Organizational Effects of Managerial Turnover in Kibbutz Production Branches

Abstract

The phenomenon of institutionalized general turnover and internal rotation of managerial personnel and its effects upon the conduct of the organizations involved is examined with data from production branches of Israeli kibbutzim. Arguments for and against the effectiveness of such a norm are presented. Four specific hypotheses are formulated. About 60 productive organizations were involved: 33 farm branches and 27 industrial plants. Data were collected by way of questionnaires to all workers at each organization and by way of documents and interviews with informants. The major findings are the following: The potential for managerial positions is larger than needed for a given time; in the branches studied the median time in office was about 2-3 years. Organizations that practice rotation are not less (and maybe more) effective than those that do not practice rotation. This is because their workers are more involved, knowledgable, and creative than those in the latter. Length of time in office sometimes appeared to have adverse effects for the functioning of organizations..

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

BRIDGES, E. M. , DOYLE, D. J. , & MAHAN, D. J. Effects of hierarchical differentiation on group productivity . Administrative Science Quarterly, 1968, 13(2), 305-320 .

COHEN, E. A Study of the work sphere in the kibbutz Artzi movement. Minhal Hadracha , 1965 (in Hebrew).

DARIN, H. The other society. London: Victor Golanez , 1962.

EDEN, D. , & LEVIATAN, U. Farm and factory in the kibbutz-A study in agrico-industrial psychology . Journal of Applied Psychology, 1974, 59(4), 596-602 .

GRUSKY, O. Succession and organizational innovation: Some experimental findings. Mimeo, Dept. of Sociology, UCLA , 1970.

GRUSKY, O. Succession with an ally . Administrative Science Quarterly, 1969, 14(2), 155-171 .

HAKIBBUTZ HAARTZI. Takanot hakibbutz (kibbutz regulations), no date (in Hebrew).

INDIK, B. P. Some effects of organization size on members' attitudes and behavior . Human Relations, 1963, 16, 369-384 .

KATZ, D. , & KAHN, R. The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley , 1966.

10.

KIMBLE, G. A. Hilgard and Marquis conditioning and learning (2nd ed.). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts , 1961.

11.

LEVIATAN, U. Status structure in social systems as a causal variable to individual mental health and performance, and to the systems' performance and effectiveness. Mimeographed paper, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan , 1969.

12.

LEVIATAN, U. Status in human organization as a determinant of mental health and performance. Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 1970.

13.

LEVIATAN, U. Turnover of office holders in kibbutz production branches. Center for Social Research on the Kibbutz , 1975 (in Hebrew).

14.

LEVIATAN, U. The process of industrialization in the Israeli kibbutzim. In J. Nash , et al. (Eds.), Popular participation in the social change. The Hague: Mouton , 1976, pp. 521-547.

15.

LIKERT, R. The human organization. New York: McGraw-Hill , 1967.

16.

LIPSET, S. M. The political process in trade unions: A theoretical statement. In M. Berger et al. (Eds.), Freedom and control in modern society. New York: Van Nostrand , 1954, chapt. 4, 82-124.

17.

MELMAN, S. Managerial vs. cooperative decision making in Israel . Studies in Comparative International Development, 1971, 6(3), 17-32 .

18.

ROSNER, M. Ideology and organisation-The case of kibbutz industrialisation . Paper read at the International conference on social change and organisational development, Dubrovnik, February 1977.

19.

ROSNER, M. , & ABEND, A. Factors that affect willingness to take on social offices . Hedim, 1968, 88 (in Hebrew).

20.

ROSNER, M. , BEN-DAVID, Y. , AVNAT, A. , COHEN, N. , & LEVIATAN, U. The second generation-Between continuity and change. Sifriat Poalim , 1978 (in Hebrew).

21.

STRODTBECK, F. L. , JAMES, R. M. , & HAWKINS, C. Social studies in jury deliberations . American Sociological Review, 1957, 22, 713-719 .

22.

TANNENBAUM, A. Control in organisation. New York: McGraw-Hill , 1968.

23.

TANNENBAUM, A. , KAVCIC, B. , ROSNER, M. , VIANELLO, M. , & WEISER, G. Hierarchy in organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass , 1974.

24.

TROW, D. B. Executive succession in small companies . Administrative Science Quarterly, 1961, 6(2), 222-239 .