DOES MORALE DECLINE WITH INCREASED SIZE?

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27397, 9 July 1954, Page 10

DOES MORALE DECLINE WITH INCREASED SIZE?

THE IDEAL INDUSTRIAL UNIT

(By

"LY NCEUS"

of the “Economist”)

London, June 24.—The ideal size of the unit in industrial enterprise has long been a matter of keen debate. To some persons largeness ’ and efficiency appear to be synonymous. To them most of the explanation of high productivity in a country such as the United States is that the size of the market for which industry works allows all the advantages of mass production to be harnessed, conducing, therefore, to the organisation of industry in large units. There is a great deal to be said for this point of view, not least the fact that in these days of comparative dearth of risk capital, it is the large firm which can provide, out of its own resources, the considerable expenditure needed for research and development. ~~ This, however, is a subject on which generalisations are dangerous. On one angle of the problem, the relation between the size of an industrial unit and the morale of the workers, a great deal of light has been shed by a recent study made under the auspices of the Acton Society Trust. The results of this study have been published as a pamphlet under the heading, “Size and morale; a preliminary study of attendance and work in large and small units.”

Evidence From Coal Pits The investigators made statistical studies of absenteeism and of accident rates at various plants operated by a number of industrial groups and at pits operated by the National Coal Board. The results show that both absenteeism and accidents become progressively higher as the size of the factory or the pit increases. There are isolated exceptions to this trend but the broad generalisation is fully supported by the figures given in this study. One of the most striking* is that showing the rate of accidents in coal pits, a table showing that the accident rate at the largest pits is approximately three times that in the smallest pits, a constrast which gains in significance from the fact that the larger pits maintain far more elaborate precautions against accidents. ' This, however, is only one aspect of the problem which is discussed in'this report, the scope of which can be set by the question, “What, and how important, are the advantages of smallscale enterprise in the field of human relations, and can they be reproduced in the large-scale centralised organisation?” Roughly speaking, there are two types of human problems involved in the growth of the industrial unit. The first is the loss of status of local managers and supervisory staff under centralisation. The second is the problem of retaining the loyalty, morale, and willing participation of the man on the floor as the scale of organisation is increased. The report does not sugthat workers’ morale must of necessity be worse in large than in small units; but it certainly shows that, in the absence of compensating factors such as additional amenities, there is a tendency for workers’ morale, as defined by their wiilijigness to co-operate in production, to deteriorate as the units in which they increase in . size. “Blue Monday” Absentees One of the items of evidence of this deterioration is what the report- calls “Blue Monday” absenteeism. Consistent figures have been kept by the Ministry of Fuel and Power of Monday absenteeism in the coal industry. These show that there is an undeniable tendency for high “Blue Monday”, absenteeism in the large pits. This tendency for workers to go absent more frequently in large than in small concerns, although particularly noticeable in the coal industry, is also fairly marked in the industrial samples, and

is discernible, though to a less in a number of commercial um takings that were investigated aet ' These findings should not cause « prise. It has been said of aprin i. that “the best manure is the shaa of the boss.” The same is surely S* of industrial organisations where team spirit and discipline of the kers are likely to worsen in rat., f* the length in the line of succeS from the highest executives to th who exercise authority on the floor. snc s This is one important respect which industrial organisation i n tf United States has much to teach W* scale units in other Although the United States S tionably outbid any other country the size of their industrial units th have somehow succeeded in handi? the torch of responsibility down rh line of command and in achieviZ the answering echo of loyalty un line more successfully than has done elsewhere. The reasons for are diverse: a more natural and un „ hibited approach to human relatitmi between varying classes of America*? the fact that they all tend to S not merely the same language but fS same accent of that language, a greater willingness on the part of the ew' ployer or his representatives to U physically seen and active on the floe of the factory, and, last but not W the quiet confidence felt by almS every man on the shop floor that a will come when he himself will giving the orders. This feeling tlw every worker has the mauagite director’s baton in his knapsack is ner haps the most potent of the factor* that have made large-scale enterprise in the United States compatible witr a high degree of industrial, discipline and with a correspondingly high i n dustrial productivity. Much To Learn This is a field of industrial and • human relations in which it « clear that Britain has a venf great to learn. The scope of the Acton Society’s inquiry was restricted but its findings can hardly be dismissed as peculiar and awkward exceptions to the general rule. The main studies made in a group of coalmines within a single area provide undeniable evidence of the growth o' absenteeism and of other indication of the depreciation in industrial morale with the increase in thesis of' the pits. Within this group coalmines it was clearly shown that the accident rate in multi-seam pits significantly lower than that of single seam pits in the same area and with the same number of men on the booki This seems to suggest that there ii something about the size of th< underground community working to gether which makes men prone to accidents. Their morale it would appear, is partially determined by the size of the underground group and partially by the size of the whole unit The same indications are given b absenteeism statistics in other coal*, fields, which show that the absentee rate is significantly higher in the single-seam pit than in those employing the same total of men but. working more than one seam. The findings of this report undoubtedly open up fascinating nsy-cho-logical problems to the solunbn which more effort should be devote! for there can be no denying that moe economic forces, other than those relating to the problem of labour relations and discipline, will for manj years to pushing towards ths greater integration of industry inu larger and larger units. Unia workers’ morale can be adjusted to that development of industry, this integration will fail to produce mow than a fraction of the economic tensfits which the community has the rijd to expect.