MUSIC AT WORK

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 August 1946, Page 8

MUSIC AT WORK

POPULAR WITH GIRLS IN INDUSTRY CLASS DISTINCTION RESENTED The popularity among girls of rnusic at work is referred to in the annual report of the Department of Scientific * and Industrial Research, which was presented in the House of Representatives. Some of the results of the investigations into the attitudes and problems of the girl worker in industry, which were carried out by the industrial psychology division of the department, are given in the report, which stated that in Christchurcn and Auckland contact was made with 115 factories with reference to music at work. Of these, 51 had music played during working hours, and eight had previously had it, but xor various reasons had abandoned it. An Overwhelming Majority Besides obtaining details from the management, 304 girls were also questioned on their attitudes to music at work. It was not possible to get a representative sample of male opinion. Whether or not men disliked music at work, -the employers seemed to consider . it unnecessary to provide a musical accompaniment to their labours. The popularity of music at -work among girls was overwhelming, the report stated. Only nine.out. of the 304 mils questioned disliked music and this was in spite of rather pool reproduction and reliance on not always very suitable radio. pi 0grammes. More than halt the gxr s -wanted music all day, in fact, m about half the firms it was playec.. all day. Nearly all employers questioned thought music a good thing. They said that the girls liked it, that it diminished talking and made discipline easier to maintain, and wax. possibly—there was some, doubt and lack of reliable evidence on this—-u increased output. The report stated that at the present time many firms and. othei cm ploying bodies were finding it hard to obtain the labour they required. Th'S applied particularly to flnnemploying female and juvenile labour. A full investigation ol tim problem was carried out for one large non-industrial organisation and. a briefer investigation for one. factory situated in. a small town, in the latter case We problem was virtually insoluble, except over a space of years, as the factory had grown too large for the town in which it was situated, but even so it was considered that some steps could be taken bv the management to a deviate the position by making the work more attractive in ways likely to appeal to prospective employees, and by taking steps to .improve the social status Of factory employment. Sense of Inferiority In the other organisation where a fuller investigation was carried out, the main grievance of the existing workers and the main objection m prospective applicants reduced itself, to the question of their status in the organisation compared with that o; the non-manual workers employed. There were very few complaints about amenities and some about the amount of lifting which had to be done in certain departments, but these did not constitute the main reason for the acute difficulties experienced by the’concern in recruiting staff. “In any large' organisation, the report says, “there are perhaps inevitably different grades of employee corresponding to the differences of function performed. For instance, in a large industrial concern there are the executives, the office staff, perhaps a laboratory staff, and both skilled and unskilled workers. At. the present time in New Zealand factories there may be no great differences in the wages or conditions of employment between these grades. Differences in status, however, are still emphasised, in numerous minor ways, and tnese differences cause one class of y;on< to be regarded as inferior. This sense of inferiority colours the attitude of persons to the job and is a major factor in deterring recruits.” The report stated that in one organisation where an investigation was carried out the following points were noted:—(a) Class distinction may be revealed in personal, attitudes. A girl worker may bo conscious that a girl from the office speaks differently to the other office girls from the way she speaks to the workers. Although the difference may be slight it need be none the less obvious to a sensitive girl: (b) class distinction may be revealed in material circumstances, e.g., inferior cloakrooms, inferior uniforms, and inferior crockery in the canteen; (c) class distinction may be revealed in the manner of address. Several girls objected to being called by their Christian names while the office - af’. etc., were all “Miss”; (d) class distinctions may be revealed in the policy of the supervisors, who in .'.mall ways treat various grades differently and frame rules designed to prevent easy mixing; (e) class distinctions may be revealed in behaviour outside working hours, e.g., non-recognition of a worker on the street; (f) class distinctions may bo revealed in the attitude of people outside. All these factors add up io what may be called the atmosphere of the organisation—an atmosphere of class distinction and social hierarchy. Manual Work Not Favoured

“The net effect of these minor distinctions is to make the worker s status seam an inferior one in the eyes of the worker herself, in Ihe eyes of those ‘higher up’ the ladder, and in the eyes of the community. Although other grades of work may be no more remunerative, nor trinsically more interesting imd oiten socially less valuable, they are _ preferred by a young person entering a career. This* is perhaps a major reason for the unpopularity of manual work.

“It should not be impossible,” the report adds, “io remove some of these minor distinctions, and gradually to improve the status of the manual worker. If this could be done, there is reason to believe that manual jobs would be less starved for recruits. Although the task of improving the status of the worker would not be easy, as scoial forces of a deep-seated character are sometimes involved, the management that was determined to do so should be able to achieve a certain measure of success.”