The Impact of Automation on Job Characteristics: New Horizons

Abstract

In an investigation of the impact of automation on job characteristics, we found that coordination, job autonomy, and work pace were reinforced by automation, while new skill requirements, job security and exertion remained unaffected. Job satisfaction correlates revealed the existence of elements that were both reinforced by automation and unrelated to job satisfaction. These elements are of paramount importance to supervisors as they represent sources of operator indifference to the benefits of automation, or satisfaction gaps. The elements include interdepartmental task coordination, discretion in making production decisions, confidence to complete tasks without supervision, the achievement of career goals, perceptual skills, security of records, and longer work hours in the post-automation period. We consider the sealing of these satisfaction gaps to be a major supervisory challenge.

No security: A meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences.

“…Several studies have shown that employees who feel their future employment to be insecure are generally more dissatisfied with their job than those who perceive their employment conditions to be more secure (e.g., Ashford et al, 1989; Grunberg, Moore, & Greenberg, 1998; Lim, 1996; Rosenblatt & Ruvio, 1996). However, the strength of the relationship varies greatly between studies, and a few studies even report nonsignificant correlations between job insecurity and job satisfaction (e.g., Hollenbeck & Williams, 1986; Zikiye & Zikiye, 1992). Only a few studies have investigated the relation between job insecurity and job involvement, and here the correlations range from nonsignificant (Hollenbeck & Williams, 1986) to moderate (Levanoni & Sales, 1990; Liou & Bazemore, 1994) to strongly negative (Kuhnert & Palmer, 1991).…”