COMMUNICATION IN ft CHANGING CORPORATE CULTURE: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC
CASE STUDY Of AN EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTION PLAN <ESOP) CORPORATION
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ELIZABETH L. FOGARTY

Thesis Sp.Com. 1995 F655C
c. 2
Fogarty, Elizabeth L.
Communication in a
changing corporate
1995.
COMMUNICATION IN A CHANGING CORPORATE CULTURE:
An Ethnographic Case Study of An
Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) Corporation
by
Elizabeth L. Fogarty

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Masters of Arts in Communication Degree

Approved by:

s/f/fs
Date

Chairperson, Thesis Committee
Edintoro University of Pennsylvania

uLM

a

r

Committee Member

Date

Committee Member

Date

§1995

A j*J> $<S4
c-l

i.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my gratitude to the employees of
Erie Forge and Steel Corporation for their openness and
cooperation with this study.

They extended courtesy and

patience in assisting with this study.

The members of this

organization allowed me to experience "life as seen through
their eyes".

I learned more than I can ever express with

mere paper and words.

My hope is that this paper will help

them in some manner as they attempt to create their on
going business success.
Thanks

also to Trissa

reading and suggestion.

and Wess

for their careful

Special thanks to Dr. Golden for

her constant ear and helpful advise without which I might
have

given up.

Special

thanks

go

to James

Sabol

for

allowing his drawings to be included within this work.
With them the reader*s understanding of Erie Forge and
Steel is greatly enhanced.
There is no way to express my thanks to Rick for his
suggestions and advice which led to my initial choosing of
this topic.

Without his patient and insightful support

this study would not exist.

ii.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS

iv

v

TABLE OF GRAPHS

Chapter I
A.

Introduction

1

B.

Communication and Corporate Cultural Effects

2

C.

Organizational Culture

5

Chapter II-Employee Ownership

16

A. Background

16

B. Past Research Parameters

18

C.

19

Historical Overview
1.

The ESOP Movement

21

2.

Employee Buy Outs of Failing Firms

25

3.

Unsuccessful Attempts

4.

Successful ESOPs

28

5.

The Changing Corporate Structure

30

26

a.

Labor-Management Roles

32

b.

Labor-Management Cooperation

33

c.

ESOP Culture

40

iii.
6.
D.

Status of ESOP Cultural Research

Summary and Conclusions

Chapter Ill-Study Focus

42
45

47

A.

Ethnography as a Method

47

B.

Study Methodologies

52

Chapter IV-Observations and Analyses

59
59

A.

The Study Focus

B.

Background of the Company

61

C-

Description

64

D.

Steel Manufacturing

77

E. Survey Results
1.

Communication Patterns

82

2.

Feelings of Ownership

91

3.

Need For ESOP Education

95

4.

Feelings of Participation

101

Chapter V.
A.

82

Summary and Conclusions

109
109

References

118

Appendix

131

iv.

TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS
How a Leveraged ESOP works

23

Drawing of Original Company

60

Aerial view of Company

63

Pen & Ink of front gates by James E. Sabol

66

Navy drive shaft

71

Pouring a heat by James E. Sabol

73

Teeming of Ingots by James E. Sabol

80

Vacuum Degassing

85

V.

TABLE OF CHARTS AND GRAPHS
Mohan's stable and unstable cultures

11

Information sources chart

86

Information sources graph

89

Feelings of ownership chart

93

Feelings of ownership graph

94

Need for ESOP education chart

98

Need for ESOP education graph

99

Stockholder voting results

102

Feelings of participation chart

105

Feelings of participation graph

106

1
CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
The goal of this research project was to discover the
developing culture as it is revealed in the communication
aspects

of

the

employees

in

a

wholly

employee

owned

corporation.
The critical focus of the study was to discover if
this corporation differs from a traditional corporation in
its attempts at meeting the communication needs of the
employees who are now the stock owners,

as well as the

producers of the goods for the corporation.

It might be

natural to assume that differences may exist in the way
that

communication

organization.

takes

place

in

this

type

of

This study focused on whether or not this is

true, and in what manner differences were detectable.
The study employed both quantitative and qualitative
methods

to

perceived

determine

feelings

participation

in

of
the

ownership,
functioning

degree

of

of

the

organization, communication channels and need for education
among

employees

structure.

about

this

new type

of

organizational

2
COMMUNICATION AND CORPORATE CULTURAL EFFECTS
Depending upon which source one chooses to use, culture
has

been

customs/

variously

described

manners/ values,

as:

"the...

distinctive

religious behavior and other

social and intellectual aspects of a society (Goldenson,
1984, p.196), "patterns of behavior within a species whose
transmission is totally dependent on non-genetic processes
(Harre & Lambedds, 1983, p.136)",

"that part of the total

repertoire of human action (and its products), which is
socially as opposed to genetically transmitted (Mitchell,
1979, p.45)", Taylor (1871) describes:
Culture

or

ethnographic
includes
custom,

civilization,
sense,

is

knowledge,
and

any

taken

that

its

wide

complex

whole

which

art,

morals,

law,

beliefs,

other

in

capabilities

and

habits

acquired by man as a member of society (In SeymourSmith (1986), p. 65).
In any case, it seems clear that culture is something
which humans
contains

arrive at in groups,

shared

meaning

for

its

and this
group

"culture"

members.

In

describing culture, there are three fundamental aspects to
be considered; these being, cultural behavior—what people
do,

cultural

knowledge—what

people

know and cultural

artifacts—what people make and use (Spradley,

1980. P-

16). Seemingly, it should be an easy task to discover this

3
culture,

but much of the culture of any group is tacit

knowledge which
knowledge

is

is

not easily detected.

easily

communicated,

The

but

the

explicit
cultural

intersubjective is less easily realized and expressed.

The

understanding necessary to interpret the communication of
this knowledge is referred to as idexicality.
refers

to

the

amount

of

shared

"Idexicality

background

knowledge

necessary to understand a message.*' (Agar, 1980, p.5)
By example, a group of people may view an object (an
automobile).

To the non-driver it signifies a mode of
The

transportation on four wheels, largely made of metal.

owner may perceive this same object as a machine requiring
specialized care, to a race car driver it is a finely tuned
machine

created

injectors,

of

turbo

valves,

chargers,

achieving great speeds.

pistons,
etc.

which

cylinders,
is

fuel

capable

of

Meaning is a situational specific

process which seems to be endlessly negotiated by a social
systems members.

A conversation among these three people

would likely not have a great deal of idexicality.
Why is it that humans create culture?
fundamenta1ly,

are

humans

communal

First,

beings,

and

which

necessitates the utilization of some form of communication
(Radc1if fe-Brown,
cerebral

1961).

economies,

that

Secondly,
is,

they

humans

practice

attend

to

information and disregard other information.

some

This process

4
is being explored in the research on the process of first
and

second-order

belief

cultivation-analysis
Dearing,

formation

research

as

well

(Iyengar,

1988;

1988; Hawkins & Pingree, 1990;).

communicate
beliefs.

requires
People

shared

extract

meanings

the

the

Rogers

&

This need to

and

necessary

as

fundamental

data

from

the

presented information and subsequently store that data in
previously established belief categories.

All of the other

information deemed non-pertinent is disregarded (Hawkins &
Pingree: 1990).

This sharing of

fundamental meanings and

beliefs is what constitutes a culture.
aptly states the process

"

As Radcliffe-Brown

‘culture*.

.

. refers to a

process, and we can define it as the process by which a
person acquires,

from books or works of art, knowledge,

skill, ideas, beliefs, tastes, sentiments** (1961, p.4).

He

further summarizes that it is this process of culture and
cultural tradition that human social life differs from the
social life of other animal species.
that

Mohan (1994), states

"socialization is defined by many theorists as the

process by which people learn the fundamental parameters of
their culture." (p. 62)
Etzioni (1964) puts it another way:
Our society is an organizational society.

We are born

in organizations, educated by organizations, and most
of

us

spend

much

of

our

lives

working

for

5
organizations.

We spend much of our leisure time

paying, playing and praying in organizations.

Most of

us will die in an organization, and when the time
comes for burial, the largest organization of all-the
state-must grant official permission (p. 1).

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
According

to

"Organizations

are

Lofland

and

consciously

Lofland

formed

(1984):

collectives

with

formal goals that are pursued in a more or less articulated
fashion" (p.l).

They provide settings for regular meeting

and interactions, therefore; providing grounds for cultures
to develop.
So

too,

organizations

have

a

"taken

for

granted"

quality that reflects their own unique cultures, while at
the

same

time

reflecting

the

cultures

societies within which they exist.

of

the

broader

Rentch (1990), in her

discussion on climate and culture in organizations states
that

"shared

interpretations

and

understandings

of

organizational events are a component of most definitions
of culture" (p 669).

Organizations can be loosely defined

as groups of people who have a common goal and are working
together towards

the

accomplishment of

that goal,

An

organization provides regularly-convening settings in which
a culture may develop.

Corporations, by this definition,

6
are organizations, and the existence of corporate cultures
should be discernable.

As Smircich (1987) states:

"The emergence of this dominant system of meaning can
be

understood as

development

of

a

consequence

the

company,

of

the

the

historical

struggles

for

leadership within it, and the personal ideologies of
the current president" (p. 58).
"Secondary socialization"

(Van Maanen, 1988) is the

process through which a person learns the values, norms and
required behaviors for participation as an organizational
member.

Jablin (1982) uses the term "assimilation" and

Louis (1990) refers to "acculturation"

to describe this

same process.
Theories about organizations have always reflected the
manner

of

society’s
Early

formulated.
interchangeable
Weber’s

(1912)

thinking
views

parts

in

at

of

a

the

time

workers

large

they

saw

were

them

machine-like

as

system.

views were the major influence creating

organizational bureaucracies,

Under this factory system

managers insured success by organizing production systems
that kept machines busy and costs under control. People and
organizations

were

to

economic principles.

act

in accordance

with

rational

These classical organizational views

were supplanted by a neoclassical movement which viewed
workers

from a more

humanistic

perspective,

but

still

7
retained much of the classical traditions of organizational
theory.
Jaques's
factory.

is

(1952)
the

work,

earliest

The

changing

publication

culture in an organizational context.

culture

to

use

of

the

a

word

Jaques's definition

of the factory culture is:
. . . its customary and traditional way of thinking
and of doing things, which is shared to a greater or
lesser

degree

by

all

its

members,

and which

new

members must learn, and at least partially accept, in
order to be accepted into service in the firm. The
culture

of

the

factory

consists

of

the

means

or

techniques which lie at the disposal of the individual
for handling his relationships, on which he depends
for making his way among, and with, other members and
groups (p. 251).
From a functionalist perspective,
organizational
control

the

controlling

culture

is

organizational

a

management

behavior

communication practices

of
and

(Weber, 1912)
tool

its

that

can

members

by

thus

influence

organizational performance. The interpretivist perspective
(Burrell & Morgan, 1979, Putnam, 1983) of culture is the
process by which the culture is developed, enacted,

and

continually reconstructed into an organizational reality.
From

a

functionalist's

perspective,

managers

need

to

8
understand their corporate culture in order to be able to
exercise control over the destiny of the organization.
This control can be exercised in the form of layout/ or
standard operating procedures and
This

kind

of

control

decision premises.

works

by

restricting

what

decision makers consider as relevant/ the form of
logical reasoning that is deemed appropriate/ and the
kinds

of

solutions

that

are

seen

as

acceptable

(Wilkins: 1983/ p. 85.).
S.A. Melman is a researcher of government contractors
for the past 30 years and has studied Erie Forge and Steel
during its history as a government production facility. In
a personal communication (April/ 1993) he stated that "the
primary factors in capitalistic organizations have been the
fundamental

occupational

separation of

decision

making

(hierarchy of management) and production (workers)."
process

has

led

to

the

escalating

cost

This

factor

perpetuation of more hierarchy to control workers.
In another view. Deal and Kennedy (1982) state that:
. . . people are a company's greatest resource/
and the way to manage them is not directly by
computer

reports/

but

by

subtle

cues

of

a

culture.

A strong culture is a powerful lever

for guiding behavior; it helps employees do their
jobs a little better, especially in two ways:

of

9
A strong culture is a system of informal rules
that spells out how people are to behave most of
the time (and) a strong culture enables people to
feel better about what they do, so they are more
likely to work harder, (pp. 1-2)
Mohan (1993) suggests that it may be "erroneous to
assume that an organization has a single culture." (p. 25)
She suggests that it may be more fruitful to examine the
"incongruence"
researchers

within

with

It

organizations.

more

material

by

may

beginning

weaknesses within an organizational system.

provide
with

the

Gregory (1983)

presents a view of organizations as multiple, crosscutting,
cultural contexts,
stable,

changing over time as opposed to

homogeneous,

time-bound

Brown

entity.

a

and

McMillan (1991) state that the potential to produce culture
lies

within

employees

throughout

organizational hierarchy.
focus

all

levels

of

the

They advise researchers not to

solely on the managerial

"texts,"

but

also

to

analyze lower-level "sub-texts" to glean a more broadly
based,

efficient,

and

realistic

interpretation

of

an

organization's culture.
Like

the

individuals

of

whom

they

are

comprised,

corporate cultures go through a series of distinct stages.
Some scholars employ a lifetime metaphor of birth, early
growth, organizational midlife, and organizational maturity

10
to describe these stages

(Schein,

1985).

Still others,

describe these stages from the standpoint of organizational
focus (Cameron & Quinn, 1981, Dyer, 1985, Mintzberg, 1983,
Adizes, 1988, and Atkinson, 1990).

These focuses involve

internal and external forces and the organizations ability
to take risks and be
cyclical
dilemmas:

adjustments

flexible.
over

time

Tichy

(1980)

based on three

suggests
ongoing

the resolution of technical design problems,

political allocations of power and resources across the
ranks,

and the establishment of the optimum ideological

cultural mix (Mohan, 1993).
Mohan's description of cultural
cultural

contexts

unstable cultures.

which

are

stability suggests

exhibited

in

stable

and

Her work can be used as a basis of

analysis of cultural flux.

Although corporate cultures can

not be viewed as frozen and are in constant flux, Mohan
gives a table of characteristics by which to gauge stable
and unstable cultural contexts (see Mohan's TABLE 7.1, next
page).

11

TABLE 7.1
Cultural Characteristics of Stable and Unstable Contexts
Stable Contexts Tend to Exhibit
Clarity on core organizational vision and mission
Positive tone regarding present developments
Tendency to view tradition with moderation
Unification of ranks against a perceived collective challenge
Leader who actively promotes positive aspects of organization and its people
Leader who encourages collective action
Leader who articulates a universal theme in print and oral communications
Unstable Contexts Tend to Exhibit • • •
Disagreement and/or confusion regarding core vision and mission
Marked increase in activity levels
Major restructuring across ranks
High uncertainty levels within subcultures
Clinging to "traditions" that thwart innovation
Perceived disparity among subcultures
Low morale at key organizational levels

From

Organizational

communication

and__cultural—vision.:.

Approaches for analysis by M. L. Mohan, 1993, P- 135.
Copyright 1993

by State University of New York Press.

Reprinted by permission.

12
There is debate whether or not a corporations culture
can/or

should

be

"managed".

Deetz

(1985)/

Adams

and

Ingersoll (1985)/ and Morgan (1986) question the ethics and
even

the

ability

of

managers

to

manipulate

strategic

cultural interventions which hope to have planned effects
on human beings.

In spite of this

debate,

advice to

managers is still popular in the business world.
If

it

is

possible

to

exercise

control

over

the

corporations culture, a manager must know what makes up a
company1s culture.

All western corporations contain the

elements of a business environment, values, heroes, rites
and

rituals,

environment

and

a

consists

cultural
of

The

network.

the

products,

business

competitors,

customers, technologies, government influences, and so on.
This environment is, of course, the single most important
influence in shaping the corporate culture.
environment in which a corporation exists

The type of
is

the most

important determinant of the type of culture that develops.
The corporate values consist of the basic concepts and
beliefs

of

the

organization.

