The History Corner: More Great Books Relevant to
Psychology in Organizations
Scott Highhouse
Bowling Green State University
In the January 2009 issue of TIP, the History Corner column had suggestions for books related to I-O history. Various people nominated books that inspired them and wrote a couple of sentences about why they think others would be inspired as well (http://www.siop.org/tip/jan09/09highhouse.aspx).
I commented at the time that I would include recommendations in a future issue if enough people were interested in contributing ideas. There were enough contributions to motivate me to include them, along with some invited contributions, in this month’s History Corner column. These are coming just in time for your summer reading list!
Damásio, A. R. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New York: Avon Books.
Recommender: Neal Ashkanasy, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
I came upon this book by happenstance when I was just beginning my interest in emotions research. In it, António Damásio, a Portugese-born neurobiologist, makes the startling claim that Descartes was wrong after all. Cogito ergo sum. Separation of mind and body. All wrong. Damásio makes a compelling case that in fact humans cannot reason without access to their bodily states, which Damásio calls “somatic states.” In the most memorable chapter, Damásio relates the case of Elliot, who had an exceptionally high IQ but, because of a brain lesion, was incapable of experiencing emotion. As a result, and despite his intelligence, Elliot was incapable of making even simple decisions. Even the most entrenched emo-skeptic might find this book compelling.
Campbell, J. P., Daft, R. L., & Hulin, C. L. (1982). What to study: Generating and developing research questions. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Recommender: Nathan Kuncel, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota.
This book, written by three of the clearest thinkers and writers in our field, is an actual investigation of key research questions. They distill out both what questions need to be answered and how to go about answering them effectively. The fact that it is now a bit over a quarter century old only makes the content more interesting...and telling. Their extensive advice on how to develop good research ideas is good reading for any scientist–practitioner. My personal favorite,
If you find yourself attempting to “test” a “model” of organizational behavior consisting of several boxes connected by arrows, by writing self-report questionnaire items to “measure” each major variable in the model, stop. This particular paradigm has not proven very useful....Almost everyone we interviewed or surveyed warned of this danger. Some were quite vocal about it. (p. 135)
Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1966; 1978). The Social Psychology of Organizations. New York: John Wiley & Sons.1
Recommender: Bill Balzer, Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University.
This book remains one of the most comprehensive and practical frameworks for understanding, predicting, and changing behavior in complex organizations. This “bible of organizations” brought concepts from social psychology to the forefront in the developing fields of organizational psychology and organizational behavior. The open systems approach, psycho-social structures, and the organization as a system of roles are key concepts that continue to shape research and practice. This book was the centerpiece of Ray Katzell’s graduate-level organizational psychology course at NYU, and I continue to use it in my graduate courses today. If there’s a better book out there, please let me know!
1 This book was also recommended by Terry Beehr, Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University.
Hoppock, R. (1935). Job satisfaction. New York: Harper (two recommendations).
Recommender: Tim Judge, Department of Management, University of Florida.
I don’t think I have read a more beautiful illustration of the benefits of marrying qualitative and quantitative analysis to gain a full understanding of a topic. The vignettes in the book are fascinating and poignant.
Recommender: Nathan Bowling, Department of Psychology, Wright State University.
Despite its age, this book remains a relevant source for job satisfaction researchers. As a basis for the book, Hoppock examined the job attitudes of employed residents of New Hope, Pennsylvania. An important finding of this research, which has been replicated in dozens of subsequent studies, was that the vast majority of people report being satisfied with their jobs.
Whyte, William H. (1956). The organization man. New York: Doubleday.
Recommender: David Woehr, Department of Management, University of Tennessee.
Whyte’s treatise on the push for conformity in organizations and the role of organizational scientists and testing is certainly worth reading even after more than 50 years.
Like Gary Latham in the previous column, Milt Hakel chose to send a favorite article, along with some of his favorite quotations. Because Milt is retiring this year, I let him get away with whatever he wanted to do:
On the Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping for B—Steve Kerr, in AMR, 1975, and updated in AME, 1995
“When God closes the books on Judgment Day, one of the great questions to be answered will be whether zeal and idealism were responsible for more human suffering than were sloth and greed.”—Walter Russell Mead
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”—John Muir
“Go where there’s trouble.”—Murray D. Lincoln, founder of Nationwide Insurance
“Always prefer intelligent fast failure to slow stupid failure.”—Jack Matson
“Insight is the sudden cessation of stupidity.”—Edwin Land
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead