Worker perceptions of job complexity *

Abstract

Until recently, variations in job design practices have not been considered important determinants of economic performance in the United States. The enormous productivity successes of several foreign models of work organization, however, are drawing attention to the restructuring of the work place as an industrial strategy. The introduction of computer-based control technologies brings the matter of job design very much into the policy domain because it is not only altering the relationship of workers to the production process but also the organization of the labor process itself. This paper, by introducing a precise measurement methodology, defines ‘job content’ and ‘task complexity’ in a formal quantitative manner. Furthermore, by utilizing empirical findings it presents analyses of worker perceptions of job complexity and decision content and points toward the development of robust techniques for the classification of work settings and man-machine interfaces. It also shows that the methodology used provides a basis for associating occupational behavior with variations in control technology, organizational design and work content; and, therefore, a link to economic analysis of productivity change.