ABSTRACT
This account has been a chronicle of how things went wrong. Management, lodge, and members of the team all assumed that the drift would be an ordinary unit, to be run in the ordinary way and unlikely to experience more than ordinary difficulties. The untenability of this assumption, yet the persistence of behaviour based on it, suggests that, in a way they were unable to recognize, those concerned were using the idea of ordinariness as a means of psychological defence against elements in the situation they were unwilling to confront. The principal effect was that the panel was treated throughout as a production unit under difficulties, rather than perceived for what it was—a training and development project working under the stress of a demand for full production. Though the need for support was conceded, the time allowed (eight weeks) was no more than a token period and the underlying assumption manifested itself in a number of ways, especially in the emphasis on coal production as the primary task. Though, in words, the need for training and acquiring experience was acknowledged, preoccupation with output carried the real message of action.
