Abstract

Within the past few years, at least one plant has moved forward in a direction that, explicitly or not, is based on the modern assumption often advocated by such human relations authorities as Douglas McGregor in his classic theory. The assumption is that all persons, even those at the lowest wage levels, have the capacity to become psychologically involved in their work activities in a cooperative way and can become self-motivated and self-controlled within the organizational setting of a productive industrial corporation. The plant that has pioneered in this direction is the subject of this study. The plant moving toward the modern assumption is referred to here as the Sigma Corp. Three years ago a first breakthrough took place there, the application of behavioral science concepts of team learning in such a way as to form a link between individual learning and total organization development. It demonstrated the usefulness of human relations research and training in industry and pioneered a new approach, Grid Organization Development, to management development and more broadly to organization development.