Strategic Considerations in Assembly-Line Selection

See Garson Barbara , “Bloop…Ca-Chong…Ca-Chong…Fwap, The Heartbeat of the Assembly Line,” Ms. Magazine (March 1974), pp. 72–83; Terkel Studs , Working (New York: Pantheon Books, 1972), pp. 187–194.

See “The Blue Collar Trap,” NBC White Paper, April 1972.

See Rueho B. , “Work Structuring, Part II,” I.E. (No. 2 1974), pp. 52–56.

The author has identified a behavioral pattern called the “September Syndrome.” This phenomenon affects graduate students in sociology and young reporters who feel compelled to work for a summer on an assembly line and then report to readers of the Wall Street Journal or Newsweek that line work is horrible. (See Weston M. , “What It's Like to Work on the Assembly Line,” Newsweek (14 September 1970).

Walker C. R. Guest R. H. , “The Man on the Assembly Line,” Harvard Business Review (May-June 1952), pp. 71–83.

Kretch T. Crutchfield R. J. , Theory of Social Psychology (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948), pp. 539–541.

Merton R. K. , “The Machine, the Worker and the Engineer,” Science (February 1947), pp. 77–84.

Wyatt S. Marriott R. , “A Study of Some Attitudes to Factory Work,” Occupational Psychology (March 1951), pp. 181–191.

Drucker P. F. , The New Society (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950), pp. 181–191.

Blauner R. , Alienation and Freedom (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964), p. 122.

Murrell K. H. F. , “Laboratory Studies of Paced Work,” International Journal of Production Research (March 1963), pp. 169–179.

Davis L. E. , “Pacing Effects on Manned Production Lines,” International Journal of Production Research (March 1966), pp. 171–184.

Conrad R. , “The Rate of Paced Man-Machine Systems,” Journal of the Institution of Production Engineers (October 1954), pp. 52–58.

Turner A. N. Miclette A. , “Sources of Satisfaction in Repetitive Work,” Occupational Psychology (July 1962), pp. 215–231.

Conant E. H. Kilbridge M. D. , “An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Job Enlargement,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review (March 1965), pp. 377–398.

Buxey G. M. Slack N. D. Wild R. , “Production Flow Line System Design—a Review,” AIIE Transactions (March 1973), pp. 37–48.

Ibid.

Lawler E. E. , “For a More Effective Organization—Match the Job to the Men,” 'Organizational Dynamics (Summer 1974), pp. 19–29.

Wild R. , Mass Production Management (Lincoln: John Wesley & Sons, 1972), pp. 22–23.

Lawler , op. cit., p. 23.

Although about thirty different techniques for generalized assembly-line balancing have been developed over the past twenty years, a study by the author found that only three were being used by five of ninety-five companies engaged in forced-paced assembly operations. (See Chase R. B. , “A Survey of Paced Lines,” Industrial Engineering (February 1974), pp. 14–18.).