ABSTRACT
Issues of human welfare can be ranged along a continuum: from those most internal to individuals—concerned with their most personal needs and development in life—to those which are external to them—concerned with political and social organization in the world around them. The way in which work is organized has relevance at many points on this continuum. Among the scenarios for the future that are currently being discussed is one which predicts the disappearance of work. The transition to an absence of work would be, at the very least, extremely difficult to make and would produce many casualties. The way in which work is organized influences how people see and experience their surroundings; and the ways in which they experience and respond to things add up to strong and well-rooted cultures. The current intense interest in job design has focused very much on the effect of present forms of work organization on the need satisfactions of individuals.
