Organizational choice : capabilities of groups at the coal face under changing technologies : the loss, re-discovery & transformation of a work tradition / E.L. Trist. [et al.].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trist, E. L., author.

Contributor:

Trist, E. L.

Series:

Routledge Library Editions: Organizations

Routledge Library Editions: Organizations: Theory & Behaviour ; Volume 28

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coal mines and mining.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (484 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxon [England] : Routledge, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book develops and applies a new approach to the study of the working group and indeed of productive enterprises more generally. Unlike similar studies, in this volume the human is related back to the technological, and it is the socio-technical system as a whole that is the object of study. The work reported in this book shows how alternative modes of work organization can exist for the same technology, giving the possibility of organizational choice.

Contents:

Front Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Title Page; Original Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Introduction; Part I. Pattern and Process; Section One. The Nature of the Project: Methods and Concepts; I The Socio-Technical Approach; The Development of the Concept; Focusing on the Socio-Psychological System; The Research Opportunity; II Design and Methods; Socio-Technical Systems in Mining; The Exploratory Phase; Design; Sanctioning the Programme; Methods; III The Appraisal of Socio-Technical Systems in Mining; Primary Task; The Underground Situation; Activity Structure; Work Roles

Task GroupsWork Culture; Inter-Group Relations; The Managing System; Section Two. Traditional and Conventional Work Group Organization; IV The Single Place Tradition; The Technical Equilibrium; The Composite Work Role; The Marrow Group; Seam Status and Cavilling; Management Characteristics; Closeness to System Potential; V Conventional Longwall Working: its Emergence and Variants; The Face Conveyor and Cycle Dominance; Early Longwalls; The Cutting Longwall; The Organizational Break with the Single Place Tradition; The Opportunity for Organizational Choice

Differences between Hewing and Cutting FacesVI The Situation and Characteristics of Single Task Groups; Cuttermen; Fillers; Types of Filling Task Group; Pullers; Stonemen; VII The Displacement of Operational Control; The Problem of Cycle Control; The Use of the Wages System; The End Result; Section Three. Emerging Forms of Work Group Organization; VIII The Emergence of Composite Longwall Working; The Composite Tradition; The Manley Innovation; IX The Nature of Composite Self-Regulation; The Basic Postulates; Four Interrelated Aspects; The Key Function of Task Continuity; The Loci of Control

Identity of AimsThe Distribution of Leadership; X The System Effects of Higher Mechanization; Continuous Mining as a New Frame of Reference; The Context of Single Task Mechanization; The Context of Multiple Task Mechanization; XI Organization and Manning Under Full Mechanization; Increased Maintenance; Activity Groups with Reciprocal Roles; Composite Commitment; Leading Facemen; Conceptual Skill and Optimum Machine Use; Regular Wages and Salaries; Planned Teams; Part II. Comparative Studies and Field Experiments; Section Four. Comparative Studies of Performance and Control

XII Evaluation of System FunctioningCycle Regulation; Production Performance; Comparative Studies; XIII Face Team Organization and Maintaining Production; Characteristics of Two Panels; Differences in Face-worker Behaviour; Effects on Production; Effects on Management; XIV Work Load Stress and Cycle Regulation; Production Performance; Adaptation to Changing Conditions; Cycle Regulation; Section Five. The Creativeness of Composite Work Groups; XV Origin and Formation of Two Composite Teams; XVI Contrasting Patterns of Initial Deployment; Panel-Wide Shift Exchange; Traditional Informal Exchange

XVII The Appearance of Independent Developments

Notes:

First published in 1963 by Tavistock.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Descripion based on online resource; title from title page (ebrary, viewed May 27, 2013).

ISBN:

1-135-96521-8

1-135-96514-5

0-203-43632-6

9780203436325

OCLC:

846679525