STATISTICS IN MIDDLE MANAGEMENT.

The article reports on key issues relevant to the use of statistical techniques by middle management. A group of student economists taking the statistics course of the Executive Program of the University of Chicago during 1952, 1953, and 1954 were required by their professor, W. Allen Wallace, to turn in a term paper analyzing the effect communication patterns have upon the operation of groups. The author focuses on examining the information compiled from the term papers, including general problems that the students observed as well as inefficiencies generated in eight specific categories including business forecasting, predictive techniques, and scheduling and inventory control. Marketing techniques are called into question. Common mistakes made in the interpretation of data are also discussed.