Organizational Effects of Managerial Turnover in Kibbutz Production Branches

The phenomenon of institutionalized general turnover and internal rotation of managerial personnel and its effects upon the conduct of the organizations involved is examined with data from production branches of Israeli kibbutzim. Arguments for and against the effectiveness of such a norm are presented. Four specific hypotheses are formulated. About 60 productive organizations were involved: 33 farm branches and 27 industrial plants. Data were collected by way of questionnaires to all workers at each organization and by way of documents and interviews with informants. The major findings are the following: The potential for managerial positions is larger than needed for a given time; in the branches studied the median time in office was about 2-3 years. Organizations that practice rotation are not less (and maybe more) effective than those that do not practice rotation. This is because their workers are more involved, knowledgable, and creative than those in the latter. Length of time in office sometimes appeared to have adverse effects for the functioning of organizations.