Rensis Likert ( ; August5, 1903September3, 1981) was an American organizational and social psychologist known for developing the Likert scale, a psychometrically sound scale based on responses to multiple questions. The scale has become a method to measure people's thoughts and feelings from opinion surveys to personality tests. Likert also founded the theory of participative management, which is used to engage employees in the workplace. Likert's contributions in psychometrics, research samples, and open-ended interviewing have helped form and shape social and organizational psychology.

In 1926, Likert earned a B.A. in Economics and Sociology from the University of Michigan; in 1932 he earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University. He worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 1946. During World War II, Likert transitioned to working for the Office of War Information (OWI). At the OWI, he was appointed head of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Morale Division (USSBS) in 1944.

After three years majoring in civil engineering, Likert switched to economics and sociology due to the influence of professor Robert Angell. Likert received a B.A. in sociology at the University of Michigan in 1926. Upon graduation, he studied theology at the Union Theological Seminary for a year. He then pursued doctoral study in psychology at Columbia University, where he was attracted to the nascent discipline of social psychology under Gardner Murphy. His 1932 Ph.D. dissertation, A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes, developed the now well-known Likert scale. In 1938, he co-authored Public Opinion and the Individual with his mentor at Columbia, Gardner Murphy.

Career

Life Insurance Agency Management Association

In 1935, Likert became Director of Research for the Life Insurance Agency Management Association (LIAMA) in Hartford, Connecticut. There, Likert began a research program to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of different modes of supervision. The research lead to the development of the three volumes of moral and agency management.

United States Department of Agriculture

In 1939, Likert was invited by Henry Wallace to organize the Division of Program Surveys (DPS) at the Bureau of Agriculture Statistics (BAS). Its purpose was to gather farmers' thoughts about USDA-sponsored New Deal programs and to combat the effects of the Great Depression. During World War II, as the director of the Program Surveys Division in the USDA's Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE), Likert ran surveys for the USDA. But as the war progressed, the division ran program surveys for multiple government agencies, including the Office of War Information, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, and the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey. In 1943, he developed the first national geographic sampling frame. During the war, Likert recruited other social psychologists into the growing government survey department.

The War Effort

On December 7, 1941, Likert gained support from the federal government on his program survey. From this the National survey was introduced which helped the federal government make decision on World War II. There were new interviews and sample methods that were the outcome of the program survey through the support of the federal government and other agencies. Likert was the director of the ISR from 1949 until his retirement in 1970.

Rensis Likert Associates

Upon retirement, Likert founded Rensis Likert Associates to consult for numerous corporations. He also helped start the Institute for Corporate Productivity. During his tenure at the Institute for Corporate Productivity, Likert devoted particular attention to research on organizations. During the 1960s and 1970s, his books on management theory were closely studied in Japan and their impact can be seen across modern Japanese organizations. He completed research on major corporations around the world, and his studies have accurately predicted the subsequent performance of the corporations.

Personal life

On August 31, 1928, Likert married Jane Gibson (editor and consultant) while at Columbia University, having met at the University of Michigan. In 1969, Likert retired as Director of the Institute for Social Research. The couple moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he formed Rensis Likert Associates.

Death

Likert died at 78 years of age on September 3, 1981, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Contributions

Open-ended interviewing

Likert contributed to the field of psychometrics by developing open-ended interviewing, a technique used to collect information about a person's thoughts, experiences, and preferences. It was common in the 1930s for researchers to use objective, closed-ended questions for the coding process to be valid. While this technique was used well in many domains, Likert saw the need for more opportunities to ask people about their attitudes towards various issues. Within open-ended interviewing, he and his colleagues invented the "funneling technique", which is a way to keep the interview open for comments, but directed in a specific way. The interview would begin with open-ended questions but gradually move into more narrowed questions. Today, open-ended interviewing is largely used in research studies where there is a need to understand people's attitudes.

Likert scale

Likert is best known for the Likert scale. Likert created the method in 1932 as part of his Ph.D. thesis to identify the extent of a person's attitudes and feelings towards international affairs. The Likert scale is used in conducting surveys, with applications to business-related areas such as marketing or customer satisfaction, the social sciences, and attitude-related research projects.

A Likert scale consists of the sum or average of scores from responses to a group of survey questions. These scores are transformed into a scale score through psychometric methods.

Management systems

Likert developed his theory of management systems in the 1950s. He outlined a way of describing typical relationships, degree of involvement, and the roles of managers and subordinates in industrial settings. Four clusters of arrangements are identified. These "management systems" are known as:

  1. Exploitative Authoritative
  2. Benevolent Authoritative
  3. Consultative System
  4. Participative System.

Professional achievements

  • 1932 — Developed the Likert Scale
  • 1944 — Appointed head of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Morale Division (USSBS) (1944)
  • 1959 — President, American Statistical Association
  • 1967 — Honorary degree from Tilburg University, Netherlands
  • Developed Open-ended Interviewing
  • Developed scales for attitude measurement
  • Public Opinion and the Individual (1938)
  • Moral and Agency Management (1940-1944)

References

Further reading

  • Brewer, J. D. (1968). Review of The Human Organization. American Sociological Review, 33(5), 825-826
  • Converse, Jean M. (1987) Survey Research in the United States: Roots and Emergence 1890-1960 (U of California Press)
  • Effrat, A. (1968). Review: Democratizing and Producing. Science, 162(3859), 1260–1261.
  • Hall, J. W. (1972). A Comparison of Halpin and Croft's Organizational Climates and Likert and Likert's Organizational Systems. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(4), 586–590.
  • Huczynski, A.A. and Buchanan, D.A. (2007). Organizational Behaviour. 6th Edition, Pearson Education.the