eh.

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WORK BSYCifOLOGY
AND
ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
Managing the
Individual at W ork

Wendy Hollway

@
SAGE Publications
Lo ndon • Newbu ry Park • New Delhi
 ,-
....

@;>Wendy Hollway 1991 To Robin Lister

First published 1991

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

Hollway, Wendy
Work psychology and organizational behaviour:
Managing the individual at work.
l. Title
658 .3

ISBN 0-8039-8353-0
ISBN 0-8039-8354-9 Pbk

Library of Congress catalog card number 91-60441

Typeset by AKM Associates (UK) Ltd, Southall, Middx.

Printed in Great Britain by Dotesios Ltd,
Trowbridge, Wiltshire

L
r r....-
Hawthorne and the emergence of human relations 69

role of personal leadership. lt completely discounted the likely techno-

logical, financia! , and socio-environmental constraints bearing upon any 1 -~
PARTTWO viable managerial policy. (Child 1969: 156) ;-t-i 1_
.''{ ;,.~ .-t,...-~/¡(...t'"-¡

J:he ___pr_~S~_i;;:~?.~~E}.'!-.~~2.-~~$~-~~~ ta~,;~ , Eia_~t¿J?!:.:?~~T_¡.~~t.,.: í"__,.,~---

THE SENTIMENTAL WORKER a ccor~~!j¡ to~~~e _!l~~an~~~!~?_!ll.,~,rr.ll?~~~~ -~•t•.-4-t ;.q,;)
1

Iñ- part L. of thi:o book 1 document the emergence of, and develop- {
5 ments within, human relations up to the 1980s and I examine what
Hawthorne and the Emergence of conditions produced these . I start with the Hawthorne experiments,
which are generally recognized as the first example of 2 human
Human Relations rclations paradigm formalized into a scientific discourse.
Section 2 gives a brief description of the Hawthorne research ,

• In ma tt crs pcrt a ining to collaboration, the sentiménts and their interact i0 ns

are very impo rt a nt. (Roethlisberger 1949: 39)
attempting to set it in the wider historical context of management and
work p~ychology. Section 3 introduces the 'sentimental worker' ,
formalized with the Hawthorne research , and its significance as a ncw
o bject of psychology and management which stresses the emotional
diml y th e experim enters perceived a new method of human control.
a nd social determinants of work behaviour. 1n section 4 1 discuss the
(Roethlisbergc r 1949: 16)
conditions for the transition from scientific management to human
relations as the dominant approach to work regulation. Sections 5, 6
l. lntroduction and 7 al! consider aspects of the production of the sentimental worker;

,, .Ove" ~o.;od r-~~~i~~s'

1
its application in supervisory relations and training, its relation to the
.i .:'1
•. _ :\ ofth;cty yw_,, beg;·"_ ning i-n t_h__ e 19. 30s! 'hum. an counselling programme and to productivity. Finally, in section 8, I
-: ~'""&>ecame the domina nt pa radigm within which the management 01 examine the relations between the interviewing method , supervisory
.i'f; p-eo ple iñ ?r~ani 1;atj o n s wa.~ undef.st q{>_d _arid ifs p~~-c}}c.ª[email protected]ñ training and the production of a new subject worker.
..r.~'i-Y tts most popular and well-esta blish<:d se_n~e, human rel'!ti.ons 'is~imp~y
· '\ '"a"'C"atcn·~a1U~~.a.c~c ribi~g tJ:!.~ -w~x ..W ._~h!~h. tb~. _peo_pJ;. ~Q?
compr!~e an_ orgaf!tzation thmk about and deal with eac.h other' 2. The Hawthorne Research
(Cféi1erman 1966: 1). More precisely, it refers to a\octi-ps_Y_c_hoj_ogl~ The famous studies were conducted at 'Hawthorne', a si te of the
~]l for understanding the individual at wor and to recom- Western E1ectric Company situated in a Chicago suburb, in the second
mendations for management pra ctice which stem from this approach. half ofthe 1920s. They continued into the 1930s. Western Electric was
It is no more the exclusive property of psychology than of sociology or a wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone and Telegraph
management theory. 1 Though arguably the peak of its dominance Company, AT &T. The original research by thc National Research
passed in the sixties or seventies, its a~sumptions are still so widespread Council, focusing on the re1ation of illumination and productivit)(,
that it is difficult to distance ourselves from them; we take them for began in 1924. The Relay Assembly Test Room was opened in April
~nted. 1927. Here experimenters measured the effect on the productivity of
~"' This• is .im__portant because, as 1- shall ,.argue, human relations has women workers of a great variety of changes in working conditions,
, ét~ -- ~-- • . •..•.• •· ·· -- - . . . . ' -
. • _.:'!- ~Í!.l~!~.D.Q~!:SJ.'!!!difjg _oi organizational oehaviouq The result including illumination and rest pauses . Productivity increased under
.\ .f\ has been a preoccupation with the characteristics of individuals in al! iti ns a resu1t which was attributed to the im rove ·
,.ti';J interpersona1 relations, particularly the relations between managers ~~ Ia!iQill.- The extent to whic t IS expenment became synonymous
t and subordinates, as exemplified in the interest in 'leadership style '. 'with the Hawthorne studies is evident in the way that this phenomenon
:~,JJ This preoccupation has virtually excluded other approaches. In his
book on British management thought , John Child argues that:
is called the 'Hawthorne effect'. In 1928, Mayo (who was already
Associate Professor of Industrial Research at Harvard Business
At the time of its greatest influence, human relations led much of British School) went to the plan t. Also in 1928, an interna! Industrial Research
management thought towards an extreme analysis in terms of organizational Division was set up to develop the interviewing programme. According
solidarity, an almost exclusive emphasis on social motivations, and on the to Roethlisberger, one of the Harvard research team, in 1928, 'a new

