Case studies based on European Foundation guidelines : France.

The observation on the time factor is not directed at the duration of the research in itself (since any research by the Foundation requires a consider able length of time ), but refers to the impact, on the researchers' mandate, brought about by the fact that some of the experiments were obsolete both in the countries concerned and in the particular firms that had tried them out. [...] The 11 design of the building and its equipment incorporates the ideas of those in charge of the plant and of the two owning manufacturers on the possibility of achieving a working environment differing from that of the traditional assembly shop. [...] The management of the plant and its various departments therefore enjoyed considerable flexibility of action, which they would be unlikely to have had if the plant had been directly under the control of a manufacturer, The design of the second phase (machining and assembly of engine B) already incorporates some of the conclusions arrived at by the Management on the basis of experience with the ope [...] The role of the Personnel Department was also to be preponderant in the planning of the organizational arrangements adopted for production of engine B; this was to be essential for 14 the purpose of getting the workers concerned to accept the arrangements made. [...] The organizational system used has to our knowledge never been called into question by the Management; the implementation one after another of the three phases of organization of the workshops, and in particular the establishment of workshop C on a truly original basis, shows that the promoters' assessment of the working of the workshopsbuilt during the first two phases was favourable, there being