Work patterns in research organisations : a case study of some social aspects of scientific knowledge development : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University

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Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author.

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OF SOME SOC IAL ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT

A thesis presented in partial

ful filment o f the requirements fo r the d eg ree of Doc to r o f Philoso phy at

Massey _�niversi ty

Richard Lubomir Hes

1980

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ABSTRACT

Thi s thesis inv olved an investigation o f some soc ial aspe c t s o f sc ientific know�edge dev el o pment . In particular , it focused on the

" wo rk pa tterns" of problem so lvers and the " effe c ts" research o rganisations hav e on them . The pro po sed theorie s were tested in one government research o rganisatio n .

The " wo rk pat t e rns" of probl em solvers were d efined in t e rm s o f three stages of work (the Wo rk Programme Devel opment , the Idea Generation o f spec ific pro j ec ts , and the Problem Solv ing o f these spec ific proj ec ts) . It was hypo the s ised and sub stantiated , us ing the log- linear mod elling technique , tha t each stage o f wo rk i s assoc ia ted wi th a d istinc tiv e pattern o f commun icatio n , conc eptual ised in terms of s ix dimensions ( so urces o f info rmation , types of info rmat ion , circum stance s and mod es o f info rmation transfer , and the e ffec ts o f the info rmation) . It was shown that the Work Programme Development occurs in response to info rmation , passively rec eived , from ex te rnal sources during fo rmal circumstanc e s . Id eas fo r spec ific pro j ec ts are g enerated on the basis of sc ientific info rmation ac qui red from j ournals . In solving spec ific proj ec ts , problem so lvers ac tiv ely c onsul t internal so urc es , in informal circumstanc es .

The " effec ts" of o rganisations on the work patterns o f problem so lvers were consid ered by investigating the e ffec ts o f ( a) three o rganisational pro pe rties ( analyt i c , struc tural , and global ) on internal flows o f communication , and ( b) tho se env ironmental pro perties on ex te rnal pa tterns o f c ommunication which could hav e been inv estigated in a case

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study s i tua tio n . Hypo these s were d erived from the resourc e d epend enc e the o ry o f o rganisations whi c h was pro po sed by Pfe ffe r and Sal anc ik ( 1 978 ) .

The investigation of the e ffe c ts o f the research o rganisation on the internal flows o f communication used locally opt imal tests and showed that all three pro pe rties o f o rganisations influence the fo rmation o f these c ommunications . Inte rnal communications occurred mainly wi thin struc tural and global constraints , and among peo pl e who had simil ar attribut e s ( analyt i c pro pe rties) . Some ev id enc e was found tha t c l o se physi c al proximity , which had a s trong infl uence on internal communic ation , could be overc ome by colleague ne two rks , which fo rmed among peo pl e wi th simil ar analyt ic pro perties ( autonomy , wo rk rel ated orienta tions and soc ially recognised wo rk c ompe tenc e) . Informal netwo rks al so played an impo rtant role in the fo rmat ion of coll eague ne tworks .

The inv estigations o f the e ffe c ts o f the research o rganisation on the pa tterns o f external communication ind icated tha t the vas t maj ority o f info rmation which was rec eived from ex ternal sourc e s c ame from o ther research o rganisations , and the amount d ec l ined wi th inc reasing distanc e from the foc al organisation . The very l imited c ommunication wi th the cl ient communi ties was no t geographically c onstrained .

Impl ications fo r research adm inistrators were d iscus s ed . Consistent wi th a t t i tude s o f the respond ents toward the roles of research adminis t rators , the find ings of this s tudy suggest that the most impo rtant rol e of research administrators should be in fac il ita ting communication , contac ts , and the provision of reso urc es .

