Behavior, Technology, and Organizational Development
Subtitle: Eric Trist and the Tavistock Institute
By: Richard Trahair
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9781351295925
Subjects: Social scientists; Biography; Organizational sociology; Organizational behavior; Industrial sociology
Description: "Eric Trist was a psychologist, social scientist, and a leading figure in the field of organizational development. He was a founding member of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London and spent many years in United States academia. This book delves into Trist's life to examine the evolution of his work and how he applied social science theory, knowledge, and methods to the organization of working life and its management. Richard Trahair outlines Trist's socio-technical theory of organization and how it applies to the turbulent environment that modern managers face. Trahair begins with Trist's educational career in England and his attitude toward American and English education. He also describes Trist's work to improve the United Kingdom's Army's method of selecting men for officer training in wartime, and his role in the establishment of the Civil Resettlement Units in England. In place of the traditional technology-driven bureaucracy of industry, Trist recommended that social science researchers help reorganize industries on socio-technical lines. Trist provided convincing evidence that organizations dominated by traditional attitudes were inefficient and unsatisfactory. He made it clear that seeing workers as little more than costly extensions of machines and the industrial environment as nothing but a set of competitive market forces seriously limited potential for growth."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Chapter 1 Family and Schooling  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 2 English Studies at Cambridge  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 3 Psychology Studies at Cambridge  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 4 The American Experience, 1933-1934  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 5 The American Experience, 1934-1935  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 6 Back Home in Dundee  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 7 Trist's War  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 8 At the Tavistock Clinic  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 9 Early Research and Teaching  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 10 Institute Colleagues  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 11 Institute Administration and Funding, 1952-1958  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 12 Early Research with Emery  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 13 Marriage, Palo Alto, and the Split  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 14 Formalizing the Split  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 15 Back to America  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 16 Three-Generation Family  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 17 Projects in the United Kingdom, the Americas, and Canada  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 18 Working Style and Future View  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 19 Retirement to York  -- Richard Trahair; title: chapter 20 Final Years -- Richard Trahair.