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The outstanding feature of the social pattern with which the pre-mechanized equilibrium was associated is its emphasis on small group organisation at the coal face. [Indeed], under these conditions there is no possibility of continuous supervision, in the factory sense, from any individual external to the primary work group.

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More quotes by Eric Trist

Socio-technical analysis is made at three levels - the primary work system; the whole organization; and macrosocial phenomena.

The evolution of socio-technical systems (1981)

Every time the cycle is stopped, some 200 tons of coal are lost. So close is the task interdependence that the system becomes vulnerable from its need for 100 percent performance at each step.

We know from experience that technology can be changed. We have learned in the quality-of-working-life enterprise not to accept the technological imperative.

Eric Trist cited in: Alternatives. Vol 8 (1980)

Socio-technical studies needed to be carried out at three broad levels - from micro to macro - all of which are interrelated

The evolution of socio-technical systems (1981)

The longwall method [can be] regarded as a technological system expressive of the prevailing outlook of mass-production engineering and as a social structure consisting of the occupational roles that have been institutionalized in its use.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Eric Trist (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.