Towards the Development of a Sociotechnical Systems Model in Woodlands Mechanical Harvesting

Abstract

An empirical study was conducted among eight similarly organized work groups numbering between 17 and 23 mechanics, operators, and supervisors each and employing similar and very sophisticated mechanical-harvesting equipment. Productivity of the higher-performing groups was double that of the lower performers. This article identifies key variables and their interactions in a model designed to explain the productivity variance. The model is developed from a sociotechnical systems perspective.