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Developing a Feedback System for Work Units: A Field Experiment in Structural Change

Graduate School of Business, Columbia University.

Cortlandt Cammann

Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan.

Philip H. Mirvis

School of Management, Boston University and Center for Applied Behavioral Science.

This study examines the effects of introducing an ongoing feedback system into 10 branches of a Midwestern bank. The feedback system was designed to facilitate collaborative control and problem solving in the branches and was hypothesized to raise the level of participation in the branches and increase their effectiveness.

The effects of the new feedback system were evaluated by observing its use and by comparing questionnaire and archival information from the experimental branches with similar data collected from 10 branches where the feedback system was not implemented.

The results of the study indicated that the new feedback system produced functional consequences in some of the work groups in the experimental branches, but not in others. It appeared that in some cases the consequences were due to an increase in participative control processes, while in others, they were due to an increase in directive management. It is concluded that the effects of different feedback system designs are probably contingent on contextual factors such as the problem-solving skills and orientations of organization members, the nature of the reward systems existing in the organization, and task and individual differences among work units.

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 16, No. 1, 41-62 (1980)
DOI: 10.1177/002188638001600105


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