British industrial productivity (in terms of value added per employee) and industrial performance have reportedly been declining in recent years. This decline has been blamed on, among other factors, poor production management. This has generated considerable interest in the function and led to several studies of production management and the production manager's job. After an extensive review of these studies, it was felt that they were mainly descriptive in nature and generalistic in their analysis. Some of these studies were regional in character and biased in certain other respects, and could not therefore represent the true national picture of the production manager's job.