ABSTRACT
The Committee on Human Relations in Industry at the University of Chicago was organized early in 1943 to carry on research in the social organization of industry and of our industrial society. The researcher spends considerable time in a factory and builds up friendly relations with the personnel, so that they talk freely of their problems. The researcher obtains employment and enters the organization through the regular channels. If the research is to include observations or interviews at the worker level, it will also be explained to the workers. Where the plant is organized, the research must also be discussed with the union leaders and then presented to the rank and file, preferably at a general meeting. Significantly enough, in tense situations the lower supervisors are often the slowest to accept researcher. The interviewing was then carried on at successively lower levels until the researcher settled down and began intensive work with workers and first line supervisors.