Values

"success" messages of the company.
this" epic which directs behaviors.

spell

out

the

They are the "if you do
Corporate heroes are

those people who personify the culture’s values.
the role models for employees to follow.

They are

Rites and rituals

are the day-to-day programmed routines of company life.

In

13
their mundane forms we call them rites, but in extravagant
form they are rituals or ceremonies. The cultural network
is the primary (yet informal) means of communication in the
company.

It serves as the carrier of the corporate values

and heroic mythologies.

By understanding and working the

network effectively, the manager might get things done and
understand what is going on in the corporation.

Sometimes

these elements are fragmented and difficult to read from
the outside, but every business has a culture, however weak
it may be.
Naisbitt and Aburdene (1990) share the opinion that
the dominant principle of organization has shifted from
management of control to leadership which empowers people
to assist the organization in its adaptation to change.
This notion is

further explained by Burns

(1978)

and

Atkinson (1990) in their attempt to distinguish between
and

transformationa1

transactional

leadership.

Transformational leadership is characterized by terms like
"visionary", "inspirational", "intuitive" and "creative",
while

transactional

leadership

"concrete" and "tangible".

which

is

"practical",

If leaders do not distinguish

between these styles they may fall short of their desired
goal for the cultural change.
advise

that

more

than

Wilkins and Patterson (1985)
the

manifestations must be changes.

surface

artifactual

Change must occur at the

14
deeper assumption level.
change

must

include

Fitzgerald (1988) agrees that the
a

organizational dimension.

gradual

alteration

of

core

Leaders must employ different

cognitive frames during this process of cultural change.
Bolman and Deal's (1991) frames are useful in understanding
how

leaders

must

employ multifaceted

aspects.

Their

structural frame sees leaders as "social architects" who
analyze

and design

outcomes.

systems

that will

support

desired

The human resource leader acts as a "servant" or

"catalyst" providing employees support and empowerment.
The political leader must provide advocacy and coalition
building, while the symbolic leader plays the part of
"prophet and poet" in defining and articulating the vision
which will support the organization's mission.

The leader

who chooses to change culture must become proficient in
selecting

from

these

frames

to

fit

the

distinct

organizational context.
In planning and enacting corporate cultural change.
Mohan (1994) warns:
.
(sic)

. If change in the corporate culture are
promulgated

without

participation and consent,

organization-wide

then native subcultural

groups may tend toward greater fragmentation from any
unitary vision. . .

. Symbolic framing should begin

with a level of understanding of the values held by

15
the

specific

individuals

and

groups

across

the

organization, as well a firm grasp of market realities
and emerging trends.

One way for leaders to develop

this familiarity is to spend time with internal and
external

constituencies

in

a

nonauthoritative

atmosphere that fosters the free exchange of ideas,
providing a basis for a shared corporate vision.
the organization’s vision is not collective,
will

be

little

alignment

elements, (pp- 86-87)

with

unitary

If

there

cultural

16
CHAPTER II-EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
A rapidly growing new development in the field of
organizations
Plans

is the trend of Employee Stock Ownership

(ESOP's).

There

are

currently

10,000

ESOP

corporations with over 2,000,000 employees in the United
This

States.1

movement

is

creating

new

types

of

organizations which are wholly or partially owned by the
employees who work in the organization.

This movement has

changed organizations, and provided new areas for study
about the effects of these changes on corporate culture.

BACKGROUND
The Employee

Retirement

and Income

Securities Act

(ERISA) of 1974 created the specific statutory framework
for ESOPs

(Employee Stock Ownership Plans) and exempted

them from certain requirements that are applicable to other
plans

(such

as

pension or profit

This

sharing),

act

provided ESOPs with the unique authority to borrow money.
The subsequent legislation (e.g. Trade Act of 1974 and Tax
Reduction Act of 1975, etc.) refined the advantages of ESOP
ownership, making them even more attractive to management.2
By

allowing

significant

tax

exemptions,

the

Deficit

Reduction Act of 1984 added further incentives for both
owners and banks

to

allow employees

greater shares

ownership in profits from the fruits of their labors.

of
As

17
these laws became more appealing, the move to create ESOPs
exploded. By 1988 there were about 8,000 ESOP corporations
in existence (Rosen & Quarrey, 1988).

Some of these ESOPs

were created in an effort to save failing corporations and
thus

save

workers

jobs

who

for

bought

workers.
these

However,

failing

frequently,the

businesses

were

not

equipped to manage them. In most cases, they sought out
managers to manage the corporations.

The critical problem

seems

manage

to

be

that

corporations
research.

has

no

best

way

yet

been

supported

collected

by

worker-owned
the

existing

A national network, called the National Center

for Employee Ownership
Washington,

to

DC,

to

through

(NCEO),

help

by

surveys

of

has been established in
disseminating
ESOP

information

corporations.

The

Northeast Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State
University,

has

begun

some

pilot programs

designed to

assist in training employees of ESOP corporations (Logue,
Bell & Ivancic, 1991).

These programs, however, have been

directed mainly at non-managerial employee owners who sit
on boards of directors.

While the developers felt some

success was achieved by these early attempts at education,
they acknowledge the need for further education to be given
to all employee owners in ESOP firms.
It is clear that assessing the need for information
and

education

about

the

communication

that

employees

18
receive in these new corporate structures will be a vital
first step in creating their new corporate culture.
Some research questions that this paper addresses are:
How much do the employees understand about the functioning
of the corporation?

To what degree is it necessary to

educate about corporate finances and the functioning of the
ESOP structure?

Is there a relationship between the level

of understood information, and job satisfaction?

What is

the relationship between ownership and other areas such as
absenteeism and job performance?

Does employee ownership

necessarily create new cultural and communication patterns?
If so, do these new patterns require new decision making
structures?

Will

ownership

in

itself

create

a

more

democratic corporate structure?
The ESOP movement has only been under study for a
short period of time, and the exploration of past research
parameters

reveals

that many answers

still

need to be

formulated by future researchers.

PAST RESEARCH PARAMETERS
The research that has been conducted on existing ESOP
corporations falls into 1) historical accounts, 2) legal
and

government

policy

regulations,

3)

current-status

statistics, 4) labor-management roles, 5) labor-management
cooperation and its effects on company performance,

6)

19
attitudes of employees and management, and 7)communication
and corporate-cultural effects.
Early research centered on the areas of historical
accounts, legal matters and the status statistics of ESOP
corporations.

For the purpose of this paper, these points

will not be discussed (for detailed information on these
areas see Bell, 1988; Blasi,

1987, 1988; Blasi & Kruse,

1991; Klein, 1987; Stern, 1989.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The

first

factory organized by workers

with

each

person owning a single share and participating equally in
decision making was by shoemakers in Baltimore, MA, in 1794
(Curl,

1980).

The idea of employees owning a stake in

their corporations,

therefore,

American business scene.

is not a new one to the

As early as 1916, Sears, Roebuck

& Company initiated profit sharing among its employees and
is considered a bellwether for the concept (Blasi, 1992).
This trend is a reflection of the progression of worker
ownership from the cooperative movements of the late 19th
century through the profit sharing movement of the 1920*5
and into the industrial market stresses of the 1970*s and
1980's.

In the early history of labor and management,

skilled trade workers,
formed

the

Knights

of

seeing the benefits of uniting,
Labor

and

other

early

union

20
movements.

These movements

formed into the AFL-styled

business unions and producer co-ops that are factors in
creating

the

management.

adversarial

climate

of

workers

against

Most of organizational communication research

deals with the study of communication as it relates to the
interaction between these parties.
In

the

early

1920*s,

"profit

sharing"

and

the

"American Plan" became the paternalistic device to take
care of worker*s needs.

It was a combined plan of company

unions, pensions, and profit sharing.

Unfortunately the

Great Crash of 1929 buried many of these programs before
any research could be conducted on them.
After World War II, profit sharing and participatory
management were revived as "enlightened management" ideas.
At this time, the communist movement in the east was viewed
as a threat to democratic and capitalistic principles.
Giving workers ownership and power became unpopular ideas.
The spread of the McCarthy hearings and fear of being
labeled a "socialist" caused people to deny sentiments of
shared wealth and control.
ownership, Leo Kelso,

One leading advocate of worker

fought this trend.

His book, The

Capitalist Manifesto (1958), represented worker ownership
as the one way to defeat the socialist movement.
now known as the "Father of the ESOP" movement.

Kelso is

21
THE ESOP MOVEMENT
This movement got its biggest boost with the 1974
Trade

Act

legislation.

Devised

by

Louis

Kelso

and

sponsored by Senator Russell Long. The plan essentially
allows a company with a profit-sharing plan to borrow taxsheltered money.

Kelso firmly believed that the only way

to defeat the socialist movement of his time was to vest
employees with ownership and participation in corporations
(Kelso, 1958).

He created an employee-owned corporation as

early as the 1950’s.

His zeal was influential in obtaining

sponsorship by Senator Long,
influential

in

the

and together the two were

twelve-year

battle

to

establish

legislation favorable to the formation of these types of
The Employee Retirement Income Securities

corporations.
Act

(ERISA)

further gave preference to companies using

ESOPs for Commerce Department loans and loan guarantees in
communities

adversely

affected

by

foreign

trade

(Blasi,1987).

This act spurred corporations to create ESOP

plans.
There are
leveraged.

two

types

of ESOPs,

non

leveraged and

The first type is no more than a standard stock

bonus plan, with the managers controlling all aspects of
the plan.

The leveraged plan (which most ESOPs are today)

is that form which Kelso and Long believed would truly
revolutionize

America’s

corporations

making

them

22
authentically democratic in nature.
A simple explanation of the leveraged ESOP is that
the company sets up an Employee Stock Ownership Trust,
which borrows funds from a commercial lender.

The company

guarantees to pay back the loan, so the trust purchases
corporate stock. As the loan is paid back, the stock is
allocated to members of the trust in individual accounts
(See figure 1)

23

Figure 1. How a leveraged ESOP works

original owners*'

(A)
BANK

(B)

a

ooooa
ooooo
-

COMPANY

m

jin
r

XULS
(

ESOP
(E)

EMPLOYEE OWNERS

(A) A lender makes a loan to the company (typically based on the fixed assetsi. (B)
The company uses the loan money to buy out the original owners' interest. (C) Each
year the company makes loan repayments, through the ESOP. to the bank: and it de­
ducts the contributions from its taxable income for the year. (0) Once, the bank has
been paid. (E) the ESOP releases stock of an equal value into employee owners' indi­
vidual accounts. Employee owners typically receive the value of their stock upon ter­
mination or retirement. When an employee's stock is cashed out. it is usually
recontributed to the ESOP.

From Democratizing the American economy:

Illusions and

realities of employee participation and ownership (p.13).
by C. J.

Ivancic and J. Logue,

Greenwood Press.

1991:3.

Copyright by

24
Since contributions to a worker-ownership trust are
tax deductible, both the amounts attributed to repaying the
loans and the interest and principle on the loan are tax
deductible.

Obviously,

this plan is attractive to the

business community because it offers tax incentives, but it
does not require employee participation in the running of
the corporations,

Unions, for this reason, were unable to

see any benefits to workers in this situation.3
It was not until the large movement where corporations
were taken over and closed down that labor realized some
vested worker influence needed to be established in order
to protect their jobs. As Bado & Logue (1991:4) point out:
The

appearance

democratically
trade

unions

gives

unions

of

100

percent

structured
to

rethink

the

employee-owned,

enterprises
their

opportunity

challenges

role....Ownership
to

convert

the

traditional defensive, reactive role into a proactive
one.

They can exert influence over company investment

policies, hiring decisions, or long-term development
by

representing

employees

as

owners

on

company

governing bodies, and broaden their scope of activity
into

new

fields,

such

as

finance.

Instead

of

complaining about management, unions need to learn how
to select managers, (p. 1).

25
EMPLOYEE BUY OUTS OF FAILING FIRMS
After World War II, the United States was the only
world power whose production capabilities had not been
devastated by

the

war.

While

the

rest of

the world

rebuilt, the country settled into a complacent attitude of
supposed world superiority.

The adversarial roles between

labor and management increased in intensity and drove wages
and benefits up.

This

was not believed to be a problem,

since prices could just be raised to meet these demands.
The consensus was that no one could make a better product
than American workers, so no threat of marketability was
perceived.
During the mid-seventies, all this changed because of
a coincidence of factors.

During that period, energy costs

jumped and the market exploded with European and Asian
products.

These products were produced with a variety of

methods that cut and controlled costs as well as increased
product appea1.

Besides having to compete with a world

market and escalating fuel costs, the United States also
had to support a military-industrial complex that drained
more resources from its private sector,

These factors,

coupled with the rising cost of wages and benefits, caused
cycling recessions and the take over markets of the 1980's.
In the late 1970's these factors became the subject of
many popular media articles.

It was not until the large

26
movement of corporate take overs and raids, though, that
labor realized some worker-vested influence in corporations
needed to be established.

In the late 1970*s employees

began to attempt to buy out companies to save jobs,

This

movement proved to be successful in only rare situations,
as most of the 200 cases of employee takeovers of failing
companies ended in the company ultimately failing (Blasi,
1987). In some cases, employees invested their own capital,
gave wage concessions, lost pension funds, and still found
themselves out of jobs because of the ultimate failures of
these companies. Unfortunately, employee ownership does not
change capitalist principles, and many businesses still did
not survive the foreign competition and local recessionary
trends.

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS
One of the first worker buy-outs was the 2,000-workerowned

Rath

Meat

packing

Company.

The

union

members

initially accepted $4,000 per worker pay cuts to finance
the buy-out with bank loans,
economic

development

An additional $4.3 million

grant was

secured,

but

still

the

employee pension fund was later consumed by this process.
Workers took a second round of pay cuts, yet business in
the meat packing industry still declined.
bankrupt.

Today, Rath is

27
South Bend Lathe is another example of early chaotic
organizational disasters.

The workers used an ESOP to

borrow monies from local Indiana banks but wound up with
management's shares out weighing theirs.

The workers made

national headlines by going on strike against themselves.
Another example of lack of future planning on the part of
the worker groups is Vermont Asbestos Group,

This firm

rebounded after selling its operation to the workers.

The

workers sold their stocks and became rich, only to lose the
company to other owners.

Both of these situations were

opposed by the parent unions because they undercut the
union's master contract.
The airline industry has also been a site of
organizing to take over failing businesses,

labor

Due to the

recent slump in passenger usage and the increases in flight
expenses brought on by both increased fuel costs and the
need to revitalize the airline fleets to meet proposed
government regulation deadlines, these take overs have met
with mixed success.

People's Express Airlines was one of
a

benevolent-paternalistic

corporation at its take over.

Because all the related

the

unions

first

to

(pilots,

included

in

organize

mechanics,

the

attendants,

take-over,

a

etc.)

complicated

had to be
system

of

management of the company evolved with all employees being
responsible for all duties.

A pilot may be flying one day,

28
and taking reservations the next,

The system began to work

well,

being

with

all

"People/People"

problems emerged.

equal,

but

soon

Some pilots did not want other duties.

Soon some "Non-People/People" had to be hired to perform
the

duties

employees

others
got

indoctrination

did

neither
into

the

not
the

want

to

profit

culture.

fill.

These

new

nor

the

that

the

sharing
It

employees now had employees to deal with.

seems

After a valiant

try, this ESOP ultimately ended in bankruptcy.
Many similar stories can be related about the airline
industry, rental car corporations, steel mills, and so on.
These early experiences were perhaps necessary to provide
the historical background for later employee ESOPs to be
formed and operated in a more successful manner.

