According to a popular model of managerial behavior, the current state of automation in a manufacturing firm influences managers’ perceptions of problems of automation. To investigate this proposition, researchers at Concordia University (Montreal) surveyed managers at firms with a high level of automation and at firms with a low level of automation (IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Aug. 1990). Each manager was asked to give his or her perception of the problems of automation at the firm. Responses were measured on a 5-point scale (1: No problem, . . . , 5: Major problem). Summary statistics for the two groups of managers, provided in the table, were used to test the hypothesis of no difference in the mean perceptions of automation problems between managers of highly automated and less automated manufacturing firms.

a. Conduct the test for the researchers, assuming that the perception variances for the two groups of managers are equal. Use α = .01.
b. Conduct the test for the researchers, if it is known that the perception variances differ for managers at lowlevel and high-level firms.

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Sample Size Mean Standard Deviation Low Level 17 3.274 .762 High Level 8 3.280 .721