"'
 70 Work psychology and organizationa/ behaviour Hawthorn e and the emergence of human relations 71

era of personnel relations began': 'lt was the first real attempt to get behaviour. (Later, when training turned into organizational develop-
human data and to forge human tools to get them. In that year a novel ment, the focus on the work group reappeared.) This group was the
idea was born; dimly th e experimenters perceived a new method of a ntithesis of the informal work group: temporarily constituted of
human control' (Roethlisberger 1949: 16). stra ngers in isolation from the workplace and permanently under the
The counselling progra mme which developed from this research at co ntrol of the trainer. The group was largely an administrative
the Hawthorne works continued until 1956. In 1931 , observation convenience for dealing with individuals. It was such practica!
began in the Bank Wiring Room (where restriction of output was first ex igencies , coupled with the politically preferred focus on the indivi-
formally documented and investigated). The formal involvement of dua l, which led to the trend in the social psychology of groups in which
the Harva rd team ended in 1932. I do not intend to describe the the individual group member is the dominant object in both practice
Hawthorne experiments here because there is a voluminous literature a nd theory.
wh ich does so (see especía ll y Roethlisberger 1949: ch. 2; Landsberger This reaffirmation of the emphasis on the individua l is not
1968; Argyle 195 3; Baritz 1965). surprising, given the history o f industria l psychology which we ha ve
/ ------- Many secondary accounts ofthe H awth o rne studies choose to focus alrea dy traced, particularly in the US. Groups were experienced as a
al~-- éxcii:;5'¡~~i y ~~ .co;d~~ion~ ab~ui' -thé info.rinal groÚp__ Qiñ ris ky object of regulation beca use of the power of organized groups:
1 ~..
emphasis
... ..
for wmcñE1türiMay6's ¡:ihilqsoph_y-
- "' --
was Eirge.
•
l y respo nsible). the threat of unionization. The men 's solidarity in the Bank Wiring
1 By the end of the 1940s, a -~ypjs;_al opinion, however was tba.t t~~ Observation Room demonstrated the power of the informal group,
1
Hawth Órr;ereseard1 '1ed. tÓ the now famous conclusions that work and while this was a useful lesson, human relations psychology
1 -é)Ütput " isi'fú~c-ti o"n oi the degree of work satisfaction which in turñ- co ncluded that it could be most effective if it offered strategies that
\ 'Jepends ~P2fl_ the informal s~cial pattern of the work group' (ÚJI<Ú_x: individualized the treatment of employees. The work group did ,
~ ~d_ Fisher 1949: 31 5) however, later become the focus for the Tavistock approach to the
The evidence on the relatio n between output and the informal group des ign of work, and the Quality of Working Life movement (see
produced by the Hawthorne studies was conflicting. Early o n, in the chapter 7).
Relay Assembly Test Room, the women's productivity rose whatever The Hawthorne studies combined two radical departures from
cha nges were m ade to their conditions .2 Yet the opposite concl usi ons p'fe"vious industnal psycñolügy . TI! e fÍI st ÍiíVolved a shd t from the
derived from the fourth and final phase of the H awthorne experiments psycho- h siological model oi tne wOIItei tu a socio-emotwnal_one.
in the Bank Wiring Observatio n Roo m. Here the men's solidarity f e secon as a e ange m met o rom an expenmental one whose
contributed to an inform al norm to limit output. Likert's work (see _Qfu~<;t was the body ( or the m ter a ce between the o y and _the JOb)~
chapter 7) was based on the Hawthorne principie of the positive 2.~whos~_o.bject was altitudes as the intervening variable betwee~
benefits of the small informal group . By the 1960s, however, in situation (working conditwns) and response (output). Human relations
common with most other human relations work, the target of his not on,y maoe possJble the production oi dtflerent k mas of information
intervention was managers, not lower-level employees, as in the initial for the first time in the workplace , but had a powerful effect on the
Hawthorne studies. workers themselves. The Hawthorne interview programm e discovered
Despite Mayo's values of communal ties, loyalty and solidarity that a sympathetic interview technique (see sectio n 6) could not only
which infuse1 human relations and social psychology, the discovery gf elicit new information which was valu able to management, but could
the influence of the small group did not lead primarily to change ~_i_n itself be instrumental in effecting a change in employees' attitudes.
-ractice based on small groups for the majority of employee~ For Human relations training was later to be based on this insight. In
exa mple, it did not become standard practice in factories to select su mmary, Hawthorne is where the 'sentimental worker' carne into
workers,~ ~ij} the basis of friend ship, or to develop ways of bei ng as the object of social science.
encouraging them to relate well together. The line of argument .
developed was the concern with worker satisfaction. For this purpose,
3. The Sentimental Worker
the individual employee in relation to management became the focu s;
the group becoming just background. I call the subject of this new knowledge 'the sentimental worker'
The training group was destined to beco me the most common form because it was at this time that the worker was formally discovered to
of s mall group in human relations practice and organizational ha ve sentiments (feelings or emotions as we would call them now) and
 72 Work psychology and organizational behaviour
Hawthorne and the emergence of human relations 73
interpersonal needs. As Roethlisberger describes the conclusions of
(t he need for improved control of output without changing material
one set of studies (in the ReJa y Assembly Test Room): 'What a!J their
co nditions) and how knowledge in terms of the discourse of the
experiments had dramatically and conclusively demonstrated was the
se ntimental worker led to certain practices and not others; for example
importance of employee attitudes and sentiments' ( 1949: 15). Accord-
counselling and interpersonal skills training, rather than the resolution
ing to Roeth lisberger, the important characteristic of sentiments was
of grievances.
that 'they cannot be modified by logic alone' (1949: 31 ). He described
the early experimenters at Hawthorne as :
carrying around in their heads the notion of 'eco nomic man', a man 4. From Scientific Management to Human Relations
primarily motivated by econom ic interest, whose logical capacities vvere The transition to human relations as the dominant discourse aná
being used in the service of this self-interest. Gradually and painfully the
practice ofindustrial psychology and management in the United States
experimenters had been forced to aba ndon this conception of the worker
and his behavior ... they found that the behavior ofworke rs could not be
is usually understood as a radical break - a paradigm shift. This
und ersto od a part from their fcelings or sentiments. (1949: 19) em phasis is the almost inevitable result of writing the history of
industrial psychology as a history o: ideas. In this tradition , the
Of course this knowledge was a feature ofworkplace relations before transition is viewed as one in which certain prommeñt researcfi~I:-s saw--
(see chapter 3, scction 6). It was partly because the persona lized and ll'íetñeoretic~l -;nd/or -scientific ina_Q<;g¡_¡a~y_o( pr~.vious principies ,__
potentiall y humane treatment ofthe worker had largely been lost with ~pderstood fQLthe..ilr5t-tlm6:-th~i!!!P.ortanc;e Qf the h~;¡};t~ clem~_nt~.­
the incrcasing size of factories and the change in technology that it had and drew on difkrent intellectualtra_d ijions ts:> crea te _I)_ew paradigll}_i,
to be rediscovered . With the Hawthorne experiments the knowledge -~uch as ones in wh~~b_ _J]1_otivati<:?n, g~?~P c~'!(!~iv~~ess _and atti!ude~,
was produced by socia l science and therefore had more stat us and ¡:¡layed the key role. The typical account of the Hawthorne research
legiti macy. It was forrnalized and disseminated. p;ocess reHéctsjtiStThis theory of scientific progress. For example
By far th e most important source is the original one: Management describing the reasons for the transition from the early illumination
and the Worker (1939/1970), written by Roethlisberger, o ne of studies at the Hawthorne plant, Mayo comments: 'The conditions of
the Harvard team of resea rchers, and Dickson, an employee in scientific experiment had apparently been fulfilled - experimental
Hawthorne's personnel departmcnt. This book is extraordinary in its room, control room ; changes introduced one at a time; all other
theoretical range and in it s attention to detail in deS"cription of the conditions held steady. And the results were perplexing' (1949: 61 ).
research process. Management and the Worker represented a massive The scientific progress account of the shift to human relations is not
intellectual and practica! shift. The fact that the ideas contained in the untrue; the human factor paradigm of the initial research did leave
book are now part of our commonsense conceptions should not unanswered pressing questions about output. But it does not explain
what it changed to, and why it did so at that time. It was not simply
detract from, but should contribute to, an appreciation of the radical
improved science that enabled movement in understanding. If scientific
innovation that was achieved with the formalized production of the
sentimental worker. legitimacy had been the criterion for the subsequent influence of the
Hawthorne experiments, it is probable that the human relations
In summary, the new discourse which built up a picture of the
paradigm would ha ve been dismissed in its infancy. Despite being 'the
sentimental worker saw his/her performance not as based on rational
first major social science experiment' (Baritz 1965: 77), there has been
response to reality, but as being emotionally and irrationally affected
plenty of retrospective criticism of the scientificity of the Hawthorne
by complex social and interpersonal factors , both outside and inside
experiments (for example Argyle 1953; Carey 1967).
the workplace, both past and present. Emotion or sentiment was an
In contrast to the scientific progress view, 1 account for the
important variable because it intervened between workers' experience
emergence of human relations in terms of the relation between power
(for example of supervision) and their job performance (see the case of
(in this case management interests and worker resistance) and
worker W7, in section 7). lt is not a discourse which developed first
knowledge. In this view, claims of scientificity play their part in
theoretically, la ter leading to application: the 'sentimental worker' was
legitimizing the take-up ofhuman relations practices. However it does
produced through interviewing and observation i~the Hawthorne
3 not re] y on an idea of science promoting progress towards objective
plan t. From the beginning , the research was bound up with manage-
truth . The relation between social science knowledge, or discourse,
ment: how its interests produced a certain definition of the problem
and management practice is a continuous, two-way affair. Child
74 Work psychofogy and organizationaf behaviour Hawthorne and the emergence of human relations 75

