In organizational development (OD), work design is the application of Socio-Technical Systems

Socio-technical systems

Sociotechnical systems in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to the interaction between society's complex infrastructures and human behaviour...

 principles and techniques to the humanization of work.

The aims of work design to improve job satisfaction

Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his /her job. The happier people are within their job, the more satisfied they are said to be. Job satisfaction is not the same as motivation or aptitude, although it is clearly linked...

, to improve through-put, to improve quality and to reduced employee problems, e.g., grievances, absenteeism.

Scientific Management

Under scientific management

Scientific management

Scientific management, also called Taylorism, was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management...

 people would be directed by reason and the problems of industrial unrest would be appropriately (i.e., scientifically) addressed. This philosophy is oriented toward the maximum gains possible to employees. Managers would guarantee that their subordinates would have access to the maximum of economic gains by means of rationalized processes. Organizations were portrayed as rationalized sites, designed and managed according to a rule of rationality imported from the world of technique

Human Relations School

The Human Relations Movement

Human Relations Movement

Human relations movement refers to the researchers of organizational development who study the behavior of people in groups, in particular workplace groups. It originated in the 1930s' Hawthorne studies, which examined the effects of social relations, motivation and employee satisfaction on...

 takes the view that businesses are social systems in which psychological and emotional factors have a significant influence on productivity. The common elements in human relations theory are the beliefs that

• Performance can be improved by good human relations
• Managers should consult employees in matters that affect staff.
• Leaders should be democratic rather than authoritarian.
• Employees are motivated by social and psychological rewards and are not just "economic animals"
• The work group plays an important part in influencing performance

Socio-technical systems

Socio-technical systems

Socio-technical systems

Sociotechnical systems in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to the interaction between society's complex infrastructures and human behaviour...

aims on jointly optimizing the operation of the social and technical system; the good or service would then be efficiently produced and psychological needs of the workers fulfilled. Embedded in Socio-technical Systems are motivational assumptions, such as intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

Work Reform

Work reform states about the workplace relation and the changes made which are more suitable to management and employee to encourage increased workforce participation.

Motivational Work Design

The psychological literature on employee motivation contains considerable evidence that job design can influence satisfaction, motivation and job performance. It influences them primarily because it affects the relationship between the employee's expectancy that increased performance will lead to rewards and the preference of different rewards for the individual.