A longitudinal study of communication in research: Technical and managerial influences

A number of variables were examined with respect to technical communication patterns in a research and development laboratory in the authors´ initial investigation. Observed changes in technical assignment and administrative control were noted in three of the groups studied. Generally, the immediate response of a group of engineers to administrative change was to retain the communication patterns prior to the change. Changed technical missions resulted in less communication for a change group than for stable groups. Project teams depended upon links with the functional groups to which the engineers were previously assigned. A second study, eighteen months later, provides important data regarding the effects of change on technical communication patterns. The time lapse was sufficient for the administrative change groups to restructure their technical information patterns into self-contained entities.