illustrates the effects of management practice on discourse in his was in part responsible (along with the labour shortage brought on by
comments on the likely reasons for the predominance of the human the war). Membership declined again during the 1920s. In that decade,
relations paradigm in Britain: according to Baritz, American employers had dealt with dissatisfaction
-in a serious and we!!-organized attempt to keep unionism at bay- by
lnterested academics a nd management writers with a keen eye to prevailing
comprehensive welfare provision within a framework of paternalistic
social problems ... were quite aware ofthe numerous and complex causes of
the industrial conflict then so much in evidence. These writers between them control. 4 Yet in 1935 a researcher reponed that one-third of al!
pul forward a comprehens ive list of causes such as fatigue, monotony, American workers were dissatisfied with their jobs (Baritz 1965: 125).
speeding-up, la e k ofworker autonomy on the shop floor, gross inequalities Resistan ce too k different form s ·in different epochs. The famous
of economic reward in society, class-consciousness, th e disparity between limitation of output 'discovered' in the Bank Wiring Observation
the ideal of political dernocracy and the absence of democracy in industry. Room at the Hawthorne Works is an example ofworkers' strategy in a
On thc o th er ha nd , we shall find that management thought tend ed non-unionized (and anti-union) company during a period where lay-
increasingly to place its main hopes for worker motivation a nd the
~esolution of conflict not on an attempt to mitigate the factors just listed,
offs and unemployment were a threat. Despite the claims of scientific
but rather on the persuasivc powers of personal managerialleadership .... It management to promote 'hearty cooperation' of employers and
appeared most promising to concentrate attention on motiva ti onal workers, and partly beca use of th eir experience of scientific manage-
techniques which managers could readily use. (Child 1969: 55) ment, workers saw a relationship between increased output and the
scarcity of jobs: 'working slower th an management wanted meant to
These practica! contingencies pre-existed the Hawthorne research and
~he worker that his j~-.vould last longer' fBaritz 1965 : 99). In such a
so management preferences were already developing along human
context there was a growing recognition that 'men' were the most
relations lines: Child points out that one reason the British management precious resource of the company:
movement so readily adopted 'Mayoism's practica! human relations
recommendations' ( 1969: 83) was that these were anticipated in British Thisgrowingattitude, tra nslated into personnel policy. too k severa! shapes.
Though it was certainly no t the only tendency, paternalism did become the
management thought 'at least as far back as the close ofthe first world most characteristic form of perso nn el programs. Management would take
war'. As already discussed, employee-centred considerations were ca re ofits workers in the hope that th ey would reciproca te with appreciation,
central to the practice of enlightened British employers, and British loyalty, and harder and more cfficient work. Welfare plans were invented to
management thought a1ready reflected this interest. The Hawthorne cover virtual! y every aspect of th e worker's life, from the moment when he
studies then gave legitimacy to those emp1oyee-centred ideas in British was hired by a centralized and 'scie ntific' employment department to his
retirement years when he would benefit from a carefully constructed
111anagement thought. Chi1d concludes that: 'It is (Hawthorne's] pension plan. Hundreds ofsuch personnel programs emerged in this decade
apparent scientific backing which helps to explain why human [1920s]. And the ranks of organized labor declined steadily . (Baritz !965:
relations held so much influence, not only over British management 59-60)
thought, but over sorne Labour leaders as well' (Child 1969: 155). Commentators as far apart politicall y as Braverman (famed for his
Why was the emphasis of the Hawthorne research so attractive to Marxist analysis of deskilling and the labo ur process) and Drucker (the
management? The fa me ofthe Re la y Assembly Test Room experiments popular manage!Ilent writer) are of the opinion that scientific
líes in the perplexing but tantalizing discovery (from a management management was not superseded but was built into the technology of
point of view) of the 'Hawthorne effect': namely that whatever the production Iine. Drucker (quoted by Brave rman 1974: 87) states
experimental conditions were imposed on the women in the test room that Taylorism 'is no longer the property of a faction, since its
(illumination changes, differing wage systems, rest pauses, beverages, fundamental teachings have become the bedrock of all work design'.
changes in the length of working day and even a return to previous Braverman develops this by examining the rol e of management and
conditions), output rose. It is not surprising that , as Baritz put it, 'the related behavioural sciences once the technology is in place:
Jure of the miraculous' took hold (1965: 49).
Managements were facing a widespread problem of control - of Work itselfis organized according to Taylorian principies, while personnel
departments and academics have busied themselves with the selection,
output restriction, absenteeism and labour turnover. 'Soldiering', as training, manipulation, pacification, and adjustment of 'manpower' lo suit
Taylor called restriction of output, was widely recognized as a the work processes so organized. Taylorism dominates the world of
problem. During and after the First World War, union membership production ; the practitioners of 'human relations' and 'industrial psycho-
had risen enormously, an increase for which scientific management logy' are the maintenance crew for the human machinery. (!974: 87)
 76 Work psycho!ogy and organizational behaviour Hawthorne and the emergence of human relations 77

