INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 157, 4 November 1926, Page 4

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY.

THE Secretary of the newlyestablished Department of Scientific Research (Dr. E. Marsden) has been lecturing iri Wellington on “ Industrial Psychology,” and we may assume that the department will pay a good deal of attention to this “ applied science.” Despite' its pretentious name, which, besides, being J pretentious, may arouse' distrust, in those \yho know what a deal ,of nonsense has been poured forth by people who call themselves u psychologists,” “ industrial psychology is nothing more than the study of best conditions for efficient work. ' Dr., Marsden says that there are eight main lines, of investigation, for the psychologist applying himself to industry : (1) The psychological relations between labour and management; (2) the incentives to work; (3), the arrangement of the worker’s material and the nature of the implements which he uses; (4) the worker's posture and mQvements; (5) the training and selection of the worker; (6) distribution of periods of rest and work; (7) the physical environment of the worker; and (8) the numerous psychological factors influencing the sale of products, such as advertising. The psychologist need, not hope to achieve much, if anything, by any investigations he: may, make under the first two of : these heads, but very substantial gains have been made in industry in some countries through the study of the other six. The impulse behind the. study of this “applied science ” is of great value to mankind, because it is nothing more than an impulse to find out the best way of getting results, not through the invent 2on of tricks, but simply through the removal of obstacles to correct ac.d attentive labour. Every progressive employer of labour is a practical “ psychologist ” in so far as he makes improvements that give better results for the same amount of labour. But it would be a mistake to suppose that the fullest possible application of the facts which observation and experiment reveal to the investigator can revolutionise industry. There will always remain what people call u the human factor.” More important than factory conditions that make for efficiency is the will of the worker to do his best, and that is something beyond the reach of all the sciences. There are some students of industrial and social affairs ready to affirm that the workers are becoming keener to 1 give good service; but there are more who believe the opposite. It is not easy, perhaps not possible, to say whether the optimist or the pessimist is right, but it is possible to say without much fear of effective contradiction that while there has been growing a more general understanding of the value and necessity of efficient labour and production there has been growing also an inclination on the part of the workers’ organisers and political guides to discourage zealous and efficient production. Large bodies of organised labour which would resent being called Bolshevik or revolutionary have not | hesitated to condemn the principle of j the premium bonus system—which is I nothing more than the system of granting extra rewards for more than average good work. This obstructive attitude amongst the workers we may have with us for a long time to come, and it 'makes all the more necessary the application in industry of every useful truth that experiment and observation can yield to the eye of research.