Diagnosing Human Relations in Organizations

Review
Reviewed Work(s): Diagnosing Human Relations in Organizations by Chris Argyris
Review by: Harriet N. Smith
Source: The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 59, No. 12 (Dec., 1959), pp. 1765-1766
Published by: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3417851
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pediatric psychiatrist who for 10 years
has been a member of the world re-
nowned Child Development Research
Unit of the Tavistock Clinic and Insti-
tute of Human Relations, London, Eng-
land.
This reviewer would like to recom-
mend that Young Children in Hospitals
be required reading for everyone work-
ing in a children's department or a
children's hospital.
The main thesis of this book is that
"the young child has a primary need of
a warm, intimate, and continuous re-
lationship to his mother (or permanent
mother substitute)" and that it is a
serious matter to separate the child
under foulr years from his mother.
The first part of the book develops
the thesis, the second part presents
case histories of three young hospital-
ized children who exhibit different
aspects of emotional trauma, and the
third part suggests some implications
for improving hospital practice.
Dr. Robertson strongly advocates
that, whenever possible, mothers re-
main with hospitalized children under
four years and, when this is not
feasible, that unrestricted visiting be
permitted for parents or parent substi-
tutes. He presents a good argument for
the case method of patient assignment
in preference to either functional or
team nursing, for increased under-
standing of normal child growth and
developmental needs, and for a 4-week
student nurse assignment in a "well-
run" nursery school.
This thought-provoking book calls
for more humane hospital care for
children with clear implications that,
if hospital personnel do not act soon
and favorably, the public will.--BEULAH
GAUTEFALD, associate professor, Uni-
versity of North Carolina School of
Nursing, Chapel Hill.
Diagnosing Human Relations in
Organizations
By Chris Argyris. 120 pages. New
Haven, Conn., Yale University,
Labor and Management Center,
1956.Price $2.
IN RECENT
years, investigators in allied
fields have shown a great deal of in-
terest in the study of hospital person-
nel, especially nursing personnel. The
interpersonal relationships and social
problems inherent in the hospital set-
ting provide challenging situations for
such studies.
In this report on a study of organiza-
tional behavior. Chris Argyris recog-
nized "two persistent problem areas in
our attempt to develop a reliable and
valid method of diagnosing human re-
lations problems. . . . The first area
concerns the conducting of an organiza-
tion diagnosis which gives the ad-
ministrator an over-all picture of, and
at the same time measures the degree
of satisfactions of the individual em-
ployee. . . . The second problem has to
do with helping the management and
the employees become more aware of
the part that they play in causing the
problems that they want to eliminate."
In order to analyze these two prob-
lem areas, researchers asked both man-
agement and nurses what their particu-
lar nursing problems were, and what
suggestions they had for action. Sixty-
eight nurses, including 11 supervisors,
17 head nurses, and 40 staff nurses
were asked 24 questions about their
jobs, their relationships with others,
their attitudes toward their work, and
their feelings as persons with regard
to nursing and supervision.
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(Your Name and Address)

