Applied Anthropology in Industry

要旨

One of the most notable application of anthropological methods in industry is the research program carried out by the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works, particularly in the Bank Wiring Observation Room Project. Gradually these anthropological studies have become important in this area.From an anthropological point of view, however, these researches are selflimiting as they are carried out at present moment. Since their findings took monographic form, these studies are not systematized, e. g., there is no Comparative unit by which the cultural process and technique in industry are systematically studied.The problem these studies has not yet set itself is the precise conceptualization of the sociocultural situation which can lead us to predict that some factory situation requires a sequence of interactions by given individuals of qualitatively differed from other factories. In other word, we need to study the human relations in industry from point of sociocultural system.In my judgement, sociocultural system are characterized by cultural tradition and developmental levels of industrialization. If we accept this view point and proposes to treat human relations in industry as a sociocultural fact, the question arises how we are to characterize our industrial situation as a sociocultural system. We cannot easily answer that question in terms of systematic treatment which my aim in this paper is to be tentatively examined. For the purpose of this consideration, however, we may express a hope that our cultural traditions, its local variations and its dynamic processes, as well as our national economic structure, and the developmental levels of industrialization should be taken into account. Then, intensive human relations studies in factories are, it seems to me, systematically accumulated.

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