ABSTRACT
In the pottery, control over time in their work was restricted both for kiln-emptiers and for workers on the production lines. Toilet relief was habitual focus of discontent for workers and supervisors alike. Control of time internal to work - being able to take breaks electively or pace one’s own work - enables people to accommodate many otherwise disabling symptoms, physical or mental. If that control is lacking, for instance because the pace of the job is controlled by a machine, even trivial suffering can come to seem intolerable. Other things being equal, the sufferers will take time off. On the initiative of the personnel director, a team identity programme had been introduced throughout the firm. On the shop floor, each team’s production performance was recorded on their own notice board in full view of the members, changing from day to day.