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My greatest d eb t is to two groups o f peo pl e , physically a hund red mil es apart , wi thout whom thi s thesis would simply no t ex is t :

To Pro fe s s o r Graeme Stuart Fraser , Dr Christopher Wilke s , and o ther staff members o f Mas sey Universi ty fo r their guidance and fo rbearance wi th my many d emand s on their al ready heav ily commit ted tim e . Pro fe ssor Fraser ' s ac tion and advic e were e spec ially helpful in overcoming the many crises assoc iated wi th the preparation o f the thesis . Dr Wilke s ' and Pro fe s s o r Frase r ' s consc ientious wo rk o n my d raft s , which they carried out at all ho urs of the d ay and night , salvaged my hope s fo r the c ompletion o f the thesis in time availab l e to do it .

To Peter Daymond-King , r1arie Keir , and o ther staff members o f Head Office o f the DSIR , who se spiri tual and material suppo rt eased greatly my tasks . Mo reover , Pe ter Daymond-King ' s relentl essly minut e examinations o f all my drafts gave me c ontinuous s t imul i i to proc eed wi th the wo rk .

Al so , I wish to expr e ss my thanks to a number o f peo pl e who were asso c iated wi th the the sis at different times :

To Wil son Bai l ey , and Drs D . Boardman , C . Cro the r s , K . Hal l , J.

Johnston , and espec ially to Dr A . Levett fo r many ho urs o f s t imulating discussions during the time the proj ec t was born;

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To the Direc to r and staff o f the Division o f the DS IR who to lerated my presence in their wo rk-place fo r a year , and who se coope ration enabl ed me to learn about wo rk o f probl em so lvers and to a c quire the data

repo rted in this study;

To the Direc tor o f the Appl ied Mathematics Division o f the DS IR fo r his fo rbearance wi th my rather heavy use of computing resourc e s ;

To Messrs R. Brownrigg , B . Campb e l l and Dr S . White o f the AMD fo r the ir patienc e wi th me , when attempting to l earn about c omputers and computing ; and to G . Dickinson , Dr R. Dav ie s , J . Thompso n , and o ther statistic ians of AMD fo r the ir id eas concerning statistical analys e s . I am al so gra te ful to C . Nico lson and o ther AMD s ta ff members who all o wed me to use the ir equipment near the end of this pro j ec t when , consis tent wi th the Murphy' s l aws , things wen t wrong , and who kept swi tching the computers on during night s and weekend s .

The main repo rt was " typed" by the BURROUGHS 6700 computer o f the Vic to ria Universi ty o f Wel l ingto n . The computer was " direc ted " in thi s task by the wo rd pro c essing prog ram RUNOFF which the univ ersity obtained from the CUBE lib rary . The fil e o f text which the RUNOFF then fo rmated was prepa red and ed ited on the B6700 computer via CANDE , as well as the HP21 00 computer maintained by the AMD Division o f the DS IR , via ED. CAN, a BASIC text ed iting prog ram whi c h simulates the B6700 C ANDE edito r . The ED . CAN ed itor was wri tten and sev eral times mod ifi ed by the staff of AMD. The use of this HP2 1 00 fac ility d id save some c omputer fund s .

As my handwri t ing is regard ed as illegib l e , the use o f the c omputers enabled me to submit end less d raft s , and at the same time , to keep

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fri end ly relations with the typists of the Head Offic e of the DSIR . I am nev ertheless grateful to these peopl e . They typed the first d ra ft and the b ib l iography .

Finall y , I wish to thank my family to whom I intend to re turn .

My debt to so many people and machines does no t , o f course , d ischarge my res ponsib il ity fo r the presenta tion of the thesis , and the find ings and conc lus ions repo rted , which I expl ic itely acknowledge .

