Behavioural considerations of production technology: technology, employment and job satisfaction

Abstract

Advances in production technology have substantially increased material standards of living but have also 'dehumanised' many jobs in industry. Further advances, towards increased automation, pose a threat of wide scale unemploy- ment. The challenge facing production engineers today is to design systems appropriate to the needs of local populations and jobs which provide for the needs of individual employees. New forms of work organisation are being developed in many parts of the world. The early results are encouraging. In future we might expect a variety of intermediate technologies between the most advanced and the most primitive.