XXVI 
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY, LABOR, 
AND INDUSTRY 
It is a regrettable but undeniable fact that there is a 
tendency in labor circles to look with suspicion upon any 
thing which contributes to the efficiency of management. 
Unfortunately, the fashion in which the various programs 
of scientific management have been carried out by some 
manufacturers has provided grounds for this suspicion. 
Many labor leaders have affirmed that the piece-work 
principle, which, under one name or another, is probably 
the most fundamental principle in all schemes of scien 
tific management, is merely a clever but selfish device by 
which manufacturers attempt to stimulate their workers 
to greater and greater efforts. The large number of bonus 
and premium plans of remuneration inaugurated under 
these programs have tended to confirm this suspicion. 
In fact, the entire range of schemes and devices for the 
promotion of efficiency included under the name of scien 
tific management has contributed to the belief on the 
part of labor that the science of management is a cold 
blooded and heartless method which treats human beings 
as just so many machines from which the last pound of 
energy is to be extracted. Since this belief exists, any 
other method which offers to make management still 
more scientific is likely to incur a similar suspicion. It 
may be held that the psychological method also treats 
376