Designing “Good” Jobs: Countermeasures and Controls

Abstract

Social scientists and managers outside the human factors profession are encroaching upon the field of industrial job design. They insist that a job must include such “work quality” characteristics as a meaningful module, variety, employee control, use of valued skills, and direct feedback. It is easy to oppose such qualities through a series of well-accepted human factors, countermeasures and controls, each described briefly. If such opposition is not successful, it may be necessary for human factors specialists to join and become leaders of the work quality movement.