18. Physical and Social Influences on the Working Power
Aside of the level of activity in the workplace, there are various other factors that may affect the productivity of the workforce - some of which are well beyond the control of the employer.
It has been established that the hour of day influences productivity, as differences noted between day, evening, and night shifts - and various studies that attempt to correlate this to a specific cause (sleep cycles, the quality of workers who will accept a second- or third-shift job, etc.) have found negligible correlation: it must simply be accepted that there are different levels of productivity by virtue of the hour. Similar studies have failed to identify any cause of the difference in productivity in different seasons of the year, such that we must be resigned to accept that the season itself is the cause.
The time of day, season of year, the daily temperature, the weather, and similar differences are classified as "physical" influences - and into this group one may add the effects of diet, sleep, stimulant drugs, and so on. Some of these causes have been thoroughly investigated, others remain observational.
He mentions specific experiments on the effects of alcohol on German typesetters, which in his time were much misrepresented by the temperance movement. The actual findings of the study were that various quantities of "heavy wine" resulted in a 15% decrease in the number of letters that were set, but had no significant effect on the accuracy of their work. Other studies into the subject indicated improvements due to the increase in "motor excitability" that occurs from alcohol consumption. His bottom line for this passage is that the "the partisan writings of prohibitionists" would have us believe that "alcohol is one of the worst enemies of civilized life," in spite of science's inability to produce consistent evidence in support of that assertion. (EN: such is often the case where politics is involved - science is inconclusive, in no part because it is misused and misrepresented to suit a political agenda, until the truth is even less known than before.)
He switches to the topic of stimulants: "we know still less of the influences which coffee, tea, tobacco, sweets and so on exert on the life of the industrial worker." Just as with alcohol, small amount of stimulant cause an increase in productivity, but the effects become detrimental with larger doses.
He then drifts across a few random experiments: the use of music in a cigar factory was shown to stimulate production, as was the introduction of cats into factory environments in which employees were engaged in "especially fatiguing work," and the effects of changing the magazines available in break rooms. While incidents such as these are observational and unscientific, they do identify a few possibilities that science could more thoroughly explore.
The author also considers the financial interests in workers - the effect of an increase in wages, offering bonuses or premiums, paying by time and piece-work, and the like have been of greatest interest to commercial concerns because they presume workers to be entirely motivated by economic gain - in spite of studies that suggest that there are other factors that individuals value more, such as the value of the social interactions in the workplace or the sense of personal achievement that results of work.
In all there remains a great deal to be explored and discovered in this regard. Little is known about the factors that have a valid influence workers to perform at peak efficiency and effectiveness and to maintain a long-term dedication to a place of employment - and at the same time many traditional misconceptions are upheld in spite of evidence to their ineffectiveness.
Munsterberg also considers the variations in the psychology of workers, and gleans that sweeping generalizations are likely to be inapplicable given the idiosyncrasies of individuals and cultures. And in that way the findings of the scientific and academic communities hold less potential for a given employer than study and experimentation that is done for a specific situation.