UNTESTED ASSUMPTIONS AND DISREGARDED FACTORS IN MANPOWER RESEARCH

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 325, S. 38-44

Abstract

Manpower in America cannot be allocated by totalitarian means. At times such means may seem attractive, but this is not a form of attraction which we can afford to offer our citizens. Any study of manpower allocation must take a good many factors into consideration. The 4 original professions-the ministry, law, medicine, & teaching-have been augmented by dozens more. These new professions are almost exclusively involved with helping, rather than restricting, men; it is in these professions that a shortage of manpower is felt. The sources to fill this shortage are in many instances available by means of a re-evaluation of some of our basic belief. (1), Technology is releasing increased numbers of bluecollar workers; only prejudice keeps us from viewing them as an immense source of professional potential; (2), professional women are forced by the influence of psychol to stay at home through some of their most productive yrs in order to raise their children; the need of the children for their continuous presence beyond infancy may well be overrated; & (3), the body of knowledge possessed by retired professionals is assumed to be obsoletean obsolescence which is at least partly created by the immense value placed on the new & untested in our culture. In this same vein, reward is often withdrawn from the older practicing members of a profession in favor of the less experienced men. Lastly, professionals themselves create problems through their att's towards their co-workers in interdisciplinary teams. AA.