![Image](https://www.worldsupporter.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/tips_suggestions/wereldbol_summaries_joho_single_boek_1_150x190px.png?itok=rEljlfYL)
The Sociotechnical system theory is a theory of work design and quality of working life by means of three design principles:
Sociotechnical criterion: the control of variance and the statement that variances should be treated as close to their point of origin as possible. An organization should have enough means to respond to variety by using variety in their production process.
Minimal critical specification: work descriptions should be minimalized, which enables employees to bring in their own personal contribution. There should only be enough directives to ensure that the employee is executing his own task. (local autonomy and decentralized control is desirable)
Joint optimization principle: both social and technical system should be optimized, whereas social system refers to human resources, job design and control structure, and technical systems refer to production structure, technical equipment and information and communication technology.
STS is related to four organizational performance indicators:
Price
Quality
Flexibility
Innovation
Firms in which prices are very important, are often mass-producing firms. These companies have a high need to standardize their production process because of the easiness to implement and of the strong competitive value. There is almost no need for local autonomy and the decentralized decision-making is minimal, which makes work specifications more needed in these kinds of companies. The joint optimization is ignored, because the technical system gets all the attention and therefore dominates the social system. Examples for practices have shown that there are some mass-producing firms which have focused on the social factors and they found out that the motivation and satisfaction of the employees plays an important role in the effectiveness of the company. Principles as Lean can be more useful by implementing this joint optimization.
Over the last years, quality has become more important and therefore it is important to control undesired variations in quality. When quality and price are the mainly performance indicators, it is important to implement specification and standardization. With routinized work and standardize tasks, a company achieves the most effective and completed products. Technical systems to fulfill these goals are dominated and therefore you can conclude that quality is often a second performance indicator, and efficiency (costs) the only important one.
Flexibility is caused by the consumers’ demand to more diversity and shorter delivery times. Organizations have to produce a lot different products in many variants. Referred to the sociotechnical criterion, flexibility means that an organization should be able to deal with a quick changing environmental demand and therefore should need variety in products, skills and tasks. There should be enough space for local decision-making to respond effectively to changes in customer demand. In a variable environment both technical and social systems are important.
Innovation is a major determinant for long-term success in dynamic and changing markets. Processes are based on non-routines and non-repetitive actions, which makes it important to have a flexible structure. There should be a moderate level of diversity at the team level (preventing too much differences among members), but there should be a high level of diversity at organizational level, in order to be able to achieve different markets and their customer needs. The selection of workers in these kinds of businesses is very important, because central themes are trust and power in the team. Optimization is mainly focused on the social aspect of the system.
The learning approach to STS identifies several characteristics which influence the team learning. First, worker characteristics like high self-efficacy, high tolerance for ambiguity and a moderate level of group loyalty are given. The other characteristics are focused on team and design characteristics, which include flexible structures, moderate level of diversity at team level, high level of mutual trust and low variety in power. Al these characteristics are influencing the team learning and this relationship is moderated by the support of technical systems. On step further to organizational learning, aspects as flexible structures, technical support systems and a high diversity at organizational level are required characteristics.
Article summaries on Human Resource Management & Organisation
Article summaries on Human Resource Management & Organisation. Note: some of the attached summaries are in Dutch.
Summaries of articles for Work Organization and Job Design
Summaries of articles for Work Organization and Job Design.
- 1 of 2158
- volgende ›
JoHo can really use your help! Check out the various student jobs here that match your studies, improve your competencies, strengthen your CV and contribute to a more tolerant world
Online access to all summaries, study notes en practice exams
- Check out: Register with JoHo WorldSupporter: starting page (EN)
- Check out: Aanmelden bij JoHo WorldSupporter - startpagina (NL)
How and why would you use WorldSupporter.org for your summaries and study assistance?
- For free use of many of the summaries and study aids provided or collected by your fellow students.
- For free use of many of the lecture and study group notes, exam questions and practice questions.
- For use of all exclusive summaries and study assistance for those who are member with JoHo WorldSupporter with online access
- For compiling your own materials and contributions with relevant study help
- For sharing and finding relevant and interesting summaries, documents, notes, blogs, tips, videos, discussions, activities, recipes, side jobs and more.
Using and finding summaries, study notes en practice exams on JoHo WorldSupporter
There are several ways to navigate the large amount of summaries, study notes en practice exams on JoHo WorldSupporter.
- Use the menu above every page to go to one of the main starting pages
- Starting pages: for some fields of study and some university curricula editors have created (start) magazines where customised selections of summaries are put together to smoothen navigation. When you have found a magazine of your likings, add that page to your favorites so you can easily go to that starting point directly from your profile during future visits. Below you will find some start magazines per field of study
- Use the topics and taxonomy terms
- The topics and taxonomy of the study and working fields gives you insight in the amount of summaries that are tagged by authors on specific subjects. This type of navigation can help find summaries that you could have missed when just using the search tools. Tags are organised per field of study and per study institution. Note: not all content is tagged thoroughly, so when this approach doesn't give the results you were looking for, please check the search tool as back up
- Check or follow your (study) organizations:
- by checking or using your study organizations you are likely to discover all relevant study materials.
- this option is only available trough partner organizations
- Check or follow authors or other WorldSupporters
- by following individual users, authors you are likely to discover more relevant study materials.
- Use the Search tools
- 'Quick & Easy'- not very elegant but the fastest way to find a specific summary of a book or study assistance with a specific course or subject.
- The search tool is also available at the bottom of most pages
Do you want to share your summaries with JoHo WorldSupporter and its visitors?
- Check out: Why and how to add a WorldSupporter contributions
- JoHo members: JoHo WorldSupporter members can share content directly and have access to all content: Join JoHo and become a JoHo member
- Non-members: When you are not a member you do not have full access, but if you want to share your own content with others you can fill out the contact form
Quicklinks to fields of study for summaries and study assistance
Field of study
- All studies for summaries, study assistance and working fields
- Communication & Media sciences
- Corporate & Organizational Sciences
- Cultural Studies & Humanities
- Economy & Economical sciences
- Education & Pedagogic Sciences
- Health & Medical Sciences
- IT & Exact sciences
- Law & Justice
- Nature & Environmental Sciences
- Psychology & Behavioral Sciences
- Public Administration & Social Sciences
- Science & Research
- Technical Sciences
Add new contribution