The Role of the Foreman in Modern Industry: II. Foreman Identification with Management, Work Group Productivity, and Employee Attitude Toward the Foreman 1

SummaryThe first article in this series analyzed the changing role of foremen in modern industry and reported the development of a measure of management identification using an indirect method of attitude measurement. The current article describes the relationships found between foreman identification with management, work group productivity, and employee attitude toward the foreman.After the indirect measure of foremen's tendencies to identify with management had been developed, it was submitted to first line operating foremen in 28 manufacturing plants in the Midwest. Several management people from each of the plants rated the foreman work groups in their respective plants on the basis of how well they were doing their present job. Groups of foremen from each plant were thereby identified as being leaders of relatively high‐producing or of relatively low‐producing work groups. In 19 of the 28 plants a short questionnaire designed to reflect attitude toward foreman was administered to the employees working under these selected foremen.Statistical analyses were undertaken to investigate the relationships between the major variables: management identification scores of foremen, productivity ratings of foremen's work groups, and employees’attitude toward foremen scores. Results and implications are discussed.