Coping with Occupational Structure Issues at Large Public Industrial Organizations

Any large industrial organization is confronted with problems of the appropriate occupational structure and size of its work force: appropriate mix of skill groups and skill levels. The case study provided in this paper is concerned with the occupational structure problem as it related to the changing workload at a large U.S. Navy shipyard. The focus of the study is an examination of the methods to obtain a workforce mix consistent with the shipyard workload, particularly in the craft and trades areas where the production workers are located.