Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Supervisor: John J. Hasenbein. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

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There have been calls in the P/OM literature for research aimed at a better understanding of manufacturing policy and requests in the OB literature for further clarification of the nature and effects of "contingency" variables. A field study was done in an effort to address both of these concerns. The study involved 20 manufacturing firms of 1,000 or more employees in four different industries. A theoretical model was developed which suggests a link between the degree of stability in the external environment and various aspects of structure and policy in manufacturing departments. The hypotheses tested predicted that policy would differ for firms facing different environments and that if policy and environmental conditions were appropriately matched, better departmental performance would result. Results indicate that the degree of environmental stability may relate negatively to the level of administrative intensity, the degree of preference for small versus large plants, and the degree of preference for low versus high inventories. These findings were in accord with the theory of the model. No support was indicated for predictions that the degree of environmental stability would correlate negatively with spans of control and with preferences for general-purpose equipment or for the expected positive relationship between stability and number of organizational levels or preferences for process structures. There was also no support found for the hypothesis that better "fit" of environment with policy/structure leads to better performance. There was some evidence that type of technology affects spans of control, number of levels, type of equipment preferred, and levels of inventories preferred, but no support for the importance of size (of firm) as an influence on policy and structure. The thesis discusses possible explanations for unexpected results and offers specific suggestions for future research.

Thesis (MComm(Eng))--University of South Australia, 2001

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania. / "Appeared in 1907 in the Business world" and forms the third part of the author's Principles of industrial management. cf. Pref.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania. / "Appeared in 1907 in the Business world" and forms the third part of the author's Principles of industrial management. cf. Pref. Also available in digital form on the Internet Archive Web site.

