Burton Davis started work last September as a mechanical Engineer in the Engine and Motor Division of the Blair Company, a large multiple-industry corporation. The division, with 400 employees, was the principal employer in Midland. Formed four years ago, the division designed an manufactured small gasoline combustion engines used in lawnmowers, motor scooters, snow throwers, portable saws, and power plants. Recently the division has begun to turn out small electric motors. Division sales were currently $6 million.
Davis, seven years out of Purdue, had previously worked as an automotive engineer for two major automobile manufacturers and had excellent references from both. His salary at Blair represented a substantial raise.
He found that the engineering offices were new, of modern design, and air-conditioned. Supporting personnel in drafting, machine shop, and laboratory were adequate, and excellent physical facilities were available. Fringe benefits were at or above the industry level. For instance, Davis was promised a two-week vacation before completing a full year of service. His moving expenses were paid in full, in addition to $500 for an earlier trip to locate suitable housing. His travel expenses also had been covered when he came to Midland to interview the division chief engineer, Charles Lyons, and the corporate executive personnel director.
Burton Davis was assigned to the design and development department. Four of the six other engineers had no work experience with other employers (which was also true of the chief engineer) and had been with the company from 2 to 13 years.
Davis was assigned a numbered space in the main parking lot and was given a decal for his car window. Only the first three rows in this lot were reserved by number. Employment was high at the time, and the only space available was one vacated by a draftsman who had just resigned.
Davis soon noticed that more than half of those who parked in the two parking areas adjacent to the engineering offices were people he would not have expected to have more favorable parking locations than the engineers. Talking with his fellow engineers, he found they also thought it strange and had been irritated about it for some time.
The following personnel parked in these areas where space was reserved by name: C. Lyons, B. Swensen, J. Schomer, G. Tully, L. Barmeier, W Wright, L. Stewart, S. Bonura, T. Michaels, V. Doran, and H. O'Brien. O'Brien was a disabled draftsman who used crutches- all agreed he deserved this location. Most engineers also agreed that Barmeier should park there; although his title was chief draftsman, he functioned almost as an assistant chief engineer and had been with the company for 20 years.
The engineering group felt strongly that Wright, Stewart, Bonura, Michaels, and Doran should not have parking privileges in a more desirable area than their own. Wright, assistant chief draftsman, supervised three drafting checkers and was seen constantly at Barmeier's elbow. The engineers called them "the Bobbsey twins." Stewart supervised some 20 draftsmen. In the engineers' view, his job consisted mainly of handing out timecards and paychecks. Draftsmen were allocated among the engineers and rarely changed assignments. Stewart usually asked the engineers to fill out job-rating sheets for the draftsmen, since he had no basis for appraising their performance. Bonura supervised several office clericals. Michaels of the machine shop and Doran of the engine shop were called "supervisors", but the engineering group felt that foremen was a more accurate term.
Arnold Jensen (eight years with the company) and Paul Cooper (two years with Blair and two with Ellington Electronics) told Davis they were glad to find someone else concerned about this situation. Other engineers agreed but were reluctant to make an issue of it. One of them told Davis he might be considered a "rabble-rouser" if he talked too much about it.
From what Davis could determine, everyone had parked in the main lot until a few years back. Then two sections of grass were removed to make the small parking areas.
Since there wasn't room to include Lyons, Swensen, Schomer, Tully, Barmeier, and all the engineers, Lyons said that, rather than draw a line among them, he would not have any of the engineers park there. Instead, all "direct" supervisors were given reserved slots, which just filled the space in the new area. Some engineers felt that Barmeier may have influenced this decision. Technically the engineers were not "direct" supervisors, although they might have as many as 10 people (draftsmen, typists, and so on) working under their control at one time.
Davis knew that every company had irritations with which one learned to live. However, as the weather grew worse, he walked through the unpaved gravel lot (which developed many holes in winter), plodded along the street (there was no sidewalk), and still halfway from the entrance, watched others drive in, park near the engineering offices, and enter before he reached the door.
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During this period. Burton Davis typed the following memo and circulated it informally among individuals in the division:
Subject Fitness Program
To: 'Supervisory' personnel
Going along with the present Washington administration's emphasis on hiking as a means of improving the fitness of the American people, it is suggested that those Blair employees now parking near the building exchange parking places with the engine and motor section engineers. The engineers are in splendid shape from their long hikes and feel that it is only fair to share this conditioning. After a suitable "build-up" period, a rotation system will be worked out to ensure the retention of all the fitness benefits.
The Personnel Department
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Other things began to disturb him about his position. He found that Barmeier and Wright, without his approval, changed drawings he had released from engineering.