SUCCESSFUL ESOPs
The

Philadelphia

Association

for

Cooperative

Enterprise is a success story currently running well.
was

a corporation formed by A&P

employees

It

to purchase

Philadelphia grocery stores that were scheduled to be shut
down. The United Food and Commercial workers-Local 1357
worked with public officials and local groups in the area
to convince A&P to keep open 16 of the 79 stores scheduled
to be closed.

Two

large worker-owned stores,

Stores, were spin offs of this transaction.

the 0&0

The workers

29
modeled their take over after the Mondragon-style co-ops of
Northern Spain. These function by creating their own bank
and entrepreneurial departments to organize the co-ops.
New members may borrow from this bank to finance equity in
the corporation.

When an employee retires, the bank buys

out the employee’s equity, or the employee may have the
nest egg as an annuity. Eighty percent of these Mondragon
co-ops

are

corporations.

capital
The

intensive,

annual

divided into three parts:

profits

heavy-manufacturing
from the

firms

are

ten to fifteen percent going to

social purposes and to benefit the community, fifteen to
twenty percent is set aside for a reserve fund to maintain
the firm, and the remaining seventy percent is distributed
to the members in the form of account payments.

These

accounts are considered worker loans and are paid back to
the members with a minimum of six percent interest.

When

workers leave the co-ops, they may withdraw up to eighty
percent of their account.

At retirement age, the rest of

the accumulated profits may be withdrawn (Zwerdling, 1984).
The problems experienced by the workers taking over
their corporations are clearly identified by Andrew Lamas
(staff director of the Philadelphia Cooperative):
The problem with worker ownership, ... is not
lack of capital.

It's lack of experience. Nobody in

America knows how to operate a 1,000-person worker-

30
owned firm.

People didn't have much experience with

democratic decision-making in their daily lives, and
they

also

lack

technical

and

financial

skills

(Kuttner, 1985, p.16.).
The problems may also be due in part to a lack of
interest, or simply in a belief in the traditional division
of labor and the practical aspects of letting managers
manage (Hammer & Stern, 1980).

THE CHANGING CORPORATE STRUCTURE
The newly growing system of ESOPs is having a radical
effect on the ways which labor and management both think
about and deal with each other.

Following the Mondragon-

style, new co-ops and ESOPs are being formed with workers
now hiring management.

Instead of the workers having one

vote for one share (as would be traditional in standard
stock ownership),

new management structures are forming

with one vote for one worker, or workers simply having
control

of

seats

corporation.

on

About

the

Board

30

percent

of

Directors
of

the

of

top

the
1,000

corporations currently have more than 60 percent of its
stock owned by institutional investors.

Soon the property

rights of the workers will play a more important role in
corporate

influence

than

labor

laws

ever

dreamed.

Corporations are actively encouraging employees to invest

31
in ESOPs by offering discounts and paying brokerage fees,
Many

pension

funds

are

actively

buying

up

their

own

company *s stock by using their cash reserves. Employees are
encouraged to put their savings in 401(k) plans and invest
it in company stock. Companies are giving profit-sharing
payments to employees in the form of stock,

Some workers

are being asked or required to take stock as part of their
wage and benefit concessions and increases. This is all
leading the work force to a new dimension of risk that they
have

not

experienced

before.

According

to

William

D.Partridge of the Wyatt Company, the risk falls into four
categories: investment risk, longevity risk, contribution
risk, and inflation risk (Blasi & Kruse, 1992).
Investment risk involves the fact that the value of
the stock may decrease or the corporation may go bankrupt.
Longevity risk involves outliving the amount of assets that
have

accumulated.

substantial

Contribution

investment

must

be

duration to insure a good return,

risk

made

means

now,

that

and

in

a
the

Inflation risk means

that the value deemed for the future is negated by the
lower buying power of the dollar,

All of these areas are

unfamiliar territory to most workers and hold potential
risks.

Many of these factors account for the early ESOP

corporation failures.
The

assumption

among

the

managerial

corporate

32
proponents

of

ESOPs

was

that workers

would be

highly

motivated because of ownership stakes, and production costs
would go down,

while the assumption among workers was that

communications and control of corporate organizations would
be radically different (Stern, 1989).

The problem with

workers owning the company is the lack of expertise about
how to run a worker-owned firm,

and research into the

effects of these changes has only been going on for a
decade.

LABOR-MANAGEMENT ROLES
Labor-management roles, although somewhat litigated
by federal regulations,
traditional

structures

vary in ESOP corporations
with

labor

having

little

from
or

no

control to employees owning and having equal status in
As Toscano (1981-82) points out, even if

corporations.

employees own 100 percent of the company, ESOPs are not
required by

law to pass voting rights of

stock on to

employees, except on major corporate issues such as sale or
bankruptcy of the company.
The

mere

owning

of

stock

does

not

necessarily

associate with psychological or felt ownership by employees
(Klein,

1987).

For

example,

Hammer

and

Stern's

(1980)

research indicates that there was no positive correlation
between the number of shares held by an employee owner and

33
the perception of ownership or partnership in the company,
although

larger investment in corporate stock has been

found to

result

in the

granting of

larger amounts

influence to management on all issues (Rosen et al •

/

of

1986).

The relationship between managerial control over work place
issues remained about the same, with employees wishing to
have some say over issues directly concerning them but
little influence over organizational policy level matters.
The question of
affiliation.

influence was
The

found to correlate with

conclusions

revealed

the

relative

importance of group membership and the weakness of stock
ownership in predicting the desired distribution of control
within the organization (Quarry and Rosen, 1986).

LABOR-MANAGEMENT COOPERATION
Cooperation was another area where it was assumed that
change on both the parts of management and labor would
occur.

It was found that identification with the company

did increase because of the formation of ESOPs, and this
can engender greater commitment (Logue & Cross, 1993:4).
Managers were found to continually overestimate the degree
of cooperation that existed in their firms.

A General

Accounting Office survey (1986a) reported that sixty-six
percent of responding firms felt that employee ownership
would

increase

employee

morale.

Thirty-six

percent

34
believed that employee turnover would be reduced,

Fourteen

percent felt that there would be decreased absenteeism, and
eight percent even felt that it might help them avoid
unionization.
The early research in ESOP and share ownership effects
upon employees indicated an initial enthusiasm, increased
motivation, lower turnover and less material loss due to
poor quality production.
commitment

to

the

firm

There also was
(Why the,

1979).

an

increased

This

initial

reaction was followed by disappearance of these effects,
and a

dramatic

increase

in

labor-management conflicts.

Kruse (1984) reviewed studies to the time, and found that
support for increased job satisfaction due to ownership was
simply not evident.

Share ownership alone among workers

generated no

for participation in the

desire

company.

Workers are more critical, and unions do little to advance
labor-management cooperation.
no significant changes
functions

of

the

If employee ownership makes

in the work place, the adversarial

union

are

reinforced as

one

of

the

dependable forms of worker representation (Blasi, 1988).

Traditional managers, embroiled in attempts to save
firms,

often did not think about employee participation

plans that would acknowledge employees as owners.
Bell (1988) states that:

35
•

.

.

the

partnership between the

owner

and the

employees created by the ESOP not only provides a
basis for long term security, but also stimulates a
source of employee motivation (p. 47).
The assumption that employee motivation and production
increases

would

researchers.

occur

has

been

studied

In a report by Rosen et. al.

by

several

(1986), 2,700

employees responded to a survey on job satisfaction.

A

majority reported that owning stock made them feel more
committed to the firm, and two-thirds indicated they would
stay longer.

Nonetheless, less than 50 percent felt that

they worked harder, enjoyed their work more or were more
cooperative because of
percent

felt that

Less

stock ownership,

stock ownership had

influence in firm decision making.

than 30

increased their

The study significantly

related positive effects to management philosophy about
employee ownership and the size of the company contribution
to

the

Communication was

ESOP.

decision

making

was

satisfaction and commitment.
participate

in

decreased

Perceived and desired worker influence

turnover intention.
in

related to

social

positively

associated

with

Workers indicated a desire to
events,

work

process

and

compensation, indicating a desire for participation largely
focusing

on

things

other

than

the

stock

itself.

An

overlapping study by Quarry et al. (1986) revealed that the

36
most successful firms studied had an attitude that employee
ownership was
Positive

central to the identity of the company.

attitude

and performance were

related to

the

implementation of some participatory mechanism along with
the

ownership.

The

evidence

seems

to

indicate

that

cooperation in the form of participation is necessary to
capture employee ownership benefits.
The conclusions of this research point to the fact
that simple ownership of stock in a corporation alone is
not

a

sufficient

motivator

without

participation

in

decision making (Quarrey, 1986; GOA, 1986a; Blasi, 1987;
Klein, 1987; Bell, 1988; Stern,1989).
Senator

Bill

Bradley,

in

his

introduction

to

Rubinstein*s (1987) Participative Systems at Work, states
that:
. . . the basic proposition that self fulfillment will
ultimately come from what one does in the workplace .
. . So we have a convergence of two necessities:
kind

of

work

environment

which

will

bring

the
self-

fulfillment converging with the kind of workplace that
is essential for long-term economic growth, (p. 20)
The idea of democratizing and changing corporations is
by no means a new one.

Changing the bureaucratic corporate

culture has been a movement since the early 1960*s.

Peter

Drucker (1969) and many of his followers began to look at

37
the

needs of

the

changing work force which he

"knowledge workers".

termed

He preached a gospel of change for

the bureaucratic structures of his day:
What

the

knowledge worker needs

to be positively

motivated is achievement . . . Knowledge workers also
require that the demands be made on them by knowledge
rather than by bosses, that is, by objectives rather
than by people.
organization

They require a performance-oriented

rather

than

organization.

(pp- 288-289)

Organizations

were

managing

workers*

accomplished,
structure.
system.

to

knowledge

an

become
by

authority-oriented

more

the

productive

objective

to

by
be

but there still was to be organizational

Organizations had one basic problem with this

If "knowledge" was the key to who was in charge of

a team, the organizational structure would have to know
what knowledge each worker possessed—not a small task.
Sorcher (1976) stated that:
. . . employees can become more involved in their work
if the incentive is a heightened sense of self esteem
. . . These concepts require supervisory commitment to
employee involvement, a basic trust in employees, and
the willingness to take apparent risk (but perhaps not
actual risk) when trusting employees, because there is
no

halfway

point

between

mistrust

(autocratic

38
supervision) and trust (employee involvement), (p.213)
Thomas (1993) further argues that:
.

.

.

this process of reshaping corporations from

bureaucratic structures to teams of workers striving
for the successful operation of the corporation will
not be an easy process.
States,

where

In nations like the United

individualism

is

a

much

stronger

social value than collectivism, the tendency to talk
about

teams

and team

efforts

is

results are frequently muddled.

strong,

but

the

It is difficult to

expect a company managed by business school graduates
whose education and careers have been built on their
individual

competitive

unwavering

support

successes,

for

a

to

provide

team-based organization.

(p.91)
One solution supposedly offered for this change is the
The

ESOP movement.

idea of

employee ownership

giving

employee input and control to the corporation was presumed
to

exist

in the

laws,

but

in actual

fact,

ESOP's

can

provide for no worker influence and still be a completely
legal ESOP.

Some ESOPs

felt that providing votes

for

shares and seats upon the Board of Directors of the company
would accommodate the need for involvement in decision
making.

The

idea

of

worker

directors

rejected by corporations in the 1970's.

was

tried

and

As Brannen (1983)

39
states:
The paradox of board room participation is that if
worker representatives are strong enough and willing
to

put

forward

likely to

competing

rationalities

they

are

create conflict in the board room/

and

ensure that the real centers of decision-making move
elsewhere/ thus rendering themselves impotent in the
director role; but if they adopt the director role
then their raison d’etre, from the perspective of the
workforce, disappears.

(p. 114)

The historical development of a culture of hostility
between management

and workers

history of the union movement.

has

developed with the

Bado and Logue (1991:4) in

their study of the union's revolving role in ESOP firms
advise that

"ownership gives unions the opportunity to

convert the traditional defensive,
proactive one."

(p.l)

reactive role into a

Most union leaders in this study

felt that their roles had expanded with the establishment
of the ESOP.

New areas of decision making about investment

policies, hiring decisions and long-term developments are
now within the realm of the union's responsibilities.

The

lie

the

key

problems

seem

to

enterprise for democracy,

in

the

structuring

of

Since conventional corporate law

offers no model for democratic enterprise,

systems are

still being worked out in a trial and error basis and ESOP

40
cultures are still developing.

ESOP CULTURE
The

research

on ESOP

cultures

approaches to viewing employees

indicate

in ESOP

differing

firms.

Blasi

(1991) has classified these into five types of corporate
cultures

(not

styles).

First there is the feudal culture where employee

ownership

is

unlike

Likert*s

strictly

under

(1961)

the

four

control

managerial

of

senior

management and are threatened by any corporate governance
Second is the investor culture where

roles for employees.

ownership is seen as a way to expand wages into a more
long-term sharing in the company*s economic future.

It is

hoped that this will just happen, and no effort is made to
empower

employees

performance.
Thirdly

to

improve

their

involvement

and

Their view of employees as passive investors.

there

exists

the

participatory

culture

which

realizes that productivity and profitability are effected
by joint information sharing and problem solving. Fourth is
the shareholder culture.

This culture incorporates the

pride of ownership of the investor culture with the active
involvement

of

the

participatory

culture.

Employee

representatives have seats on the Board of Directors and
actively vote the employee shares.

Lastly there is the

41
entrepreneurial culture which strives to make ownership of
the company a part of making the company the leader in its
competitive field.

The emphasis here is not on employee

benefits as much as in asking employees to take risks as
owners for the sake of the company.
Blasi estimates that 20-30 percent of companies are
feudal structures, 60-75 percent are investor cultures, an
additional

5 percent are participatory,

one half of a

percent are shareholder cultures, with virtually 0 percent
being entrepreneurial.

These statistics reveal that few

ESOP companies seem to realize the results of the research
of effects on employee performance.
be

attributed

to

the

fact

This fact can possibly

that

means

for

sharing

information about ESOPs exists in only some states.4

A

good example is that Pennsylvania *s ESOP Association has
only been in existence since May of 1992.
Harrison’s
organizations

(1994)

recent

lists two types:

study

of

democratic

"Type 1" organizations

which were specifically constructed by individuals seeking
economic

and

political

alternatives

to

traditional

bureaucratic organization, and "Type 2" organizations which
were

created

closings.

In

to

prevent

each

case,

factory,
the

plant

potential

or
to

business
develop

a

democratic system exists. These two types exhibit different
cultural

realities

because

the

strategic

choices

and

42
developmental

patterns

will

be

legitimatized

"by

the

meanings and understandings that members attribute to their
organization

as

conceptualized

(Harrison, 1994, p. 262.).
recreate

in the

newly

by

the

social

pact"

This social pact is create and

developing

culture,

Harrison’s

research indicates that "Type 1" organizations typically
attempt to reproduce some version of democracy within the
organization, while "Type 2" organizations "are attempts to
reproduce capitalist structures among individuals of middle
and working classes." (p. 263)

STATUS OF ESOP CULTURAL RESEARCH
Given the fact that ESOPs have only been steadily
growing since the 1984 legislation, research has centered
mainly on legal and statistical aspects of the corporate
performances.

Currently, researchers are studying employee

communication needs and their effects on satisfaction and
performance.

The overwhelming data indicate that shared

information patterns and decision making will be necessary
to enhance competitiveness of these corporations in the
world market.

The combination of ownership and significant

participation in the corporation seems

to

lead to

the

development of an ownership culture, but the new roles for
employees have created a need for training,
puts it:

As Ford (1991)

43
Increased participation and shared decision making
have meant, for many employees the challenges of role
changes.
of

While many employees have an excited feeling

empowerment,

confusing,

others

blurring

responsibilities.

have

the

found

boundaries

these
of

changes

their

job

(p. 11.)

