Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers a social and psychological perspective on job redesign. It reviews a radical critique of the classical approaches to job redesign, John Kelly's criticisms covering the assumptions underlying such theories, their core propositions, and their empirical support. The book presents a trade union perspective on job redesign and aims to consider the impact of job redesign within an organisation. It considers the future of job redesign through examination of the pioneering work of Emery and Trist and of other emancipatory psychologies, concluding that job redesign theorists have made a major contribution in their day, linking social psychology with social policy. Frank Blackler argues that whilst there are factors such as unemployment mitigating against the significance of job redesign, there are also changes underlining its importance.