Work system design and the quality of working life

Those responsible for designing work systems have considerable influence over the quality of working life of those employed both in operating and managing the system. Whilst research evidence is available regarding the impact of changes to jobs and work organisation, this research has tended to be based on changes made for remedial reasons where existing arrangements have been seen as the source of problems such as high labour turnover, low productivity, etc. The changes reported have often been limited in extent since assumptions regarding aspects such as the operations technology remain unchallenged. Those responsible for the initial design of work systems, however, have an opportunity to consider means for developing a “fit” between the needs of employees and the objectives of the organisation throughout the design process. Here we shall consider those aspects of work systems which relate particularly to the motivation of employees. Two situations are described, and contrasted, where those responsible for the design of the work systems place emphasis upon integrating the needs of individual employees into the initial design.