Work Design Issues in Lean Production from a Sociotechnical Systems Perspective: Neo-Taylorism or the Next Step in Sociotechnical Design?

Abstract

The similarities and differences between two paradigms, Lean Production (LP) and Sociotechnical Systems (STS) thinking, which currently compete for the attention of managers and scholars interested in improving the design of work systems, are studied in this article. In order to find the logic behind each approach, the design principles formulated by Cherns have been used to evaluate LP from an STS viewpoint with respect to work design issues. The two concepts differ most with respect to their definition of system boundaries, the control mechanisms they favor and their value bases and assumptions about workers. The way control is exercised in each concept is closely related to the production structure and has far-reaching consequences for the human resource policies practiced. Although each approach has something to offer the other, the question whether the best ideas of both can be synthesized in designing a superior overall system cannot be answered so easily. In the end, it will require more than just choosing features of each approach to apply in combination; the differences in fundamental beliefs about people need to be reconciled in the design of the organization and its system.