Biography - Joan Woodward

Preface

This book presents chronologically the results of nearly ten years' empirical study of management organization in British industry .The story starts at the South East Essex College of Technology in 1953 At that time there was a growing awareness that our ability to make the most of the technological advances of recent years depended upon how far and how fast we could solve the social and economic problems that would inevitably result from these advances. But only a very small part of the resources of the universities was being expended in this field; even less was being done by the technical colleges. In an attempt to make good this deficiency, a small Human Relations Research Unit was set up at the College in September 1953 on the initiative of the Principal, Dr F. Heathcoat; the Joint Committee on Human Relations in Industry of the Depamnent of Sciendfic and Industrial Research and the Medical Research Council, agreeing to sponsor a research project in the management organization field and finance it for four years from Counterpart Funds derived from U.S. Economic Aid, under the Conditional Aid Scheme. The project formed part of this Committee's wider programme aimed at speeding up the development of the analytical social sciences in industry and commerce. It was felt that part of the resources available should go to the technical colleges, as owing to their close working relationship with local industry, adequate facilities for field research would readily be available to them. The research project carried out by theUnit took the form of a broad survey of the organizational strucnue of a hundred firms in the catchment area of the College, supplemented by some more detailed case studies. The main part of the field work of the original study was completed early in 1958, and after the findings had been discussed with representatives of the firms that had participated, a short account of the investigations was published by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (Joan Woodward (1958) Management and Technology, London, H.M.S.O. Problems and Progress in Industry 3).
The research had shown not only that the firms studied varied
considerably in their organizational structure, but also that similar administrative expedients could lead to wide variations in results. Firms in which organizational structure reflected an implicit acceptance of what has come to be known as classical management theory were not always the most successful from a commercial point ofview. This theory did not therefore appear to be adequate as a practical guide to those responsible for the organization of industry.
Many of the variations found in the organizational structure of the firms studied did, however, appear to be closely linked with differences in manufacturing techniques. Different technologies imposed different kinds of demands on individuals and organizations, and these demands had to be met through an appropriate structure. Commercially successful firms seemed to be those in which function and form were complementary.
These ideas have become so much a part of management thinking that it is now difficult to understand why the booklet created so much controversy at the time it was published. The reason for this was the conclusions reached were interpreted by some of the reviewers as undermining completely the principles and concepts of classical management theory, and by teachers of management subjects as an attack on management education.
The discussions held with participating firms illustrated the fact that in the social science field, the feeding back of research results often marks not so much the completion of a project as the beginning of a new phase in it. The reaction to the research findings and, in particular, the extent to which their implications were accepted and absorbed into the thought processes of those concerned with organizational problems was interesting in itself and enabled the research workers to reach a deeper understanding of the situation and to identify the areas in which further and more intensive work was needed.
Circumstances made it difficult to continue with the research at the South East Essex College of Technology: there was no reluctance on the part of the College but there were difficulties in obtaining adequate staff and resources, the original team ·having disintegrated by 1958. At about this time, however, industrial sociology was introduced into the syllabus of the post-graduate courses offered by the Production Engineering and Management Studies Section, of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, under the direction of Professor S. Eilon. The research material was therefore taken there and worked on for a further period. As a corollary to the teaching it was also possible to follow up some of the ideas that had emerged from the earlier research and to carry on the work on a more limited scale.This book not only contains a fuller report than has yet been published of the original research with more supporting evidence for the conclusions reached bur also rakes the story further. Part III describes the additional work undertaken at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and discusses the theoretical implications of the research findings, in particular their relevance to the problem of how far and how fast we can proceed to a valid theory of management based on solid research .