In 1988 an Urban University Technical Assistance Grant
was

given to speed the growth of ownership culture by

developing an employee ownership education program (Logue,
Bell & Ivancic, 1991). This experimental program developed
six areas for a multi-company training program for nonmanagerial employee owners.

The six area included were 1)

Working of an ESOP, 2) reading of financial statements, 3)
rights

and

responsibilities,

4)

group

processes

and

practices in group decision making, 5) problem analysis,
and 6) attitudes.

No national data existing on what ESOP

companies are doing about employee owner education, but
some

informational

research

educational programs.

has

been

done

on

pilot

(See Moody & Ivancic, 1991; Logue,

Bell & Ivancic, 1991; and Thomas, 1993; as some examples.)
The

research

into these programs

indicates preliminary

positive data, but has not been in place long enough yet
for conclusive data collection.
follow

the

six

steps

above

dissemination among employees.

All of these programs
and

aim

at

information

44
According

to

the

National

Center

for

Employee

Ownership (1991) there is a need for ESOP corporations to
develop a new theory for management,
theory is termed "Theory 0".

This new type of

In "Theory 0" (for ownership)

companies there are only partners, or associates, or fellow
owners.

People—whether managers

or

non-managers—are

expected to act and treat each other like the owners they
all are. The corporation needs to make commitment to this,
training for employees must be included, and participatory
decision making must be engaged in.

While there is no set

pattern for accomplishing this, suggestions are made that
communication and training in communication skills will be
essential to the success of this style of management. (See
Appendix A for this theory.)
face-to-face

priority,

Communication should follow

with written

reports receiving least priority.
non-managers)

must develop

other's perspective.
be used.

computer

generated

Employees (managers and

skills

in understanding the

Multiple mediums and messages should

Feed back is encouraged, both downward and upward

messages, and subordinate-initiated communications must be
encouraged and positively received,

Presently, research

indicates that the most often used form of communication is
the

annual

account

balance

statement

for

each

plan

participant. The least used are the face-to-face methods of
open doors,

etc.

and only

limited use

of

small

group

45
meetings.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Although legislation has been in existence since 1974
which

allows

Ownership

corporations

Plans,

it

was

to
not

establish
until

Employee

the

Stock

1980*s

that

significant numbers of corporations began to take advantage
of

this.

Many of the early attempts resulted in the

ultimate failures of already failing corporations.

The

recent surge of new ESOP corporations has offered an arena
for new research, but much of the early research was geared
to

legal

and

corporations.

statistical
It

was

not

performances
until

the

of

late

these

80* s

that

significant data began to be accumulated to point the way
towards

further

research.

Some

theories

have

been

postulated, but the most significant data indicate the need
for inclusion of employees in the decision making processes
Experimental programs have begun in

of every day work.

training employees, but results of these programs have not
been proven by researchers.

The

"Theory O"

style of

management in these companies is also in the proposal and
testing stages.

Current research points out two types of

ESOP companies, those formed for democratic purposes and
those formed to save failing corporations.
of

these

differ

in

their

communication

The structures
patterns

and

46
cultural

characteristics.

The

data

which

have

been

accumulated from past research are not organized for easy
availability by either corporations or researchers.
Since there are now ten thousand ESOP companies with
over eleven million employees5, there exists an area which
is basically unexplored by communication researchers and
offers fertile ground for many future studies.

47
CHAPTER III-THE STUDY
The right and privilege of being an observer is a gift
presented to the researcher by his host and subjects.
. . . The gift of access, of witnessing social life as
it is lived in someone else's environment, exercises
a tyranny of its own.
-Charles Bosk (1989)

ETHNOGRAPHY AS A METHOD
Ethnographers,

by

methodology,

taking the role of child-learner.

are

field

workers

Their experience is that

of learning the culture that they wish to study.

Since

culture, as has been formerly defined is created by groups
commonly

sharing

meanings,

it

ethnographer to discover the

is

the

job

of

the

"meanings" present in the

cultures which they have chosen to study.
Communication

is

the

vehicle

through

cultural meanings are shared by its members.
communication be

by

which

the

Whether this

spoken or written symbols,

signs,

artifacts, or kinetics, the ethnographic challenge is to
decipher the cultural meanings which are shared by the
Garfinkel (1967) states that these

subjects of the study,
meanings

are

idexical,

having

meanings

associated

in

context of the setting within which the communication takes
place.

"Idexicality

refers

to

the

amount

of

shared

48
background knowledge necessary to understand a meaning
(Blumer, 1984, p.5)."
the

researcher

In order to share this idexicality,

assumes

the

role

of

cultural

learner,

entering to learn and then analyze what has been learned.
As Coser says,

"ethnomethodology aims at a descriptive

reconstruction of the cognitive map in people's minds which
enables them to make sense of their everyday activities and
encounters (In Blumer, 1984, p.302)."

Ethnomethodologists

attempt to achieve what Schutz terms the "attitude of daily
life...the world known in common and taken for granted
(Garfinkle, 1967, p. 37)".
Ethnomethodologies

began

anthropological tradition.

with

British

the

These traditions grew from the

combined needs of administration of the Empire and the
required cultural knowledge needs of the missionaries.
origin,
society.

the

anthropologists

were

non-members

of

By
the

As such, most early accounts were of the purely

observational nature.
investigation

and

ethnographies

moved

With the advent of sociological
the
from

Chicago
the

anthropology to the urban setting,

School
non-urban

tradition,
focus

of

Indeed, Manning (1987)

implies that the main difference between the two forms
seems to be discipline of their training and the choice of
setting for the fieldwork,

Whatever the difference in

training and focus, the methods of each discipline are now

49
being adapted the area of Communication studies,

As Frey,

et al. (1992) put it:
Ethnographers believe that all we perceive and do is
influenced by communication . . . Ethnographers seek
to identify those culturally imposed constraints, the
patterns which continue to be learned and to influence
our communication throughout our lives, (p. 249)
According to Frey, there are two basic approaches to
ethnographic

study.

approaches.

Blumer relates their derivation to phonetic

They

are

the

etic

and

the

emic

and phonemic studies of language (1980).
In the first (etic) case, the researcher is focused on
the

environmental

and

cultural

forces

influencing

subjects* messages and social behaviors.
ethnographer

would

be

on

style,

the

the

The focus of the

observable

communication

phenomena.
In the

emic

subjects are thinking,

researcher

focuses

on how

Their focus is observation within

normal communication settings where the communication is
more important to the subject, than the fact that they are
being observed,

The

attempt

is

to discover cognitive

categories, assumptions and rules that guide encoding and
decoding messages exchanged in context,

Care must be taken

by the researcher not to impose preconceptions on their
subjects, and the consciously detach himself/herself, so as

50
not to predict what might be discovered (Agar, 1980).

In

a sense , becoming an infant in the society of subjects,
thereby learning from its members the rules and assumptions
shared by

its

categories.

members

who

have

created the

cognitive

As Blumer (1984) states:

Ethnome tho do1o gy aims at a descriptive reconstruction
of the cognitive map in people*s minds which enables
them to make sense of their everyday activities and
encounters

.

.

. Ethnomethodologists put particular

stress on the contextuality of accounts and meanings,
their imbeddedness in the interactive context, their
"situated** nature, (p. 302-303)
Adler and Adler (1987) state that "Ethnomethodologists
thus offer studies of members* work instead of studies
work (p.29)."

about members

To do this faithfully, the

researcher should become a member in the fullest sense of
the word.

The researcher should become what Gold (1958)

calls a complete member of the group,

By example, to study

the life of a police officer would require obtaining a job
on

the

police

restrictions

as

an

officer.

placed

on

ethnomethodologies

force

are

Obviously,
by

some
the

temporal and skill levels of both the subjects who are
being studies and the researcher.
not always possible.
roles:

Complete membership is

Gold offers three other possible

Participant as-observer, Observer as-participant

51
and complete observer.

The participant as-observer is the

most preferable form of ethnographic inquiry if complete
participation

is

not

possible,

participating in this role.
relationship

to

the

point

is

situations.

of

used most often
The

complete

time

is

spent

The role strives to bring the

actually reaching intimate form.
participant

Much

friendship,

but

avoids

By contrast, observer asin one-visit

observer

role

researcher entirely from social interaction.

interview

removes

the

On occasion,

all researchers may employ this role as a subordinate role
to implement the dominant ones.
Because the researcher assumes the role of learner,
void of preconceptions in a social setting, ethnographic
studies are an evolving process.
research,

where

causal

Unlike experimental

interrelationships

between

two

variables are dealt with, ethnomethodological field work
offers sets of possible interrelated propositions (Strauss,
et al •

t

1964).

A second characteristic of this field work

is its temporally developed character.6 It begins with an
initial stage of general observation, proceeds to a second
phase of sense making and greater attention to particular
aspects that lead to an emerging set of propositions, and
ends with a final phase of systematic effort to pinpoint
various hypotheses.

52
STUDY METHODOLOGIES
The focus of this study involved a company that is
wholly owned by the employees,

It was chosen because it

was accessible to the researcher and has been owned by the
employees for several years,

The immediate effects of

ownership should have diminished, and the possibility of an
ownership culture developing might be

likely,

It was

brought to the attention of the researcher by a friend, who
had

observed

conversations

between

employees,

These

conversations seemed to denote a different attitude from a
non-employee owned company.
The

study

participant

was

conducted

by

as-observer method.

chosen for the study.

using

primarily

An emic

approach was

It was conducted over a seven month

period to give the best depth of inquiry.
relationship

between

the

any

study

There is a

selection

psychoanalytical reasons for choosing it

and

(Hunt,

the

1989).7

This relationship was not considered during the selection
of the study, but was taken into consideration during the
study.

Although every effort was made not to influence the

observations given here, as Denzin (1970) states:

"The

mere presence of the observer means that movements are made
and orientations are developed toward him which would not
otherwise have occurred” (p. 261).

Every effort was made

to portray a realistic picture of the study group, or as

53
Van Maanen (1988) states:

"to offer the perspective as

well as practices of the member culture" (p. 50).

Whether

or not this was accomplished, it was intended.
This researcher attempted to dress and act in a manner
that would minimize the effects of observation on the
subjects.

It was

soon realized by both

subjects

and

researcher alike that it was impossible for a female not to
be observed in an all male shop.
spent

observing

lessened

the

It is hoped that the time
effects

the

researcher*s

gender may have had on the observations, but as Hunt (1989)
states:
.

a

dualism

between

subject

and

object

is

problematic because fieldwork is an intersubjective
process.

It is also interpretive, mediated by the

minds of both researcher and subject.

.

. Subjects

also develop transference to researchers, which may
have a profound effect on the stories they tell to
researchers and their relationships with them.

(P-

81)
With

all

of

this

acknowledged,

observations

are

offered here from the interpretive point of the observer
having spent seven months in all parts of the company, and
on all three

shifts of the work schedule.

Since the

researcher spent from ten to twelve hours a day in the
field,

after a time the subjects seemed to become less

54
aware of the novelty of a female presence, and more open in
their interactions with the researcher as a researcher.
Many

of

the

observations

were

interviews with selected subjects,
these

subjects

organization.

deemed
This

to

choice

be
was

based

on

repeated

The researcher chose

"key

members"

based

on

the

of

the

initial

observations of the organizational structure, as well as
the patterns of communication which were discovered by
observing the company*s functioning,

Sub-cultures were

also checked for their significance in the operation of the
company*s culture and communication channels.

Special time

was spent in observing new members of the culture who were
hired during the study period.

These new members gave

insight into the culturization of complete members.
Some

subjects

were

extensively

interviewed,

while

others were given shorter interviews which were repeated
over the period of the study.
Additional data were gathered by casual observations,
and

eavesdropping

on

situations,

Note

taking

by

the

researcher (in what came to be known as the "Little Black
Book") was kept to a minimum in the shop area, because it
was revealed that this was perceived negatively by hourly
workers.

There was

an apparent association with note

taking and "time study" techniques which had been used in
the shop in the past.

55
A

guarantee

participants.

of

anonymity was

established for

all

Notes taken, interviews and survey results

were kept by the researcher in an off site location,

As a

further guarantee of anonymity, a lap-top computer was used
for transposing notes during the day, rather than using a
company terminal that was offered.
Access to interactions with all employees,

as many

corporate documents as possible, and interactions within
the

company*s

researcher.

daily

activities

was

gained

by

the

Permission to access these areas was granted

by both the president of the company and the union.

It was

acknowledged that any individual not choosing to interact
with the researcher had the right to decline or withdraw at
any time.
There were very few problems in acquiring materials
which

the

company

felt might be

too

sensitive

to

its

The exception

interests to share with the researcher,

being individual pay rates, bids on new jobs, managementnegotiations

labor

and

the

meeting

of

the

Board

of

Directors.
There were certain restrictions placed on the study
due

to

the

A

contractor.
recording,

as

that

fact

the

restriction

well

as

company

is

on

all

audio

taking

was

picture

a

government
and

video

already

in

existence in the company—this restriction imposed by the

56
government.

All photographs included have already been

cleared for public release.
A

survey

(Appendix B).

was

also

administered

during

the

study

The purpose of the survey was to gather some

quantifiable data both for presentation to the company and
to provide triangulation of data.

The questions were based

on two questionnaires; one was given to the management of
the company a number of years ago, and the other was used
successfully with

another ESOP

company

questions were given in Likert form,

in Ohio,

The

Since this ESOP was

three years old at the time of the study, data collected
were divided into those employees who had three years or
less service (when the ESOP was created) and those who had
more than three years service.
hourly/salaried categories.

It was further divided into

Most of the salaried employees

had managerial type positions in the company, while the
hourly workers were in production functions. The questions
were

coded

ownership,

for

communication

expressed

need

channels,

for

education

feelings

of

about

the

functioning of the ESOP and feelings of participation.
These

areas

were

chosen

for

investigation

during

the

research because of past research in the field and in
response to spicific areas that indicated a need for data
to be gathered about the needs of this ESOP.
Graphs included in the Analyses section of this paper

57
indicate a "desired" response comparison,
agreement

or

This category

indicates

perfect

question.

This measure is given for comparison with what

disagreement

with

the

the company might wish to be the "perfect" response by
employees to these questions.
It was produced by the researcher, with only final
approval of the form being given by both presidents.

The

researcher printed and stuffed the surveys into the pay
envelopes of the hourly workers, and the mail boxes of the
salaried workers.

The survey was given out to all 321

employees on the same day.

Boxes were set up for retrieval

of the responses over a two week period.

The questionnaire

included an envelope for anonymous reply.

The surveys were

color coded, but only the researcher knew the code, and no
subjects appeared to notice the coding.
photocopied on white

paper

Two responses were

and returned,

included in the summary of the results,

but

are

not

The researcher

collected the returns both from the box, and in person. A
total of 182 surveys were returned within the two week
collection period.
Those employees who were interviewed extensively were
appraised of their right to decline the interview, and a
written permission was

signed and witnessed by another

employee (Appendix C).

They were also informed of their

right to rescind permission at a later date, and given

58
phone numbers to assist in contacting the researcher for
this purpose.

59
CHAPTER IV-OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSES

THE STUDY FOCUS
The focus of this study was to discover if a wholly
employee

owned

corporation

differs

from

a

traditional

corporation in its attempts to meet the communication needs
of

the

employees

who

are

now

stockholders.

This

investigation centered on the cultural changes which were
developing because of this new form of communication among
the

now owners

of

the

company.

It

also

included an

analyses of the needs for education about the functioning
of the ESOP, feeling of inclusion as owners, and feelings
of participation.

60

•:*
_• ...•
••• ' i «-.•■•;-

.*

<• -*

■=»-*ttf8ss2j6T

: ”C5^5’
:•- ---=r.'

■

THE ERIE FORGE COMPANY

From H. P. Spencer, Erie ... a history (1962) Published
by

the

author.

Reprinted
unknown).

by

Distributed

permission

of

by
the

the

Erie

Book

distributor.