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LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 1 3

SUMMARY AND OUTLINE OF THE THES IS 1 4

NOTES 16

CHAPTER 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH ORGANISATION

STUDIED AND ITS ENVIRONMENT 1 8

COMPARATIVE FEATURES OF THE ORGANISATION 20

A brief history 22

Size 23

Ra te of growth 24

Ratio be tween sc ientists �nd sc ience technic ians 24

Age struc ture 24

Staff qual ifications 25

OTHER SOCIO-POLITICAL CHARACTERISTICS 25

Work related pas t expe rience 26

Central ity o f the respond ents in the four sys tems 27

Att i tudes toward the four sys t ems 28

Atti tud es toward team wo rk 31

OVERVIEW OF PROJECTS 38

Distribution of proj ec t stag e s 40

Proj ec t charac terist i c s in t e rms o f fac ilities used 40 Charac teris t i c s o f pro j ec ts in terms of communications 40

The process of pro j ec ts 43

SDm1ARY AND CONCLUS ION 45

NOTES 48

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CHAPTER 3 A THEORY OF WORK PATTERNS OF PROBLEM SOLVERS

IN RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS 50

I . WORK STAGES 5 1

II . STRUCTURE O F COMMUNICATION 57

1 ^• INTRODUCTION 58

2 . DEFINITION OF SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION 59 3 . STRUCTURE OF THE INFORMATION MATRIX 61 4. DIMENSIONS OF THE INFORMATION MATRIX ADO PTED IN

THIS STUDY 64

4 . 1 ^• So urces of info rmation 64

4 . 2 . Types o f information 65

4 . 3. Rec e ivers of info rmation 67 4 . 4 . Circumstanc es of info rmation transfer 58 4 . 5 . !-io d es of info rmation transfer 69 4 . 6 . Effe c ts of info rmat ion 69 I I I . RELATIONSHIPS BETlt/EEN STAGES OF 't/ORK AND DH1ENS IONS

OF CO!-iMUNICATION 70

Source s of info�ation and s t ages o f wo rk 70 Type s of info rmation and stages o f wo rk 75 Modes of info rmation and stages o f wo rk 77 Circumstanc es o f info rmation transfer and stag es

o f wo rk 79

Effec ts of information and stages o f wo rk 81 Occupat ional groups and communication 81

SUMMARY AND C ONC LUS ION 83

NOTES 86

CHAPTER 4 A THEORY OF THE EFFEC TS OF ORGANISATIONS ON ORAL

FLOWS OF COMMUNICATION 87

A THEORY OF ORGANISATIONS 88

Defini tions 92

APPLICATION OF THE THEORY TO RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS 96 PART A : EFFECTS OF RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS ON INTERNAL

ORAL COID1UNICATIONS 98

Struc tural and global pro pe rties 1 01

Analyt ic prope rties 1 02

PART B : EFFECTS OF RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS ON EXTERNAL

COMMUNICATIONS 1 04

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 1 08

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NOTES

CHAPTER 5 METHODOLOGY RESEARCH DES IGN

PART I : WORK PATTERNS OF PROBLEM SOLVERS OPERATIONALISATION OF VARIABLES

Sources o f information Type s of informat ion

Modes of information transfer

Circumstance s of info rmat ion transfe r Effec ts of information

Stages of wo rk Occupational groups

Other dim ensions of c ommunication

SELECTION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE INSTRUMENT Inst rument selec tion

Instrument construc tion DATA COLLECTION

Time- sampling

Adminis tration o f the que stionnaires VALIDATION OF THE INSTRill1ENT

Reliabil i ty

Stability of the que stionnaires

Kerl inger's coeffic ient of rel iability De pendability of the questionnaires Val id ity

METHODS USED IN INVESTIGATING HYPOTHESES Log- linear modell ing technique

Fitting of models to the data Examining each relationship Summary of the pro c edure adopt ed SUMrJIARY OF PART I

PART II : THE RESEARCH ORGANISATION , ITS ENVIRONMENT ,

1 1 0 1 1 3

1 1 4 1 1 5 1 1 5 1 1 6 1 1 7 1 1 7 1 1 8 1 1 8 1 1 8 1 1 9 1 1 9 1 20 1 20 1 22 1 23 1 23 1 25 1 26 1 26 1 26 1 28 1 29 1 30 1 32 1 33 1 34 1 35 1 37

AND THE WORK PATTERNS OF ITS EMPLOYEES 1 39 PART A : ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTS ON INTERNAL

COMMUNICATION 1 39

INTERNAL COMMUN ICATION 1 40

Ope rational isation 1 40

Non- triv ial communication paths 1 4 1

AUTONOMY 1 43

Operational isation 1 43

Selec tion and construc tion o f inst ruments 1 44

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Ind ic e s construc tion 1 45

