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Quasi-Passive Lower and Upper Extremity Robotic Exoskeleton for Strengthening Human Locomotion Read chapter Read first chapter

2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

8. Innovation in Employee Selection: Tracing the Use of Hugo Münsterberg’s Test for Motormen

Author : Nicole Cannonier

Published in: Sustainable Innovation

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Hugo Münsterberg pioneered innovative employee assessment techniques to improve safety in the electric railway industry. His experiments with motormen or trolley operators in the United States shed light on employee testing relating to workplace safety and employee well-being. This chapter charts the development of Hugo Münsterberg’s selection test for motormen within the United States. It traces the test’s life-cycle from its beginning at Boston Elevated Railway Company to its use at Dallas Consolidated Electric Street Railway and Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company. This chapter draws on archival correspondence, conference proceedings, published articles, and texts to map the course of Hugo Münsterberg’s test for motormen. The conclusion reached in this chapter is that Münsterberg’s test, although enlightening in its design and purpose, was too much in its infancy to draw definite conclusions about its efficacy. Field trials at Dallas Consolidated Electric Street Railway and Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company show his test successfully eliminated accident-prone motormen during the employee selection process in some instances. His railway simulation method also influenced the designs adopted by other test developers who advanced occupational testing in the electric railway beyond Hugo Münsterberg’s death in 1916.

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Footnotes
1
Somers & Somers (1953) identified two dates. First is the National Safety Council, which credits the beginning of the ‘modern’ safety movement to the formation of the First Cooperative Safety Congress in 1912. Second is two events occurring in 1907: the appointment of the first professional to a safety committee at the Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers and the holding of a safety exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, which eventually grew into the American Museum of Safety.
 
2
Correspondence from the Secretary of the American Association for Labor Legislation (AALL) to Hugo Münsterberg dated February 10, 1912, inviting him to a meeting concerning the use of psychological tests with motormen. Retrieved from the Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation and Archives, AALL collection, #5001mf, reel7.
 
3
Report by Hugo Münsterberg to the American Association for Labor Legislation (AALL) describing his work with motormen at Boston Elevated Railway Company dated May 25, 1912. Retrieved from the Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation and Archives, AALL collection, #5001mf, reel7.
 
4
Southwestern Electrical and Gas Association conference in Galveston, Texas, held May 17–20, 1916.
 
5
Correspondence from the Secretary of the American Association for Labor Legislation to Hugo Münsterberg dated February 22, 1912, providing particulars (time and possible attendees) of a two-day meeting concerning the use of psychological tests with motormen. Retrieved from the Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation and Archives, AALL collection, #5001mf, reel7.
 
6
A review of published material on the topic revealed only the carriers discussed in this chapter within the United States. Viteles (1932) in his chapter on tests in the transportation industry mentioned another study claiming negative results done outside the United States by J. Fontègne. This study was not considered here.
 
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Metadata
Title
Innovation in Employee Selection: Tracing the Use of Hugo Münsterberg’s Test for Motormen
Author
Nicole Cannonier
Copyright Year
2020
Book
Sustainable Innovation

Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30420-1

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-30421-8

Copyright Year: 2020

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30421-8_8