but if you should for any reason, I would be proud to have you visit our home as well as our Battery Division facilities, including our new R&D Laboratory.
With warmest best wishes,
A. L. Conte
The simple three-step process described by Conte in his letter remains profound today. Select well-trained, hard-working and objective people; let them know what needs to be done and then trust them to do their job — simple, but still effective.
The next article will include an e-mail from a reader who expanded upon the JCMS from his personal experience.
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