Review of The industrial worker

Abstract

Reviews the book, The industrial worker by T. N. Whitehead (1938). A special group of five girl workers, relay assembly operators, was placed in an experimental room of the Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company. An orderly investigation was then made over a period of years, with the effect of such variables as the length of the working day being observed primarily in terms of output. To briefly summarize some of the findings as reported by Dr. Whitehead, rates of output failed to correlate with daily or weekly hours of rest at night. Holidays decreased working rates on following days, as was the case with weekends. Of course such a brief presentation of the results does a great injustice to Dr. Whitehead's piece of work. The book shows an excellent organization, and a clear, readable style. The statistical work is well presented, and the many tables and charts are present in detail in Volume II, with the text in Volume I. The industrial expert, the manager, executive, and personnel worker will take notice of this book, so certainly the psychologist at all interested in industry should do likewise. Students of all these fields will find the book a useful reference to a notable investigation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)