Rel iabil ity and val id ity o f the instrument 1 46

WORK RELATED ORIENTATIONS 1 48

Selec tion and construc tion o f the instrument 1 49

Ind ices construc tion 1 52

Reliabil ity and val id ity o f the instrument 1 53 SOC IALLY REC OGN ISED WORK COMPETENCE 1 55

Ope rational isation 1 55

Selec tion and construc tion of instruments 1 56

FORMAL STRUCTURE 1 58

INFORMAL NETWORKS 1 59

PHYS ICAL ₍GEOGRAPHICAL₎ DISTANCE 1 59

COLLEAGUE NETWORKS 1 60

USE OF FAC ILITIES 1 62

Ind ic es cons t ruc tion 1 62

METHODS OF ANA LYS IS USED IN INVESTIGATING

HYPOTHESES IN CHAPTER 4 , PART A 1 64

The locally o pt imal test 1 66

PART B : EFFECTS OF RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS ON

EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION 1 68

PATTERNS OF EXTERNAL C OMMUNICATIONS 1 69

Selec tion , construc tion and val idation o f

instruments 1 69

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTINGENCY 1 69

PHYSICAL DISTANCES ₍EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS₎ 1 70 METHODS OF ANALYS IS USED IN INVESTIGATING

HYPOTHESES SHOWN IN CHAPTER 4 , PART B 1 71

DATA COLLECTION 1 71

Selec tion and construc tion o f the questionnaires 1 73 Administration o f the que stionnaires 1 73

SUMMARY OF PART B 1 74

NOTES 1 76

CHAPTER 6 WORK PATTERNS OF PROBLEM SOLVERS : FINDINGS 1 78 ITEM SKEWS - FREQUENC IES OF VARIABLES 1 81

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Sourc e s o f info rmation 1 81

Stages of wo rk 1 82

Type s of information 1 83

Mod es of information transfer 1 84

C ircumstanc es o f information transfer 1 84

Effec ts of info rmation 1 84

Occupa tional group s 1 85

Sec tion summary and conclus ion 1 86

STAGES OF WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS 1 86 SOURCES OF INFORMATION , STAGES OF WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL

�OUPS 1 �

Source s o f info rmation and stag es o f wo rk 1 92 Occupational groups and sourc es o f info rmation 1 94 Interac tion between the three variables 1 95

Section summary and conclus ion 1 97

TYPES OF INFORMATION , STAGES OF WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL

�OOPS 1 �

Type s of info rmation and stages o f wo rk 201

Discus sion 202

Type s of info rmation and occupational g roups 204 Interac tion between the three variables 205

Sec tion summary and conclus ion 206

MODES OF INFORMATION TRANSFER , STAGES OF WORK AND

OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS 207

Ivlodes of info rmation transfer and stag es o f wo rk 209 Mod es of informat ion transfer and occupa tional group s 21 0

Section summary and conclus ion 21 0

C IRCUMSTANCES OF INFORMATION TRANSFER , STAGES OF WORK

AND OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS 21 1

Circumstances of info rmation transfer and stages o f

wo rk 21 3

Circum stances of info rmation transfer o f wri tten

info rm ation 21 4

Section summary and conclus ion 2 1 4

EFFECTS OF INFORMATION , STAGES OF WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL

GROUPS 21 4

Effec ts of info rmation and stages of wo rk 21 6

Discussion 21 7

Sec tion summary and conclus ion 2 1 8

SID1MARY AND C ONC LUS ION 21 9

NOTES 225

CHAPTER 7 EFFECTS OF THE RESEARCH ORGANISATION ON ORAL

COMMUNICATION 227

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PART A : NE�NORKS OF INTERNAL ORAL C OMMUN ICATION AND

THE RESEARCH ORGANISATION 227

Associations between the d epend ent and ind epend ent

variabl e s 2 2 9

A brief summary 234

Assoc iations among the d ependent variables 235 Associations among the ind epend ent variables 237

