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Five separate studies, conducted under confidential but controlled conditions, investigate the feasibility of job enrichment in several varied occupations. Companies participating in the study reported high financial gains, improved job performance, and gradual growth in job satisfaction. Job enrichment allows managers to concentrate primarily on task organization and task support. The job itself functions as the primary vehicle for individual development; management provides authentic and motivational tasks.

Two studies investigating resistance to change reveal that the social aspects of change, rather than the technological aspects, cause the most strident resistance in workers. Everyday changes among employees working closely together elicit little resistance. Management action, usually initiated by staff people outside of the small work group, brings on the symptoms of resistance. The manner in which staff specialists effect changes threatens and disrupts social relationships. Self-preoccupation frequently blinds staff specialists to the social aspects of change.

A discussion of a study of two similar manufacturing plants, one organized by product, the other by function, offers clues for managers concerned with how to structure their corporations to enable employees, particularly specialists, to do their jobs with maximum efficiency and productivity. Managers traditionally use technical and economic criteria that ignore the complex set of tradeoffs involved in deciding between a product or functional basis for organization. The recommended solution to the problem of which structure to adopt depends on the analysis of multiple tasks, differences between specialists, the objective of integration and the mechanisms and behavior required to resolve conflict and arrive at the desired states of differentiation and integration.

Many organizations are now adopting a revolutionary attitude toward change. There are a number of approaches: those that rely on unilateral authority, those that share the power, and those that delegate authority. The goal is the same: to get all levels of management psychologically redirected toward solving the problems and challenges of today's business environment.

A study at Texas Instruments (TI) revealed that a lack of minimal job competence and the resultant debilitating anxieties caused failures in problem solving. To reduce the anxiety of new employees so as to speed the achievement of a competence level, manufacturing managers at TI designed a special orientation program. The results were significant gains in learning time, quality production, and job attendance.

A study testing the effectiveness of the traditional performance appraisal program involves the completion of questionnaires by and interviews with 92 employees of a large company. Half of the managers use a high participation approach and half use a low participation method to test the effects of participation on work performance. Tentative conclusions include: coaching should be a day-to-day, not a once-a-year activity; goal setting, not criticism, should be used to improve performance; and managers should hold separate appraisals for different purposes. Work planning-and-review discussions appear to be an effective approach to improving job performance.

Texas Instruments effectively linked remedial action to a study of employee problems which analyzed factors that either dissatisfied or motivated employees. Dissatisfiers are made up of such matters as pay, supplemental benefits, company policy and administration, behavior of supervision, and other factors peripheral to the actual work. Motivators include achievement level, recognition, responsibility, growth, and other factors of self-actualization.

A positive performance appraisal program begins by establishing as its focal point the improvement of performance in the job now held. Management inaugurates such a program in five steps. First, supervisors and employees agree on the job description and responsibilities. Second, the employees establish performance targets for each of their responsibilities for the forthcoming period. Third, the employees meet with their supervisors to discuss target programs. Fourth, they jointly establish check points for the evaluation of progress along with ways of measuring it. Fifth, supervisors and subordinates meet at the end of the period to discuss results. Hitting the target is not the sole measure of success.

Describes a conflict between the values and norms of a segment of an internal social system and those of management and the wider culture.

An accounting executive is appointed plant manager, his first major "line" assignment. The plant is to be operated on a decentralized basis, contrary to the company's other plans. Administrative problems are anticipated.