Roethlisberger & Dickson Bank Wiring Room

Post date: Nov 29, 2011 5:53:31 PM

Overview

Network Dataset

The dataset name is WIRING, and includes the following six 14x14 matrices:

• • RDGAM symmetric, binary

• RDCON symmetric, binary

• RDPOS symmetric, binary

• RDNEG symmetric, binary

• RDHLP non-symmetric, binary

• RDJOB non-symmetric, valued

Background

These are the observational data on 14 Western Electric (Hawthorne Plant) employees from the bank wiring room first presented in Roethlisberger & Dickson (1939). The data are better known through a scrutiny made of the interactions in Homans (1950), and the CONCOR analysis presented in Breiger et al (1975).

The employees worked in a single room and include two inspectors (I1 and I3), three solderers (S1, S2 and S3), and nine wiremen or assemblers (W1 to W9). The interaction categories include: RDGAM, participation in horseplay; RDCON, participation in arguments about open windows; RDPOS, friendship; RDNEG, antagonistic (negative) behavior; RDHLP, helping others with work; and RDJOB, the number of times workers traded job assignments.

References

• • Breiger R., Boorman S. and Arabie P. (1975). An algorithm for clustering relational data with applications to social network analysis and comparison with multidimensional scaling. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 12, 328-383.

• Homans G. (1950). The human group. New York: Harcourt-Brace.

• Roethlisberger F. and Dickson W. (1939). Management and the worker. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.