Job design within a human centred (system) design framework

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Abstract
This paper describes the job design research of the Human Centred Office Systems Project (funded by the SERC/ESRC), which is working with a local government department. The originality of the research involves the application of human centred ideas, which have until recently only been used to address the situation of male skilled workers, eitherin British engineering or Scandinavian contexts. Our approach adapts these ideas in relation to the design of women clerical workers’ jobs. Feminist perspectives on women in work are also drawn upon. This approach represents a break with other research on job design within computerization, most of which has been informed by socio-technical theory and human-computer interaction. We draw upon new case-study research involving design groups who have tackled job design using a bottom-up approach. The study involves women clerical workers, both defining their particular skills and how they would wish a new computer system to complement and enhance them. The methods used were qualitative and involved: women clerical workers, senior management and trade unionists. Our conclusions concentrate on the opportunities provided by the use of human centred perspectives for tackling job design, with particular reference to office systems and women clerical workers.