Tensions within an Industrial Research Laboratory: The Philips Laboratory’s X-Ray Department between the Wars Downloaded from KEES BOERSMA Tensions arose in the X-ray department of the Philips research laboratory during the interwar period, caused by the interplay es.oxfordjournals.org among technological development, organizational culture, and in- dividual behavior. This article traces the efforts of Philips researchers to find a balance between their professional goals and status and the company’s strategy. The X-ray research, overseen by Gilles Holst, the laboratory’s director, and Albert Bouwers, the group leader for the X-ray department, was a financial failure despite at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on April 6, 2011 technological successes. Nevertheless, Bouwers was able to con- tinue his X-ray research, having gained the support of company owner Anton Philips. The narrative of the X-ray department allows us to explore not only the personal tensions between Holst and Enterprise & Society 4 (March 2003): 65–98. 2003 by the Business History Conference. All rights reserved. KEES BOERSMA is assistant professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Contact information: Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail:
[email protected]. Iamindebted to Ben van Gansewinkel, staff member of the Philips Company Archives (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) and the staff members of the Algemeen Rijks Archief (The Hague, the Netherlands), the Schenectady Museum Archives (Schenectady, New York), and the