Employment decisions were governed by pre-established, objective criteria such as seniority, years of training, etc, rather than on individual merit. Selection of Employees. Large corporations might have training departments. Promotion tended to follow training timetables, one could move up as one learned to handle more complex assignments. Structure was hierarchical, organized by function.
Function tends to fragment work into many sub-factions.
Decision-making power was at the top and had to flow through too many levels. While jobs for labor fluctuated with market cycles, the seniority system tended to award something like property rights in the organization for workers and while even senior workers may be laid off occasionally, they tended to wait out temporary cycles and return. Middle managers enjoyed a high degree of job security. The view of management was that shareholders carried the risk for business outcomes, not the workers and consequently there was relatively little association between pay and company performance. Pay tended to vary by job title and seniority, not according to individual performance.