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Claims that the most important demands on managers in sociotechnical organized systems with more or less autonomous work groups are generally that they must have a basic trust in their subordinates and their capacity and development potential, that they must be able to set goals for the activities within the groups and let the group members be responsible for the fulfilment of the production target and thus give up exercising a detailed control over the job procedure, and that they must realize the necessity to provide the group members with all kinds of basic data which are needed for the decision making within the group. At the transition from a traditional to a group‐based organization, the manager must display a real commitment as change agent during the whole implementation period.

The project Users Demands on CNC‐Lathes, commenced in 1988, is examined. The project′s main object was to contribute to an increase in the empirically‐based knowledge of the new demands involved in management, organisation and the operators′ job content along with the design of hard‐and software that new technology brings about. The study was carried out at 29 plants whose production is based mainly on CNC lathes. Findings as to the role and impact of management in connection with the new technology are the main focus.

In 2009, the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) celebrates its 15th anniversary and its precursor, the UK OMA, its 25th anniversary. The purpose of this paper is to review the origins and foundations of today's EurOMA and how it has progressed to being a vibrant and successful organisation.

The review draws on archived documents, especially newsletters and board minutes, as well as memories of all of those involved.

The review shows an important evolution from two groups of like minded individuals, through building annual conferences and brings these together as one. It then shows how it has evolved both through formalisation of its activities, building international links and, most importantly, developing a portfolio of activities to develop and support young researchers.

Where records are not available, the paper draws on individual memories of events from a long time ago.

As well as providing an invaluable record, it can provide a model for the development of similar organisations.

In pace with an increasing awareness of the negative effects, both in terms of productivity and social aspects, of taking the division of work and specialization too far, the question concerning transfer of maintenance work from the maintenance unit to the operators has increasingly been focused. Discusses the factors that exert an influence on the design of the interface between operation and maintenance as well as the implications of different design alternatives, in terms of different aspects of productivity and job satisfaction in three highly mechanized production units (one producing disposable napkins and two vehicle components) within two Swedish companies. The case studies demonstrate that creating well‐defined areas of responsibility, placing overall responsibility for maintenance in the hands of one individual and establishing direct contacts between operators and repairmen are measures that exert a positive influence on productivity. In addition, the case studies show the necessity of linking the design of the maintenance work to the operator′s overall work situation and competence level, and that operator competence is an important factor for attaining productivity and job satisfaction.