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National Resources Planning Board 



research organization which is unable to get its results 

 into commercial use can be regarded as successful. 



The candidate should give consideration to the type of 

 stafT the prospective cmploj'cr already has in order to 

 determine how his qualifications and methods of working 

 would fit into the organization. 



In most organizations great emphasis is placed on the 

 careful selection of teclmical personnel. The teclmical 

 men are usually selected by the heads of the research 

 organization, and in practically all cases a personal 

 interview is involved. This may give the candidate an 

 opportunity to secure information on some of the 

 points we have discussed, and he should regard this 

 interview as of equal interest to himself and to his 

 prospective employer. It gives an opportunity for 

 each party to become acquainted with the other. He 

 should not hesitate to answer fully any questions, 

 whether personal or technical, and should not hesitate 

 to ask questions. 



In some cases the interview may develop into a techni- 

 cal discussion which may appear to the candidate to be 

 suspiciously close to an examination. In most cases 

 these discussions are not carried on to reveal deficiencies 

 in the candidate's knowledge. The purpose is rather 

 to ascertain the lines of work for which the candidate is 

 best suited. 



Careers in Research 

 Organization 



In this section we shall discuss the research organiza- 

 tion from the standpoint of the individual. 



There is no standard form of research organization. 

 The variety of the work, its changing character, and the 

 fact that research work depends on a peculiar combina- 

 tion of individual yet cooperative creative effort, 

 make it unwise to attempt to apply any standardized 

 form of organization. 



One of the objectives of organization in a research 

 laboratory is to augment the efficiency of the individual 

 worker with the knowledge and experience of others 

 who in most cases have had more experience in some 

 phases of the work. The young man entering a research 

 organization may have knowledge of the newer develop- 

 ments in science which the older men do not have; 

 they in turn have a considerable amount of knowledge 

 regarding the problems to be solved, and have had 

 experience in applying science to their solution. The 

 young man will probably be assigned to a group headed 

 by an older, more experienced man who will direct his 

 work as far as objectives are concerned, advise him 

 regarding methods of attaining these, and contribute 

 materially to the proper utilization of results. 



Another objective of organization is the coordination 

 of work. Most projects require for their completion 



the solution of a number of problems. These may be 

 quite separate scientifically, but they have to be 

 considered in relation to each other from the stand- 

 point of time, cost, and technical results. Therefore, 

 it is essential that the various persons working on the 

 separate problems act as a team under the leadership 

 of someone in charge of the entire project. 



The piu'pose of the organization, then, is to insure 

 these objectives, to define responsibility, and yet to 

 leave to the individual as much scope for his initiative 

 as his ability and experience seem to justify. 



Usually the research men will be assigned to work 

 with a group on some problem that has been selected 

 by the management because it is important to the 

 company and because the probabihty of its solution is 

 sufficiently high to justify the effort. If the worker 

 possesses the necessary qualifications he will have, to a 

 considerable degree, the quality of imagination and the 

 creative urge, and therefore may have ideas of his own, 

 not relating to the problem in hand, on wliich he would 

 like to do some work. But if he also possesses the 

 qualities of practicality and cooperation, this situation 

 will not cause him concern. In most organizations 

 men are encouraged to have new ideas, and to present 

 them in written form to the management. In some 

 cases the management's policy may be to have some 

 preliminary work done by workers on such ideas. In 

 other cases, definite authorization is required for any 

 such work. The decision will depend not only on the 

 organization but also on the immediate importance of 

 the work in hand, and on the apparent value of the new 

 idea. An objective and practical attitude toward this 

 matter is necessary, with an effort to consider it from 

 the standpoint of the management, without, however, 

 losing interest in the desirability of having the idea 

 evaluated whenever this can be done. 



When the worker's idea relates to the problem in 

 hand, he will usually find that it is given early con- 

 sideration, but here again a somewhat objective atti- 

 tude is desirable, including a careful consideration of 

 the point of view of others who may have relevant 

 knowledge. 



Dilenunas of this sort are brought about by the 

 existence of one of the qualities which underlies the 

 ability to do useful research, namely, the creative urge, 

 and a proper solution of such dilenimas is of the utmost 

 importance to both the worker and the organization. 



Aids to the worker. — The scientific research student 

 in a university laboratory in most cases has to do prac- 

 tically all the work relating to liis problem. Particularly 

 in the larger industrial research laboratories, he will 

 find a different state of affairs. Library facilities will be 

 available to assist in literature searches and the prepa- 

 ration of bibliograpliies. Koutine tests and analyses 

 will be made by service departments. He will thus be 



