Assessing the Effectiveness of Sociotechnical Interventions: Antidote or Fad?

Abstract

In spite of an official record of success, much uncertainty surrounds the mean effect of sociotechnical interventions on organizational effectiveness. A new technique, a meta-analysis, is used to estimate both this mean effect and its variation across 17 sociotechnical studies. Several contingency variables which may have moderated this mean effect are also examined. Results indicate that interventions that (1) involved the formation of autonomous instead of semi- or non-autonomous workgroups, (2) included an increase in monetary incentives, and (3) occurred in a non-U.S. country rather than in the U.S. led to greater increases in productivity. Conversely, sociotechnical interventions that also included a change in technology resulted in a smaller improvement in productivity and a smaller drop in escape behavior than interventions without a technological change. More importantly, a curvilinear relationship was uncovered between the duration of an intervention and productivity. This curvilinear relationship rejects the hypothesis that the positive outcomes of sociotechnical interventions are temporary and indicative of a “Hawthorne Effect.”