After the Second World War the British coal mining industry introduced tehcnically revolutionary methods of coal cutting. THe industry was re-equpped with expensive machinery. Being now a much more capital-intensive industry its economic performance depended very much upon high utilization of the coal cutters, converyers, and powered supports. In the 1950s Lord Robens, then Chairman of the National Coal Board, was concerned that so many miners were working four shifts instead of the regulation five, and absenteeisim was a public issue. A newspaper recorded the following exchange between the Chairman of the Board and one working miner: Lord Robens — Tell me, why do your regularly work four shifts instead of the regulation five? Miner — I’ll tell you why I regularly work four shifts; it’s because I can’t quite manage on the money I earn in three.
P.B. Checkland, Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, 1981, p. 216. An anecdote that illustrates the radically different perceptions of the nature of the mine in which they worked.
