Workers' Attitudes and Technology

First published in 1922, this volume aimed to contribute to our understanding of the complexities which shape attitudes and behaviour at work. Based on material obtained from a survey of workers employed by a single firm - who operate production systems as widely as different as continuous-flow chemical production and yarn spinning - this book highlights features of the production system which are crucial in influencing attitudes and behaviour within the work setting. Through a comparison of craftsmen and semi-skilled workers, it also illustrates the influence of differences of expectations upon work attitudes and behaviour. The authors reject any approach which could be called technologically determinist but nonetheless seek to show that a comparative approach to the study of behaviour in organizations may still fruitfully take as its starting-point technology and the systems of control which are devised for the planning and execution of the task.

List of tables; Acknowledgements; 1. Technology and the study of organisations; 2. the company and the technology; 3. A comparison of attitudes and behaviour; 4. Work tasks and attitudes; 5. The workers' backgrounds; 6. The environment of the works; 7. The control system and social relationships between supervisor and supervised; 8. Conclusions; Bibliography; Index.

First published in 1922, this volume contributes to our understanding of the complexities which shape attitudes and behaviour at work. Based on material obtained from a survey of workers employed by a single firm, it highlights features of the production system which are crucial in influencing attitudes and behaviour within the work setting.