psychology assignment

Holly

46 OCCUPATIONS

tinued t o urge research and increasing knowl- edge of our resources, including human re- sources, and information as to where they were t o be found. The profits made by in- dustries which utilized time-and-energy sav- ing work-methods, and the spur of competi- tion meant that some progress was made. This progress constantly pointed up the reali- zation that human resources are the most im- portant of resources.

Progressive, farsightedManagement helped. There ws a conviction, born of actual first- hand experience, that men and women placed at work that they could do and liked t o do, and helped t o d o i t in the best and easiest way, not only could earn more money, but were better satisfied, granted, of course, that working conditions, hours, wages, etc., were properly handled. Unions helped, in so far as they stressed good working conditions, fair wages, and hours, the necessity of basing jobs on factual data and careful research. The worker himself helped, by cooperating in the elimination of fatigue; the working out of simplified work methods; the conservation and utilization of skills; and the necessity of developing these processes in the framework of a management and administration that were adequate, stable, and progressive.

WORLD WAR I1 With the coming of World War 11, again

the motivation increased, and every available management help was explored. The Armed Services had preferences, not only in materiel but also in personnel, this time including women (who volunteered) as well as men. The Armed Services also took over many of the effective people and methods of scientific management. This meant two things. The Armed Services utilized what they had, t o the betterment not only of the Services, but of civilian life. Industry lost, but also gained, for methods were tried out; people were tested; results were relayed back into the civilian areas contributing t o the war effort. Much experience that was accumulated but not available to industry a t the time was t o be made available in the post-war. period. Personnel were in many cases trained to be useful through expanding opportunities; new and challenging problems were solved; case

material was gathered to be later turned over for peace use. This concerned both personnel and operating people and problems.

On the other hand, the workers w h o car- ried on the jobs in the industries, both “essen- tial” and “non-essential,” were often pro- moted faster and farther than they could have hoped to be in peace times. New work- ers were recruited, placed, and trained, in industry-women, youth, the “minority groups,” and the handicapped-as in World War I, but to a greater degree. New methods of conserving, utilizing, and developing the human element came into being, or were adapted or expanded.

Perhaps this can be illustrated by what happened in the field of motion study. There we have always supplemented the questions “Is it necessary?” and “Why?” with the questions “What is the job?” “Who is t o d o it?” “Where?” “When?” and “How?” For- tunately, during the peace years there had come a realization that things are necessary not only for tangible but for intangible rea- sons. We knew that not only must goods be produced because they are needed, and be- cause men need the wages t o buy the goods they need, but that people must get satisfac- tions in their work, and in the goods that they buy with what they receive for their labor. This implies an understanding and a consideration of the human element that comes only when one considers not only uni- versal likenesses, but individual differences. We have found that human resources include more than physical energy, that psychologi- cal factors are also important. We have learned t o supplement the findings of the so- called exact sciences w i t h those of the social sciences.

We have learned t o consider the total situa- tion, and the twenty-four hour day. We have utilized the studies of the anthropologist, the physiologist, the psychologist, the pyschia- trist, the sociologist, and the educator.

A NEW SLANT ON JOB ANALYSIS During these last war years we found that

the available “who” made it even more neces- sary than it had been to know exactly “what” was to be done. We reviewed our job analyses, not only t o find out the results

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCES 47

desired, but also the qualities of the person needed t o do the job. There were increased demands to simplify the work methods, per- haps even to re-group the factors in the spe- cific jobs, in order t o utilize new, less skilled, less able or more handicapped people. There was also the necessity of trying to find more people able t o d o the work. This meant a more adequate screening, based on a clearer, more exact classification of jobs and their re- quirements, and a better understanding of people and their abilities and possibilities. It meant development of new tests and new test- ing methods and devices like the Orthorater, which has contributed so much to the elimi-

’ nation of eye fatigue. It meant the transfer of body mechanics, or bio-mechanics, from schools and colleges t o plant health and safety departments and on-the-job situations. Here people were conditioned for their jobs, and unnecessary fatigue eliminated, or neces- sary fatigue compensated for. It meant ex- panded visual education, and tests t o locate eye-minded people, ear-minded, etc. It meant simpler and more interesting training, like the courses developed ,by the Training Within Industry group, where Job Instructor Training, Job Methods Training, and Jobs Relations Training gave t o every man and woman w h o handled others, in industry, simple, effective ways of teaching, simplify- ing work, and solving human relations prob- lems. It meant attempting t o develop better work methods and more capable and satisfied people, a t the same time. It meant an inten- sive study of motivation and incentives, to get people on jobs, to help them to work hard and continuously with no ill effects, physical or psychological, t o themselves. This was no easy task, through the stresses and strains of a world war.

