ABSTRACT
In the 1950s the Tavistock Institute was involved in a number of projects investigating how “longwall mining” had mechanized and enlarged the scale of coal mining operations, and replaced traditional group-based methods of work by specialized and fragmented manual jobs coordinated and controlled by an external supervisor. The change in work had broken down the previous social structure and led to a catalogue of individual, organizational, social and performance problems. Yet, in a number of sites, the Tavistock researchers discovered that different forms of work organization had been introduced. Increasing mechanization had also been accompanied by the creation of relatively autonomous groups interchanging roles and shifts and regulating their affairs with a minimum of supervision. High levels of personal commitment, low absenteeism, infrequent accidents and high productivity accompanied cooperation between task groups.
