PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL  
TO MR. HULL:
 
 
 
August 14, 1943
 
     
 
 
You repeated to me last week that you would like suggestions   
for Departmental organization in regard to PostWar problems.
 
     
 
 
As a participant in post-war studies, and as an observer for   
several months past, some ideas have occurred to me which I have set   
down in an informal way for what they are worth. With your long   
experience as the head of the Department they may seem elementary,   
but even if so, they may be fundamental.
 
     
 
 
There is never a harmonious working organization in any large   
enterprise unless there is a clear definition of authority. Neither   
an individual nor a group can function intelligently or wholeheartedly   
if they are not clearly within a sphere of action that has been defined.   
All men like to feel they are competent enough in their main responsibility,   
subject to control or policy of the head of the enterprise or the State   
or the Department, to discharge specific tasks with authority. Where   
overlapping is necessary, it must be regulated by the chief in command.   
It can be done without friction or bad feeling. It has to be so done,   
or the work suffers in consequence.