Job Technology, Supervision, and Work-Group Structure

Abstract

This study was funded by a grant from the Central Fund for Research, College of Business Administration, The Pennsylvania State University. The relationship between technology and structure at the individual level was found too weak to indicate a technological imperative, even controlling for the prior socialization or background of respondents. At the group level of analysis, variables such as the perceived hierarchical independence and decisional participation of the supervisor were significantly related to structure, independent of job technology. With the effects of supervision taken into account, job technology and work-group structure showed significant relationships. Results of multivariate analysis indicated the importance of both technology and supervision for work-group structure. The data suggest that a number of variables account for structure in organizations where control is fragmented.