An Experiment in Autonomous Working in an American Underground Coal Mine

TLDR

The project is a joint union‑management effort and part of a national demonstration of quality‑of‑work‑life initiatives in an eastern U.S. underground coal mine. The study reports on an action‑research project started in 1973 aimed at improving safety, job satisfaction, and performance in an underground coal mine. The project began with a one‑year sheltered experiment where volunteers operated a mine section as autonomous groups, later expanding responsibilities to support work, and is now progressing to a full‑mine operational transformation, with the paper detailing encountered complexities.

Abstract

This paper presents a work-in-progress report on an action research project which began in the summer of 1973 at an underground coal mine in the eastern United States. Its aim has been to improve safety and increase job satisfaction while at the same time raising the level of performance. It is a joint undertaking of union and management and is part of a national program of demonstration quality of work-life projects. The first phase consisted of a sheltered experiment of one year's duration in which volunteers manned a selected mine section as autonomous groups. The responsibilities of the section were extended to include support work. The experiment was sufficiently successful that a decision was made to extend this method of working to the mine as a whole. This constitutes the second phase of the project which is still under way. The paper gives a detailed account of the complexities and difficulties so far encountered in proceeding from a sheltered experiment in a part system to the operational transformation of a whole production system.