Store.
(Artist

61
BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY
Erie Forge Company,
Company,

was

founded

in

now the Erie Forge and Steel
1872

by

George

Starr,

J.P.

Harrington and A, Brabender (Spencer, 1962, pp. 228-235.).
The

company

continued to manufacture

steel

and forged

products and experienced rapid growth as a Navy contractor
during World War II.

At this time most of the employees

were female, and the manufacturing was primarily focused on
the manufacture of gun barrels.

The company was acquired

out of bankruptcy in 1969 by National Forge of Warren, PA..
In mid-1988, Robert Wilder announced that National Forge
Company was for sale.
with

employees

reduction
employees.

being

was

Late that same year, a new contract
ratified

given

in

Immediately

with

salary
after

a
and

this,

significant
benefit
the

cost

cuts

Union

by
and

Management of the Erie plant met to discuss a potential buy
out by the Employees by formation of an ESOP.

National

Forge decided to sell the company as a whole, and a letter
of intent was signed by Gambelli and Rosenthal in August of
1989.

The collapse of the Bond Market in October/November

caused that deal to fall through, paving the way for the
employees to move forward with the ESOP purchase.
Over the 120 plus year history of this company,
strong union has been formed,

a

The relationship of the

union to the management of the company has often been

62
stormy.

During the 1970*s several "wild cat" strikes were

staged.

That relationship

when forming this ESOP,

was taken into consideration

and the charter includes Board

representation by the choices of three seats on the Board
by the union.
one seat.

The President of the local union occupies

The other two seats are currently occupied by an

Attorney (with union ties) and an Accountant (also with
union background and ties).

An analysis of

the most

current ownership structure data shows that 74 percent of
the common stock is owned by the ESOP, 11 percent preferred
stock is owned by "Key Management" people (these people
having given monies to the original purchase agreement from
National Forge), and 15 percent preferred stock is owned by
the financial institution which helped to negotiate the
purchase, and took stock for its payment. The ESOP stock is
allocated according to pay scale and number of hours worked
during the year.
it.

Common stock carries voting rights with

Employees were vested at the time of the establishment

of the ESOP takeover, and new employees are vested after
five years.

63

64
DESCRIPTION
Erie Forge and Steel

(from here on referred to as

EFS) is located in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sixteenth Street
between Weschler and Greengarden.

It is bounded by the New

York Central tracks on the North and the Bessemer and Ohio
tracks on the south.
acres,

virtually

The company occupies almost sixteen

all

of

production facilities.

the

area

being

occupied

by

In comparing it with an Historical

Society document (Appendix B.

Document #3777, 1932), the

buildings are twice the size today as the original drawing
indicates.

This

seems

to verify the

fact that fewer

workers, but more skilled laborers are required for today*s
steel production. Hiestand (1974) relates that:
The

occupational

apparently
proportions

composition

shifted
of

of

slightly

managers

the

industry

toward

and

has

increased

administrators,

professionals and technicians, and skilled workers at
the expense of a decline among the number of laborers.
(p. 21)
A new office complex was built on the south side of the
entrance

to

the

plant

in

1956.

buildings have been eliminated,

Most of

the

smaller

It is interesting to note

that the original drawing included both bunk houses and a
hospital.

Since the shop is now run on electricity, the

elimination of oil storage tanks and coal heat for steam

65
production is logical.

A

new "Bag House" was installed

where the old Engine House used to be.

This building can

be seen in both the pen and ink drawing and aerial views.
It is located at the extreme right of the drawing past
the gates and is the building with pipes running out of the
roof

to

the

melt

shop,

The

environmental

controls

affecting all of industry necessitated the installation of
this building.

Many other changes are being undertaken at

the company because of the regulations by the Federal
Government to protect the environment.

Scrap steel can no

longer be left on the ground, as the rain causes it to rust
and this rust is considered a hazard to the ground water
supply.

Plans will have to be implemented to store the

steel on concrete, with drainage ditches provided to carry
the

water

environment.

to

be

treated

before

release

into

the

66

o

SO

1 *
0^

D -2

?!
<3
a
3

at

67
The company is physically divided by buildings into
five main areas.
Finish

Shop,

These divisions are the Melt Shop, Forge,

Heat Treat

and

the main Office

Complex.

Within these areas other jobs take place (e.g. Welding is
in the Finish Shop,

the Chem Lab is in the Melt Shop,

etc.).The physical division, while necessary for production
needs is a factor which divides the work force and affects
the communication and culture of the organization.
the

most

universally

expressed

complaints

One of

from

all

employees was that the other people who work in the company
do not know what the production and tooling needs of their
particular job are.

It was also commonly acknowledged by

these same people that they do not know much about what the
jobs were like in other areas of the shop.
is

likely

a

complaint

in

any

Although this

organization,

the

interdependence of all workers on the production of other
shops to attain "gain sharing" at the end of the year and
for the company stock to increase seems to be increasing
the

criticism

and

dissatisfaction within

the

company.

There were often comments about this dissatisfaction at
monthly meetings held between the president and the hourly
workers.

Production graphs were shown,

but workers in

different departments couldn't seem to grasp why "heats"
were lost, or finished jobs had to be scrapped.
The work force consists of mostly skilled labor, with

68
the diversity of these skills also being a major factor in
complicating the communications and culture,
its

own

terminologies,

different

ways

performed

is

elements

in
often

and

these

different
dangerous,

of boredom,

Many of

are

Each shop has

often

departments.
while
the

The

also

jokes

used

in

work

containing

and humorous

rituals are an attempt to alleviate the boredom and relieve
the stresses of the danger involved.
male environment, the jokes are often

Since it is an all
sexually slanted.

The jokes and pranks serve the function of self-definition
and socialization in this setting.9
The hard hats that were worn by the hourly workers
bore many symbols, some of these were related to the old
company that had owned EFS.

These hats served a symbolic

function in the work place.

Supervisory personnel used to

wear white hard hats in the former company.

The term

"white hat" is now often used to refer to someone who acts
like he is in charge, or knows it all.
made

about

devices.

the

necessity

to

wear

Often jokes were
these

"protective"

Indeed, the danger from falling objects in this

work place would not have been decreased by the presence of
the hard hats, because the weight of objects falling would
have crushed anything they hit.

The workers often referred

to cartoons where objects drop on someone, and two legs
walk away under the hat.

69
It was easy to observe which members of the work force
were

also

members

of

sub-cultures.

Often

the

most

respected and skilled craftsmen were also the center of a
group joke. As Boland and Hoffman (1983) state it:
is

an important device

"humor

for allowing participants

in a

social structure to reciprocally confirm the ambiguity of
certain aspects of that social setting (p. 196)."
There
majority

are

of

seventeen

these

work

female
in

the

employees
office

at EFS,

complex,

the
The

exception to this being one female crane operator (who was
hired during the study) and one female in the office of the
shipping dock.

As was previously mentioned, the fact that

the work force is largely males possessing high degrees of
skill influenced the type of ethnomethodologies used.

It

was literally impossible to conduct a covert or complete
An effort had to be made

participant study of the plant,

at all times to minimize the influence that might occur
because the researcher was female.

There were many posters

and jokes around that the researcher had to deal with
without

interfering with the

subjects

discuss any topics with the researcher.

feeling

free to

It is acknowledged

that some normal behaviors may not have occurred during the
observation period because of this fact (e*g* One of the
hot weather rituals was water fights; although it was often
mentioned that I would be a prime target, I never became

70
the target of any of these fights,

On several occasions

someone was stopped from soaking me because other members
of the group felt it was improper to treat a lady that way.
A male researcher might have become a target).

What is

revealed here is the separateness with which females can be
expected to be treated in this culture.

It seems likely

that a female could not become a complete member of this
culture.

This observation is offered for those seventeen

members of this organization who share the same ownership
as their male counterparts.

71

^ -V ^

Av

Erie Forge and Steel Inc. is the leading producer of propulsion
shafts for the United States Navy. Our capabilities include weld
overlay, shrink fitting of liners and sleeves, along with fitted
and line reamed assemblies.

72
The product line produced by EFS is dominated by the
production of drive shafts for Navy vessels.

They proudly

point out that ninety percent of the Navy's shafts are
produced by EFS.

There is a government inspector on the

facility full time,

Several times a year there are visits

and Navy briefings, and all work must be approved by a Navy
inspector.

The importance of this product gives a certain

status to the executive in charge of this department. In
the company newsletter,

his articles are placed third,

after the president and vice-president.
no

assigned

seats

at

the

weekly

Although there are

staff

meetings,

this

executive occupies the chair to the immediate left of the
president.

All of the other regular executives sit in what

might be considered less important positions.
On my initial introduction at the regularly scheduled
Monday morning meeting of the executives, I was asked to
sit immediately to the left of the CEO.

I noticed the

reaction of one of the members to my being in "his" seat,
but no comment was made.
asked to occupy this seat,

At later meetings I was never
The same situation occurred

when two consultants were invited for an initial meeting
later in the study,
rules

of

a

group

As Shimanoff (1988) observed, "the
are

also used

symbolic acts within the group (e.g •
one sits . . .) (p. 56).

to
/

attach meaning to
the meaning of where

WmMTiiB!®.

” *ZJFiz

of <£ttzCn

^JajifiLncj a 75 !I7on c^izat of <StLcC

74
The unique quality about EFS is that it melts and
produces the steel, forges it, and finishes it for shipping
all within one

facility.

It

is

the

largest

capable of doing this in the United States.

facility

This ability

to produce and finish the product in one location brings
both unique marketability and production problems for the
company.

All of the shops depend upon the success

other shops for their gain-sharing profits,

of the

If the melt

shop has a bad month/ the finish shop employees may be very
critical of their fellow owners.
The

physical

separation

of

the

departments

also

interferes with face-to-face communication patterns.
also

contributes

specific

to

to

each

the

creation

physical

of

location.

many

It

subcultures

Lockers,

snack

machines/ computer punch-in terminals and picnic tables are
dispersed throughout the shop,
places

near

work

stations

These serve as gathering

for breaks

and

lunch

Genuine subcultures are formed around these areas.

time.
For

this reason many workers never interact with people in
other

areas.

Certain

workers

like

maintenance,

the

transfer car and crane operators work throughout the plant.
These workers tended to be officers in the union, because
of their ability to interact with others in the plant.
While this is probably the case in most plants. it
contributes to the lack of conviviality among the owners.

75
Terminology is also not shared with the same meanings in
each location of the shop.
a

(e.g.

To the forge department,

hot end" is that part of a piece of steel used in the

manipulator of the forge press, while the same term in the
office complex refers to the melt and forge shops.)
Another factor affecting the culture and communication
climate is the long history of the plant,

According to

personnel statistics, most of the employees have been there
for an average of seventeen years,

Many reported that

their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, etc.

had worked at

the same plant, with many even remembering visiting when
they were children.

This seems to lend a "business as

usual" attitude to the reaction to any new proposals.

This

attitude is quickly passed on to new employees by the
sharing of stories about things that were tried before and
did not succeed.

One of the new attempts which is being

met with skepticism is the pouring of ingots in the forge
shop.

Many stories of past disasters were related while

the planning for this process was going on.

It is to the

credit of the management that meetings were called to hear
complaints and gather expertise from the employees who
remembered when this had been done before.

One of the

stories gave advice about the direction in which to pour
from the

ladle,

Placement of the

ladle in the wrong

direction had caused death and injury before.

76
The manufacture and production of the steel products
at EFS is a lenotlw and complicated process.

^7&\'
v/iji

f> <Ra.aHIjont of eJfmtxica
deeming of Ongotx

Sxie Oorge and tStexl, One,

e^kout tfie &Cf\tixt

Sxie ^Doxgt and cSteel, One. kax Cr ten a gualitg

Q.amex S <SalroC ix an Sxie Crow axtixt, now

■ xufxfxCiex of ofxen-die, forgedfxroductx to c/Cmerica x

nationaCCg known fox kix fxen and ink drauringx.

keawg induxtxg fox aCmoxt a centuxg. ^Wikk out

' cWix works are included in coCCectionx tkrougkout

fallg integrated manufackuxing cafiaCriCitiex, we

■ tke world. jCocaCCg, kc continuex to fxxexexve tke

continue to offex a fuCC xfxectxum of forged xteeC

kixtoxic xigktx and Candmax kx of tke Sxie,

fixoductx fox tke moxt deman ding afxfxlicakionx in

&ennxglvania area. cHix dxawingx of Sxie ^}otge

kotk tke commerciaC and defenxe induxtxiex. (Dux

and £keel, One. kave cafituxed tke xfxixit of tke

numlre x one fixioxitg continuex to Cre tke xatixfaction

forging induxtxg and xkow tke kxoad divexxikg of

of oux cuxtomexx tkrougk guaCitg, value andxervice. . r- JxUtalent
I

•

*

77

What

difficulties

resolve!

How

many

to

conquer I

arts

piled

What
on

problems

the

other

to
are

necessary to make this mail or pin which we value so
lightly!
-Buffon (1962)

STEEL MANUFACTURING
The manufacture of steel goes back thousands of years
to the beginning of the Iron Age.

The most prized iron was

of meteoric origin, being called "metal from heaven" or
"meteoric steel" (Fisher, 1963).

Accounts of its use have

been discovered in carefully wrapped specimens found in a
grave at Abydos, Egypt dating from 2600 B.C..
objects

were

wrapped

in

the

mummy

of

Three iron

Tut-ankh-Amen

(fourteenth century B. C.) the blade of a dagger, part of
an amuletic bracelet and a miniature head rest.

The three

iron relics were found in the wrappings of the mummy and
presumably were placed there because they were among the
Pharaoh's most treasured possessions, more highly prized
than the gold of which the ornate sarcophagus was made.

It

seems likely that iron of such rarity and value came from
the heavens. (Fisher, 1963, p. 9)
The manufacture of iron and steel has always been
regarded by people as a national secret,

Many types of

steel manufacture were discovered, and lost because of the

78
fall

of

one

civilization

to

another.10

Wootz

steel,

manufactured in India, described by Aristotle in 384 B. C • 9
was
the
basis
of modern day
steel manufacturing
discoveries.

A piece of wootz steel was given to Michael

Faraday by James Stodart.

Faraday began his research of

this steel in 1819 and ended it in 1824.

The steel was

analyzed as an alloy of aluminum and silicon with iron ore.
Together,
wootz.

Faraday

and

Stoddart

produced an

artificial

The true significance of this project was the fact

that it stirred the scientific desires in Faraday to go on
to analyze the whole field of alloy steels.

His research

led to the systematic alloying of steel with no less than
nine elements.
Since

the

alloying

of

iron

with

other

elements

produced steels with different qualities, their production
and use for industrial, commercial and military purposes
became national secrets.

The need for raw materials to

produce these new alloys caused the formation of world
markets and international alliances that have survived to
present times.
This researcher was present at a meeting about the
production

of

stainless

steel

at

documents marked "Confidential-NFORE".

EFS,

and

observed

Upon questioning

this marking, I was informed that these documents were "not
for foreign eyes", and regarded as a national secret.

79
Obviously, the development of computer analysis and
spectrographic analysis of materials has introduced a new
dimension of technical skills required in the production of
steel.

The

computer

in

steel
the

produced at EFS

furnace,

adjusted before pouring.

is monitored by a

analyzed by

microscope,

and

The job of furnace operator is

one of the most highly specialized skills in the Melt shop.
Some steels are sent to a vacuum degassing process before
pouring, which is also run by computer analyses,

This

process extracts gases which can be absorbed into the steel
and

cause

structural

Illustration, p. 80.)

faults

during

later

use.

(See

According to Fisher (1967):

As much as 9,600 cubic feet of gases may be withdrawn
from a ton of steel.

.

.Steels melted or cast in a

vacuum are purer and stronger than those produced in
the presence of air. They have improved mechanical
properties at high temperature, greater ductility, and
a higher degree of uniform quality, (pp. 117-118)
The complexity of producing steel further complicates
the understanding between the departments at EFS.

