ABSTRACT
Early in 1955, a research team sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to study systems of work organisation in British coal mines, became interested in a new form of organisation developed in a mine in north-west Durham. In order to discover whether contrasting types of face group organisation have any relationship to the level at which production is maintained, it was decided that a comparative study should be made between two longwalls. One of these longwalls was organised along conventional longwall lines, with clearly specified responsibilities for each shift, specialised task roles for face workers, separate payment for the performance of various tasks, and management being primarily responsible for co-ordination and control of cycle group (see British Coal Industries (A)). The other longwall was organised along composite lines, with each shift responsible for task continuity rather than a specific set of tasks, multi-skilled face workers, a common paynote for the entire cycle group, and with responsibility for co-ordination and control being primarily in the hands of the cycle group (see British Coal Industries (B)).
