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Thomas Teal, senior editor at Harvard Business Review has published the following interesting story in Fortune: 'Malden Mills owner Aaron Feuerstein was both ridiculed and canonized when he kept his 1000 employees on the payroll after a fire burned down his factory. The experts said Feuerstein was nuts to rebuild his textile factory in high-wage Massachusetts. One business school Professor has suggested pointedly that not everyone should look to him as a model. However, the two hours I spent with him, convinced me that he is as rough-minded as he is righteous, a man entirely up to the job of running a factory for profit. "The trick", he told me, "is to keep growing fast enough to give new jobs to the people technology displaces, to weed out unnecessary jobs without crashing the spirit of the work force". If all you're after is cutting costs", if you "just have a scheme to cut people - that sort of thing is resented by labour, and you're never forgiven"....Feuerstein has a union shop, has long invested heavily in technology that eliminates jobs, and has never had a strike - not exactly the hallmarks of a fool'.[l] Feuerstein's business is perhaps an ideal one. But this is seemingly not true for all companies. Apparently a few businessmen act in the way Feuerstein acted. What mostly happens is that 'advances in technology afford managers progressive opportunities to reduce skill and discretion in work and tighten management control'. [2.] This study examines the impact of technology into work design by emphasizing the relationship of managers and employees. It has been argued' that 'even though changes in technology are changing people's jobs', it is not technology by itself, but 'managers who shape work by means of technology' [.1]. Because of such practises in the work environment the relation of workers and managers have long run into conflict. Here we aim to clear this equivocation by analysing the "input" of technology into people's jobs. The Malden Mills example above is a possible exit from this quarrel and we will return to it later. At present it is interesting to see how managers in a different company, Vauxhall, UK, used to greet new employees to the job: "You know the sort of thing. 'This is Fred, he'll show you what to do'. "Hello", says Fred, "you stick this in here and that in there - 'I'm not paid for this y' know", You either do it or you don't. If you don't you're unsuitable and you get your cards'. [:!-.] What a sharp contrast with Malden Mills' CEO above!

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Teal, T., "Not a Fool, Not a Saint", Fortune,
Nov.11, 1996, 111-13.
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(2009). Psychological ownership within the job design context: Revision of the job characteristics model. Journal of

0 0
Small batch production



Mass production Process production Degree of automation

O,gatii::.ational Behavi01; 30(4), 477-496.
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SOURCE: Bailey, p.18

1. Conclusion
This paper has examined the impact of technological determinism to work design. Research supports the argument that technology by itself does not change the organisation of work. On the contrary it is management that has often taken advantage of technology developments to shape the work. Scientific Management was one instance of this in the past. At present the interest in technological determinism has revived. Workers, unions and social theorists have reacted violently to these practises. However the integretionist model removes the conflict by taking a holistic view of the situation. In this model time and change are working to eliminate the strife. Neve1iheless, technological determinism is there in most organisations as we presented in this study. But technological change is very likely to change this situation. Evidence shows that as advanced technology enters our lives more and more managerial control ov r work design eventually declines.
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