WORK, PRODUCTIVITY, AND JOB SATISFACTION
AN EVALUATION OF POLICY-RELATED RESEARCH
(New York: Harcourt Brace, 1975)

by Daniel Yankelovich, Raymond A. Katzell and others

Top priorities of the Good Society include satisfaction with one's work and high productivity. Indications are growing that America's performance in these respects may be faltering.

The National Science Foundation sponsored a study by New York University to evaluate what is known about how work can be organized in order to achieve jointly the dual objectives of high productivity and job satisfaction. A high-level multi-disciplinary team was assembled, comprising an organizational psychologist (R.A. Katzell), a social and political analyst (D. Yankelovich), an industrial engineer (M. Fein), a labor economist (O.A. Ornati), and a sociologist who had long been a union official (A. Nash). Guided by an Advisory Committee consisting of distinguished representatives of management, labor and government, the team critically reviewed hundreds of studies bearing on the topic. Special attention was given to recent work of high technical quality.

This book reports the group's findings and reccommendations. It should deeply interest policy-makers in various walks of life, as well as scholars and professionals in related fields. For, although there are no simple solutions, a number of guidelines are identified which can be useful to those who wish to make progress on this vital front.