The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 7 (November 1, 1929)
The Analogy of the Typewriter
The Analogy of the Typewriter.
Perhaps the most interesting example of the application is shown in the typewriter, in which the mode of learning demonstrates the relation of psychology to business.
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At Otahuhu Workshops.
The General Manager of Railways, Mr. H. H. Sterling (left), and Mr. E. T. Spidy, Superintendent of Workshops (right), snapped during a recent inspection of the new Workshops at Otahuhu, Auckland.
Of course the language is not scientific; engineers and others dealing with pressure and weights realise at once that the pressure must be expressed in, say, foot-pounds or some other technical measure. At the same time, however, the facts, as stated, convey the basic ideas to a non-technical individual. Just at this point there is a further factor. Scientific research has developed the “minimum effort” machine, but is there any resultant return to the individual, unless definite training is given in pressing the keys? The answer is, “No.” So the human factor enters. Girls are taught how to press the keys with the exact amount of energy. The gain is obvious, energy saved is a victory over fatigue.
But that is not all. No typiste is a standard individual. Differences creep in, differing rates of speed appear. To find out how remarkable these individual differences are, refer to anyone employed in a business college. A technique of work, therefore, has been evolved. Touch typing, the slower “sight” work, or a combination of both,—each system has its devotees, although the amateur, it must be admitted, uses a “one” finger sight system obviously slow and wasteful in practice. For reasons of efficiency, touch typing seems to be the most favoured, since it leaves the stenographer free to give her attention to the manuscript from which she is working, while her movements, through practice and training, have become thoroughly automatic. In any case she is, apparently, able to work at a greater speed with such a system. Ignoring for the time the differences in design due to scientific application of laboratory discoveries, we thus see that the use of psychology in industry aims at obtaining the maximum of output with the minimum of expenditure of individual energy.