Einar Thorsrud (30 April 1923 – 29 May 1985) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

, researcher and professor at the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

and

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, who is known for his work in the field of

organizational development Organization development (OD) is the study and implementation of practices, systems, and techniques that affect organizational change, the goal of which is to modify an organization's performance and/or culture. The organizational changes are ...

(OD), particularly in the development of theory around participative

work design Work design (also referred to as job design or task design) is an area of research and practice within industrial and organizational psychology, and is concerned with the "content and organization of one's work tasks, activities, relationships, an ...

structures. Much of his work was done in collaboration with

Eric Trist Eric Lansdown Trist (11 September 1909 – 4 June 1993) was an English scientist and leading figure in the field of organizational development (OD). He was one of the founders of the Tavistock Institute for Social Research in London. Biography ...

and/or

Fred Emery Frederick Edmund Emery (27 August 1925 – 10 April 1997) was an Australian psychologist. He was one of the pioneers in the field of organizational development, particularly in the development of theory around participative work design struct ...

. Thorsrud has been Research Director of the Norwegian Work Research Institute in Oslo, Norway.

Work

Einar Thorsud has been closely connected with the use of

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

in non-governmental areas and the associated impact over policy-making in these areas.Albert Cherns, Ruth Sinclair, William Ieuan (2001). ''Social Science and Government: Policies and Problems''. Routledge. . p.39

Publications

Einar Thorsrud wrote several books: * 1964, ''Industrielt demokrati : Representasjon på styreplan i bedriftene? Noen norske og utenlandske erfaringer'', with

and

. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. * 1969, ''Form and content in industrial democracy.'', with

. London: Tavistock. (English version of:) * 1969/1970, ''Mot en ny bedriftsorganisasjon'', with

. Oslo: Johan Grundt Tanum forlag. * 1974, ''Et skip i utvikling - Høegh Mistral-prosjektet'', with Jaques Roggema. Oslo: Johan Grundt Tanum forlag. * 1976, ''Democracy at Work'', with

. Leiden: Martinus Nijoff. * 1983, ''Teori I Praksis: Festskrift til Einar Thorsrud''. with Thoralf Ulrik Qvale and Jon Frode Blichfeldt. (in Norwegian) Oslo: Tanu-Norli * 2003, ''Form and Content in Industrial Democracy: Some Experiences from Norway'', with F. E. Emery, Routledge, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorsrud, Einar 1923 births 1985 deaths Norwegian psychologists Systems psychologists Systems scientists Work Research Institute people 20th-century psychologists