Also due to constraints imposed by the participating companies
and because of differences in organizational structures,
different demographic data were gathered for each firm. Respondents
from the printing company, the manufacturing
plant, and the telephone company identified their functional
departments. Respondents from the savings and loan and
telephone company identified their level (i.e., officer, manager,
supervisor, or nonsupervisor), age (by decade), and
tenure in the company. Respondents from the savings and
loan and the manufacturing plant identified whether they
were located at the home office or one of the branch offices,
and respondents from the telephone company listed their salaries.
In Howe's (1977) terms, functional department, home/
local office, and level are situation variables. Tenure is a
person-situation variable, and age is a person variable.
Data from company records allowed us to compare the demographics
of the respondents returning surveys with the
total population of each company. There were no significant
differences in age and tenure.