The

slightest fault in the production of the raw material, or
in its subsequent annealing (cooling process), can cause
the loss of a five-hundred thousand dollar product, which
could have taken up to a year to finish for shipping.

80

A

O’/

FURNACE LADLE

n—
£=^STOPPER ROD

PONY ladl:
-v«> •

Ey

Wys-OBSERVATION PORT

OBSERVATION PORT-'
VACUUM-

ja
S'•

WATER COOLINgJ*

■g;

DEGASSING CHAMBER-4—
----- INGOT MOLD

P
r

D

Equipment to degass steel for extra large ingots. As molten steel pours
through the degassing chamber it forms into droplets. The droplets are
purified by the powerful vacuum pumps which suck out minute traces
of harmful gases, chiefly hydrogen. The falling droplets slowly build up
into an ingot. American Iron and Steel Institute.

From The epic of steel (p. 112) by D. A. Fisher, 1963, New
York:

Harper & Row.

by permission.

Copyright by Harper & Row.

Reprinted

81
Along the line of processing, another department is
responsible

for

the

final

OK

of

department is Quality Control.
commented upon factors
Defects"
"inside

reports.
jokes"

the

shipping.

This

One of the most often

in any meeting were

"Error and

These reports became the source of

among the members of the culture.

The

terminology "E & D" report was used for any occasion where
someone made a stupid mistake,
viewed as the "enemy".

Often quality control is

No one wants to produce a faulty

product, but it is the unhappy duty
stop this from happening.
school

chaperons

Watching over products like high

at a dance,

unpopular decisions.

of Quality Control to

they must sometimes make

The nature of their job puts them

into a sub-culture of their own.

The pressure of rejecting

or fixing a job comes from all sides of the company,

The

management does not want defective products to harm their
future markets, but the production side is interested in
finishing the product and obtaining the profits.
Ironically, this department was also given the first
assignment

of

production,

It was necessary to establish this educational

program to

meet

educating

other

workers

new world standards

corporate producers (ISO-2,000).

for

about

steel

international

The attendance at these

classes was voluntary and it was not surprising that many
members did not attend the sessions, since quality control

82
was already viewed by many members of the culture as a
hinderance to their job.
SURVEY RESULTS
COMMUNICATION PATTERNS AT EFS
The

formal

communication

patterns

of

the

company

consist of monthly newsletters, bulletin boards, computer
print-outs, memos,

the Foremen's log books,

periodic

up-dates

by

meetings

with

employees

all

Navy

personnel,
by the

job boards,

monthly

up-date

company president,

weekly staff meetings on all levels, and daily face-to-face
meetings.
No

There is also an extensive grapevine.
electronic

mail

was

used,

although

terminals are everywhere in the company.

computer

All employees use

them to both clock in and out, and enter completed jobs
numbers.

There is an extensive telephone system, but this

seems to often be busy, and requires repeated calls.
is also a paging system throughout the shops.

There

The paging

system is difficult to understand, calling to mind airport
terminals with their garbled messages.

The paging system

is also an annoyance in the work environment as it is quite
loud.
The monthly newsletter, What’s Going On (Appendix E),
Each department head submits

is arranged by departments.
an

article

Relations

about

his

Director,

or

her

and it

is

department
her

to

the

Human

job to produce

and

83
distribute the newsletter.

Although the newsletter was

well read by most employees, specific terminology is used
in each article which is not clearly understood by all
employees.

After the distribution of each newsletter, I

questioned many employees about specific articles and found
that most did not know what was said in the articles.
While the survey results indicated that most information
was received by the monthly newsletter, with significantly
more employees relying on the newsletter than any other
form of communication, observations in the study found that
face-to-face sharing of the information in the newsletter
occurred immediately after its distribution.
Each worker is responsible for reading the Job Board
(which

lists

their

assigned

job

for

the

shift),

the

bulletin boards, the foreman*s log book, and speaking with
the worker preceding his shift and following it.
to Daft and Lengel
supposed to

be

According

(1986) face-to-face communication is

the

preferred

method

for

information

gathering "because it provides immediate feedback so that
interpretation can be checked", (p. 560)

The workers would

often gather at picnic tables before and during shifts to
share information.

It was often expressed that the workers

wished the president of the company would come around the
shops more often,
attended

during

His monthly "up-date" meetings were well
the

seven

month

study.

The

highest

84
possible score was

given to the monthly newsletter as the

information source most used by the employees to gain
information about the company (See chart p. 89).
highest

score

among

hourly

workers

on

The next

communication

channels was given to fellow employees, with lower scores
given to communication with the CEO and foremen.

85
The following questions from the survey were keyed to
indicate what information sources were most often used by
the employees.

SURVEY QUESTIONS
Keyed to Information Sources

Question 10-1 get most of my information about the company
from the bulletin boards and newsletter.

Question 11-1 get most of my information about the company
from my monthly meetings with Mr. —

(CEO)

Question 12--I get most of my information about the company
from my fellow workers.

Question 13-1 do not get the information I need about
performing my job from my foreman.

86

DATA FROM SURVEY QUESTIONS:
Related to Information Sources

**Comparison/More or less than three years of employment:
Hourly
Less

Salary
More

Less

More

*Desired Score

Q. 10

4

3.73

2.71

2.86

5

Q. 11

3

3.08

3.41

2.76

5

Q. 12

3

3.31

3.06

2.62

5

Q. 13

3

3.02

2.06

2.35

1

♦Desired Score indicates what the score would be if perfect
agreement or disagreement with answers to the question
were given.

The term "Desired" is used to indicate the

desired score for the interests of the company, and not any
pre-determined answer which was sought by the researcher.
**The categories of Hourly and Salaried indicate selected
difference in production workers (Hourly) and management
workers (Salary).

All employees are have equal "ownership"

in the company, but different attitudes might exist because
of different job functions.
employment or

less

The division of three years of

relates

company has been an ESOP.

to

the

length of

time the

Differences in attitudes may

exist because of this factor.

87
Although the workers indicated that they got most of
their information from the printed articles, it may be that
by sharing information in face to face meetings with fellow
employees at group meeting places, the true meaning was
worked out.

As Darroch and Silvers (1982) state:

the

interpretive

understanding

of

another's

experience requires that we look to the truth and
wisdom expressed in that other*s view as a practical
feature to which knowing may be applied ... We look
instead to the unstated foundation from which people
experience
occasion,
through

and embrace the

immediate world of

an unstated foundation which we
constructing

a

generous

an

located

conceptualization

which retains the good sense and the reasonableness of
their expressed meanings (p. 242).
Significantly lower scores were given to the monthly
up-date by the CEO among the salaried workers, with higher
scores being given to information gathered from immediate
superiors

(See

chart

p.

89) .

These

results

may

be

attributable to the fact that the salaried workers are more
often

in

face-to-face

contact

with

both

the

CEO

and

supervisors since they are housed in the same building with
them, and hourly workers seldom interact with these people
in face-to-face situations,

Lower scores were also given

to the newsletter and bulletin boards by this group.

This

88
also seems to reinforce the comments that workers wished
for more face-to-face interaction with superiors,
there was

a box placed in the shop areas

While

for written

questions which were promised to be responded to by the
CEO, workers expressed dissatisfaction with this method,
and seldom used it as an information source.

Comments were

often given about the fact that production workers felt
that the CEO needed to "walk around and talk to people”.
The following graph of the results of the data from
the chart on page 85 indicate the areas preferred by the
workers as information sources.

It indicates that both

salaried and hourly workers are not obtaining information
through the channels the company thinks they are getting
them from.
updates

on

The assumption is that employees get daily
Bulletin

Boards,

and

from

their

immediate

superiors (either informally or in weekly meetings),

The

monthly newsletter and CEO updates are to fill in the gaps
and answer questions which might have come up.

INFORMATION

89

More/Less than three years employment

Desire'I

90

Bulletin boards

are present

in all

areas

of

the

company.

There are over forty in the shop area alone.

Important

memos,

the

newsletter

information are posted here.

and

other

important

Although I checked these

often, I had trouble finding notifications of things which
I

knew

were

supposed

to

be

posted,

It

is

the

responsibility of all employees to read the bulletin boards
(this

responsibility

is

covered

in

the

new

employee

induction materials), but supervisors were often told to
remind employees to read the boards.

Some of the notices

that were posted were several years old,

and some even

contained the letterhead of the company who formerly owned
EFS.
Memos are used mostly by the management personnel
(Appendix F).

Some of these are posted on bulletin boards

for general communication needs, but most are distributed
within the in-house mailing system.
announced

meetings,

upcoming

The memos most often

deadlines,

reminders

company policies and status reports about customers.

of
The

most attention seemed to be given to reminders of company
policies.

I would often hear about the memos from the

hourly workers before I had managed to see a posting.
Often these memos were viewed by the hourly work force as
a reprimand.

Since the head of the department responsible

for the posting was female, the comments about the memos

91
often were shaded with sexual references even though the
memos were often not originated by her.

FEELINGS OF OWNERSHIP
The

company

approximately

has

three

been owned by the
years,

so

ownership and commitment have
1993:4)).

Conflicting

the

initial

lessened

graffiti

employees

and

effects

for
of

(Logue & Cross,
comments

about

ownership reveal that the culture has not yet developed
into an ownership climate.

During the acquisition by the

employees, no major event occurred to signal a change to
the culture.

The management personnel and daily routines

have remained mostly the same as when the employees did not
own the

company.

Some

symbolic efforts were made to

demonstrate the change (i.e. the painting of EFS on the
tower,

the printing of "My Father Owns the Company" T-

shirts, and the landscaping day at the office complex by
all of the office personnel), but no major difference was
seen by the hourly workers.

This lack of a dramatic event

has given a "business as usual" notion to the workers.

No

major event took place, and the leadership did not indicate
any major change in philosophy regarding their core vision
and mission.

Many of the other signs of unstable contexts

were also indicated.

As owners, the employees displayed

confusion about the company, and its activities.

92

Survey Questions
Keyed to feelings of ownership

Question 1-The job I do is important to the success of this
company.

Question 2-1 care about the survival of this company.

Question 3-Employee owners at this company work hard at
their jobs.

Question 4-1 do not feel like a real owner in this company.

Question

5-The

employee

important factor

stock

ownership

plan

is

an

in my decision to work for this

company.

Question 17-Employee ownership has been a good change for
this company.

Question

19-People

in

this

company

work

together

to

accomplish a job.

Question 20-This company can be successful in the future.

93

Data From Survey Questions
Related to feelings of ownership

Comparison/More or less than three years of employment:
Salary

Hourly
Less

More

Less

More

Desired Score

Q.l

4

4.34

4.71

4.5

5

Q•2

5

4.6

4.88

4.81

5

Q-3

3.01

3

3.03

3

5

Q•4

4

3.78

3.06

2.7

1

Q.5

3

3.25

3.53

3.22

1

Q.17

3

3.47

3.71

Q.19

2.47

3

Q .20

4

3.95

4.16

5

2.59

2.88

5

4.06

4.24

5

EELING OF OWNERS
Comparison Hourly/Salary:by service
6

5

fW
.

-

'i

J!&
.

mI
m

m

3
I

0

iHi

■

u:;

01

lii
i

: S|

i

!

:

!

HLJj HL- LL
Ql

J Hourly loss

I lif

a i

i11
2

i

:

□

Q2

Hourly-more

Li

Q3
I Salary - less

95
The data indicate a strong agreement with the feelings
of caring about the survival of the company and its future
success, as indicated in questions 2 and 20 (graph on page
91).

The extremely negative responses to question 4 ("i do

not feel

like a real owner of this company.")

seem to

indicate that a feeling of ownership has not developed.
The relatively neutral answers to questions 5 and 17 ("The
employee stock ownership plan is an important factor in my
decision to work for this company." & "Employee ownership
has been a good change for this company.")

also seem to

indicate lack of a feeling ownership.

NEED FOR ESOP EDUCATION
Rosen, Kline & Young (1986) have stated that one of
the measurable independent variables in ESOP participation
In their survey of 37 corporations

is worker influence.

having over 2,000 employees,

three main variables were

listed as significantly positive to employee participation.
These

factors

are

as

follows:

full

voting

rights,

a

relatively substantial ESOP communication program, and a
management philosophy which is firmly committed to employee
ownership.

Although they admit that these measures are

necessarily more speculative and interpretive, there is a
clearly positive relationship between these three factors
and employee satisfaction with ownership.

96
In this study, there is a clear response to the need
for

employee

education

and

its

communication about the ESOP.

effect

on

improved

Many employees expressed a

lack of complete trust that the information they received
was sufficient, and a desire to obtain more education on
the operation of the company.

During the observation

period, I was often approached by individuals who stated
"Let me tell you how an ESOP should be run."

Often, these

explanations lacked any understanding of the laws which
pertain to the actual structure and function of ESOPS.
While

it

is

true

of

most

situations

that

the

information received is perceived not to be sufficient, the
establishment of an education program for all employees
would increase shared terminologies and help to foster a
better understanding of ownership roles.
The following questions from the survey were related
to education about the functioning of the ESOP company:

97

Survey Questions
Keyed to need for education

Question 6-1 feel I do not have a good understanding of our
employee stock ownership plan.

Question 7-1 have a good understanding of our company's
financial report.

Question 8-1 would be interested in attending an in house
class on the employee stock ownership plan.

Question 9-1 would be interested in attending an in house
class on understanding the financial report.

98

Data From Survey Questions
Related to a need for education on the ESOP

Comparison/More or less than three years of employment:
Hourly

Salary
Desired Score

Less

More

Less

More

Q-6

3

3.06

2.59

2.27

1

Q.7

3

2.63

3.82

3.49

5

Q•8

4

3.75

3.94

3.32

1

Q.9

4

3.75

3.88

3.08

1

.) FOR EDUCATION ABOUT THE [SO

\

)

COMPARISON-MORE/LESS THAN THREE YEARS
6

5

1

s
in
3

i

:
.1

I

?
L

1II

.£37

>

:1
!

m-:-

m

v> i

I
|
&

{

i •

i

li !'
i :

:
:

i

1

i

i

' !
'
:

;
■

I

■

-

i|
:• i

;

h
i
B—i£l

Q.6
HOIJRLY/LE cr
jj

! v

Q.7

m uoiiRi iAFEr

SALARY/LESS

DESIREI) ANSWER

SALARY/MORE

99

100
Except for question 10- "I get most of my information
about the company from the bulletin boards and newsletters”
(which

received

the

highest

negative

response

on

the

survey), the responses to the questions about classes about
the stock ownership plan and financial report (questions
eight and nine) showed the highest need by employees on the
survey.

These two questions seem to demonstrate a need for

education,
employees

especially
are

not

coupled with

getting

the

the

fact

information

that

the

from

the

newsletters and bulletin boards as the company assumes that
they are.

This fact is magnified by the observation during

the research that the information placed in these channels
is either

lacking or containing technical jargon which

interferes with the common understanding of all employees.
The establishment of a system to educate the employees
could help to eradicate some of these problems.
Although the survey indicates a higher agreement with
information being gained through

foremen and the CEO,

observations during the study of face-to-face sharing by
fellow employees and the "grapevine" seem to indicate that
these sources are actually relied upon more heavily than
the forma1 channe1s.

On several occasions misinformation

through the grapevine was presented to me about situations
occurring in the company,

On one occasion I was attempting

to get a release form signed by a supervisor.

I questioned

101
several people about his location, but was not able to
locate him until the next day.

Before finding him on that

day, I was approached by someone who stated that he heard
Mr.-

was hiring a

lawyer to

sue me.

There was no

foundation for this rumor, but it had been conveyed through
this

information

source

incorrectly.

Another

misrepresented story involved the "ramp" which was being
constructed to deliver scrap steel in a more efficient
manner to the railroad cars.

