ABSTRACT
By any standards this represen ts a very considerable achievement providing a real possibility of cumulative fmdings based on the sort of large-scale long-term research effort which has been all too rare in the social sciences. That it has occurred at all is a tribute to the vision, leadership, persistence and entrepreneurial and administrative skills of those primarily responsible, especially Derek Pugh. Indeed notable features of this programme of research, especially but not only in the early years, were the enthusiasm of the leading researchers, the conscious and carefully fostered awareness of themselves as an innovatory team, and the active and highly effective propagation of their ideas and findings, all of which contributed to the programme's continuation and its growth to include international comparisons. It deserves attention, however, not solely or primarily on these quantitative grounds but because it represents a major attempt at a particular approach to the study ofwork organisations.
