Introduction

Abstract

Most managers will probably agree on the need to study the way we organise work if it leads to more productive operation and a more satisfied work-force. On the other hand, the notion that easy cookbook-type answers will be forthcoming must be immediately dismissed. There is also a growing realisation that the problems facing individual companies are unique, certainly unstructured, and furthermore only solvable by the managers involved taking a hard and analytical look at each situation as it arises. This is not to suggest that theoretical knowledge is not important; it is, but it needs to be applied as problems arise and not as some universal prescription. This is not to imply that there is no need for forward thinking; indeed, a fast-changing society requires management to plan now for the kind of organisation it will need in the next three to five years, always realising that at the end of the period the whole thing will probably require changing again. Such changes could involve the manufacturing organisation in new layouts, modified control systems, alteration in the pay structure and — a matter of great significance — some change in everyone’s job. If companies are to survive and provide a combination of economic viability and job satisfaction, then their managers must be very much concerned with determining if the existing set-up is fitted for the tasks ahead of it.