Applied behavioural science was faced with new situa tio ns to difficulties demonstrate the power of the theoretical framework (in this
understand and for which to recommend strategies o f regula tio n . case the focus on the non-rationa l) to guide their conclusions in ways
Strategies based on scientific ma nagement were not working. Fo r with which they are themselves uneasy.
example, when Mayo was a consultan! in a textile mili o n the pro blem It has been commented in a broadening area of social sciences that
of labo ur turnover 'seve ra! firm s of efficiency engineers had bee n contemporary theory has a tendency to 'blame th~t_i.!P~~,_!_o
consulted [and] . .. la bo ur turnove r had no t dropped one po int' (Mayo advance explanations which seeminglflo~?JCn:_w_Qnsibility_j n~
1949: 52). T o ward s the end ofth eir book , Roethlisberge r a nd Di ckson group, which is con~ently the group wi~p....IDY..e.L ctnd.}Yhi ~h d~
discuss the wa ys in whi ch a counselling programme such as the o nc _ngJ.]ll:.oduce the dominant knowledg~_(Hollway 1989: ch . 6). It is a
they pi o neered ca n help: 'this kind o f no n-a utho rita ti ve age nry (t he phenomenon which is predicta bl e in terms ofFoucault's analysis ofthe
counse lling progra mme) se rves to co ntrol a nd to d ircct th ose huma n relation between power and kno wl edge. This is indeed what happe ned
processcs within th e ind ustria l structure which a re not adeq uately in parts ofthe Hawthorne research. Thus Roethlisberger and Dickson
co ntroll ed by the o t he r agencies of ma nagement' ( 1970: 601 ). claim that 'it was evident th a t the co mplaints of this type o f person
Ji.l!~O. rela t.io ns represc nts the extens;o tl o[ a_'N.e l faE~ _:;_rrat~o [that is the less rational] could nc ~ be ta ken seriously as criticisms of
producti o n itself - a well-ai med bu t ultima tely o nl y p anlyS!JJ:C~ company policy and conditions' (1970: 313) and tha t 'co mments on
attempt to enlist the coopera ti o n of workers in the -goals of ~ supervision , more than any oth er a r¡:a could not be taken at their face
.-co;;{p a ny-witho ut changing its síru ctures or techno logy. Th e key-idcas value' ( 1970: 292). The authors a re o n se nsitive political ground here
-. ~ .... - --r--- ~-
- - ;..l---- -
o f the hum a n rela tions_ ap_p roach b eca me superviso ry t raimn&..J_!J. and their account , althou gh it pl aces a considerable burden of
interpersona l s kills and l e~ d ~r~ hip t-o--iñllü-en cé the mora le- a nd responsibility on the worke r, still contains severa! footnotes stating
mo ti va ti o n , attl tu.d es and fee lin gs of th e ir s ub o rdin a res·. Wfi3t that what they say must not be ta ken as criticism of superviso rs ( 1970:
~acter{zeS...Jhis clu2ter.. ,9LiQeasis .thª.t_its Joc~§.. is e.Q~_irdy ·a-( _(Ec 292-3, 331-2). While the a utho rs' intention is to leave it an open
psyc~<;;.al and interpersona l level. Fo r exa m pl e, a n ex-co unsell o r question whether particula r supervisors were 'slave drivers, bullies'
at ¡:ra.~ th orne Sil id th at they ~~re .inst rucied "to dea l ' with a tti tud ef and so on (1970: 292n .) th e effect o f the analysis is to bl a me the
~~~E~~P[_s> ble~s, not the probl ~ms themse lves: (Ba rit z 1965: 105). interviewees' 'distortion' , 'loss of co ntact with reality' etc. So this effect
J o bs, techno logy and wo rk perform a nce ceased to be menti o ned a nd can be reproduced by others ta king up the framework , irrespective of
pa y a nd co mplaints o nl y figured in a rder to assert th a t their the authors' intentions, if it fits the exercise of power, and the use of
significance was not rea l but symptomatic o f wo rk ers' sentiments (see knowledge by those with po wer in orga nizations .
below). This is why hum a n rela ti o ns was taken up a nd , des pite In making such claims they are failing (beca use of their theoretical
cons iderable evidence fo r its la ck of success, this is why hum a n framework , but also inevitably beca use oftheir rela tion to management
relations is still importa nt. - the two are linked) to ask other questions. Why are comments on
supervisors less 'rational' than comments in other areas? Why did a
5. Defining the Problem and the Object of Change ) -r, ~ ):' t- ,uJ)-pV() certain type of person make complaints about particular areas of
company policy and conditions? The la bel 'irrational' enables them to
A clinical analysis offers the possibility of exonerating supervisors' dismiss the factuallegitimacy of workers' accounts . Reading the four
co nduct , blaming workers and thus displacing respo nsibility fo r individual cases which are·analysed in this clinical way (Roethlisberger
workers' ' poor' perfo rm a nce from the factory ma nagem ent. 5 and Dickson 1970: ch. 14) left me with the feeling that the reasons given
Roethlisberger and Di ckso n were a ware of the dangers of their by interviewees for long-term resentment of supervisors appeared
reductionist analysis a nd a lso were inconsistent with rega rd to it: 'A t justified. 1 shall take just one example here.
the time, the investigato rs were primaril y interested in the individ ua l Mr Green's suspicions that his supervisor is responsible for
co mplainant and the pa rticulariti es of his perso na l situ a ti o n .... As a threatening phone calls made to his home is seen as evidence of a
result they failed to see so rne o f the more gen eral uniformities which paranoid psyche, and the concept of projection is used to account for
existed among emplo yee co mplaints' (Roethlisberger and Dickson his endownment of the supervisor with unpleasant attributes. But Mr
1970: 358). In a separate chapte r (cha pter 16) th ey att empt to Green 's account of his supervisor's treatment of him suggests to rne a
compensare fo r this emphasis but the acco unts rema in largely reasonable response to a man who was making trouble for him. Mr
unintegrated with the do min a nt pa radigm of the boo k . The a uth o rs' Green's actions were on grounds entirely consistent with co:npany
 Hawthorne and the emergence of human relations 79
78 Work psychology and organizational behaviour
practice. The sychological perspective carne to domina te, producin
policy; for example obeying doctor's orders in refusing to lift heavy
mdlv!duaísa·nd their re atwns ase ocus. Although the workers wer.e
weights after an operation for which the company took responsibility.
~ -the eventual object of adjust.!D§nt, supervisqb became the focus of
lndeed Green was so reasonable that when the departmental chief
'bawled me out in front of all the m en .. . so rough 1 think [it was] to get '· .:_~tillos pra¿tices...b.eca~~~rt~~~-effe~_!!t~~-~.ll~~l!
workers' satisfaction:
me to hit him' , he was 'too wise todo that' and instead was 'nervous - _--R ' -. -- --- - ------- -~ --

