Week Three
3. January 23
Engineering Culture
Question: To
what extent can innovation be traced to systems of disciplined
training?
The human element of labor is a challenge
to the engineer. He has
applied the laws of physics to produce efficient machines. . .
. He must now step in -- not as a welfare worker, not as a sociologist,
but as an engineer -- to help labor find its place in the production
scheme. Cannot scientific analysis resolve the causes
of maladjustment which threaten the life of our institutions? Cannot the engineering mind reorganize the
human elements of production as it has already done with the mechanical
and material elements to secure efficiency?
-- Engineering News-Record
(1918).
Stabilization of material forces is
not sufficient; human relations must be stabilized; stabilization
of production is not sufficient; merchandising must be stabilized. Stabilization of production and merchandising is not sufficient;
general administration must be stabilized.
Stabilization of an individual enterprise is not sufficient;
all enterprises in the industry must be stabilized. Stabilization of one industry is not sufficient; all industries
must be stabilized. . . . Stabilization of national industry alone
is not sufficient; international economics must be stabilized. Achievement of any of these ends is a step
toward a more balanced and harmonious industrial and social life;
each end is but a means to another greater end.
-- Harlow Person, former director of the Taylor Society, 1931
If science was to be effectively controlled,
scientists had to be effectively controlled; the means to such
control was the fostering of a spirit of cooperation among researchers
second only to a spirit of loyalty to the corporation. . . . The
content of the education had to provide the training necessary
for technical work, especially for the early years of employment;
it had to instill in the student a sense of corporate responsibility,
teamwork, service, and loyalty.
-- David Noble, America By Design
Assignments:
Tracy
KIDDER, The Soul of a New Machine, pp 3-203
January 25
The Centrality of the Human Factor
Questions: What
role do psychological factors like interest and enjoyment play
in innovation? What is the role of competition?
“All that’s happened is that you’ve
walked to the edge of the great mosaic of human knowledge. Up until now, you’ve been living in a world
full of ideas and concepts that other people have set out for
you. Now it’s your turn. You get to design a piece of the mosaic and
glue it down. It just
has to fit with what else is there.
And if you do a good job shaping your tile, it will be
easier for the next person to fit his around yours.”
“You’re saying that I’ve been looking for an answer when
really I should be making one up?”
“Don’t believe the bull about science being only an objective
search for truth. It’s not.
Being a scientist also requires the skills of a politician. It’s a struggle to define the terms, to guide
the debate, and persuade others to see things your way. If you’re the first one there . . . You get
to say what it is that others will see.”
-- Jerry Kaplan, Start-Up, talking to his dissertation director.
