AT&T corporate psychology program

greenspun.com : LUSENET : History & Theory of Psychology : One Thread

I am trying find information about AT&T/Bell Labs corporate psychology program. Apparently, an associate of Henry Murray (perhaps D. Bray) established some corporate personality assessment program and Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ had a behavioural research staff. I am interested in finding information about both of these programs, any information published, descriptions of the programs, and names of staff. Did other companies do behavioural research, or was this uncommon? Thank you for this website and for any information on my questions.

-- Patty Rehn (aches@bendnet.com), December 17, 2002

Answers

It was Bray, and there are a number of references to the program. Here are a few I found in PsycINFO:

1. Personnel-centered organizational diagnosis. Author: Bray, Douglas W. In: Howard, Ann; Diagnosis for organizational change: Methods and models.; p. 152-171; New York, NY, US : Guilford Press, 1994 xvi, 299 Doc. Type: Chapter (PsycINFO_1887) 2.Predictions of managerial success over long periods of time: Lessons from the Management Progress Study. Author: Howard, Ann; Bray, Douglas W. In: Clark, Kenneth E.; Ed; Clark, Miriam B.; Ed; Measures of leadership.; p. 113-130; West Orange, NJ, US: Leadership Library of America, Inc, 1990 xvii, 636 Doc. Type: Chapter (PsycINFO_1887)

3.THE ASSESSMENT CENTER IN THE MEASUREMENT OF POTENTIAL FOR BUSINESS MANAGEMENT. Author: BRAY, DOUGLAS W.; GRANT, DONALD L. Source: Psychological Monographs: General & Applied 80(17), 1966, 27. Doc. Type: Journal Article (PsycINFO_1887)

4.Managerial lives in transition: Advancing age and changing times. Author: Howard, Ann; Bray, Douglas W. Publication: New York, NY, US Guilford Press 1988Document: Authored Book; Book (PsycINFO_1887)

-- Nicole B. Barenbaum (nbarenba@sewanee.edu), December 18, 2002.


[Posted for EIT by cdg.]

I worked as Murray's last research assistant for almost 8 years between 1981 and 1988 and remembebr coming across these materials from Bray. There were at least letters and probably a folder or two that I found. These materials went to the Murray Papers at Harvard's Pusey Library. The Murray-Bray letters would be indexed separately from the boxes of files. I think they did a rough index of both. I was not involved in that end of it.

-- Eugene I. Taylor (etaylor@IGC.ORG), December 19, 2002.


Of course the Bell Labs had very active perceptual (particularly auditory) researchers. Best known was Harvey Fletcher. Their human factors researchers were responsible, among other outrages, for all-digit dialing - based on data which showed that it made no difference in error rates. On a somewhat more estoric side, Max Mathews and his group did extensive work in the early days of electronic music, his work based on psychoacoustic principals. Mathews was head for many years of a group doing basic psychoacoustic research. I think Bray's group was just one at Bell Labs that supported psychological research. And hired experimental psychologists.

-- Douglas Creelman (creelman@psych.utoronto,ca), December 19, 2002.

I worked as one of the three psychologists at the first Southern Bell Telephone Co Assessment Center for middle management personnel in the summer of 1963, in Atlanta, Ga. The AT&T personnel vice president was consultant for the center. Ann Howard (and Bray?) gave a very informative and thorough history of the assessment centers at an APA Convention some dozen or so years ago. I told her at the time I hoped they would publish it, but don't know whether they did.

-- Ronald W. Mayer (mayer@sfsu.edu), December 26, 2002.

When i was a Harvard graduate student i had a summer job (I believe it must have been in 1963) working on some of the data they had collected, under the supervision of David Berlew who was then a professor of management at MIT. My memory is hazy, but as i recall they had collected a considerable amount of test data, including TATs (which i worked on), from a substantial number of junior managers, as well as information on their career success over several years (salaries, promotions, etc.).

-- Raymond Fancher (fancher@yorku.ca), December 29, 2002.


The AT&T Management Progress Study was directed by Douglas Bray. AT&T was one of the hallmark companies to do this type of behavioral assessment study. Others had attempted, but this was the first that had any resemblance of validity.

-- Hannah (hjeutt@caliber.com), July 30, 2004.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