a l! over' ( 1970: 229). In the world of 1930s Chicago and Prohibition, it Virtually al! managements and social scientists, as well as a few labor
was commonplace for companies to persecute troublemakers as leaders, agreed that the foreman was the key figure in labor relations. The
Communist-inspired and to spend enormous amounts on breaking degree to which the worker was satisfied with his foreman was the degree to
which he was satisfied with his job. (Baritz 1965: 182)
trade union organization. 1t is not necessarily paranoid to suppose that
a vindictive supervisor, who fears for his own position, would pass on Roethlisberger and Dickson produced a distinction - between fact
to those specializing in intimidation the name of a man who was not and non-fact- which enabled them to move from a perspective which
entirely submissive. sees employees' complaints concerning their work as facts or false-
Acceptance of this story was less palatable to the researchers than hoods, toa perspective which s~es the importance ofwhat workers say
seeing Mr Green as paranoid . Western Electric was keen to maintain as residing in its 'emotional significance' (a category which was
its image as a caring employer and the academics had their own n juxtaposed to 'objective information'). The specific area in which the
reasons for wanting to believe this: they, like Mayo , were humanistic in concept of non-fact is taken up and developed further is, significantly,
their intentions and would not want their consciences troubled by in the are a of supervision: 'Comments on supervision , more than those
doing work on behalf of a company that they saw as exploitative. The in any other area, could not be taken at their face value' ( 1970: 292).
authors insist in various places how the interviewees trust and respect
the company (for example, p. 284). Mayo's political philosophy meant 6. The Interviewing Method
that he was deeply committed to developing cooperation in modern
industrial society, where he saw alienation as having taken root, and A necessary element in producing the sentimental worker was the
this led him to avoid any perspectives on the organization which emergence ofthe new interviewing methods as a way of getting reliable
admitted conflict as a fundamental feature (Bendix and Fisher 1949; information from the workforce. Moreover the principies of inter-
Landsberger 1968; Koivisto 1953; Sheppard 1949). Ifthe altitudes that viewing could 'be used by the personnel manager of a large industrial
led to conflict could be understood as pathological, within a clinical corporation in his daily activities as well as in the more formal
framework, these beliefs and Ioyalties to the company could remain industrial relations interviewing' (Roethlisberger and Dickson 1970:
unchallenged. 286). The interviewing method provided information which was used
The effects of the economic depression continually appear in the by management in two ways. First, interviewers regular! y submitted to
case material in the form of shorter hours, relatives being laid off and management a general survey of employee morale. Secondly, the
fear of the sack leading employees to put up with appalling treatment. information was used in supervisory training (a scheme which pre-
Yet the authors only treat this as a rational explanation of behaviour existed the research, but into which the research objectives fitted,
when, from 1931 on, they start a programme of interviewing supervisors objectives which eventually transformed supervisory training).
and comment: 'It should be remembered that during the period that The benefits ofthe programme were seen to be even wider than that,
the supervisors were being interviewed, the employees were being however. Viteles' discussion ofthe Hawthorne studies (which he treats
subjected to stresses and strains of an un usual order' (Roethlisberger in the context of motivation) exemplifies the close relation that was
and Dickson 1970: 336). This indicates a greater reluctance to see seen between information, the interview method, satisfaction and
supervisors in the light of a discourse which stresses irrationality. supervision:
The effect of the location of the problem of output in the individual [through the interview programme] employees' comments and opinions are
worker - that is to shift the responsibility from conditions or brought back indirectly to supervisors whose consideration of them has Jed
supervisors - was not that Western Electric could avoid treating the toa marked improvement in supervisory techniques .... Those interviewed
problem, but it did recommend a completely different programme of have had a chance to express themselves fully and to clear their minds of
treatment. The organization - its work ~_?E_ditions.?....paz~ll~~~- ' _
burdensome thoughts . As a result supervision becomes easier. Morale is
rate
..---- setting:an_d SQ.pn - was displaced as the object of knowledge and
- --·--- -·· -- ·
' . .. ........
- ~ , - -~ - ~· -· ·· -
o improved beca use the empJoyee who has been interviewed is convinced that

-
 Hawthorne and the emergence of human re/ations 81
80 Work psycho/ogy and organizational behaviour
2. The interviewer should listen not oniy to what a person wants to say but
the management wants to better his surroundings and conditions of work. also for what he does not want to say or cannot say without help.
The company is obtaining first hand information as to the effect of such 3. The interviewer should treat the mental contexts described in the
incentives to work as thrift plans, pensions, sick benefit plans, athletic preceding rule as indices and seek through them the personal reference that
activities, vacations etc. The management of Western Electric is convinced is being revealed.
that it has progressed further in the knowledge of employee relationship 4. The interviewer should remember that the interview is itself a social
during the short time that this plan has been in operation than in all of the ~ituation and that therefore the social relations existing between the
previous years of the company's existence. (Viteles 19:33: 573-4) interviewer and the interviewee is in part determining what is said.
5. The interviewer should see to it that the speaker's sentiments do not act on
The interviewing programme at the Hawthorne works changed
his own. (Roethlisberger and Dickson 1970: 272-3)
from being 'rather simple and incidental to the material which it was
hoped such a technique could obtain' to one which 'could obtain with Chapter 13 of Management and the Worker largely consists of an
sorne accuracy the emotional significance to the worker of particular elaboration ofthese principies and rules. In conclusion, Rocthlisberger
events and objects in his experience' (Roethlisberger and Dickson and Dickson express the opinion that severa) years' experience are
