Eric Trist was a psychologist, social scientist, and a leading figure in the field of organizational development. He was a founding member of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London and spent many years in United States academia. This book delves into Trist's life to examine the evolution of his work and how he applied social science theory, knowledge, and methods to the organization of working life and its management. Richard Trahair outlines Trist's socio-technical theory of organization and how it applies to the turbulent environment that modern managers face. Trahair begins with Trist's educational career in England and his attitude toward American and English education. He also describes Trist's work to improve the United Kingdom's Army's method of selecting men for officer training in wartime, and his role in the establishment of the Civil Resettlement Units in England. In place of the traditional technology-driven bureaucracy of industry, Trist recommended that social science researchers help reorganize industries on socio-technical lines. Trist provided convincing evidence that organizations dominated by traditional attitudes were inefficient and unsatisfactory. He made it clear that seeing workers as little more than costly extensions of machines and the industrial environment as nothing but a set of competitive market forces seriously limited potential for growth.

Two tales of misadventure and crime, illustrating the role of both a church organ and its player and also of a lay Justice of the Peace, drawn from the author’s experiences in both title roles. In ‘The Organist’, a well-known elderly organist slumps into a coma while giving a recital to a packed church audience. The regular organist, a mysterious young lady, has vanished. In a plot that sweeps from a country town in England to the Rock of Gibraltar, the stakes could not be higher after nefarious plans which could lead to an international crisis are uncovered. ‘The Magistrate’ is an adventure tale of kidnap and revenge. When the Justice becomes the victim of a man who holds some kind of grudge against him, he unwisely pursues his own investigation. Contrasting characters then emerge to demonstrate the avenues open to magistrates to exercise common-sense justice while at the same time coping with the sorry state of the criminal justice system.

Richard Trahair shares an insider's experience of the wide-ranging 'goings on' in a large Church of England diocese in the south of England from the 1980s. As estate manager - Diocesan Property Secretary - for more than thirty years, he reflects on the astonishing range of characters he worked alongside, and the diverse buildings and land for which he was responsible. Richard delves into the nature of a parsonage house, its parish loyalties, and the keen controversy over selling the grand old houses and replacing them with smaller ones so that the impoverished clergy and their families can at least keep warm. Both people and places were a heady mix of the delightful, the worthy, the curious and the downright eccentric. With encounters recounted that range from wacky and hilarious, to thought-provoking and historical, catch a glimpse into the life of a twenty-nine-year-old surveyor in a diocesan office dominated by retired military gentlemen, rattling around in a huge 15th century former city workhouse, as he grows into his role.

A dead body is discovered at the Cape by a local volunteer coastguard Watchkeeper who decides in a spirit of Cornish self-reliance to pursue his own investigation of the affair, which is baffling the local police. In the guise of holidaymakers, he and his slightly sceptical wife follow the clues to the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland where the pieces of the jigsaw begin to fall into place. Constantly misled through their innocent proximity to the crime scene they are under hot pursuit. With the Cornish police now closing in on the investigation, can the couple escape before the conspiracy can take effect?