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Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
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Organizational Linkages

Understanding the Productivity Paradox

Douglas H. Harris, Editor

Panel on Organizational Linkages

Committee on Human Factors

Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

National Research Council

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.
1994

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard to appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

This work relates to Department of the Army grant MDA 903-89-K-0074 issued by the Defense Supply Service Washington. The views, opinions, and findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy, or decision, unless so designated by other official documentation.

The United States government has at least a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license throughout the world for government purposes to publish, translate, reproduce, deliver, perform, dispose of, and to authorize others so as to do, all or any portion of this work.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Organizational linkages : understanding the productivity paradox / Douglas H. Harris, editor ; Panel on Organizational Linkages, Committee on Human Factors, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council.

p. cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-309-04934-2

1. Industrial productivity. 2. Industrial productivity—United States. 3. Organizational effectiveness. I. Harris, Douglas H., 1930– . II. National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Human Factors. III. National Research Council (U.S.). Panel on Organizational Linkages.

HC79.I52074 1994

338.5—dc20 94-29475

CIP

Copyright 1994 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

PANEL ON ORGANIZATIONAL LINKAGES

DOUGLAS H. HARRIS (Chair),

Anacapa Sciences, Inc., Charlottesville, Va.

PAUL A. ATTEWELL,

Department of Sociology, City University of New York

JOHN P. CAMPBELL,

Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota

JEROME I. ELKIND,

Lexia Institute, Palo Alto, Calif.

PAUL S. GOODMAN,

Center for Management of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University

SARA B. KIESLER,

Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

ROBERT D. PRITCHARD,

Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University

WILLIAM A. RUCH,

Department of Decision and Information Systems, Arizona State University

BENJAMIN SCHNEIDER,

Department of Psychology, University of Maryland

D. SCOTT SINK,

Virginia Productivity Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

GEORGE L. SMITH, JR.,

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Ohio State University

DAVID A. WHETTEN,

Department of Business Administration, University of Illinois

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

COMMITTEE ON HUMAN FACTORS

RAYMOND S. NICKERSON (Chair),

Bolt, Beranek, and Newman Laboratories (retired)

PAUL A. ATTEWELL,

Department of Sociology, City University of New York

PAUL S. GOODMAN,

Center for Management of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University

JOHN D. GOULD,

IBM Corporation (retired)

ROBERT L. HELMREICH,

NASA/UT Aerospace Crew Research Project, Austin, Tex.

WILLIAM C. HOWELL, APA Science Directorate,

Washington, D.C.

ROBERTA L. KLATZKY,

Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University

TOM BARTON LEAMON,

Liberty Mutual Research Center, Hopkinton, Mass.

HERSCHEL W. LEIBOWITZ,

Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University

ANN MAJCHRZAK,

Institute of Safety and System Management, University of Southern California

WILLIAM B. ROUSE,

Search Technology, Inc., Norcross, Ga.

LAWRENCE W. STARK,

School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley

J. FRANK YATES,

Department of Psychology, University of Michigan

LAURENCE R. YOUNG,

Man Vehicle Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

ALEXANDRA K. WIGDOR, Director,

Division on Education, Labor, and Human Performance

BEVERLY M. HUEY, Senior Staff Officer

EVELYN E. SIMEON, Senior Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

Contents

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

Foreword

The Committee on Human Factors was established in October 1980 by the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council. The committee is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Air Force Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, the Army Advanced Systems Research Office, the Army Human Engineering Laboratory, the Army Natick RD&E Center, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Naval Training Systems Center, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The principal objectives of the committee are to provide new perspectives on theoretical and methodological issues, to identify basic research needed to expand and strengthen the scientific basis of human factors, and to attract scientists inside and outside the field for interactive communication and performance of needed research.

Human factors issues arise in every domain in which humans interact with the products of a technological society. To perform its role effectively, the committee draws on experts from a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines. Members of the committee include specialists in such fields as psychology, engineering, biomechanics, physiology, medicine, cognitive sciences, machine intelligence, computer sciences, sociology, education, and human factors engineering. Other disciplines are represented in the working groups, workshops, and symposia organized by the committee. Each of these disciplines contributes to the basic data, theory, and methods required to improve the scientific basis of human factors.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. Robert M. White are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

Preface

Since its inception in 1980, the Committee on Human Factors of the National Research Council has issued more than a dozen reports regarding the state of knowledge and research needs on topics deemed important by the committee and its sponsors. Some projects undertaken by the committee have been suggested and funded directly by its sponsors: others have been pursued on the committee's initiative. This report is the product of a committee-initiated project.

The initial prospectus for a study on productivity was prepared in 1986 by committee members Jerome I. Elkind, Douglas H. Harris, Thomas K. Landauer, Thomas B. Sheridan, and Stanley Deutsch, the committee study director at that time. The ultimate focus of the study, organizational linkages, resulted from a working paper and study plan I prepared in 1988 and a planning meeting conducted in February 1989. Meeting participants were Jerome I. Elkind, Miriam M. Graddick, Oscar Grusky, Joel Kramer, Grant E. Secrist, George L. Smith, Jr., Barry Staw, and myself (chair). Committee staff attending were Harold P. Van Cott and Beverly M. Huey.

By November 1989, the study plan and study panel had been approved by the National Research Council, and the initial steps in the study had been undertaken. Over the next three years the panel addressed organizational linkage issues during three working meetings, through the development and discussion of numerous concept papers, and finally through the preparation, critique, and revision of the chapters of this report. The principal work of the final meeting, held in

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
×

February 1992, resulted in the conclusions of the panel that are presented in Chapter 12. Paul S. Goodman and D. Scott Sink contributed extensively to the preparation of Chapters 1 and 12.

Jean Shirhall, through skillful editing of the entire manuscript, contributed substantially to its readability. The presentation of the volume owes much to her suggestions for consistency and clarity.

Appreciation is extended to Harold P. Van Cott, committee study director, for his participation in the working sessions of the panel; Beverly M. Huey, panel study director, for her coordination of working-session and publication logistics; and Evelyn E. Simeon and Maria M. Kneas for their administrative and secretarial support.

DOUGLAS H. HARRIS, CHAIR

PANEL ON ORGANIZATIONAL LINKAGES

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
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Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1994. Organizational Linkages: Understanding the Productivity Paradox. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2135.
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By one analysis, a 12 percent annual increase in data processing budgets for U.S. corporations has yielded annual productivity gains of less than 2 percent. Why? This timely book provides some insights by exploring the linkages among individual, group, and organizational productivity.

The authors examine how to translate workers' productivity increases into gains for the entire organization, and discuss why huge investments in automation and other innovations have failed to boost productivity.

Leading experts explore how processes such as problem solving prompt changes in productivity and how inertia and other characteristics of organizations stall productivity. The book examines problems in productivity measurement and presents solutions.

Also examined in this useful book are linkage issues in the fields of software engineering and computer-aided design and why organizational downsizing has not resulted in commensurate productivity gains.

Important theoretical and practical implications contribute to this volume's usefulness to business and technology managers, human resources specialists, policymakers, and researchers.

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