The main purpose of the study was to determine by the Critical Incident Technique the critical requirements of first line supervisors at the Trail operations of The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited. The Critical Incident Technique, originated by John C. Flanagan, develops a job description by making use of the observations and experience of those close to the job in question. Stories of observed effective and ineffective behaviour called Critical Incidents told by these people to interviewers, are broken down into the smallest significant units of action termed critical behaviours. When critical behaviours similar in principle are grouped together, an outline of the job made up of its critical requirements is produced. In the present study, aside from establishing the critical requirements of the first line supervisors' job the critical incidents and behaviours elicited were used in a study of five variables. Three of these concern those supplying the critical incidents termed observers: 1. Data obtained from supervisors in three broad types of work (A--heavy operations: B--process operations: C--trades), were segregated and compared. 2. Data obtained from short service supervisors were compared with data obtained from long service supervisors. 3. Data obtained from the first line supervisors were compared with data obtained from their assistants. The other two variables considered were concerned with methodological features of the technique. 4. The effect of illustrative examples, used in the introductory remarks to observers, was studied. 5. The effect of selective recall was analysed. Supervisors carrying out the second line or foreman function at Trail were selected as the observers. This group included all foremen and assistant foremen, and a number of superintendents and their assistants. The personalized group technique was used with the observers to obtain the critical incidents. Thus, instead of interviewing the men individually, they were brought in about five at a time for group interview, writing their incidents in specially prepared booklets provided for this purpose. The interviews resulted in 282 usable incidents or 424 critical behaviours. These were categorized into 35 critical requirements grouped in six areas. The areas developed were as follows: I Plans and organizes. II Deals with practical job tasks. III Encourages loyalty and respect of employees. IV Deals with infractions. V Cooperates with other supervisors. VI Demonstrates responsible interest in Company. More effective incidents and behaviours were given by the observers than ineffective. In fact the ratio was 2 to 1. This might well be regarded as demonstrating a positive and constructive attitude on the part of the second line and an indication of good first line supervision. The emphasis placed on the various areas indicate that Areas II, III, and VI were accorded the most prominent position while Areas I, IV and V occupied a lesser position. Generally this positioning was maintained in the various analyses in the study. In the analysis of the five variables the emphasis shifted at times showing the difference of viewpoint in the different levels of super-vision and men of differing seniority in the supervisory group. Thus, the superintendent level concentrated more on Area II and VI while the foreman stressed incidents illustrating the encouragement of the loyalty and respect of employees (Area III). Supervisors from work types A, B, and C, referred to above, also emphasized different job elements, indicating that men of differing temperaments and abilities would turn in the best performance in each of these jobs. Junior first line supervisors seemed more active in human relations matters (Area III) than were their seniors which points up a difference likely due to the newer selection and training programs for supervisors. When the first line supervisor was compared with his assistant, differences were again evident. The supervisor was more concerned with human relations while his assistant was busy with practical job detail. The question was raised as to whether the assistant's job should not be broadened for training reasons, if no other, to include more responsibilities in relation to the men. Study of the first methodological variable resulted in the conclusion that the use of illustrative examples increased the number of incidents elicited. It also appeared that examples from an unrelated occupation and with a non-analogous content could be used to illustrate the format of an incident to the observer with a minimum of bias apparent in results. The last variable did not produce a significant difference in the type of behaviour recalled from "past months'" experience with that recalled from the past year prior to the past month. International Business Machine equipment was successfully used in the study, particularly for sorting and counting work. It cut to a bare minimum some of the more time consuming features of the technique and proved itself to be deserving of further study. When available to the research worker it could well become the standard method for handling the data in Critical Incident studies. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is concerned with the evolution of the policies and practice of factory management in the People's Republic of China. Beginning with an examination of the Party's history, it seeks to illustrate the development of factory management from its early political context to the particular contemporary form. In so doing it explains contemporary policy and practice as a logical extension of the political philosophy that evolved during the pre-1949 period. Thus, this thesis attempts to analyse not just what forms and methods have existed and now exist, but how and why they have come to exist. The scholarly study of contemporary China by western trained academics is often based on the assumption of capitalist superiority. "Taking," as Stephen Andors writes, "the particular historical and cultural patterns of European marketplace industrialization as general universal norms, (they)... characterize as 'pre-modern' those societies that have not developed the values and institutions that evolve within the context of the capitalist marketplace. Hence before traditional 'pre-' modern' societies can develop they must make the transits ion to a modern 'rational' outlook characterized by 'western' cultural values and traits, and employing models of scientific, 'National' organization." This type of analysis has been applied to China by a number of western trained observers who claim, as Barry Richman does, that "...certain major aspects of Chinese ideology are apparently in conflict with managerial, technical and economic rationality and hence economic progress. Yet in China there appears to be emerging-a new-form of organizing the forces of material production that offers a challenge to the Hobbesian. notions of individual interests and the Weberian notions of bureaucratic rule. The method of administering a modern Chinese enterprise is at considerable variance with the modern, western method. However, the organization of contemporary Chinese factories cannot be thoroughly understood without knowledge of its historical framework. Therefore I have attempted to provide an understanding of the existing set of conditions and circumstances that the movement faced during its early formative years. These to a large extent shaped the political philosophy that was later to direct changes in factory organization. The particular set of policies which constitute the micro-level model of factory organization do not exist in isolation from the larger, more general body of political philosophy. Thus to a large extent the successful use of China's revolutionary model of factory organization was dependent upon the successful revolutionary transformation of all of society. By 1949, the Chinese had already established a largely complete set of general principles that lay in direct contradiction to the specific principles of western, capitalist enterprise organization. Even before the Chinese began experimenting with enterprise organization in the 1950's it was obvious that what was going to develop would be radically different from the western model. What evolved out of the Yenan period was an entirely new structure of organization that stressed discipline to centralized policy guidance, yet allowed large degrees of independent, lower-level operational authority. Revolutionary authority relations became established on the basis of ability and political commitment; and were maintained on the basis of their economic and political effectiveness. These principles of revolutionary organization are still subscribed to in China's contemporary industrial economy. In western society non-material incentives are of little value, and given the capitalist organizational model this is understandable. Non-material incentives function when thereto exists other than material reasons for working. In western society these reasons are not prevalent. Yet China even before 1949 had begun a program to promote social and political incentives to work. Most importantly however, was the realization of the direct association between the form of organization and the forms of incentives that were needed. The Chinese realized that social and political incentives could be just as, or more important than economic incentives given the right organizational form. Political goals could be transformed into economic realities. In contemporary China the organization of industrial enterprises is guided by the policy of "two participations, one reform and triple combination." First instituted during the Great Leap Forward this policy outlines the power relations within the factory. "Two participations" stipulates that first, upper-level cadres must labour a set number of days on the production line and secondly, workers must be involved in administrative decision- making in a regular and meaningful way. "One reform" means that all structural or organizational blocks to the implementation of two participations must be eliminated, and especially that both participations are regularized in such a way that they can be both checked and enforced. The systems of individual responsibility and rigidly defined job roles have been eliminated because they were not compatible with collective decision making and the elimination of status and prestige differences between mental and manual work. Similarly, '3 in 1' innovation committees have been established and are seen as a basic part of the new-approach to technology. Mass technical innovation is regarded as the necessary alternative to foreign technical expertise which China largely rejects. As during the Yenan period, the Chinese still place the highest importance on self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Clear cut distinctions between workers and cadres and between workers and technicians no longer exist, and new forms of 'worker-technicians' and 'administrative-workers' are evident. The similarities between the Yenan and contemporary period are striking. The simplification of administration is another aspect of that similarity. The levels of control have been reduced and large numbers of cadres have been de-centralized. More decisions are being made on the lowest levels with increased local control. Material incentives are widely regarded as 'sugar coated bullets.' Nowhere can anyone receive piece wages, bonus payments or even overtime pay. The wage differentials of the wage-grade system have been narrowed to a point where, even prior to the Cultural Revolution, they were the smallest of any country in the world. The Chinese do not assume that people will only work in maximizing individual monetary gain. Thus individual monetary incentives are not seen as the only or necessarily the best form of motivational stimuli. Rather they see people as capable of responding to a wide range of stimuli. These include moral, political and ideological incentives. Most importantly perhaps, the Chinese do not assume that economic success can only be measured in terms of productivity and profitability. Rather they assume that participant satisfaction is of equal importance. The organization of industrial enterprises must be both economically and politically acceptable. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

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