The socio-technical approach to work organisation. An essential element in Quality Management Systems

Abstract

This study analyses the techniques and models of quality management from the perspective provided by the design of socio-technical systems, proposed as an alternative paradigm to the Taylorist model of work organisation. This analysis seeks to show how the absence of a widely accepted alternative paradigm to that of Taylorism has favoured the continued use of Taylorism through the techniques and methodologies of quality that have been developed and applied in industry in recent years.

Keywords:

• socio-technical systems
• quality and organisational change

Notes

1. In Spain, there were notable early experiments in semi-autonomous work groups in companies such as FASA Renault, Copreci, Fagor, and some other cooperatives in the Mondragón Group, etc, in the 1970s. These early socio-technical practices facilitated the introduction of quality and lean production techniques, years later.