PSYCHOLOGY IN INDUSTRY 



machine shops, telephone exchanges, banks, museums, 

 libraries, laundries, and power plants. In government 

 departments and public utilities, as well as in private 

 industries and stores, they have analyzed work processes 

 and the conditions that affect individual variations in 

 performance. They have studied the abilities and aptitudes 

 as well as the duties and difficulties of the men and women 

 there employed. Improvements have been made so that the 

 work could be done better, with less expenditure of energy. 

 Appliances, tools, and benches have been adapted to the 

 requirements of the human organism. Standards of ventila- 

 tion and lighting have been modified, to remove dis- 

 comfort and strain. In a wide variety of situations, the 

 mental effects of physical working conditions have been 

 scrutinized in the interest of greater comfort, convenience, 

 ease, and accuracy of work. 



Not only the material surroundings have received atten- 

 tion; the personal environment also has been studied — the 

 psychology of supervision and of relations between fellow 

 workers. Nothing affects a man's mental attitude more 

 intimately than his contacts with his immediate superior. 

 So techniques of training and of personal leadership have 

 been investigated, and sound principles embodied in courses 

 for supervisors, foremen, and managers, with the result that 

 the general level of supervisory practice in industry is 

 being steadily raised. Reasons for workers' restriction of 

 output have been investigated. Obscure and unsuspected 

 causes of slackness and indifference have been uncovered. 

 The values of group incentives to teamwork have been 

 demonstrated in particular instances. Attention has been 

 drawn again and again to the possibility that familiar 

 but often overlooked assets can be capitalized when workers 

 are given a real opportunity to contribute their own ideas, 

 share responsibility for those aspects of the enterprise 

 closest to them, and feel a pride in its success. To be 



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