This project had to be

undertaken between reports from the CEO, and was the cause
for speculation by the "grapevine" for some time.

The

confusion should have been eliminated in conversations
between

the

foremen

and

workers,

but

many

stories

circulated before the issue was clarified at a monthly
update meeting by the CEO.

FEELINGS OF PARTICIPATION
This company has one of the most participative forms
of ESOP structure allowable under the laws, with three
members of the Board of Directors of the corporation being
selected by the employees, and all members having voting
rights.

In response to Question 25:

stock holder voting,

I participate in

102

VOTING PARTICIPATION
HOURLY
Less
Q.25

SALARY
More

Less

More

Total

NO

15

50

5

2

72

YES

9

49

12

34

104

17

36

176

TOTAL POSSIBLE

24

99

*Total does not include 4 "no responses" and two surveys
that were xerox copies of the original forms and were not
included.

Total survey response was 182.

A consistent comment was made about the desire for
more participation in the directly job related functions of
the

company.

Although they are aware of

and endorse

employee stock ownership, confirming Logue, et. al (1986),
the employees do not find that this factor alone makes
their job more satisfying,
harder.

or that it makes them work

Workers with less than three years of service

answered "3-no opinion" to Question 5-"The employee stock
ownership plan is an important factor in my decision to
work for this company",

If being employee owned were a

significant factor in job satisfaction, it would be likely
that a more positive response could have been expected to

103
been expected to this question,
job availability, etc.

While other factors like

play a factor in this question,

management's assumption of the importance of the ESOP as a
benefit plan is not positively relate to the reason for
employees obtaining and keeping jobs here.

Although the

answers to questions one, two and twenty indicate a strong
positive feeling of the importance of their jobs and caring
about

the

success

of

the

company,

the

survey

results

indicate a lack of positive feelings about the employees
being able to participate in and trust the decisions being
made about the daily running of the company.

104
Feelings about participation are also revealed in the
fo1lowing questions:

Survey Questions
Keyed to feelings of participation

Question 14-1 am not well informed about how the company is
run.

Question 15-What I have to say about work is listened to by
those above me.

Question 16-1 am not well informed about what goes on in
other parts of the company.

Question 18-Mv ideas and suggestions are not important to
this company.

Question 21-1 do not understand the gain sharing plan.

ouestion_22-I understand the profit sharing plan.

105

Data From Survey Questions
Related to feelings of participation

Comparison/More or less than three years of employment:
Salary

Hourly

More

Desired Score

Less

More

Less

Q.14

4

3.79

2.59

2.62

1

Q.15

2

2.48

3.65

3.30

5

Q.16

4

3.75

3.06

3.08

1

Q.18

3

3.25

2.41

2.14

1

Q.21

3

3.15

2.41

2.73

1

Q .22

3

2.89

3.41

3.78

5

LINGS OF PARTICIPATION
More/less-three years service

6

5

4

Desired answer

106

107
The data indicate a large discrepancy between the
desired response especially among the hourly workers.

This

discrepancy seems to be most prevalent among the newest
employees.
there is

Perhaps they have not been enculturated yet, or
an actual need for more formal education and

participation in the functioning of the company.

The data

seems consistent with past research indicating that few
companies
1991).

have established

"Theory O"

cultures

(Blasi,

The answer to Question 19-"People in this company

work together to accomplish a job."

should indicate a

feeling of participation in the company, yet all workers
answered in the "no-opinion" or lower categories.

This may

indicate an opinion that not all employees participate to
their abilities as perceived by others,

In spite of the

communication efforts of the management, the workers still
feel poorly informed about what is going on and that what
they have to say is not listened to.
Harrison

(1994),

organizations,
organizations.11

in her description of democratic

describes
She

ESOPs

states

as

Type

2

democratic

that

they

may

best

be

"regarded as attempts to reproduce capitalist structures of
ownership among individuals of middle and working classes
These organizations are supposed to be
(p.263)."
characterized as rich in face-to-face interactions and
relatively high in their degree of social

integration.

108
However, since many Type 2 organizations are founded to
save failing bureaucracies,— "interaction patterns can be
considerably

more

similar

to

those

within

traditional

bureaucracies (p. 265)".
This organization seems to be following the typical
bureaucratic communication patterns,
given in the print form.
over

print

forms,

with

Most information is

Weekly meetings spend time going
little

verbal

exchange

being

conducted during the meeting, and mostly relying upon the
printed information which is passed out to all members of
the group.

After the formal meetings, verbal exchanges

seem to take place about the issues that really need to be
dealt with.
however,

These conversations are not a planned session;

and only happen after the meeting is formally

concluded.

The researcher noted that this seems to be the

most relevant exchange of information which takes place
about the needs of the company, as observed in the study.

109
CHAPTER IV

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This research paper involved an ethnographic study of
a three year old wholly employee owned corporation,

While

many of the early effects of becoming an ESOP corporation
have seemed to dissipated (Klein, 1987, Hammer & Stern,
1980),

the employees are still committed to ownership.

Since this was

a

"type

2"

(Harrison,

1994)

democratic

organizational attempt created to save a failing business,
there

remains

a

commitment

organizational structure.

to

the

usual

bureaucratic

Since the ultimate competitive

advantage in today's business environment rewards those
corporations

who

can

consistently

make

high-quality

decisions with less than adequate information and little
time for discussion.

Bureaucratic organizational hierarchy

is efficient, while democratic decision making may be time
consuming.

Therefore,

Gorden's

question "is modern

(or

postmodern) capitalism really compatible with democracy?"
(P-

281)

sets

the

frame

for

the

ideal

of

democratic

organizations in the light of survival.
Long (1982) advises that the most important factor in
improved employee attitudes and increased organizational
effectiveness. He warns that: "

.

. empirical evidence

suggests that without changes in traditional patterns of

110
participation employee ownership will not have the desired
effects” (p. 197).
The commitment to the former bureaucratic structural
forms seems to be hindering the flow of information to the
now "owners” of this company.

The company is using the

standard print forms of communication, and the employees
are exhibiting dissatisfaction with the results,

There is

an observed need for developing different means for sharing
information,

as well as a need for greater sharing of

terminologies so that information can be shared in a more
efficient and accurate manner.
Employee

Ownership

(1991)

The National Center for

suggests

more

face-to-face

communications should be considered. "Generally, face-toface communication is the most effective,

and computer

printouts of numbers with no or little explanation are the
least effective methods of communicating.” (National Center
for Employee Ownership, 1991, p. 12.)

There also seems to

be a need for more upward as well as downward message flow,
Gordon

providing more feedback for management.

(1994)

suggests a possible solution is to promote dialogue.
three

step

opportunities

process
for

involves

employees

to

(1)

His

equalization

of

speak their minds,

(2)

promotion of empathy for differing ideas,

opinions and

world-views, and (3) the manner by which life experiences
are expressed. "Equal opportunity to voice one's concerns,

Ill
however, appears to be a fundamental premise of employeeowned companies."

(Gordon,

1994, p.

295)

The National

Center for Employee Ownership (1991) suggests four areas to
consider improving for effective communications.

They are:

1) have both parties try to view a situation from the
other's perspective,
2) employ varied media and be continuous,
3) provide feedback, and
4) provide multiple ways to allow effective
subordinate-initiated communications, (sic, p.14)
There seems to be a high level of commitment by the
employees to the company and a feeling that the company can
be a success. This is indicated by both the high scores on
the survey and observed comments during the study.

There

still remains a general desire for more participation in
the job related functions of the company.

Plans need to be

considered to give greater involvement by employees in this
area if job satisfaction is to be increased.
1986; Rosen et. al •

/

1986; Blasi, 1987; GOA, 1987; Klein,

1987; Bell, 1988; Stern, 1989)
that

"employees

(Quarrey,

are most

Rosen et. al • 9 (1986) found

satisfied when management

is

actively committed both to employee ownership and to worker
participation" (p. 103).
most

Eisenberg (1994) comments that:
contemporary

organizations

are

experimenting with some form of increased employee

112
participation and involvement,

These changes are well

reflected in the popular press, but .

.

. academic

theory and research have lagged behind practice. (P276)
As research catches up with practice, more efficient means
for

sharing

in

democratic

organizations

will

be

established.
While the company*s management team and mission are
only presently being formulated, Mohan’s warnings about
stable cultural formulations should be heeded.

Subcultural

elements need to be included to provide for a truly shared
"vision".

Symbolic restructuring of the culture needs to

be planned to incorporate organization-wide participation
and consent.

Plans for management to spend time in non-

authoritative atmospheres for fostering exchange of ideas
will help to shape a shared corporate vision.

The shaping

of this corporate vision should include the education of
all members by formulating well structured communication
plans,

which

transmission.
needs

to

be

will

help

guarantee

accurate

message

The establishment of shared terminologies
included in this

plan,

An analyses

and

restructuring of the communication channels will be an
important change at EFS.
Establishment of

a better system for posting and

monitoring Bulletin Boards seems to be indicated.

The

113
survey showed a high dependency on this information source,
but it was found to be an inadequate source to meet the
needs of the employees,

The information posted there was

either out-dated or missing,

Bulletin boards should be

purged of all out-dated information and letter heads, and
the EFS symbolism should be established to promote the
corporate image.

Rotation of the responsibilities for

posting notices might provide more inclusion of all staff
members.
Since EFS team sports are important to many employees,
an area should be set aside to keep all trophies and awards
on display.

Perhaps in the newly created education room.

The walls of this room could be used to display past and
present memorabilia.
A new format for the company newsletter, containing
more shared terminologies is also indicated by the observed
lack of understanding of the articles by many members of
the organization,

Soliciting contributions of articles

from all employee levels might help to establish guidelines
for

the

content of

the

newsletter,

The new computer

software available on today*s market could make production
and distribution of the newsletter less time consuming.
Contributions of art work and shared jokes might help to
make it more "real" to all employees. Results from team
sports could also be included, with the head of each team

114
presenting results to be added to the newsletter.
A

need

for

functioning of

education

ESOPs

is

about

the

structure

indicated by both

the

and

survey

results and the comments made to the researcher during the
study.

A program for educating the employees was being

planned at the time of the study,

but no data on the

objectives or results of this program were available during
the study.
included

It would be helpful if these classes also
instruction

relations,
making.

in

communications

the

areas

skills

of

interpersonal

and teamwork

decision

There is a demonstrated need for education about

the working procedures and needs of all department in the
corporation
expressed

among
its

acknowledged

the

employees

uniqueness

that

in

they had

no

Each

its

department

comments,

idea what

but

also

it was

like

elsewhere in the plant.
More
established.

face-to-face

offs

needs

to

be

This communication needs to be informal and

non-threatening.
print

communication

could

The use of electronic mail and computer
expedite

formal

meeting

situations.

Meetings need to be planned to include less print forms,
and more exchange of conversations.
More MBW (Management by Walking Around) is desired by
most of the production employees,

The CEO is respected for

his vision in leading the company to the accomplishment of

115
its ESOP foundation,

This fact should be utilized to

promote company unity.

Although it is time consuming, the

benifits of the CEO spending time on the shop floor would
increase perceived ownership.
employee owned culture,

For EFS to become a truly

demonstrations of commitment to

employee ownership ideals must seen.

The use of a voice

mail system for comments and suggestions to the CEO might
prove fruitful in saving time for the CEO, and also provide
for

the

inclusion

of

opinions

from

the

sub-cultures.

Answers to the voice mail could be included in the monthly
update by the CEO.
There is a need for creation of a feeling of unity and
shared vision for the corporation.
which

are

vision.

Events and celebrations

carefully planned could help establish

this

Many workers feel isolated in their job functions,

and there is a need to establish inclusion to provide for
unity of vision.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
One of the complicating factors in conducting this
study was the difficulty in obtaining information on ESOP
research,
readily

The information which has been compiled is not
available

in

libraries,

purchased by the researcher•
further researchers.

and

much

had

to

be

This is a major obstacle for

Blasi (1992) comments upon the lack

116
of easy access to these materials.

Although some ESOP

centers have been created, the focus of these groups is
upon the corporate world, and little attempt has been made
to make their research available to academics.
Since the only current research on ESOP culture seem
to be Mohan (1993) and Harrison's (1994) work, there is a
vast area of ESOP cultural research yet to be explored by
further researchers.

The surge of new companies within the

last ten years may provide areas for these researchers to
investigate.

According to a personal conversation with

North East Ohio Employee Ownership Center in August of
1994, there are currently 10,000 ESOP companies with over
2,000,000 employees in them.
of

these

new

cultures

Exploration of the formation

offer

researcher to investigate.

areas

for

communications

117
END NOTES
1.Data from a personal conversation with the North East Ohio
Employee Ownership Center, August, 1994.
2.For a more complete detail of these and related acts,
Employee ownership resource guide. 1993. 84-89.

see

3.For an in-depth« explanation of the establishment and functioning
of ESOPs, see: Adelson, S. J.
& Berka, J. W. (1991). Employee
stock ownership plans.
Houlihan, Lockey, Howard & Zurkin, Inc.
Financial Services, Los Angeles, CA.
4.For sources of information on ESOP assistance consult Bell
(1988), Appendix A & B, the National Center for Employee Ownership,
2201 Broadway, Suite 807, Oakland, CA 94612-3024 or The ESOP
Association of America, 1100 17th Street, NW, Suite 1207,
Washington, DC 20036.
5.Statistics reported are based upon a personal conversation with
the Northeast Ohio Employee Ownership Center, August, 1994.
6.For further readings on participant observation, see: G.McCall &
Simmons (1969). Issues in participant observation: a text and
reader, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
7.For a detailed discussion of this and the other psychoanalytical
J.C.
(1989).
Hunt,
aspects of ethnographic study see:
Psychoanalytic aspects of fieldwork. Newbury Park: Sage.
8. Information taken from personal interviews of Company executives „
and long time employees.
9.For an excellent analysis of humor in a shop setting, see:
Boland, R. J. & Hoffman, R. Humor in a machine shop. In Pondy, et
al. (1983). Organizational Symbolism.
10.For a complete analysis of the history of steel, see Fisher, D.
A (1963). The epic of steel. New York: Harper & Row. Also,
Wertime, T. A. (1962).
The coming of the age of steel...
Netherlands: University of Chicago Press.
Pon an insightful evaluation of Democratic Organizations see.
Harrison, T. (1994).
Communication and interdependence in
democratic organizations. In Communication Yearbook 17, pp. 247274.

118
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131

APPENDIX

Appendix A

132
"THEORY O"

The personal commitment of the person at the top of the
organization is essential.

A set of written values embodying your commitment to
employee ownership is an important starting point.

Symbols of
important.

how

everyone

is

treated

as

an owner

are

The people who have the most expertise about an area should
be the ones making decisions about it.

If employees are to participate in decision-making, they
need training to develop necessary skills.

Information should be shared not just from the top down but
from the bottom up as well

Participative decisions take more time to make but less
time and effort to implement.

There are no pat formulas for implementing the ownership
What works for one company may not work for
theory.
another, or even for the same company at different stages
of its development.

Taken from Beyond Taxes

(1991), page 37

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APPENDIX C
134

SURVEY
PLEASE CHECK ONE ANSWER FOR EACH QUESTION
1-STRONGLY DISAGREE

1.

3

4

5

2

3

4

5

2

3

4

5

I do not feel like a real owner in this company.
1

5.

2

Employee owners at this company work hard at their jobs

1

4.

5-STRONGLY AGREE.

I care about the survival of this company.
1

3.

3-NO OPINION 4-AGREE

The job I do is important to the success of this company.
1

2.

2-DISAGREE

2

3

4

5

The employee stock ownership plan is an important factor in my
decision to work for this company.
2

6.

3

4

5

I feel I do not have a good understanding of our employee
stock ownership plan.
2

7.

3

4

5

I have a good understanding of our company's financial report.
2

3

4

5

135

8.

