ABSTRACT

While acknowledged by most sources as the founder of organization development, there is no evidence Kurt Lewin ever used the term. As the earlier experiments show a group atmosphere can be changed radically in a relatively short time by introducing new leadership techniques. Autocratic and democratic leadership consists of playing a certain role. The perception of all three fighting parties-the mechanic, the supervisor and the most critical, active group, the operators-who had been preoccupied with the issue of the "lie" and prestige, has been turned toward the objective difficulties of production. To bring about a permanent solution it does not suffice to create amicable relations. The conflict arose out of an aspect of production where overlapping authorities existed in a cognitively unclear situation. Some factories which moved from a northern state to the South ten years ago found it impossible for years to reach a level of production which was at all comparable to that of northern workers.