ABSTRACT
In February 1958 the Tavistock Institute received a telephone call from Mr. Edward Adams, the home sales manager of Davidson & Sons, a company well known in its field, asking for help in the selection of a senior manager. My colleague Mr. A. K. Rice arranged to pay a preliminary call on the company. He was met by Mr. E. Adams, who told him that the vacancy was for a chief accountant and secretary. Mr. Rice asked what had happened to the former occupant. He was told that the post was a new one which incorporated but was wider than the existing company secretaryship. The present secretary was Mr. Adams’s brother-in-law. He was considering emigrating to Australia. Realizing that events of some complexity lay behind the story, Mr. Rice asked whether this did not pose a problem for the Adams family. Mr. Adams confirmed that this was the case.
