Please consider the following two questions 1) How do you account for the high productivity of the cage workers prior to the move and the low productivity after the move? 2) If we could turn back the clock would you handle the cage change differently? If so, how?

For some time prior to 1952 , the controller's department of the com- When the workers in the cage inquired about the removal of the filing . pany had not been able to meet its own standards of efficlent servico . Wabinets from along the steel mesh fencing, they found that Mr. Burlke to clients. Company offlcials felt the primary cause to be spatial Vari- . had insisted that these cabinets be rearranged so his view into the ous divisions of the controller's department were scattered over the entire 22-story company building. Communication between them tequired phone calls, messengers, or personal visits, all costing, time. quiredphonecalls,messengers,orpersonalvisits,allcosting,time.Thespatialseparationhadnotseemedveryimportantwhenthecomn.panysbusinessvolumewassmallerpriortoWorldWarIr.Butbrusi-toallunnecessarytalk.Attemptsbyfemaleclerkstotalktomessengerden,conversinginthenewcage,he"requested"MissDunntoputastop nesshadgrowntremendousiysincethen,andspatialseparationap-pearedincreasinglyineffielent.toallunnecessarytalk.Attomptsbyfemaleclerkstotalktomessenger using the most efficient resources ayailable. Assistants were kept busy . their sizack trays through the work area of the rest of their section, planning positions for filies and desks in the new location. Desks, files, chaiss, and even wastebaskets werenumbered prior to bringing thls hitherto unique custom to the attention of workers out- side the case. The latter promptly recognized the desirability of after- the move and relocated according to a master chart checked on the themove.andrelocatedaccordingtoamasterchartcheckedonthespotbytheassistant.Employeeswerebriefedastowheretheniewloentionwasandwhichelevatorstheyshouldtaketoreachit.Thenoonsnacksandbeganagitation.forthesameprivilege.Thisannoyedthesectionheid,whoforbadeworkersintheoagetocontinuethiscustom. company successfully transparted the paraphernalia of the voucherof the agency andit division. The mesh into the work area of the rest was now coimmon practice in the section.. reduced in size. An entre bank of filin cababinets had to had also been Although Miss Dunn never outwardly expressed anything butcomin the old Iocation to be taken over by the unit morits to be left behind _. pllanoe and approval of superior directives, she exhibited definite zage was aranged so that there was no longer a row of methen fint of signs of anxiety. All the cage workers reacted against Burke's incabinets lined up inside the steel mesh obstrer a.row of motal filing . oreased domination. When he imposed his decisions upon the cage. The eage workers sneered at him and rldiculed him behind his bac Workers who formerly had obeyed company policy as a matter , course began to find reasons for loafing and obstructing work in tr new cage. One of the changes that took place in the behavior of tz workers had to do with their game of rubberband sniping. All lne' Burke would disapprove of this game. It became highly clandestin and franght with drngers. Yet, shooting nubber bands increased. Newly andived checks were put out of sight as soon as possible, file or not. Workers hid unfiled checks, generally stuffing them into des drawers or unused flle drawers. Since boxes were forbidden, ther were fewer unused file drawers than there had been in the old cage So the day's work was sometimes undone when several clerks hastil: shoved vouchers and checks indiscriminately into the samie filt drawer at the end of the day. Before a worker in the cage filed incoming checks, she measurec with ber ruler the thickness in inches of each bundle.she filed. At the end of each day she totaled her input and reported it to Miss Dunn. AII incoming checks wore measured upon arrival. Thus, Miss Dunn had a rough estimate of urdt intake compared with file input. Theoretically, she was able to tell at any time how much unfled material she had on hand and how well the unit was keeping up with its task. Despite this running "check," when the annual inventory of "unfiled" checks on hand in the cage was taken at the beginning of the calendar year 1953, a serionsiy large backlog of unfiled checks was found. To the surprise and dismay of Miss Dunn, the inventory showed the umit to be far behind schedule, fling much more slowly than before the relocation of the cage