Rensis Likert Biography

Rensis Likert is well known in the field of conflict management. He was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on August 5, 1903, the son of George Herbert, an engineer, and Cornelia Zonne Likert. In 1926, he graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Two years later he married Jane Gibson, an editor and consultant. The couple had two children, Elizabeth and Patricia.

Likert continued his studies at Columbia University in New York City, earning a Ph.D. in 1932. By that time he had begun his teaching career as an instructor at New York University, New York City, becoming an assistant professor in 1935. Likert spent a year on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, 1935-1936, before being named head of the Division of Program Surveys, Bureau of Agricultural Economics in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. Also during that period, he was research director for Life Insurance Agency Management Association, 1935-39, and director of the Morale Division of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, 1944-1946, during World War II. He returned to the University of Michigan in 1946 and remained there until 1970 as professor of psychology and sociology. Likert was named professor emeritus in 1971. During his tenure at Michigan, he also served as director of the Survey Research Center, 1946-48, and in the Institute for Social Research, 1948-70, becoming director emeritus in 1971.That year, Likert also formed his own company, Rensis Likert Associates, in Ann Arbor. It was concerned with management styles and systems in conjunction with survey research.

In addition to his teaching career, Likert contributed to numerous publications, including the Internatinal Encyclopedia of Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. He is the author of six books, most dealing with management, such as Morale and Agency Management, 4 volumes, with J.M. Willits, 1940-41, and The Human Organization: Its Management and Value, 1967. With his wife, he wrote New Ways of Managing Conflict, published by McGraw-Hill in 1976. Intended for laypersons seeking to resolve most types of conflicts, the book applies research data concerning organizations and their effectiveness to the management of conflict.

Likert was a fellow and board of directors member of the American Psychological Association, past president of the American Statistical Association, and a member of the national Academy of Public Administration. In 1955, he received the Paul D. Converse Award from the University of Illinois; in 1962, the James A. Hamilton Award and awards from the Organization Development Council and the McKinsey Foundation for his book New Patterns of Management; in 1968, a human relations award from the Society for the Advancement of Management and a professional achievement award from the American Board of examiners of Professional Psychologists; and outstanding achievement awards from the American Society for Training and Development (1969) and the American Association for Public Opinion Research (1973).