necessary to develop these skills. They :1lso point out that 'any
1970: 270). The quality of trz. iGed personnel necessary for this (all
successful executive, administrator or politician implicitly makes use
derived from the ranks of supervisors) was only achieved after 'sorne of many of the rules of onentation which we have explicitly stated'
20,000 employee interviews ha ve been taken' ( 1970: 270). The
(1970: 291).
questionnaire method was already in use in industry, but previously it Although they were influenced by psychoanalysis, and although
'tended to elicit opinions on topics which the interviewer, rather than they developed a distinctly clinical model, the researchers did not start
the employee, thought to be of importance' and the method lacked 'a with a model ready-made and borrowed from therapy. 6 They started
sufficient context for interpreting the response' (1970: 271). with a questionnaire-type interview and gradually modified it. Their
Five rules were produced to guide interviewers, rules which would reason for the change was the questionnaire 's failure to elicit 'the
do justice to a counselling training course in the 1980s: emotional significance' of experience in a way which was not
predetermined by the interviewer ( 1970: 271 ). Without a clinical
l. The interviewer should listen to the speaker in a patient and friendly , but
understanding they could not ha ve intervened at the leve) of workers'
intelligently critica!, manner.
2. The interviewer should not display any kind of authority. altitudes to the job, rather than the job itself. The advantage of what
3. The interviewer should not give advice or moral admonition. beca me famous as the non-directive counselling method was disco ve red
4. The interviewer should not argue with the speaker. by industrial psychology at this point; 'an indirect type of interviewing
5. The interviewer should talk or ask questions only under certain was preferable ifthe spontaneous convictions ofthe worker were to be
conditions. These were obtained' (1970: 271). 7 Above all it was important that the interview
- to help the person talk; did not 'remain at the leve) of polite social conversation': what the
- to relieve any fears or anxieties on the part ofthe speaker which may be
affecting his relation to the interviewer;
interviewer wanted to emerge became defined as having its importance
- to praise the interviewee for his reporting his thoughts and feelings at a deeper level.
accurately; To produce this different information, the stance of the interviewer
- to veer the discussion to sorne topic which has been omitted or neglected; was crucial beca use the position a member of the company normally
- to discuss implicit assumptions if this is advisable. (Roethlisberger and occupied would preclude most self-revelation. As one interviewee said_;__
Dickson 1970: 287) j f yo u open your mouth out of turn. it can g~(iQ.u into a whole m~ss a.f..
Rules of orientation e1aborated the theoretical premisses: trouble' ( 1970: 301), Su~hexperiences would n.9__9oubt ha ve establisbed.
'with employees the gractice of sayif!g as littJ..~~.§.J?.9.~.ill!le..Jl...w.l!§J.illz.
l. The interviewer should treat what is said in the interview asan item in a
..-resultant serious_,EfL..pLi!J.(orrn_atiQ.Il...Jalhich. ~was....a.....pro.bki;n_f.g,r_
context:
(a) - the interviewer should not pay exclusive attention to the manifest 3~'!gemen..!_<!_~~dJhi~ !1', ~.bY. Jhe~JPe!h.c!Q..QYiliDe<! here_~~ _ ta~;l"! up_
content of the intercourse widelx. 8
(b)- the interviewer should not treat everything that is said as either factor - A big change was required to transform the habitual supervisor's
error relation with an employee to that which the interviewers adopted (and
(e)- The interviewer should not treat everything that is said at the same remember they were largely Hawthorne supervisors). First it involved
psychological leve!.
 82 Work psychology and organizational behaviour Hawthorne and the emergence of human relations 83

divesting the interviewer of power to use the information in a harmful precipita te an interruption in his acceptance of this (as measured by a
way. This was done by using supervisors from elsewhere in the plant, as drop in output) was that his girl had been placed on shorter hours and
well as by rules of confidentiality. Second, the non-evaluative stance was faced with the possibility of unemployment which would mean
the interviewer took up made it different from any other relationship. either that she would ha veto return to her parents in North Dakota or
Contrast th e to ne of Roethlisberger and Dickson 's rules for inter- he would have to marry her, in which case he was not earning enough
viewing with Mayo's worried account of typical supervisory practice to support them both:
and it can readily be seen what radical implications the new methods His output curve started downward at about the time he was first
had for supervisory training: confronted with this situation ... The downward trend in W7's output
continued all durir.g the period of indecision . Finally on January 7th, after
The fact that one man has been set in control of others has usually been sitting around most ofthe da y and being unable to work, he announced his
taken to imply that he is expected to give orders and to ha ve them obeyed. intention of getting married. He did so two days la ter. During that week his
So supervision has frequently cometo mean 'ordering peo ple about'. There output curve started upward and in the second week thereafter it reached its
is only one objection to this, and the objection is not in any sense political, it highest point up to that time . (1970: 318-19)
is simply that the method is exceedingly sl upid. Ifthere is difficulty or deJa y
in obedience, or eccentricity or 'slackness', the supervisor is expected to yell W7 made electrical connections by the piece. On 7 January his hourly
or bawl or swear, or what is worse, to indulge in lengthy admonition. So he rate was down to about 525 . At the peak later the rate was about 725.
' talks' and does not 'listen'; and he never learns what is really wrong. The
workers are often terrified , they harbour a grievance and at last , if they
express it, they tend to overstate or distort. ... At once the overstatement is
.
'It was through such cases as those ofW7 that the interviewers began to
.
understand better the relatwn between personal preoccupatwn and
.

seized for attack, and the possibility of understanding is lost. (Mayo 1930:
output' ( 1970: 319).
331) The chang_ed res:_arch method is a necessa_t:L. condition for the
production of this ne~~.'I!.~~ of ..!.hs~~.!s.~Lwho h~!_i_likill!tside_th.e,...
_factory which ca.u.ses_p¡.Q.blt;~.;....,
