Independent work

The second of these groups – It is also known as pre-industrial group. It consists of an entirely different class of employees whatever be their outward similarity. It consists of large number of people from families with rural background who have got entry into the organization. In many ways these employees need paternalism. They need to be looked after. They are not at home with modern technologies and equipments. On the other hand they are frightened by it, lost in it. But at the same time, they need to be integrated into the organization for their own sake as well as for that of the organization where they work. Otherwise they have a disturbing, an unsettled, and a compulsive influence. Again, what is needed is to inculcate in these employees the habit of responsibility and the taste of achievement.
A very dramatic demonstration which can be given regarding the need of this pre-industrial group and of its willingness to assume responsibility is the experience of a large textile mill. The mill has a large number of employees who came from rural background. For years, management had depended on fear.
Production and performance at the mill, however, had been going down steadily. After a certain period the mill was near collapse. Quality had become so bad that the output was almost unsalable. Machines were antiquated and had not been maintained for years. A new general manager brought in who has submitted to the owners a comprehensive plan to rebuild the plant, buy new machinery, train supervision, and so on. But the needed capital could not be raised. Yet the mill could not be closed for political and legal reasons. The new general manager thereupon decided to do the only thing left which was (i) to lay out work as productively as could be done on the obsolete machines, (ii) to set specific standards for department and section, (iii) to supply the employees in each department and section with feedback on their own performance, and (iv) to impose on them responsibility for the design of jobs, the arrangement of tools and machines, and the structure of work groups. Productivity, within a year or so, almost tripled and in some areas, it almost quadrupled. Where production up to minimum quality standards had been the exception, it became the rule. And for the first time in many years, it became possible to introduce new materials, new patterns, and new techniques.