X would be interested in attending an in house class on
the employee stock ownership plan.
2

9.

3

4

5

I would be Interested in attending an in house class on
understanding the financial report.
2

10.

3

4

5

I get most of my information about the company from the
bulletin boards and newsletter.

11.

5

4

3

2

I get most of my information about the company from my monthly
meeting with Mr. Concoby.

12.

5

4

3

2

I get most of the information about the company from my fellow
i

worker*•
i

2

13.

3

5

4

I do not get the information I need about performing my
job from my foreman.
2

3

4

#•

5

136

PLEASE CHECK ONE ANSWER FOR EACH QUESTION,
1-STRONGLY DISAGREE 2-DISAGREE 3-NO OPINION 4-AGREE 5-STRONGLY AGREE

14.

I an not well informed about how the company Is run.
2

15.

3.

4

5

What I have to say about work is listened to by those above
i

me.
2

16.

3

4

5

I am not well informed about what goes on in other parts of
the company.
2

17.

3

4

5

Employee ownership has been a good change for this
company.
2

18.

5

3

4

5

People in this company work together to accomplish a job.
2

20.

4

Hy ideas and suggestions are not important to this company.
2

19.

3

3

4

5

This company can be successful in the future.
2

3

4

5

137

21.

I do not understand the gain sharing plan.
2

3

4

5
i

22.

I understand the profit sharing,plan.
2

3

4

5

PLEASE CHECK YES OR NO

I read the company newsletter.

yes

no

I read the bulletin boards.

yes

no

I participate in stock holder voting.

yes

no

Number of years with the company.

more than three years,

Age

18 — 25

26---- 35

36---- 45

Please check

three years or less

46---- 55

55---- Over

APPENDIX D
138

INTERVIEW RELEASE FORM

^
conducting research on communication in Employee Stock
Ownership Plan Corporations (ESOP's) to better understand how they
differ from traditional corporations.
My proposed study has been reviewed and approved by the Human
Subjects Review Board of Edinboro University.
I am asking for
volunteers to take part in the study, and would like you to take
part in the study. Your involvement is entirely voluntary and you
will not be penalized in any way for not volunteering.
Your
involvement is an undetermined amount of time starting in April,
1993 and lasting for five months. You may be periodically asked
questions during that time to help me learn about your work place.
You have a right to full and complete information about this
project. If you decide to participate, you are free to stop at any
time without penalty of any sort.
Information on Edinboro
University policy and procedures for research involving human
subjects can be obtained from the Human Subjects Review Board,
Development and Planning Office. Administration Building, Edinboro
University of Pennsylvania, 16444.
For this project you will be asked to do the following:
* Fill out a questionnaire-the information from which will be
shared as final totals only.
* Answer questions about your job and how it relates to the
functioning of your company.
* Relate stories you remember about your job and the company.
The final data will be shared with all participants in a not
yet determined, but appropriate manner. The benefits to you will be
a better understanding of the functioning of Erie Forge and Steel
All of the
and how it functions as an ESOP corporation,
information gathered in this study will be kept confidential in the
following manner:
Every effort will be made to disguise the
sources of any particular information. My interest is not in
individuals, but in the organization as a whole.
All data and
notes will be kept by me solely for the purpose of this study.
I and others listed below will answer any questions you may
have regarding procedures or any other aspects of the study.
Betsy Fogarty
(814) 866-9342

Dr. Kathleen Golden
(814) 732-2528

139

ESOP STUDY INTERVIEW RELEASE FORM

I have been briefed by the project director in detail on this
project and understand what my participation involves. I agree to
participate with the understanding that I may withdraw at any time.

Date

Subject's Signature

Witness Statement:
I have witnessed the consent process and believe that the
subject has been fully informed, understands the project and
his/her role, and has agreed to voluntarily participate.

Date

Signature of Witness

APPENDIX e

WHAT’S

COIN ci n n
03/22/93

****

9

increasing our sell price to cover the increased cost of our raw materials,
energy and health care. „ We must continue to -look for ways to*.lower our
overall cost of operation..The-bankruptcy plan of reorganization has been
filed for Edgewater and a preliminary hearing is now scheduled for April 14.
The final hearing should be held in mid-June.
operations

(by

) • • • • With

volume continuing to be low through
the Forge and Heat Treat Departments in February, departmental variances for
February were disappointing,
although Melt,
Finish, Roughing and
N.D.T. /Inspection had their best performance for several months,
Volume
throughout the shop should show improvement in March. Error and Defects were
high in February, in part due to the problems'we have experienced in the.Melt
Shop. This will have a direct effect on our gainsharing performance. Melt
backlog continues to be strong, although commercial component work continues
to be almost non-existent except for back-up rolls. The casting project with
Whemco continues to progress, and a decision should be reached in the next
few weeks on this being a definite go ahead project. Quality of product to
and
Edgewater.continues to improve, particularly with the efforts of I
in manning the Midwest Grinder so effectively. Cleanliness of the
shop is still not where it should be---- particularly in the Melt Shop Pit
and Forge Shop areas. A new Dresser Rand bulldozer was delivered to the Melt
Shop, two new small pear plates and three spacer plates. Twelve 16-1/2" x
240" molds will arrive in the month of April.
COMPONENT SALES (by
9 ... .Representatives from EFS will . be
attending a seminar hosted by NAVSEA on March 24 and 25, 1993. This seminar
is for all navy shaft manufacturers and concerns the policy parameters
demanded by NAVSEA, the difficulties with compliance and discussions on
various manufacturing procedures. We anticipate that the results of this
meeting will necessitate revisions to our present operation sequences.. .EFS
was awarded a contract by NAVSEA for 3 spare 688 class shaft assemblies.
Total contract is in excess of $2 million. .. .We will be meeting with General
Dynamics on March 26 to discuss our continued involvement with the navy s
composite shaft program. We expect an order will be let for a prototype
composite shaft by the end of this year:
STEEL SALES
fbv
Bookings for January finished at $2.6
;
million.
Year-to-date we have booked $10.8 million in steel Products.
Edgewater's bookings continued to run at $900,000/month. Booking leaders
were:
National Forge @ $100,000 of ingot,
® §370'000
Thyssen ® $220,000 of block, and Tube Supply § $150,000 of bar. Scot■
bought their first ingot from us and Brooker Brothers bought a truckload of,
billet, which is their first order from melt....Our bookings continue to b
strong in ingot, billet and block.
Our bar business has slowed down,
primarily due to U.S. Metalsource who is in the process of liquidating, We
win replace their business in time with alloy & tool steel bar.

Newsletter #75

-2-

141

03/22/93

gwrey/ma flaaaMfflao: r^y
•. - Production schedules for the fiscal
March call for the completion of 3 shipsets—DDG59, DDG61 & DDG62. Each tie
a shipset is completed, we are able to bill the customer for revenue that was
previously unbilled. In simpler terms, completing a shipset generates extra
cash. Completing 3 shipsets within the same month will provide a substantial
boost to our cash flow. As of this writing DDG59 is complete, and DDG62 is
finishing up in final- inspection.
The . 2 remaining shafts on DDG61 are
receiving careful attention by all involved in their processing. In addition
to the DDG shipset completions, we completed and shipped 2 Trident shafts on .
sales order 6797'which allowedus to bill General- Dynamics over -$200,000 on
a milestone billing....Production Planning and Operations have been working
together to implement capacity planning techniques in the machine shop.
Preliminary results suggest that this will be a powerful 'tool for us, with
the ultimate result being improved customer service and better throughput.. .
.. .Information Systems has been working to improve our computer response
time.
We purchased and installed additional memory which had a positive
•impact.
In addition, after studying the data collection "out" punch, we
determined that it could be improved by a rewrite which was completed and
installed during the first week of March. Further response time, improvements ’
are now in the planning stage.
«'•
QUALITY ASSURANCE
(by
.. .Westinghouse-Cheswick will be in on
March 25-26 for an audit of our Quality Assurance System.
There is an
opportunity for 6 more shell & flanges. ABS/GE will be in on April 1 for a
routine audit of our QA system... .EFS audited 3 of our' suppliers in March:'
Sandusky -Foundry, Dyson Corp. and American Hollow Boring. All 3 continue to
be approved vendors.... The current waiver dollars are holding steady at $1.1 .
million, with the YTD average at $1.6 million. This is down from 1992’s
average of $2.1 million... .One heat of 410 stainless steel for Viking
Metallurgical Corp. has been processed with acceptable heat qualification
tests. A second heat has been melted, with a third heat to follow. We have
unsuccessfully melted several heats trying to meet the customer's minimum
quantity requirements for this order. There is a potential for approximately
1 million more pounds of 410 stainless to be purchased by Viking, depending
upon our material's quality and whether we can meet delivery requirements!
HEALTH AMD SAFETY (by
j .. • • In the first quarter of 1993, we have
sustained 31 lost days due to shop injury. All of those days are due to one
accident.
Our goal for the 1st quarter is to hold our days lost due to
injury below 65. With less than 2 weeks remaining, it appears that we'll
meet the goal and all shop employees will be awarded a portable first aid
kit___ Recently placed in the melt & forge departments are 5' x 6' water gel
burn blankets.
These blankets were put in place for the treatment of
traumatic burns. They are far superior to the older petroleum-based burn
dressings. Rapid application of these blankets to a burn victim reduces the
severity of their burns and does not require the debriding process that was
necessary with the older style dressings.
They also have the ability to
&
suppress burning clothing when applied. Thanks to
for this life-saving ideal___ Many of the dispensary visits lately have been
due to foreign bodies in eyes. A reminder that proper eye protection must
be worn at all times. The gift of sight is precious, so do all you can to
maintain it • • • • and remember • • •

SAFETY-SAFELY: THE WAY TO BE IN 1993!

w

Newsletter #75

-3-

03/22/93

pUMAN RESOURCES
(by
• • • • Welcome to ____
, melt shop
general foreman, and
/ ESR melter who have joined the company
recently • • • • Happy 20th shop anniversary this month to
and
fe. May you have many more!....The bloodmobile was here on March
16th« We .donated 17 pints of blood • The van will return on July 8th • • • •
• • • • Our 3 free counselling sessions through our Empldyee Assistance Program
are now available to immediate family membefrs. if you, your spouse, or your •
children havejprobidms Tof any kind, please feel free to callat
—tor - a confidential appointment.'.. .2 MOTES f 7OR -YOUR.. PLANNIUG,PURPOSESj .'The;.plant' and offices will be closed on Monday,' July 5th, in'
celebration of the 4th of July holiday.-.. .-.Secondly, vacation pay-will only
be paid , when vacation time off is taken. . Unused vacation will be paid on
November 15th. Therefore, there.will Joe no. vacation checks'issued to people
who work during shutdown. This is different than the last couple of years,
but it's in accordance with the contract...."Over-the-hill" birthdays this
on the 29th, and
on the 25th,
month include
on the 30th • • • • Don't forget the company bowling tournament that's
scheduled for April 3rd. Please turn in your entry & money
by
___ to
WJtB
sons did well .
and
.Wednesday, March 24th • • • «
was on the county
bn their high school wrestling teams.
’''placed 3rd in the sectionals.
championship team and
Congratulations!.... Finally, just a reminder to all — April 9th, (Good
Friday) is not a holiday for us.
TO THINK ABOUT:
it today.”

"The vay to have a better tomorrow is to start vprfcing on

;

i

i

143

GROWING

up IS

/•
\•

1

; use drugs in order to escape from
unpleasant emotions or feel more ' ■*. / .
confident—particularly if they often ! r
; . feel shy or insecure about how they . i\.
/look and act.
4

/

i

■n'
••

• Fa* ■ ■—zr^r—

* 1 ;•

■C/T-4

ru

i; :

HARD TO
DO
i

m '

K'i.r ,

> What To Look For

i

f;'.:

I.

*

V-:VV-.

Here are some symptoms to watch *
for if you believe your teenager may ■
v be using drugs: '

* :*•

/ Discipline problems, constant
,
arguing, lying and irresponsibH.:
'• ity.

Teens,
Drinking &
Drugs

✓ Isolation, secrecy and less
involvement in family activities.
: ,/ • *

✓ New interests and friends—
especially older friends.

/ Bad grades or poor school
More than ever children face great
attendance.
pressure to try alcohol and other
. / Hyperactivity, drowsiness or
drugs. Whfle some parents believe
forgetfulness.
that alcohol is less dangerous than
drugs, die truth is that alcohol is a
drug, and it is the drug of choice for ‘ / Depression or mood swings.
most teens. By educating yourself
✓ Change in speaking patterns.
about teen drinking and drug use,
✓ Weight gain or loss, junk-food
you can help your teenager make
cravings.
wise decisions.
/ Bloodshot eyes, use of eyedrops
or incense, runny nose or coughWhere Drug Use Starts
ing.
Teenagers use drugs for many
/ Odd small containers in pockets
reasons. But their first notions
or purse.
about them may come from the be­
havior of their own families. To help
/ Money problems.
prevent them from abusing drugs,
parents need to provide teens with
✓ Alcohol drugs or possessions
plenty of love, good communication
disappearing from die house.
and calm and consistent standards
✓ Drug paraphernalia, such as
about drug and alcohol use. Even
pipes, papers and razor blades.
then, teens feel a need to fit in with
their peers. They may be influenced
✓ Needle marks.
by ads and news stories which
imply that everyone drinks or takes
✓ Tremors.
other drugs. Adolescence is a
✓ Hallucinations or delusions.
confusing time at best Some teens

To help prevent them from abusing . T*
drugs, parents need to provide teens '
with plenty of love, good
communication and calm and
consistent standards about drug and
alcohol use. ^

What To Do
Here are some steps you can take if
you believe'your teenager has a
drug or drinking problem.
✓ Learn more about alcohol, other
drugs and dependency.
✓ Find out about drug treatment
programs available to your teen
and your family.
✓ At a time when you can remain
calm and your teen is sober, talk
calmly and honestly about the
changes you see and about the
harmful consequences of drug
abuse. Talk about seeking treat­
ment together.
/ Do not shield your teen from die
effects of drug abuse.
/ Take good care of yourself. Get
plenty of rest Eat properly and
exercise.
/ Talk with other parents and join
a support group.

□

omo PMJCT MTCRKATOUi

A SERVICE OF YOUR EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
FOR CONFIDENTIAL ASSISTANCE PLEASE CALL
PHONE *

OR *

OR FOR EMERGENCIES

Or

APPENDIX f

EFS

ERIE FORGE AND STEEL, INC.

memorandum

144

September 6, 1990
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:

All Employees
Z
MEETING SCHEDULE FOR RETIREMENT SAVINGS (401K) PRESENTATION

On Monday and Tuesday, September 17 & 18, Mr.
__
from Marine Bank will be here to explain our retirement
savings and 401 (k) plans that will go into effect with the formation
of Erie Forge and Steel. It is extremely important that all
employees attend their scheduled meetings. At this time, you will
designate a beneficiary for your retirement savings plan; as well as,
receive a detailed explanation of the savings options for the
voluntary 401(k) plan. After the formal presentation, there will be
time for questions of a general nature about both plans.
Except as noted, all meetings will be held in the safety training
room. Please be prompt.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1990
8:00 a.m.

All salaried employees — in the board room.

9:30 a.m.

1/2-Finishing, Tool Room, and support people.

11:00 a.m.

1/2-Finishing, Tool Room, and support people.

1:30 p.m.

Shipping, welding, yard, stores, H.T • 9 inspection.
met lab, instrumentation, all local 3186.

3:00 p.m.

All 2nd Shift

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1990
6:00 a.m.

All 3rd Shift

7:30 a.m.

Forge, Melt*, and any 1st shift employees who did not
attend on the 17th (please notify your supervisor that
you are attending).

9:00 a.m.

Maintenance, Roughing and Boring

♦Melt employees may attend at 6:00 a.m. if work schedule permits.