1978/12/01 by John Kelly · 88 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Decision Sciences · Engineering · #Autonomy #Causation #Complex Systems and Decision Making #Computer science #Economics #Engineering #Epistemology #Incentive #Knowledge management #Law #Management Theory and Practice #Management and Organizational Studies #Management science #Microeconomics #Political science #Positive economics #Reciprocal #Sociology #Sociotechnical system #Work (physics)
paper · doi:10.1177/001872677803101204
published in Human Relations 31(12), 1069-1099 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 1978/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The major purpose of this article is to reassess the adequacy of the major principles of sociotechnical systems theory by means of a detailed reexamination of the case studies from which they are partly derived. It is shown, as a result, that the notion of a single, homogeneous sociotechnical school is a misleading oversimplification, since two streams of sociotechnical theory can in fact be identified. It is suggested that the autonomy granted to autonomous work groups is limited, and subordinate to particular economic objectives. Further, it is argued that the concept of joint optimization has little connection with the reality of sociotechnical practice and that it should be replaced with the notion of intensification of labor. The role of pay incentives is also shown to have been seriously underestimated in the causation of economic and psychological changes. And finally, the idea of organizational choice is also shown to be inadequate on the grounds that the case studies have demonstrated the superior economic and psychological effectiveness of only one form of work organization: autonomous groups.