Men, Management, and Mental Health

November 1958

W HEN the Menninger team started its study of Midland, we told you we would be back to report to you. Here we are. We haven't yet finished analyzing all of the information. We felt, however, that you would be interested in even a partial report now rather than waiting another year or so for the whole story.

The three members of the research team visited just about every Midland work location where there are five or more employees. There are more than 40 such places -- division and local offices, power plants, compressor stations, and warehouses. We talked to 874, or more than a third, of the approximately 1950 people who were in the company at that time. The interviews averaged an hour each.

We did some other things as well. We rode with you on crew trucks in hot weather and cold, on ordinary days and during emergencies such as tornado alerts and line failures. We sat in offices, plants, and warehouses to get an idea of what your daily routine involves. We sat in on many meetings, ranging from the Monday morning meetings of the top staff in Shaw to tailgate conferences. In short, we tried to learn about life at Midland by having you tell us about it and by seeing it for ourselves.

As we told you in the beginning, we wanted to learn how work and work experiences can help to keep well people well. What is there about work which can add to people's well-being and satisfaction in life? What is there about work which might have effects in the other direction? Here are some of the highlights of what you told us which start to answer these questions.

-187-