Carolina QuotesThis is a report of an actual industrial experiment designed to determine why workers resisted job changes and what could be done about the problem. The research arose out of the need to change industrial operations to meet competitive conditions and was instituted after earlier incentives and propaganda procedures had proved ineffectual.
John R. P. French Connected to the Carolinas
Source
Abstract, lead sentences
- work
- "Overcoming resistance to change." 1948
- year
- 1948
Cite this record
“This is a report of an actual industrial experiment designed…” John R. P. French. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-4B5CEF37BF. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/4b5cef37bf
More from John R. P. French
A majority of all grievances presented at Harwood have always stemmed from a change situation.
It has always been characteristic of American Industry to change products and methods of doing jobs as often as competitive conditions or engineering progress dictates. This makes frequent changes in an individual's work necessary. In addition, the markedly greater turnover and absenteeism of recent years result in unbalanced production lines which again makes for frequent shifting of individuals from one job to another. One of the most serious production problems faced at the Harwood Manufacturing Corporation has been the resistance of production workers to the necessary changes in methods and jobs. This resistance expressed itself in several ways, such as grievances about the piece rates that went with the new methods, high turnover, very low efficiency, restriction of output, and marked aggression against management. Despite these undesirable effects, it was necessary that changes in methods and jobs continue.
On the basis of the preliminary theory that resistance to change is a combination of an individual reaction to frustration with strong group-induced forces it seemed that the most appropríate methods for overcoming the resistance to change would be group methods