7. Personal Equilibrium and Productivity
It is clear ... that had there not existed in the test rooms an arrangement for
The individual worker could now be theorized as having sentiments the observation offactors other than those in the immediate work situation,
Whtcfi were not exclusive!y a product o'f th~~~uatwn,§~t- of tl!L_ many of the changes in output . .. might ha ve been attributed to 'Jearning',
'fatigue' or 'monotony'. Therefore, it seemed plausible to assume that
jersonal eguilibriym' Q.ÍJ.OLF..Q!.~~~...-an..-e.Qtlilibrium......
wherever obsessive preoccupations were divulged in the interview, a set of
_-ª.[fecte<!_ !?.t east_ history_!.n..9_R[eSt:.!lL!!~'E!..5ir<;!_l.l!!.~~<lnces_. The factors similar to those revealed in the test rooms were operating. ( 1970:
Hawthorne studies produced the first intellectual account of the 319)
worker as an individual who is different from others, not simply
because of differences in output and the measurable characteristics The conception of what intervenes between the worker's actions and
which supposedly accounted for these (as in the psychometric model). ,:0\iiPütliad n2w bee~ytráñSró;~~~Trn~lóng;;_
Instead it is an account of conditions which affect the worker's output physio1ogical (for examp1e f~ue), it was not limited to the wo.!J
through his or her 'personal equilibrium'. As we shall see from the situati~m. Where outeut wasstill affected by the work situation, it wa_;;

following example, output is still the central concern. In cases where .J!§UallY no longer seen as pb.Y.,sical conditions. byt con@iQos pertaini~~
the researchers had access to output records (that is, in test rooms to sentiment- notably _relatiQ.QS Wilh sypervisors and co-workers. In
which were running alongside the interview programme), they the authors' discussion of factors affecting output, fatigue is releg~ted
specifically investigated the relation of these to events in the individual's -to a mucfi less common pfíenomenon by restri~s meaniniftoa
life: 'Whenever any pessimistic preoccupation emerged for any reason "}!;!te causedby orgamc ún6'áfance(S~tfí(isberger~?d Dickson 122[
whatsoever, there was an observable adverse effect on output' 320-1). For mental imbalaE5.,tiand its P.ii!.t~:S.d?..~.!:~.92~~~9.tilllb_tjll_l!,l).:.,.
(Roethlisberger and Dickson 1970: 315). -:t]iu_Q.ad e,xQl~e.d...a$Jw1<;.Jte.w. .per.~pe.sü~ ..
To illustrate the point, Roethlisberger and Dickson take the Through this new conception of mental imbalance, Roethlisberger
example ofW7 (1970: 317ff.), aman from the Bank Wiring Observation and Dickson were able to draw sorne conclusions on the effect of
Room . W7 was disgruntled beca use he was getting less money than W9 repetitive work, which led them back into the importance of group
and also because he had not been regraded when he thought he relations . They argued that repetitive work was implicated, not as a
deserved it. But these grievances were not new. What happened to cause of mental imbalance, but in creating conditions for 'pessimistic
 84 Work psychology and organizational behaviour Hawthorne and the emergence of human relations 85
(

reverie' (a phrase coined by Mayo). When workers were able to have group chief, why there seemed to be a change in him. (Roethlisberger and
social intercourse with their co-workers on the job, the opportunity for Dickson 1970: 296)
pessimistic reverie was excluded and their troubles did not take on the Once the theorizatjpn. ofJh.~..§el!.!!me!l.taJ ~QLkt;I;. :was '!V~.il::t'?Je, tb~
dimension of morbid preoccupation which led to a fall in output. kinq•.Qti.@:~i~n cm,¡Jd beco me Iegitima!e as a Pa..~ of managemenJ .
This argument is demonstrated by the example of operator 2 in the practict:.th_t.Q,YS.b..s.J.W~~QrY. traini!!g, rathe~~han b~~!,.l$ ~.E.i,nfO!:,.m.~L._
Relay Assembly Test Room who 'had been considered a "problem _s~.ontaneous and u}:!~t;}!aJP .J~,<l[t ?f .re.Iations in the ~lan~. A more
case" by her supervisors before her entrance to the test room' (1970: fú=reachiñg difference was that the nature of the information
324). Her domestic responsibilities (dead mother, sole support for produced was changed by the occasion and method of its production.
three younger brothers) led to frequent displays of 'temper and For example, one of the interviewees started off by saying 'There's no
irritability' but 'when she found an appropriate niche in the social damn use of yo u and 1going anywhere beca use I refuse total k. I talked
structure so that she could intimately identify herself and her work out of turn once befo re and got myself in such a mess of trouble that 1
with a social function, she became an enthusiastic and cooperative refuse to talk to you or anyone else' (1970: 301). It is an indication of
worker' ( 1970: 324). Now that information was saught about the often how powerful the method is that this man ended up by revealing much
appallingly difficult Iives of the employees, a punitive approach was and even venturing his opinions on supervisors and company politics.
less tenable. In this case the new discourse led toan understanding of
There is a qualitative difference between what an employee might
her behaviour as 'opportunity for human comradeship and social
tell his or her supervisor and what can be said in the clinical interview.
conversation [that] played an important part in helping her to me.et her
There is also a difference in the response the interviewee received. The
personal difficulties' (1970: 324-5).
authors acknowledge that this type of interview could not be
conducted by a person's supervisor because they are in a 'necessarily
8. Method and the Production of a New Subject Worker authoritarian relation with the interviewee' ( 1970: 285-6n.). The
interviewer succeeded in eliciting information which was ata new leve!
The clinical interviewing method which permitted such insights
and did not only ha ve implications for the researcher: as a result ofthe
produced material of a qualitatively different kind for the supervisory
interviewer's techniques 'the interviewee finds himself not only saying
training programme. These case studies were discussed with the
things which he never said to anyone else but in many instances saying
supervisors at the Hawthorne Works [email protected]§on~_.f<?.L&ood things which he has not been able to express explicitly to himselr
-:::prm~ce ~re that it~~~~sa~-~~-o~~~_:.?_~_c~gr.ou_n~.. t.? any ( 1970: 285).
malVldual worker's conduct jf the corr~CliDS.~~~rc:: ~~~~..!ª~ From the Western perspective in a post-human relations epoch
.:In tfiis ~Y.~. inf~rlJ!a..tüm_cQ.~~e!.!!i_~g Jhe worl.<g_~~- ~ -w~.o.!:_ per~ where self-expression has become an index of mental health, the
beca me rec~g!l.iz~~~~aluable a~c::._s~ of manag~ms:Q.tRr<!<:tice.~nce