Summary and conclus ion 241

PART B: EFFECTS OF THE RESEARCH ORGANISATION ON

EXTERNAL C OMMUNICATON 244

The env ironmental contingency o f the o rganisation 245 Assoc iation between exte rnal communication and

physical distanc e 250

SUMMARY AND CONC LUS ION 253

CHAPTER 8 WORK PATTERNS IN A RESEARCH ORGANISATION 25 6

WORK PATTERNS OF PROBLEM SOLVERS 259

The roles of communication in the work o f probl em

so lv ers 26 1

EFFECTS OF \YORK ORGANISATIONS ON THE WORK PATTERNS OF

THEIR EMPLOYEES 262

EFFECTS OF RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS ON THE WORK PROGRAMME

DEVELOPMENT STAGE 266

EFFECTS OF RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS ON THE IDEA GENERATION

STAGE 276

EFFECTS OF RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS ON THE PROBLEM SOLVING

STAGE 277

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 282 IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY FOR RESEARCH ADMIN ISTRATORS 294

APPENDIX A INFORMATION FLOW QUESTIONNAIRE 287

B LIST OF REFERENCES TO QUESTIONS 4-6 291 C LETTER ISSUED WITH I . F . Q . NO 1 0 2 93

D KRUSKALL-\vALLIS TEST OF SIGNIFICANCE 294

E KENDALL-TAU TESTS OF SIGNIFICANCE 296 F LETTER ISSUED WITH I . F . Q . NO 1 3 297

G QUESTIONNAIRE II 298

H QUESTIONNAIRE I I I 31 6

BIBLIOGRAPHY 32 1

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LIST OF DIAGRAMS 1 . I

1 . II 2 . I 2 . II 2 . I I I 2 . IV

2 . V 2 . VI 2 . V I I

A resource depend ence pers pe c t ive o f o rganisations 1 2 Organisation of the wri tten repo rt 1 5 Respo ndents ' prefe rences fo r work t eam o rganisation 2 9 Respo nd ents ' prefe rences fo r work t eam c ompo sition 30 Respond ents ' atti tude s toward peopl e occupying the po sitions o f Direc t o r , section lead ers and tho se

without adminis trativ e duties 32

Mean sc o res of " organisational " cond i tions ranked on the importanc e scale in comparison with the item ' s mean sc ore on the satisfaction scal e 37 Dist ribut ion of proj e c t stages 41

Mean use of fac il ities 42

Pro j ec t stages : propo rtions o f changed and unchanged

proj ect s tages 44

3 - I The s t ruc ture of id eas in the work o f prob l em

3 . II 3 . I I I 3 . IV 3 . V

5 . I 5 . II 5 . I I I 5 . IV 5 . V 5 . VI

? . I 7 . II

7. III

? . IV

so lvers 54

Relationships between sources of info rmat ion and

stages o f wo rk 74

Types of info rmation and stag e s of work 77 Modes of info rmation transfer and stages o f work 79 Circumstances o f info rmation transfer and stages o f

work 81

Dist ribution of c ommunication entries pe r samples

o f commun ication behaviour 1 27

Test o f the Information Flow Questionnaire valid i ty 1 3 1

Respondents ' autonomy sc ores 1 47

Respond ents ' orientations sc ores 1 54

Formal struc ture of the organisation inv e s t igated 1 59 Phys ical location of respond ents on the

o rganisational premises 1 6 1

Significant asso ciations among ind epend ent

variables 240

Distances of external organisations in terms o f

c ommunication t i e s wi th the organisation stud ied 249 Location of A & B research o rganisations in

