Comments on the job : views of employees in six companies / a study by Isabel Blain of data collected by Institute investigators during employee attitude surveys.

  • Blain, Isabel.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Comments on the job : views of employees in six companies / a study by Isabel Blain of data collected by Institute investigators during employee attitude surveys. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    FOREWORD THIS report deals with an inquiry of a basically different nature from earlier researches of the Institute. The inquiry did not involve the special collection for research purposes of material throwing light on people’s attitudes to their working life. The data already existed in the Institute’s files, and had been collected in the course of studies of the situation in six companies, which had sought the Institute’s collaboration during 1955 and 1956. This fact has influenced both the method of study and the presentation of the findings. The interviews which provided the material for analysis were conducted with the aim of making a diagnosis of the general situation in the six companies, each of which hoped thus to obtain guidance about the ways in which conditions, methods or organisation of work might be improved. The interviews were confidential; the employee was assured that what he said would be reported to the management but in such a way that the person making any particular comment could not be identified unless he expressed a definite wish to have his name quoted. They were also ‘free’, that is, the psychologist did not ask questions; he merely invited the employee to make any comment he liked about his job or about any aspect of the policy and practice of the employing firm. It is reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the statements made concerned the genuine preoccupations of the employees and were not artifacts of a research situation. Nearly 1,700 people had been interviewed in the six companies and they had made over 11,000 comments. It seemed worth while to re-examine these comments to see whether any consistent patterns or trends would be apparent despite the very different circumstances of the six factories. Because the purpose of the surveys had been to discover employees’ views which might point to desirable improvements in their working situation, and this had been made clear to people before the inter¬ views began, the material consisted mainly of criticisms and suggestions for change. But if there was evidence that similar comments or comments upon similar matters had been frequently made despite the differences between the factories, this would be of some significance. Although it would certainly be dangerous to base any generalizations on the results of this inquiry, the broad lines of emphasis which it reveals are interesting, and the verbatim comments made by employees which are quoted in the report frequently throw light on the reasons which led people to make critical or favourable remarks. C. B. FRISBY, Director. 14, Welbeck Street, London, W.l. 21st July, 1958.