Developing a Community-Based Program for Reducing the Social Impact of a Plant Closing

On January 16, 1975, MN Industries announced their decision to phase out operations at their Great River, Michigan plant. The announcement triggered a course of events that culminated in an innovative social experiment, the impact of which cannot be fully known. The experiment melded management, union, university, and community representatives into a temporary interorganizational system. This voluntary coalition assumed responsibility for organizing available human services into a coordinated attack on the complex and intense problems expected to result from sudden widespread unemployment. Since the coalition was unique, it required equally unique combinations of organizational theory and intervention to facilitate its development. This paper describes critical phases in the development of the system, action steps taken to facilitate passage through each phase, and organizational theory useful for understanding and evaluating the processes that took place.