assumed norm of family life, friendship and even work relations, it is
a1T interviewers were Western Electric employees, mostly from difficult to countenance a time and a set of social relations where that
supervisory rank, their experience itself constituted training which
kind of information was essentially absent. When Roethlisberger . . . . and
they disseminated enthusiastically back into the organization . 4P"~--t.~~ ........
-.,;r~ ~~

Dickson make the claim that their interviewees said thmgs that they'd
(Roethlisberger and Dickson 1970: 284).
Information about workers' outside Iives was available in the ~~L~~~~!:! . JiLh~»!g:J~LIT!~-n~ ,t!Hlt_ne~ .. ~.0.9:W!~~~~
.ewdllfssi..?~~d~ ~re atinu. . dif.fe_re.ntide_<,j....oJ.th~m:>.!'!v~s.w
factory before human relations. The detailed case studies that the
~c~of th~i!IHe'lLruef.i¡~d_b.;: wjli_cl! il ~a.§__eji_cjt~g.:..r
authors give (1970: 293-310) indicate that workers with domestic
1hs: mies.fAt jnterviewing are rele~2t to my !tf~l!.,m_J;nt that, in an
problems would give an account of these to their supervisors when a
imp_2!ta~t s;!lse,
the m~~hody.!,2dU$,~~uQL~_c.tjThey contain many
problem arose. For example:
of the pnnc1ples of interpretation derived in psychoanalytic practice
1 told [m y supervisor] that if it was at all possible 1 would appreciate it if he and imply a theory of repression and of the unconscious. When an
would let me have my evenings to myself, although 1 needed the money, interviewer senses absences or avoidances and asks questions or
beca use 1 hada wife in hospital anda fifteen-year old girl at home doing the adopts postures which are specifica!Iy aimed to elicit things a person
work around the house, and 1 wanted to get home to lielp her. He always
'does not want to say' they are instrumental in producing material
told me to stick on the job. 1 finally took the matter up with the general
foreman, and after he listened to my story and later on he talked to my which never before has been a feature of the interviewee's self-
 Work psychology and organizational behaviour Hawthorne and the emergence of human re/ations 87

:rsla nding. For example, after energetic talk about the difficulties 3. None the less , the discourse would ha ve been impossible- and would certainly ha ve
of hcr family situation and her dislike of the stepfather who mistreats bee n different- without the influence of Freudian theory which had pervaded Western
h~r mother, one interviewee herself concludes: 'and you know I think thin king. Roethlisberger and Dickson contains many references toa clinical framework
thc rcason I can't stand Mr Jones [her supervisor] is beca use every time derived from psychoanalysis (see section 5 for further detail). They drew on energetic
new traditions not only in psychoana!ysis but also anthropology and theories of
1 look at him, he reminds me of my stepfather' (Roethlisberger and language; see, for example, their footnote on p.272 (1970).
Dickson 1970: 310). Mayo comments 'small wonder that the same 4. See Baritz (1965: 33-4) or Beynon (1984: 34- 7) on Henry Ford's moral supervision
s upervisor had warned the interviewer that she was "difficult to of his employees' home Ji ves.
handlc"' (Mayo 1949: 69) and goes on to point out the practica} 5. Myers uses a similar perspective , deploying the psychoanalytic concept of
bencfits ofher connection between supervisor and stepfather in 'easing projectio n to accou;,t for workers' unreaso nable ness in matters of industrial relations
he sit uation' (we never learn what, if anything, in the supervisor's (Mye rs 1920: 166).
6. Roethlisberger was in therapy for a time, with Ma yo as his therapist (John Smith ,
behaviour precipitated the connection, and if it deserved to be
perso nal communication).
modified). It was beca use this form of clinical interviewing was seen to 7. By th e 1950s th e idea of no n-d irertive counselling or therapy had begun to suggest
have practica! benefits by achieving 'emotional release' ('catha rsis' in tha t the therapist pla yed no guiding role , but only the passive o ne of eliciting what was
psychoanalytic terminology) as well as in its contribution to super- the re. Roethlisberger and Dickson do not ,uggest this.
visory training, that the programme was extended and carne to be 8. Large-scale employee counselling never beca me very common, not least beca use of
known as 'employee counselling'. Roethlisberger and Dickson cite one the enormous investm ent required in time and training. Attitude surveys (see chapter 6
employee as saying 'I tell yo u, it does a fellow good to get rid of that secti o n 2) partl y met the same need. Cou nse lling methods became a basic pa rt of
supervisory and management trai ning, both in genera l int erperso nal skills training and
stufr ( 1970: 298). As Mayo has the insight to point out:
specific training in, for example, appra isal. The principies of non-directive counselling
The experience itself was unusual ; there are few people in this world who ha ve been widely credited to Carl Rogers in the 1950s, while the Hawthorne research is
ha ve had the experience of fínding someone intelligent, attentive and eager most fam o us for the Hawthorne effect and discovery of restriction of output.
to listen without interruption to all that he or she has to say .... To fínd an
intelligent person who was not only eager to listen but also anxious to help
to expression idea and feelings but dimly understood - this , for many
th o usand persons, was an experience without precedent in the modern
world. (Mayo 1949: 65, 66)

The account of an employee given in the counselling interview was thus

produced in a unique relation, with a skilled interviewer in a position
of benign authority, and this situation had effects on employees'
self-knowledge. It was indeed 'an experience without preceden!' and,
as such, it was a significant step in producing the new subject worker of
human relations .

Notes

l. Smith ( 1987) argues that the Hawthorne research was the beginning of industrial
sociology. For a good critique of human relations from the perspective of an
organizational sociologist, see Perrow (1979 ch. 3). In both the US and UK , industrial
psycholog1sts were still preoccupied with scientific measurement, and human relations
claimed neither to be scientific nor to measure (see chapter 6 section 3). Although social
psychology gradually found a place in industrial psychology, it too was split between
'scientific', laboratory-based versions and the human relations kind .
2. According to John Smith , who has had access to the Hawthorne archives and
Mayo's personal correspondence, a psychologist called Imogen Rou ssea u had conducted
a study of output restriction by women befo re the Bank Wiring Room experiment. This
is not referred to in Management and the Worker.