ABSTRACT
In March 1958, Merrelyn Emery interviewed Lodge at the Home Office Research Committee, sufficient funds became available, and in February 1960 Emery sent a draft report on his research to Bristol Prison’s governor. Emery’s project was to apply changes to medium-sized Local prisons; first, alter the prison officers’ responsibilities for inmates; second, allow inmates to associate daily with each other outside their cells for most of their working hours. To engage an organization properly in socio-technical analysis, E. L. Trist and Emery had recognized that a preliminary exercise would be essential. Trist and Emery met Hall and, for three hours, discussed the troubling merger and its effect on the two groups of company executives. To allow for the “great minds” policy of Sir Arnold Hall, Trist and Emery arranged for notables to appear after dinner each night when the day’s socio-technical work would not be overshadowed.