New Zealand 2 5 1

Geographical distance s and external communic ations 252

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LIST OF TABLES

1 . 1 Summary o f hypo these s c onc erning wo rk patterns o f

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problem so lvers 1 0

2 . 1 Charac teristics o f the o rgan isation stud ied

compared with o ther research o rganisations 21 2 . 2 Respond ents ' ranks on impo rtance and sa tisfac tion

scales 35

2 . 3 I tems wi th high d ifferential between mean sc o re s on

importance and sa tisfac tion scales 36

2 . 4 Summary of pro j ec ts 39

3 . 1 Summary o f research on c ommunic ation among probl em

solvers 62

3 . 2 Sourc es of info rmation 65

3 . 3 Type s o f information 66

3 . 4 Circumstanc e s o f info rmation transfe r 68 4 . 1 Important variables in the study o f internal

o ral communication netwo rks 1 00

5 . 1 Rel iab il ity o f Info rmation Flow Quest ionnaires 1 29 5 . 2 Frequenc ies o f communic ating different types o f

information , and the d eterm ination o f " non- trivial"

paths 1 42

5 . 3 Autonomy scale and its evalua tion 1 45 5 . 4 Orientations toward the sc ientific community , the

o rganisation , the c l ient c ommunities and the

pol itical sys tem 1 50

5 . 5 Rel iab il ity o f o rientations scales 1 55 5 . 6 Publication rec ord o f all respond ents in

pro fessional l iterature 1 57

5 . 7 Pub l ication rec ord o f all respondents in

farm and ex tension j ournal s 1 57

5 . 8 Use of fac il ities 1 63

6 . 1 Ass o c iation between Occupational groups and

Stages of wo rk 1 87

6 . 2 C ro ss- tabulation o f Occ upational groups , Stages o f wo rk and Sourc e s o f info rmat ion 190 6 . 3 The resul ts o f fi tting all K-fac to r marginal s 1 90 6 . 4 Model s fi tted to explain the jata in Table 6 . 1 1 91 6 . 5 Assoc iation between Stage s o f wo rk and Sourc e s o f

info rmation 1 93

6 . 6 Occupational g roups and So urces o f info rmation 1 94 6 . 7 Interac tion between Occ upational groups , Stages o f

wo rk and Sourc e s o f info rmat ion 1 96 6 . 8 Cross- tabulation o f Typ e s o f info rmation , Stage s of

wo rk and Occ upa tional g roups 200

6 . 9 Assoc iation between Stag es o f wo rk and Type s o f 6 . 1 0 info r:na tion

Association b etween Type s of information and Occupa tional groups

201 204

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6 . 1 1 Interac tion b e tween Type s o f info rmatio n , Stages

of wo rk and Occ upational g ro ups 205 6 . 1 2 Cross- tabulation between Occ upational g roups ,

Stages of wo rk and Modes o f info rmation transfer 208 6 . 1 3 Ass o c iation between Modes o f information transfer

and Stages of wo rk 209

6 . 1 4 Ass o c iation between Mod es o f info rmation transfer

and Stages of wo rk 2 1 0

6 . 1 5 Cro ss- tabulation between Occ upa tional g roups ,

6 . 1 6 6 . 1 7 6 . 1 8 6 . 1 9 6 . 20

Stages of wo rk and Circumstances o f o ral info rmation

transfer 2 1 2

Ass o c iation b etween Circum stanc es o f o ral info rmation transfer and Stages o f wo rk

Cross- tabulation between Occ upational g roups , o f wo rk and Effec ts o f info rmation

Assoc ia tion between Effe c ts o f info rmation and Stages of wo rk

Summary o f find ings

Summary o f the d irec tions of the find ings Ass o c iations b etween o rganisational pro pe rti e s and communication netwo rks

2 1 3 Stages

2 1 5 2 1 6 220 22 1

7 . 2 Summary o f resul ts showing signific ant assoc iations 230 between o rganisational pro pe rties and internal

communication netwo rks 234

7 . 3 Ass o c ia tions among communication netwo rks 236 7 . 4 Assoc iation among ind epend ent variables 239 7 . 5 Frequenc ies o f communications wi th c lass e s o f

ex te rnal organisations 246

7 . 6 Pro po rtions o f external c ommunication per types

of info rmation 247