There were three blank boxes on each engineering drawing. The draftsman would initial the "drawn by" space; the checker, the "checked by"; and the engineer, the "approved by." Lyons usually also initialed the last box, which provided room for two sets of initials. A few months after Davis had started work, Wright started erasing the engineer's initials from the "approved" box, entered his own, and told the engineers to initial after the checker's in the middle box. Jensen and Davis immediately told Wright that he could put his own initials after the checker's since he was supposed to be the checker's supervisor and they were the engineers in charge of the project. Davis told Wright, "If you feel otherwise about it, let's go to Lyons right now." Wright immediately agreed to initial after the checker.
Sometime after this incident, a sign reading "Authorized Personnel Only" appeared on the door to the blueprint records storage room where Bonura and the clerks worked. Barmeier told the engineering group that the purpose of this was to avoid disturbing the overworked print girls and that the sign applied to all draftsmen and engineers. Although the engineers protested, Barmeier refused to change his stand. Lyons came by during the argument and moved the group into the conference room. The engineers explained that they often needed information from a tracing; a quick glance was enough before returning it to the file. Under the new system, they would have to order a print and wait to get the information. Lyons agreed with the engineers. Davis, Jensen, and Cooper were particularly pleased. Jensen said later, "At last we won something around here."
It gradually became apparent to Davis that Lyons planned most of the engineering for his engineers. When assigning a new project, he would suggest the handling of it in such detail that all chance of creative or original work was eliminated. He frequently went out in the drafting room and told layout draftsmen how he wanted things done. Sometimes he even failed to bring the responsible engineer in on the discussion.
No engineering meetings were held. The only regular meeting was a "production" meeting for which the division manager and his plant manager came to Lyons' office. Lyons was the only engineer in the meetings, although he often stepped out to get a drawing or to get a question answered from a design or developmental engineer whose project was under discussion at the time. On the rare occasions when an engineer was called into the meeting, it was without any advance warning, so he was frequently unable to furnish the desired information on the spot. Barmeier, Wright, and Bonura sat in on all meetings. Since these were the only regular conferences, discussion inevitably went beyond production problems and dealt with new products and plans as well. The sales manager and the corporate director of engineering attended some of the meetings. To find out what was going on, the engineers relied on the grapevine or were forced to ask Banneier, Wright, or Bonura. They rarely talked with Lyons except when he was giving them ideas on how he thought they should do their jobs.
Dissatisfaction grew among the engineers, although several still felt there was nothing to be gained by "stirring things up." Davis felt that if Lyons realized the extent of the developing morale problem, he would try to do something about it.
One evening he had an opportunity to talk to Lyons alone. He made it clear that he thought the situation was becoming critical. He told Lyons what he thought were the main points: the generally low status of the engineers and the feeling they had that they were not given enough responsibility. Davis pointed out that the parking situation was one of the main symbols of the engineers' status, since it was a visible method of ranking. Lyons seemed uncomfortable throughout the discussion but said that he would think about it. Davis told Lyons that he was speaking only for himself but was sure his feelings were shared by most of the others. On leaving, Davis gave Lyons a reprint of an article on morale and suggested it might be of value.'
As months passed, no perceptible changes were made. George Dunlop was hired to supervise the engineers with the title of "chief, design and development" and with the design and development engineers and the designers reporting to him. They had formerly reported directly to Lyons. (Dunlop parked in the engineering lot; Tully was moved to the rear with Graham, - actually a more desirable spot, only 10 feet from a door.) Before Dunlop arrived, Lyons held a meeting with all salaried personnel to explain the decision to bring in a man from outside. He said that he thought the position could have been filled from within the company but that Edward King, the corporate director of engineering, thought that a man with considerable experience was needed. Davis considered it interesting that Lyons was only 34.
Dunlop was 48 years old and had worked as an executive engineer for National Motors, for Burling Aircraft, and for Duval Manufacturing. Lyons mentioned that people might wonder why a man with his background would come here. He explained that Dunlop liked small towns and enjoyed this type of work and that money was not that important to him. Davis commented later to Jensen that "executive engineer" at National Motors meant a big job and that Dunlop must have had a real setback somewhere along the way. The engineers considered it significant that Dunlop was placed in charge of seven engineers with the draftsmen and technicians still reporting to others. Moreover, Barmeier was still next to Lyons with no intermediary. They also noted that Dunlop had not been given the title of assistant chief engineer.
Several engineers with long experience with the firm believed they should have been candidates for the job. Other engineers thought Dunlop might become a useful go-between for them. They saw that Barmeier took care of his people and Tully took care of his. Perhaps the engineers now had someone to put in a few good words for them. Dunlop seemed, at first, to be a much better administrator than Lyons. At least, the engineers felt he "talked a good game." They began to tell him about things they felt needed improvement or correction. But after two months it became apparent that Dunlop had not recommended any changes to Lyons. It appeared to Davis and others that he was loathe to tell Lyons anything that might be disturbing. The engineers felt that he was "running scared."