It was found that the nurses needed
to feel indispensable both personally
and because of their nursing skill but,
at the same time, they wanted to main-
tain their self-control and their har-
monious relations with others. They
wished to be independent, not closely
supervised. Furthermore, they found
satisfaction in caring for patients and
did not aspire to supervisory or ad-
ministrative positions.
Suggestions are given as to how man-
agement might develop understanding
of the nurses' predispositions and ad-
just the organizational pattern to pro-
vide greater work satisfactions. There
are also implications for nursing edu-
cators in planning curriculums for
schools of nursing. This report has value
for administrators and nurses for two
reasons: it reveals and analyzes sources
of pressures and tensions within the
hospital, and it suggests corrective
measures which might be taken to
overcome these pressures and tensions.
In addition, it describes a research
procedure which should be useful in
making further studies in this area.--
HARRIET
N. SIrTH, assistant professor of
nursing, University of Washington,
Seattle.
Essentials of Pediatrics
By Philip C. Jeans, F. Howell
Wright, and Florence Blake. 6th ed.
714 pages. Philadelphia, J. B. Lip-
pincott Co., 1958.Price $6.00.
DESIGNED to acquaint the student with
the essentials of pediatric nursing, this
scholarly textbook is profusely illus-
trated with charts and tables that will
prove beneficial to both student and
teacher.
The general thesis of this book is
that the nurse, who is continually
dealing with children and parents,
necessarily becomes a participant in
the cultivation of personalities.
Through her understanding she has
many opportunities to influence indi-
vidual growth and to satisfy family
living. To do this she must be well
versed in the expected changes of per-
sonality growth and the effects which
parental attitudes toward health and
disease may bear upon such growth.
The organization of the material is
planned so as to enhance learning
situations. Unit I confines itself to the
expected growth and development of
children, including the requirements
for optimal nutrition. Unit II considers
the kinds, incidence, and severity of
diseases among children, and the meas-
ures which can be used to forestall
Nurse Authors in Current
Periodical Literature
These articles, written by
nurses, appeared in recent year-
books and scientific,general, and
professional periodicals (exclud-
ing hospital and nursingperiodi-
cals and yearbooks).
BROWN, AMY FRANCES. The
importance of hospital and nurs-
ing school librariesto the nursing
profession. Bull.Med.LibraryAs-
soc. 47:258-263, July 1959.
DOUGHERTY, ANNE, AND OTHERS.
Hearingresponsesand audiologic
screeningin infants.J.Pediat.55:
382-390, Sept. 1959.
FREE, MARY LOUISE. Volunteer
vision screening in South Caro-
lina. Sight-SavingRev. 29:92-95,
Summer 1959.
FRENCH, CAROLYN, AND OTHERS.
Observationson Asian influence
on two Alaskan islands. Pub.
Health Rep. 74:737-745, August
1959.
LAMB, ANNE, AND OTHERS.
Twenty-oneyears'experiencewith
a public health contraceptive
service. Am.J.Pub.Health, 49:
993-1000, Aug. 1959.
LEBLANC, DOROTHYR. AND
OTHERS. Intrafamilial and inter-
familial spread of living vaccine
strains of polio virus. J.A.M.A.
170:2039-2047, Aug. 22, 1959.
ROBERTSON, ESTHER J. Perina-
tal mortality-the problemand its
definition. Canad.J.Pub.Health
50:344-346, Aug. 1959.
STIERWALT, E. AND OTHERS.
Comparative hematologic re-
sponse to iron fortificationof a
milk formula for infants. Pedi-
atrics 24:404-412, Sept. 1959.
TIPPLE, DOROTHY C. The fu-
ture of school nursing. J.A.M.A.
171:59-62, Sept. 5, 1959.
disease. Unit III treats the rudiments
of nursing care, with attention to the
interpersonal relationships of the nurse,
as well as the physical care which she
must render. Detailed consideration of
disease and the special problems re-
lated to the nursing care of the sick
infant and child are included in Unit
IV which attempts to group together all
of the aspects of infant nursing and
Unit V which discusses the diseases
that occur more frequently in the
older child.
Each chapter ends with suggestions
for further study and a comprehensive
bibliography. These will serve as use-
ful work activities for the student. The
book has a good index. One of the most
desirable features of this text is the
inclusion, in each chapter, of informa-
tion on nutrition.
This is truly a modernized, scholarly,
comprehensive, concise study in the
essentials of pediatrics. It is recom-
mended to all interested in this field.-
FANNIE H. HARDISON, instructor in
pediatric nursing, Meharry Medical
College, Nashville, Tennessee.
FILMS
The Proud Years
16 mm., black and white, running time
281/2 minutes. Produced in 1956 by
George C. Stoney, Potomac Produc-
tions, with consultation from Frederic
D. Zeman,M.D., and Leo Dobrin, M.D.,
Home for the Aged and InfirmHebrews
of New York, under the sponsorship of
Pfizer Laboratories, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Distributed for sale by the Center for
Mass Communication, Columbia Uni-
versity, 1125 Amsterdam Ave., New
York 25; for rental, by ANA-NLN
Film Library, 267 W. 25th St., New
York 1. Rental $5; sale $125.
Content.-Filmed in a large home
for the aged, this documentary demon-
strates the rehabilitation possible for
hemiplegics and other disabled per-
sons in the later years of life. Factors
of permanent damage as well as de-
pression are considered seriously, but'
emphasis is placed on the importance
of prompt physical therapy and of
motivation for recovery by building
upon the older person's strengths of
pride, persistence, and will-power. In-
dividual and group interests are illus-
trated as vital to maintaining or re-
gaining a feeling of usefulness and
achievement. Focus is on persons who
illustrate various forms of disability
and treatment and various personality
types.
Comment.-This film is recom-
mended not only for those who work
with older people in homes for the
aged, hospitals, nursing homes, and
other settings, but also for alerting
community groups to the rehabilita-
tion possibilities for older people. It
should prove stimulating to social
planning groups and others interested
in initiating or expanding services for
the aged, especially when followed by
discussion of possible local facilities.
A change in attitude toward the hope-
fulness of rehabilitation of older per-
sons doubtless would be fostered. In
several instances, showing the film to
older people themselves has proved
encouraging to individuals, although
1766 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NURSING

Diagnosing Human Relations in Organizations

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