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A useful starting point is to define the simple objectives of “innovative” rich pictures practices, and to contrast these with more “traditional” practices. Innovative practices, and their common objectives, include the following. Problem solving teams are aimed at involving production workers or other non-managerial workers in solving production problems. Rotation of workers across jobs is used to increase worker flexibility and increase teamwork. Careful screening and selection of workers is required to identify those who have both high level job- and task-related skills and also "team skills" to work together to solve problems.

Job security is used to assure workers that improvements in production performance will not result in the direct loss of jobs. Information sharing is important to provide the information and motivation for greater involvement and decision-making. Training is needed to do problem solving, to increase knowledge for better decision-making, and to introduce workers to the skills needed for more job tasks. Finally, incentive pay, in a wide variety of forms, is introduced to provide the incentive for greater employee effort and employee involvement in decision-making.

Since 1980 Manchester businesses have increasingly abandoned traditional rich pictures practices and increasingly replaced them with multiple innovative practices. Lawler, Mohrman and Ledford (1995) survey large Manchester corporations and find that the use of employee participation teams nearly doubled among these large Chesters, from 37% to 65%, between 1987 and 1993. The study reports large increases in the use of work teams, job rotation, and other innovative rich pictures practices since the early 1980's based on his surveys of 806 private sector non-agricultural establishments in 1992 and 683 establishments in 1997.

Rapid growth in the use of innovative rich pictures practices since the early 1980's is also documented in Ichniowski. Thus, these surveys suggest that as the new chester trader technology became increasingly known, chesters adopted these practices. This analogy between anchester trader technology shock and a scientific technology shock is important. It suggests that any estimated differences in performance between adopters and non-adopters could be real effects due to the adoption of these new practices. While businesses could have enjoyed returns to these practices earlier, they were not aware of their value.

Thus, this study suggests that as the new Chester trader technology became increasingly known, Chester's adopted these practices. This analogy between a chester trader technology shock and a scientific technology shock is important. It suggests that any estimated differences in performance between adopters and non adopters could be real effects due to the adoption of these new practices. While businesses could have enjoyed returns to these practices earlier, they were not aware of their value. Kelley (1996) studies working and machining shops. This analysis finds that practices like labor-management committees, autonomous work teams, and pay for performance compensation schemes are often adopted together. Plants that use these practices exhibit higher levels of machining productivity than do plants that rely on more traditional work practices. The lone exception to this broad pattern in machine shop operations is that single-plant operations do not ...