E-Book Content
CHANGING THE STRUCTURE
AND FUNCTIONING
OF AN ORGANIZATION
Report of a Field Experiment
STANLEY Ef SEASHORE
DAVID G. BOWERS
MONOGRAPH NO. 33
SURVEY RESEARCH CENTER
INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN - ANN ARBOR
Generated on 2013-05-29 06:22 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015015291647 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google
1963
fecial Wofk
Library
The Institute for Social Research was established
for the objective study of man and his society. The
two main divisions of the Institute are the Survey Re-
search Center, concerned with the use of survey meth-
ods in advancing social science, and the Research Cen-
ter for Group Dynamics, engaged in the development
of a basic science of behavior in groups. The main
topics of study include economic behavior, political be-
havior, youth and family life, organizational behavior
and organizational change, mental health in industry,
group effectiveness, and public attitudes and behavior
in relation to public issues.
Inquiries about the Institute may be addressed to
the Director of the Institute. A list of Institute publi-
cations since its founding in 1946 may be obtained on
request.
Copyright 0 1963
The University of Michigan
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-62981
Second printing, 1969
Third printing, 1970
Generated on 2013-05-29 06:22 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015015291647 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google
Fourth printing, 1971
PREFACE
The study reported here is an attempt to apply experimental
methods to the study of human behavior in a large, complex, for-
mal organization. It represents the belief that a sound body of
theory and related empirical knowledge must be derived from sev-
eral different but related kinds of scientific endeavor—insightful
observations, systematic and objective measurements, tentative
generalizing and theory building, and also experimentation. The
function of experimentation is, in the social sciences, primarily
to explore the dynamic and causal relationships implied by the
theory.
There have been very few attempts to apply the canons of
experimental method to the study of formal organizations. Ex-
periments with large social systems involve special problems of
experimental control, measurement, purposeful change induction,
and the like. Accordingly, the value of early experiments is like-
ly to lie as much, and perhaps more, in the exploration of prac-
tical problems in experimental method as in the particular topical
or theoretical content embodied in the experiment. For this rea-
son our account of this experiment provides in considerable de-
tail the stages of development of the experimental plan and the
problems of method that were encountered.
While the firm and the members of it must remain anony-
mous, the reader will appreciate as we do the courage, gener-
osity, and thoughtful interest in the social sciences that motivated
these men to lend their resources and to risk their personal
careers in a venture that held promise but little certainty of
success. The firm provided most of the financial support for the
study. Support for the costs of analysis of the field data and for
the preparation of this report and