In spite of the fact that industry had given so many people t o the Armed Services, and was short of research men, teachers, personnel specialists, supervisors, etc., miracles were performed. War needs made exchanges of ex- perience vital. Government support and finance were available, and the progress was astonishing. New groups, like counselors, entered industry, with a diversified experi- ence that furnished a t times difficult problems of adjustment, but with resources that imme-

diately widened the scope of industrial think- ing, on the human side, and with a willing- ness to work hard that was contagious. These women and men, for they were mostly women, often relieved over-burdened foremen and superintendents of personnel work that is an essential part of their jobs. But at the same time they furnished examples to both worker and supervisor of how such work should be done. They often served as most effective liaison, helping worker and super- visor t o understand each other better, and leaving as so many did at the close of the war a new conception of human relations, “on the job.”

OTHER FACTORS The “where” during the war years fur-

nished challenging problems to be studied. The location of the war plant, and of the place where the worker was supposed to work, rest, eat, or “recreate,” the location of the worker’s home, transportation prob- lems-the complexity of the “where” is evi- dent. Its relation to health, fatigue, and safety is also apparent. Again the total situation and the twenty-four-hour day of the worker, and often of his family and group had to be considered.

In the field of the “when,” the importance of “time how long” as determining “time when” was clearly realized. Here were first- hand demonstrations of demands of the part- time, full-time, and over-time schedule. Here were the day shift, the night shift, the swing shift, working before one’s eyes. Here were the needs and the ways of meeting them plainly presented. Here was a laboratory that intrigued both research man and operat- ing man alike. Here, above all, was the liv- ing demonstration t h a t technical problems and human problems are inseparable and con- cern us all, however our job may be labeled. Here were the intangibles as well as the tan- gibles that motivate men and women, in con- stant operation.

As for the “how,” i t became evident that incentives can postpone fatigue, but cannot eliminate it, if it is real fatigue. Physical fit- ness, mental alertness, emotional stability, social adjustment-jobs require these in dif- ferent proportions, workers possess them t o

48 OCCUPATIONS

different degrees. The “how” must consider all of these. It did. Motion Study elabo- rated where it needed to, simplified where i t could!

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? Now we come to the post-war years. The

material we have accumulated must be evalu- ated. The problems that face us must be solved. First they must be stated, then ways in which we are going t o attack them must be worked out. Industry is returning to its re- stricted sphere. Personnel demanded by war needs are returning to industry, either di- rectly, or after a training period in school or college.

What have we learned? One can attempt t o list only a few indications of progress:

Human resources have proved to be the most im ortant resources of industry,

2. Adequately trained human beings can handle material resources more effec- tively than the less adequately trained.

The training must result not only in the needed- skills to d o the work required, but in appreciation of the needed satis- factions that the work should bring.

4. Skills include knowledge, dexterity, and ability to meet a changing situation.

5. Satisfaction may be intangible as well as tangible. Wages, bonuses, etc., must be supplemented by liking for the work it- self, its pace, its rhythms, the method by which i t is done, the companionship i t offers, the prestige one acquires by doing it, etc.

6 . Personnel work and operating work alike are concerned with human relations. Both may become technical, with little re- gard for the human element. Both have possibilities of developing better human relations.

7. Education is essential. It should prepare not only for the first job, but for all jobs. It takes place everywhere-in the home, the school, the plant. It takes place all the time, and concerns itself w i t h the whole life of the individual, from re-natal

die. It must concern itself with the re- sources of each of us, as a person, and as a member of a group, and w i t h the ever- changing development and relationships that life should bring. Planned education

1.

of the Arme a Services, of the country. 3.

care t o learning how to retire an cr how t o

or training has its important place, but should permeate everything that influences activity.

The arts of communication are the effective ways in which human relations are carried on. They can be learned, if the learner wants t o use them; they can be taught if real cooperation between teacher and student is established.

9. Individual differences are important, but likenesses, are just as important. We learn t o think, feel, and act together by starting w i t h likenesses, and sup lement-

contribute to group thinking. 10. Scientific management has reached

the point where i t is today by recognizing the importance of the human element, and can go as far and as fast as i t uses all that the human sciences have t o offer.

8.

ing by the differences that indivi a uals can

Scientific management is only one of the forces that have made contributions t o such findings as these. It has helped in urging that the scientific method and objectivity be used. It has helped in urging the importance of the human element in industry, where i t has not always been recognized, as well as in the other institutions of this modern world. It has helped by showing that technical prog- ress need not be “delayed so that social progress can catch up,’’ but that technical progress is dependent upon people, is eager t o serve human progress, can be fused w i t h human progress; that invention and all that it brings w i t h i t can free, develop, and inspire man.

By and large, scientific management is in- articulate. It does rather than talks, and what it says i s phrased in technical language. It deals largely in practice and from that i t evolves its theories or leaves them for some- one else t o evolve. It stands in the popular mind for “work in industry or business,” al- though it concerns itself with activity in many other fields, w i t h hospitals, surgery, teaching, sports, agriculture, the home. It is equally interested in problems of personnel relations and in problems of operation, in- cluding production and sales. It is often supposed t o be simply a means of getting things done, although it concerns itself with getting things done w i t h greater satisfaction to everyone concerned I