Davis suggested to Jensen and Cooper that talking to Dunlop was not unlike a session with a psychiatrist. You talked about your problems and felt better even though nothing really changed. Whenever anyone returned from a talk with Dunlop, a colleague would ask, "Did you have a nice couch session?"
As the small group talked about their problems, the situation became almost unbearable to Davis. There was considerable talk of other jobs, and occasionally one of the men would have an interview with another firm. Finally, Davis, Jensen, and Cooper decided to approach Lyons in a group. They had decided that they would all leave anyway unless changes were made. This "group action" was distasteful to them, but they felt that it was the only way to get Lyons to realize he had a real problem to face. There seemed to be little to lose.
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Following are some of the comments made by the engineers and Lyons as they talked in the chief engineer's office one evening after work:
Engineer: We feel a little silly talking about this, but since it does bother us and affects our morale, we feel you should know.
Engineer: The parking position ranks everyone, whether or not you believe it does.
Lyons: Where you park doesn't have anything to do with the way I rank you.
Engineer: We feel that as highly paid college graduates who actually do the creative work we should rank above "assistant chief draftsmen" and "foremen."
Engineer: Specifically, we feel that we should rank ahead of Wright, Stewart, Bonura, Doran, and Michaels.
Lyons: Do you feel you are better than those people?
Engineer: In terms of working for this company, yes. We would certainly be harder to replace. In any case, ranking is inevitable; we would like to think that you agree with us on where we rank.
Lyons: You know that you make much more money than those people, don't you?
Engineer: Yes, which is another reason for keeping the other symbols of rank in the same order.
Engineer: Salary is not a problem. We do not feel overpaid or underpaid in our present jobs.
Engineer: Whether or not you feel this is a problem, the fact that we feel it is a problem makes it a problem, by definition.
Engineer: The fact that parking ranks us in status actually affects our job efficiency as it relates to others. We have more trouble "getting things done" if we don't have the status to back it up.
Engineer: Saying that status symbols are unimportant doesn't make them go away. We live with status symbols all the time; unless they are distorted from the way most people expect to see them, they go unnoticed. Only when the symbol system gets out of line does it become a problem. This means that to have a smoothly functioning organization, an administrator has to consider status symbols and make every attempt to allocate them as his subordinates expect him to.
Engineer: Doran and Michaels are foremen, no matter what fancy names they are called. Stewart is the drafting supervisor and should rank under us, but Barmeier and Wright are doing engineer work. If you want to rank them above us, that is your decision, but their titles should be changed. A chief draftsman and his assistant should never rank above any engineer. The situation is similar to the army, where a master sergeant may have many years of experience and be valuable, but he does not outrank the greenest second lieutenant.
Engineer: We note that you have the closest space to the door in the lots near engineering, and the division manager has the space closest to the door in the administration lot. Isn't it logical that the number two ranking people have the next spaces, and so on down the line? That's the way almost everyone looks at it.
Engineer: We don't care where we actually park. The question is who parks where. If everyone had the same long walk, there would be no problem.
Engineer: Locating our parking spaces more conve-niently without changing the relative status of the spaces will be no solution at all.
Lyons: But where can I find more parking space?
Engineer: We think there are a number of areas that could be used, but some effort would be required. There is unused space in front of the plant, or space could be made available by moving some of the stored materials from the area east of engineering. Even if you can't find space for improved parking for everyone, engineers should park in that lot. Not necessarily the three of us, but engineers.
Engineer: The fact that you don't or can't trust us with more responsibility affects our morale and job interest also.
Lyons: But I do give as much responsibility as possible.
Engineer: But you act as if you don't really trust us.
Lyons: It's not that I don't trust you; it's just that I want to see the job done right.
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As the talk ended, Lyons appeared to be disturbed and concerned. He said that he would think about what had been said and would see if there was anything that he could do.
Nevertheless, the three engineers were sure that Lyons had not really understood them. In spite of their emphasis on "not where, but who," they sensed that the chief engineer believed that all they wanted was better, closer parking places. They felt he didn't understand their desire for more responsibility, either; he seemed to think they had all the responsibility they had a right to expect. They agreed that his comment on "doing the job right" demonstrated how little effect they had had.
They predicted that any solution Lyons might devise would be unsatisfactory. They wondered if they should take any other steps or just wait and hope that Lyons had more understanding than they suspected. They realized that if the solution was unsatisfactory it was the end of the road. They could hardly start the process all over again.