ABSTRACT
During the 1950s and 1960s, a programme of industrial sociological research was funded in Britain as part of the Marshall Plan. This research was originally intended to examine the human implications of work study, and was carried out from within the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. It took the form of detailed case studies of two firms. The first was fairly small, employing about 400 people, and work study was being newly introduced by management consultants. The second, "Multiproducts Ltd", was a large engineering firm, employing about 3,600 people, where a methods department and a time study department had been established for more than ten years. Looking at the two firms side-by-side: in the short term the reorganization of work and of the payment system caused problems of adaptation and adjustment. In the long term, they had the effect of creating a particular culture.
